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Atelevision pilot (also known as apilot or apilot episode and sometimes marketed as atele-movie) inUnited Kingdom andUnited States television, is a standaloneepisode of atelevision series that is used to sell a show to atelevision network or other distributor. A pilot is created to be a testing ground to gauge whether a series will be successful. It is, therefore, a test episode for the intended television series, an early step in the series development, much likepilot studies serve as precursors to the start of larger activity.
A successful pilot may be used as theseries premiere, the first aired episode of a new show, but sometimes a series' pilot may be aired as a later episode or never aired at all. Some series are commissioned straight-to-series without a pilot (although an increasing number of such series have their first episodestitled "Pilot"). On some occasions, pilots that were not ordered to series may also be broadcast as a standalone television film or special.
A "backdoor pilot" is an episode of an existing series that heavily features supporting characters or guest stars in previously unseen roles. Its purpose is to introduce the characters to an audience before the creators decide on whether or not they intend to pursue aspin-off series with those characters.
Television networks use pilots to determine whether an entertaining concept can be successfully realized and whether the expense of additional episodes is justified. A pilot is best thought of as aprototype of the show that is to follow, because elements often change from pilot to series.Variety estimates that only a little over a quarter of all pilots made for American television proceed to the series stage.[1]
Each summer, the majorAmericanbroadcast television networks – includingABC,CBS,NBC,Fox,PBS,Univision, andTelemundo – receive about 500 briefelevator pitches each for new shows from writers and producers. That fall, each network requests scripts for about 70 pitches and, the following January, orders about 20 pilot episodes.[2] Actors come toLos Angeles from within the area or elsewhere in the United States and around the world toaudition for them. By spring, actors are cast and production crews assembled to produce the pilots.[3]
Casting is a lengthy and very competitive process. For the 1994 pilot ofFriends, casting directorEllie Kanner reviewed more than 1,000 actors'head shots for each of the six main roles. She summoned 75 actors for each role to audition, and she then chose some to audition again for the show's creators. Of this group, the creators chose some to audition again forWarner Bros. Television executives, who chose the final group of a few actors to audition for NBC executives; as they decide whether to purchase a pilot, network executives generally have ultimate authority over casting.[4] Since the networks work on the same shared schedule, directors, actors and others must choose the best pilot to work for with the hopes that the network will choose it. If it is not chosen, they have wasted their time and money and may have missed out on better career opportunities.[5]
Once they have been produced, the pilots are presented to studio and network executives, and in some cases to test audiences; at this point, each pilot receives various degrees of feedback and is gauged on its potential to advance from one pilot to a full-fledged series. Using this feedback, and factoring in the current status and future potential of their existing series, each network chooses about four to eight pilots for series status.[2] The new series are then presented at the networks' annualupfronts in May, where they are added to network schedules for the following season (either for a fall or "mid-season" winter debut), and at the upfront presentation, the shows are shown to potential advertisers and the networks sell the majority of the advertising for their new pilots.[5] The survival odds for these new series are low, as typically only one or two of them survive for more than one season.[2]
A premise pilot introduces the characters and their world to the viewer; it is structured so that it can be run as the first episode of the series if substantial changes are not made between the pilot andgreenlighting. In the event the changes being made are so substantial that they would cause confusion to viewers, the pilot (or portions of it) is often re-shot, recast, or rewritten to fit the rest of the series.
The pilot forGilligan's Island, for instance, showed the castaways when they had just become stranded on the island. However, three roles were recast before going to series, with the characters either modified or completely altered to the point where the pilot could no longer be used as a regular episode. As a result,CBS airedGilligan's second produced episode, which opened with the same scene of the characters just stranded on the island (showing only those not re-cast), first; the story from the pilot from that point onward was largely reworked into a flashback episode which aired later (with several key scenes re-shot). EvenGilligan's theme song, which was originally done as a calypso number, was rewritten and recomposed to be completely different.
Another example isStar Trek, where footage from the unaired original pilot, "The Cage", was incorporated into the two-part episode, "The Menagerie", with the story justification that it depicts events that happened several years earlier. Conversely, the second pilot forStar Trek, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", aired as the third episode of the show's first season, even though it included some casting and costuming differences that set it apart from the preceding episodes.
If a network orders a two-hour pilot, it will usually broadcast it as atelevision film to recoup some of its costs even if the network chooses to not order the show.[6] Sometimes, a made-for-TV-movie is filmed as a pilot, but because of actors not being available, the series intro is reshot for the first aired episode. The originalCagney & Lacey movie co-starredLoretta Swit (ofM*A*S*H fame) as Chris Cagney, but when she could not get out of her contract, they reshot it withMeg Foster, who after the first season was replaced withSharon Gless; therefore, the original movie is not considered part of the television series, and is not included in the series collections on DVD. In some cases, this does not hamper broadcast, such asJackie Cooper playing the role of Walter Carlson in the TV movie pilot of the 1975 seriesThe Invisible Man, but being replaced byCraig Stevens for the remainder of the series; the pilot is still considered part of the series and released to DVD as such. Likewise,The Homecoming: A Christmas Story had an almost entirely different cast from the series it was intended to pilot (The Waltons), but both have been rerun for many years.
Aproof of concept pilot usually takes place chronologically further into a series run than a premise pilot, to give network executives a better feel for how a typical episode would appear (since a premise pilot may have to deviate from a typical episode in order to properly introduce characters).Remington Steele used both a proof of concept and a premise pilot.[7][8] Proofs of concept were particularly common forgame shows; in such cases, the pilot may be entirely or partially scripted (and thus, due to regulations passed after the1950s quiz show scandals, illegal to broadcast in many jurisdictions) and use fake contestants and "returning champions" to demonstrate those concepts. The adventure seriesLassie had both a premise pilot, "The Inheritance", designed specifically to air as the series' first episode, showing how Lassie's series owner, Jeff Miller, came to acquire her; and a proof of concept pilot, "The Well", showcased situations typical to the series, which aired well on into the first season of the series.
A backdoor pilot is a film or miniseries that serves as aproof of concept for a full series,[9] but may be broadcast on its own even if the full series is not picked up.[10] The term may also be used for an episode of an existing television show that serves to introduce a potential or already plannedspin-off. Such backdoor pilots commonly focus on an existing character or characters from the parent series who are to be given their own show.
For example, to introduceA Different World, built aroundThe Cosby Show character Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet), theCosby Show episode "Hillman" was devoted to the Huxtable family visiting Denise during her freshman year at Hillman College though no characters from the upcoming series were introduced. A 2018 episode of ABC's 1980s-set sitcomThe Goldbergs, titled "1990-Something", heavily featured teachers who were recurring characters on the series and served as the backdoor pilot toSchooled, which debuted in early 2019.[11]
In other cases, an episode of the parent show may focus on one or more guest characters who have not previously appeared in the show. For example, theJAG season eight episodes"Ice Queen" and "Meltdown" introduced the characters for what would becomeNCIS, while theNCIS season six two-part episode "Legend" introduced the characters for what would become theNCIS spin-off seriesNCIS: Los Angeles, and the NCIS season 11 two-part episode "Crescent City" introduced the characters for what would becomeNCIS: New Orleans.NCIS: Los Angeles itself also included a backdoor pilot for a potential further spin-off –NCIS: Red – but the series was not picked up.[12]
Similarly, the backdoor pilot for the television sitcomEmpty Nest was an episode ofThe Golden Girls, which relegated that show's regular stars to supporting characters in an episode devoted to new characters who were introduced as their neighbors. Feedback on the episode resulted inEmpty Nest being extensively reworked before its debut; while the concept and the "living next to the Golden Girls" setting was retained, the series ended up featuring different characters from those in the originalGolden Girls episode.
A 1972 episode ofAll in the Family, "Maude", centered on the Bunkers visiting their cousin Maude Findlay at Maude's house in Tuckahoe.Norman Lear was so impressed he wanted to make Maude as a separate show.Maude would debut 5 months after the episode aired, in September of 1972.
A 2011 episode of theTV Land original sitcomHot in Cleveland focused on the wedding of the character Elka (played byBetty White). Boyce Ballentine (Cedric the Entertainer), an R&B singer-turned-preacher, was introduced as the pastor for the wedding, with the intention of Boyce eventually having his own series on the network. That came to fruition in 2012, when TV Land introducedThe Soul Man.[13]
A historically important venue for backdoor pilots has been theanthology series. They have variously been used as a place to show work still being actively considered for pickup, and as a venue for completed work already rejected by the network. With the decline of anthology series, backdoor pilots have increasingly been seen as episodes of existing series,[14] one-offtelevision films, andminiseries. As backdoor pilots have either failed to sell or are awaiting audience reception from its one-time broadcast, networks will not advertise them as pilots, only promoting them as a "special" or "movie". It is thus often unclear to initial viewers of backdoor pilots that they are seeing a pilot of any kind, unless they have been privy to knowledgeable media coverage of the piece.
Not all backdoor pilots lead to a series. TheStar Trek episode "Assignment: Earth" was a backdoor pilot for a spin-off of the same name, featuring a human namedGary Seven (played byRobert Lansing), taken from Earth's far past and raised by aliens to be sent to watch over Earth in the 1960s; while the series was not picked up, its characters have appeared in numerous non-canonTrek productions set in the 20th century.[15] The third season two-part episode "Terra Firma" ofStar Trek: Discovery is generally regarded as a backdoor pilot for a series featuring the character Philippa Georgiou.[16] The final two episodes of the CBS sitcomGreen Acres (1965–71) were both backdoor pilots. With CBS being pressured by advertisers to develop more urban-themed shows (ultimately at the expense of the network'srural-themed programs),Green Acres creatorJay Sommers was given an opportunity to develop two series ideas, both of which were rejected.[17]
ABC attempted to create a spin-off ofCharlie's Angels in 1980 calledToni's Boys.[18] The backdoor pilot that aired near the end of season four was simply titled "Toni's Boys" and guest starredBarbara Stanwyck as Antonia "Toni" Blake, a wealthy widow and friend of Charlie Townsend's who ran a detective agency she inherited from her late husband. The agency was staffed by three handsome male detectives: Cotton Harper (Stephen Shortridge), Bob Sorensen (Bob Seagren), and Matt Parrish (Bruce Bauer). The three took direction from Toni and solved crimes in a manner similar to the Angels. The show was not picked up as a regular series for the following season.[19]
The series finale ofOne Day at a Time in May 1984 served as a backdoor pilot to a spin-off featuringPat Harrington Jr.'s character Dwayne Schneider in a new setting, but CBS ultimately passed on the potential series.[20] Similarly, the 1988 two-part series finale ofThe Facts of Life ("The Beginning of the End" and "The Beginning of the Beginning") also served as a backdoor pilot that focused on the decision Blair Warner (Lisa Whelchel) made in using her trust fund to purchase the financially troubled Eastland Academy. Blair became headmistress and opened enrollment to male students for the first time in Eastland history. Up-and-coming actorsJuliette Lewis,Mayim Bialik,Seth Green, andMeredith Scott Lynn[21] were featured as some of Eastland's new students. NBC did not pick up the new series.
The Dukes of Hazzard aired two episodes, named "Jude Emery" and "Mason Dixon's Girls", which served as a backdoor pilot complete with the Dukes cast interacting with the new characters. Ultimately, CBS passed on the two series in favor of aseries starring Hazzard County deputyEnos Strate.
A pair ofMarried... with Children episodes aired as backdoor pilots that would not be picked up. The first,Radio Free Trumaine, featuredKeri Russell as a college student who winds up working at the campus radio station, withDavid Garrison set to reprise his role as Steve Rhoades. The other wasEnemies, which was intended as an antithesis toFriends in the same way the flagshipMarried... with Children was forThe Cosby Show. The pilot featured a guest appearance byAlan Thicke.[22]
In June 2010,Lifetime pursued a spinoff procedural drama ofArmy Wives featuringBrigid Brannagh's character, police officer Pamela Moran.[23] The fourth-season episode "Murder in Charleston" was intended to serve as a backdoor pilot for the proposed spin-off.[23] The episode sees Moran teaming up with an Atlanta-based detective on a murder that is related to a case she has been working on for the past three years. At the end of the episode, the detective encourages Moran to take a detective's exam, and to look for her if she is in Atlanta.[24] In September 2010, however, Lifetime declined to pick up the project to series.[25]
In 2013,The CW announced there was a spin-off of their genre hitSupernatural in the works. The 20th episode ofseason nine titled "Bloodlines", served as a back-door pilot, revealed in January 2014 to have been titledSupernatural: Bloodlines. The series was set to explore the "clashing hunter and monster cultures in Chicago". The show was not picked up by the CW for the 2014–2015 season due to dismal overall reception by viewers. TheGossip Girl episode "Valley Girls" was supposed to be a backdoor pilot for aprequel spin-off series starringBrittany Snow as a youngLily van der Woodsen, however the show was not picked up. "The Farm" was an episode ofNBC'sThe Office that was supposed to act as a backdoor pilot for a spin-off series starringRainn Wilson and focusing on his character,Dwight Schrute.[26] Upon review, the spin-off was not picked up by NBC[27] and the original version was never aired; instead it was reworked with additional material shot later, as the original version contained "certain aspects that were appropriate for a pilot of a new show".[28]
TheArrow episode"The Scientist" served as a backdoor pilot for the spinoff seriesThe Flash, introducing Barry Allen as a CSI searching for super-powered people in an attempt to find his mother's murderer.[29] This episode also created theArrowverse, ashared universe of interconnectedDC Comics superhero TV series. The "Heroes Join Forces" crossover was a two-part backdoor pilot for another spinoff series set in the Arrowverse calledLegends of Tomorrow, featuring a team of heroes and villains originally introduced inArrow andThe Flash. The penultimate episode ofArrow, "Green Arrow & The Canaries" served as an unsuccessful backdoor pilot for aseries of the same name.The 100 episode"Anaconda" also served as an unsuccessful backdoor pilot for a prequel series.
A put pilot is a pilot that the network has agreed to broadcast either as a special or series; if it does not, it will have to pay substantial monetary penalties to the studio. This usually guarantees that the pilot will be picked up by the network.[30]
An unsold pilot or "busted pilot" is a produced episode that is never broadcast or made into a television series.Variety estimates that only a little over a quarter of all pilots made for American television proceed to the series stage.[1]
Instead of a single pilot episode, an alternative is atest run, a small number of episodes that air as a short-run series with the potential to go into full production if successful. This is particularly common among shows that are intended to bestripped (airing five days a week).
Talk shows occasionally use test runs.Metromedia and its successorFox Corporation were particularly associated with using test runs for talk shows, with examples includingThe Wendy Williams Show,[31]The Huckabee Show (a spin-off ofHuckabee that aired for six weeks in summer 2010),[32] the final version ofThe Jerry Lewis Show,[33] andThe Kilborn File, an unsuccessful comeback vehicle forCraig Kilborn.[34]
In 2021,Fox Alternative Entertainment utilized atest market approach for its new reality talent competition formatThe Big Deal, producing a season of the series for Irish broadcasterVirgin Media One with the intent to use it as a pitch for Fox and other broadcasters.[35]
In a 10/90 production model, a network broadcasts ten episodes of a new television program without ordering a pilot first. If the episodes achieve a predetermined ratings level, the network orders 90 more to bring the total to100 episodes, immediately enough torerun the show insyndication. Series that used the 10/90 model includeTyler Perry'sHouse of Payne,Meet the Browns,For Better or Worse,Debmar-Mercury'sAnger Management,[36] andAre We There Yet?.Byron Allen's sitcoms followed a similar model, withMr. Box Office andThe First Family airing 26-episode first seasons with the intention of following them up with a full 104-episode order if successful; both series failed to reach the threshold Allen sought, though they remained in limited production (three to four new episodes a year, mixed in with the first season) for a few years afterward.
An earlier variant was the 13-episode pilot run; in the late 1980s and early 1990s,Disney Channel notably gave a 13-episode pilot order to two series it never picked up, but would go on to longer runs on other networks:Good Morning, Miss Bliss (which also had a traditional pilot onNBC and would be revived by that network asSaved by the Bell) and the Canadian dramaHillside (which would move toNickelodeon, Disney Channel's primary rival, and air asFifteen).
A successful pilot is often used as theseries premiere, the first aired episode of a new show, or it may be aired as a later episode or never aired at all. For the Canadian supernatural dramaLost Girl, the pilot that sold the series toShowcase, "Vexed", was used as the eighth episode of the first series.[37] In the case ofFirefly, the original pilot ("Serenity") which was intended to serve as the series premiere was rejected by the network, and a new first episode, "Train Job", was shot specifically for broadcast.[38]
Sometimes, too, viewers will assign the word "pilot" to a work that represented the first appearances of characters and situations later employed by a series – even if the work was not initially intended as a pilot for the series. A good example of this is "Love and the Television Set" (later retitled "Love and the Happy Days" for syndication), an episode ofLove, American Style that featured a version of the Cunningham family. It was in fact a failed pilot for the proposed 1972 seriesNew Family in Town, but was recycled as a successful pilot for 1974'sHappy Days.[39] So firmly embedded is the notion of it as aHappy Days pilot, that even series actressErin Moran (who did not appear in the episode) viewed it as such, as well as its creator,Garry Marshall, sinceHappy Days itself did not have a separate pilot of its own.[40] In a similar situation, the 1962 pilotHowie was resurrected 13 years later to form the basis ofThe Paul Lynde Show.[41]
The originalStar Trek TV series had two pilots, neither of which became the premiere episode when the series was picked up. The first, titledThe Cage, didn't sell, butDesilu headLucille Ball convincedNBC executives to allow shooting of a second pilot,Where No Man Has Gone Before, which was accepted by the network.The Cage was edited and expanded into a two-part story, shown asThe Menagerie. This turned out to be an auspicious decision, because of various challenges which bogged down series production during the first season. The second pilot was also shown during that first season, as the third episode. The only major character to appear in both pilots wasSpock.
On other occasions, the pilot is never broadcast on television at all. Viewers ofTemple Houston, for example, would likely have considered "The Twisted Rope" its pilot because "The Man from Galveston" was only publicly exhibited in cinemas four months later. Even then, "The Man from Galveston" had an almost entirely different cast, and its main character was renamed to avoid confusion with the then-ongoing series.
Some television series are commissioned "straight-to-series" where a network orders a season without viewing any produced episodes, hence no episode is considered a pilot. For instance, "Invasion of the Bane", the first episode ofThe Sarah Jane Adventures, is not a pilot because theBBC had committed to the first season before seeing any filmed content[42] – yet it is routinely referred to as a pilot.[43][44] The straight-to-series model is usually used when established talent is attached to a series, or it is based on an established property or franchise.Amazing Stories (1985) is credited as being one of the first series commissioned without a pilot. The model has seen a rise sinceNetflix popularized it.[45]
A number of unsold pilots have been reworked into theatrically-released feature films, includingLum and Abner Abroad (1956), which wove together three pilot episodes for a 1956 series that would have starred the comedy duo ofLum and Abner;Agent for H.A.R.M. (1966); andMulholland Drive (2001), which was composed of an unsold pilot episode appended with an ending shot specifically for the film. The 1966 film release,Tarzan and the Trappers was edited from the unbroadcast pilot of a proposed 1958Tarzan series.
In addition, a number of unsuccessful pilot episodes have been released asdirect-to-video films, includingBelle's Magical World (1998),Cruel Intentions 2 (2001) andAtlantis: Milo's Return (2003).
On a few occasions, pilots have been released as a theatrical films prior to the debuts of their respective series. Examples includeBattlestar Galactica, whose pilot was theatrically released during the summer of 1978, prior to its broadcast as the opening episodes of the TV series that fall, and 1979'sBuck Rogers in the 25th Century, released in early 1979, with the series launching in the fall. In both cases there are substantial differences between theatrical and televised version: both BSG and Buck Rogers' theatrical pilots had recurring characters (Baltar and Tiger Man, respectively) killed off, the BSG pilot was extended for television, and the televised version of theBuck Rogers pilot utilized a different opening credits sequence and featured a newly added epilogue scene intended to lead into the weekly series.
By the mid-1950s, the practice of television executives of ordering dozens of pilots for proposed television series each year — far more than their networks could possibly broadcast as series — had created a sizable body of unsold pilots that had never aired.[46] By 1954, the Americantelevision industry had begun to consider the idea of packaging these unsold pilots inanthology series and airing them during the summer, providing television networks with a way of both providing fresh programming during the summer rerun season and recouping at least some of the expense of producing them.[46]
On June 8, 1956, theNew York Times reported that theAmerican Broadcasting Company (ABC) would begin airing a package of unsold pilots that summer under the titleG.E. Summer Originals, adding that "the problem of what to do with 'pilot' or sample films of projected television series that previously have failed to sell has been solved."[46][47]G.E. Summer Originals premiered on the evening of July 3, 1956, at exactly the same time as another anthology series of unsold pilots,Sneak Preview onNBC, and these thus became the first two series of unsold pilots to air in theUnited States.[46]
A number of summer anthology series consisting entirely or partly of unsold pilots were broadcast in the United States between 1956 and 1989. These series were:[46][48]
By the mid-1980s, the rise ofcable television outlets had led to an increase of original programming during the summer months and ABC, CBS, and NBC began to experience a decline in summer viewership;[48] the launch ofFox as a fourth major network in 1987 only exacerbated the problem for the former "Big Three" networks.[48] Although CBS viewedCBS Summer Playouse — broadcast during the summers of 1987, 1988, and 1989 — as original programming that addressed this issue, it was the last anthology series of unsold pilots.[48] Unsold pilots aired as one-offs occasionally during the 1990s, but then the practice of broadcasting them ended almost entirely.[48]
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