Unsold TV Pilots

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

  1. Spiny Norman

    Spiny Norman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Luton
    Oh I did the same, although my very first account was blocked and one very old one has all the videos blocked.
    Today, they just identify your video and monetize it over your head.

    On very few occasions my posting incomplete series lead to visitors coming up with other episodes. That is always nice, unfortunately it happens approximately twice a decade.
     
  2. MikeInFla

    MikeInFla Glad to be out of Florida

    Location:
    Kalamazoo, MI
    This has me thinking about public domain and maybe @Vidiot can explain. Won't some of these pilots show up very soon in the public domain? How does that actually work? I know "One Step Beyond" has many episodes (not sure about the whole series) that is considered public domain. I have a 3-DVD set of the shows I bought for a dollar at Walmart. The transfers are terrible but it was neat to see those old shows again. How long does it take for these to get in the public domain? And another one I bought a couple of years ago was "Rescue From Gilligan's Island". I was also a terrible DVD transfer and I assume this was also public domain. That one was made in 1978 and some of these pilots are much older so I have no idea why they would not yet be in the PD.

    Thanks for any input you can give.
     
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  3. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Love-In Tonite (1968)

    "PSYCH-BURN was what musicians call a contract-breaker. ABC had given us some coin to make a few short films for a TV pilot. LOVE-IN TONITE was to be a psychedelic rock variety show with live performances, skits and whatnot to cash in on the emerging hippie demographic. Even pre-Disney, the network was riddled with a bunch of out-of-touch, pencil-pushing buffoons, so I quickly realized the show would be a disaster. Imagine if MIDNIGHT SPECIAL was produced by Aaron Spelling. Then cast Charles Nelson Reilly as emcee. That would have been a far more lively show than LOVE-IN TONITE. So I decided to deliver the suits a farewell kick-in-the-butt called PSYCH-BURN. The best part was that they presented my film sight unseen at a board meeting about the new Fall Season. I heard some heads rolled over that one." - J.X. Williams



    Underworld Cinema: An Interview with J.X. Williams
     
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  4. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    The trick there is that even if the show itself is public domain, the music may have a different copyright, the script may be based on a novel or short story that is still copyrighted, the SAG-AFTRA actors may still be owed a residual, as do the DGA directors and the WGA writers. All of this is called "underlying rights," and this is what stops a lot of apparent P.D. films from being released.

    I find unsold pilots absolutely fascinating, but it'd be tough to create "Unsold Pilot Hour" on cable or syndication, because by their very nature some shows are great, some are awful, but most of them you can see why they didn't sell. I think it's a fairly esoteric part of TV history that doesn't have a mass-market audience. Me, of course I'd watch it if I could.
     
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  5. Spiny Norman

    Spiny Norman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Luton
    Well, there were the compilations by Lee Goldberg, "The best TV shows that never were" and I think there was another similar program.

    Actually some of them did air, once, as mini-tv-movies. Space Force, or 1775, or Beane's of Boston (US version of Are you being served?), those are on youtube from early home video systems.

    Autopsies will not draw crowds, what I mean is, that it's probably just us here who are fascinated by the ones that didn't make it. I would be glued to the TV for "Unsold pilot hour", but I just know that it would never get high viewing figures.
     
  6. Spiny Norman

    Spiny Norman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Luton
    Seems no-one mentioned "Oh no! Not them!" yet - the US version of The Young Ones. Or would-be version anyway. Not seen by anyone ever, I think.
     
  7. Andy Dursin

    Andy Dursin Forum Resident

    Location:
    Providence RI
    The sadly defunct Trio channel once did that in prime-time for a whole week...they showed the unsold L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, DINER and FARGO pilots among a few others.

    Great channel also ran BATTLE OF THE NETWORK STARS shows every now and then too.
     
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  8. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Three Coins in the Fountain

    a 20th Century Fox movie filmed in 1966 as the pilot for an unsold television series. The film was directed by Hal Kanter, written by Kanter and Melville Shavelson, and starred Cynthia Pepper, Yvonne Craig, and Joanna Moore. The television film was finally broadcast in 1970. Sergio Franchi sang the title song.​

    (Opening credits only)



    Co-star Antony Alda was Alan's half-brother.
     
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  9. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Red Ryder (1955)

    Kid's western based upon the popular comic strip, which also inspired a rifle...

     
  10. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Richard J. Leskosky: It's always 'High Noon' in the movies

    There was even a 1966 pilot for a "High Noon" TV series about Will Kane's son, who comes to Hadleyville, the town in the first film, to find the men who killed his father. They turn out to be Frank Miller's sons, who waited 20 years to avenge their father's death in the 1952 film. Peter Fonda played Will Jr. and Katy Jurado reprised her role as Helen Ramirez, who had been involved with both Kane and Miller and had left town at the end of the film. The pilot's awkward title, "The Clock Strikes Noon Again," suggests in part why the series itself was never picked up.​
     
  11. Spiny Norman

    Spiny Norman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Luton
    Found another one. "The Mouse That Roared" was remade as a 1966 pilot with Sid Caesar in the lead roles.
    It doesn't look like that was ever shown anywhere. Who knows if it still exists...
     
  12. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    In The Bag (1958)

    A blatant attempt to clone What's My Line. Produced in Chicago; features local newspaper columnists Jane Kern and the legendary Irv Kupcinet.

     
  13. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Savage (1973)

    A crusading TV reporter uncovers information that threatens the career of a Supreme Court nominee. Rare TV Pilot directed by Steven Spielberg.

     
  14. Spiny Norman

    Spiny Norman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Luton
    Beach Patrol (1959 TV Pilot)

     
  15. Spiny Norman

    Spiny Norman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Luton
    Lum 'n Abner: Pilot (circa July 1949, CBS)

     
  16. Spiny Norman

    Spiny Norman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Luton
    Failed pilot for US Fawlty Towers:

     
  17. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Help, Inc (1972)

    Three brothers go into the catering business. With Avery Schreiber and Anthony Holland. Guest stars Eve Arden and Edward Andrews.

     
  18. hyntsonsvmse

    hyntsonsvmse Nick Beal

    Location:
    northumberland
    Baffled with Leonard Nimoy. I watched the pilot on the BBC and thought the series was pretty good
    It is on youtube and worth a watch
    Baffled! (TV Movie 1972) - IMDb
     
  19. Spiny Norman

    Spiny Norman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Luton
    Fascinating!

    When did the BBC show that?
     
  20. hyntsonsvmse

    hyntsonsvmse Nick Beal

    Location:
    northumberland
    Around 1973. I remember my mother and I watching it together on a Friday evening.
    It seemed totbe a very good show
     
  21. Spiny Norman

    Spiny Norman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Luton
    Ah right not recently then.

    Anyway it's on youtube in pretty good quality, so it hardly matters.
     
  22. hyntsonsvmse

    hyntsonsvmse Nick Beal

    Location:
    northumberland
    Yes I got it again on YouTube.
     
  23. Spiny Norman

    Spiny Norman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Luton
    Maybe it was ITV, by the way, it's not listed on "genome": BBC Genome

    Not that it matters much. (Although it's kind of cool you can look that far back.)
     
  24. hyntsonsvmse

    hyntsonsvmse Nick Beal

    Location:
    northumberland
    Back then it was BBC or itv. Only two choices.
     
  25. Spiny Norman

    Spiny Norman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Luton
    Yes, and people recorded programs by taping the sound only on their reel-to-reels.
     
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