Unsold TV Pilots

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by JozefK, Jul 15, 2018.

  1. ted321

    ted321 Forum Resident

    In 1979 I made a trip to California and while in LA wanted to attend a sit-com taping. Went to NBC and got into a taping for an unaired (and it seems very much forgotten) pilot staring Redd Fox. Not sure it the attached link will work. Hard to find any info on it. It was called "My Buddy"


    Encyclopedia of Television Pilots, 1937-2012
     
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  2. wrappedinsky

    wrappedinsky Forum Resident

    Location:
    SE USA
    At the very end the narrator says that next week's show will be "Green Thoughts," which after a bit of my own digging, I found to maybe be the inspiration for Little Shop of Horrors. Too bad we'll never see what the show could have done with the story.

    I quite enjoyed the video. Thanks for uploading it.
     
  3. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    Archie from 1964. With some familiar faces, a very familiar voice, but Jughead is so...wrong.

     
  4. Larry Geller

    Larry Geller Surround sound lunatic

    Location:
    Bayside, NY
    God, was this awful. And why did they make him a crackpot inventor?
     
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  5. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
  6. Vahan

    Vahan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Glendale, CA, USA
    The first few minutes of a 1974 pilot from Jack Barry Productions.

     
  7. smilin ed

    smilin ed Senior Member

    Location:
    Durham
  8. Anthology123

    Anthology123 Senior Member

    Empty Nest pilot episode in Golden Girls:
    This episode, which starred Rita Moreno, was supposed to be the basis for the show that
    would be spun off to become the hit series Empty Nest. The show was re-tooled, and the only aspects of this pilot that would
    remain are: they used the same house set, and keep actor David Leisure, who would play a different role
    in the eventual series.
     
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  9. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    The Virginian (1958)

    First attempt to make this famous title into a series. Little resemblance to the novel -- owes far more to HGWT.

    Stars James Drury, who would also be cast in the later version.

     
  10. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    The Yank (1960)

    A veteran of Sherman's March returns to Columbia S.C. after the war, hoping to face up to his past.

    Companion piece to The Rebel, from the same writer-producer; directed by Irvin Kershner. Star James Drury gives it another shot.

     
  11. Brian Hoffman

    Brian Hoffman Obsessive fanatic extraordinaire

    Location:
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    Heat Vision and Jack!

    Astronaut on the run with special powers and his talking motorcycle must deal with a malevolent artificial life form that's possessing people and turning them into dust, as well as NASA's hitman and real life actor Ron Silver.

     
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  12. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Mr and Mrs Dracula (1980)

    Starting Dick Shawn and Carol Lawrence






    The
     
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  13. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Silverfox (1991)

    This unsold TV-pilot had James Coburn playing the part of Robert Fox, a retired secret agent staying active with thwarting/solving crimes.

    The supporting cast:
    Jillie Mack (wife of this pilot's story producer, Tom Selleck)
    M. Emmet Walsh
    Julia Nickson-Soul
    Christopher Allport
    Gianni Russo
    Geoffrey Lower
    Leigh Taylor-Young

    Story by Tom Selleck (husband of Jillie Mack), Charles Floyd Johnson, and Chris Abbott
    Teleplay by Chris Abbott
    Directed by Rod Holcomb​

     
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  14. Kyle B

    Kyle B Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    That unsold Virginian pilot also features Jeanette Nolan, who also went on to co-star in the regular series (she played the wife of the ranch owner in the later seasons, opposite her real-life husband, John McIntire).
     
  15. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Rosie (1960)

    Infamous sitcom pilot about a talking dog (character actor Phil Leeds in a dog suit).

    FilmBizarro.com - From extreme underground horror reviews to independent arthouse and beyond

    The show is about a talking dog named Rosie who returns home with a boy who was thinking of running away to join the circus. The family is of course the atypical 50's "Leave It to Beaver" type family, (no surprise as to why the kid wanted to join the circus) and of course they want the dog gone, but the dog gets to stay after he stops a burglar. Doesn't sound strange I'm sure, even though the family is damn creepy. What makes this TV-pilot fall under the bizarre category is the fact that Rosie the dog is played by a full grown adult male in a really terrible dog costume. No, I'm not kidding. Occasionally crawling around on all four's and standing up like a normal person too. The dog dispense philosophical words of wisdom about life, growing up on the streets, being a good person, and other stomach-turning-eye-rolling moral lessons. The setup is damn strange and bizarre; it's hard not to laugh at not only the show but the fact that someone actually made it and thought it was a good idea. Though I think the reason it never took off was that it became to damn creepy with having scenes of a little boy stroking and petting a man in a dog suit.​



    Classics of the Corn/Classic Stars on the Small Screen: Rosie (1960)
     
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  16. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Malcolm (1981)

    Game show pilot hosted by Alex Trebek, which paired him with a animated co-host.

     
  17. Balthazar

    Balthazar Forum Resident

    At first I was like "WTF" then I looked at the date and looked up when "Love at First Bite" came out. 1979. One year later. Guess they assumed they'd have a ready audience.

    Awful. Not as bad as that Rosie mess, but really cringe-worthy.
     
  18. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Lum & Abner (1949)

    Lum and Abner was an American network radio comedy program created by Chester Lauck and Norris Goff that was aired from 1931 to 1954. Modeled on life in the small town of Waters, Arkansas, near where Lauck and Goff grew up, the show proved immensely popular.​

    This was the first of three unsuccessful attempts to bring L&A to TV.

     
  19. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Just Married (1985)

    Starring Paul Reiser and Gail Edwards

     
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  20. the pope ondine

    the pope ondine Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    too late….1975 or even 1985 it could've been a hit
     
  21. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Big Shots in America (1985)

    Starring Joe Montegna as a Russian immigrant trying to make it in New York City.

     
  22. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    A co worker of the wife's would sign up for those things and talked us into going to one. You got a gift card when it was done. The sitcom looked like it was 6 or 7 years old and all the questions, as you said, were about the commercials. Only part that stands out after 20+ years was they asked about the woman in the commercial--what did we think of her hair? Did we like the dress color? Did we like her?
     
  23. That’s awful.
     
  24. EddieMann

    EddieMann I used to be a king...

    Location:
    Geneva, IL. USA.
    Man! That was bad.
     
  25. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Yeah

    I'm surprised it didn't sell
     
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