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This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (September 2007) |
A television pilot is a test episode of an intended television series. It is an early step in the development of a television series, much like pilot lights or pilot studies serve as precursors to start of larger activity. Networks use pilots to discover whether an entertaining concept can be successfully realized. After seeing this sample of the proposed product, networks will then determine whether the expense of additional episodes is justified.[1] They are best thought of as prototypes 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 succeed to the series stage,[2] although the figure may be even lower.[1]
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There is somewhat of a divergence between the way the television industry uses the term, and the way that viewers do. Viewers frequently consider the pilot to be the first episode available for their consumption. They therefore assume that the episode which comes first in broadcast order is also the episode which sold the series to the network. For instance, the episode Invasion of the Bane was not a pilot for The Sarah Jane Adventures because the BBC had in fact committed to the entire first season prior to seeing any filmed content[3]—yet it is routinely referred to as a pilot.[4][5]
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 Happy Days, an episode of Love, American Style which featured a version of the Cunningham family. It was in fact a failed pilot for the proposed 1972 series, "New Family in Town", not a successful pilot for 1974's Happy Days.[6] So firmly embedded is the notion of it as a Happy Days pilot, however, that even series actor Erin Moran views it as such, as well as its creator, Garry Marshall.[7]
On other occasions, the pilot is never broadcast on television at all. Viewers of Temple 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, Galveston had an almost completely different cast, and its main character was renamed to avoid confusion with the then-ongoing series.
Pilots are expensive to produce. Before a network commits to funding an entire pilot episode, it often requests a pilot presentation, a one-day shoot that, when edited together, gives a general idea of the look and feel of the proposed show. Some pilots can be just a few minutes long (e.g: 10 minutes or less); however, such pilots will not be shown on the air unless more material is subsequently added to them to make them at least twenty-two minutes in length, the actual duration of a nominally "thirty minute" program (taking into account commercials). Occasionally, more than one pilot is commissioned for a particular proposed television series to evaluate what the show would be like with modifications. Star Trek, and All in the Family are famous examples of this situation.
An example of change between the making of a pilot and the making of a series is To Tell the Truth in 1956. The original title of the pilot was Nothing But the Truth and the show was hosted by Mike Wallace. The program host was changed to Bud Collyer, and the title changed.
Pilots usually run as the first episode of the series, unless the series ended up being so different from the pilot that it wouldn't make sense (in this case the pilot (or portions of it) is often re-shot or rewritten to fit the rest of the series). The pilot for Gilligan's Island, for instance, showed the castaways becoming 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. The series began with the second produced episode, with the characters already on the island. The story from the pilot was largely reworked into a flashback episode which aired later, although with several key scenes re-shot. Even the theme song, which was originally done as a calypso number was rewritten to be completely different.
There have been exceptions to this rule when a network or a producer has chosen to run the pilot at a later date. Series for which this has happened include the first Star Trek series, where the second, modified pilot ("Where No Man Has Gone Before") was aired as the third episode, and footage from the original pilot ("The Cage") was edited into newer footage to produce the two-part episode "The Menagerie". (However, at the time it was common for a series' episodes to be shown out of the order in which they were produced.) Previously many unsuccessful pilots were shown as episodes of anthology series that were popular in the 50's and early 60's. The more recent television show Firefly set a particularly curious example, where the series was officially canceled before the pilot aired as the final televised episode. Critics of the Firefly move complained that the networks decision to air the series out of sequence made it difficult for audiences to understand what was going on; when the series was subsequently released on DVD, the episodes were listed in Joss Whedon's intended order, with the two hour pilot as the first episode.
Unsuccessful pilots were often previously broadcast as episodes of an anthology series, for example Seven Against the Sea was a one hour war drama that became the half hour situation comedy McHale's Navy. Occasionally pilots that fail to launch a series are nonetheless broadcast as TV-movies, shown outside the United States as a feature film (To Trap a Spy the 1963 The Man From U.N.C.L.E. pilot), or as specials, usually as filler or as attempts by networks to recoup some of their investment in the production. Examples include the one-hour 1982 pilot for a never-produced Modesty Blaise series, and a 1986 pilot for The Saint in Manhattan, which had failed to launch a new series of Simon Templar adventures for television. Presumably, strong ratings for such broadcasts are capable of changing the network's mind, but this rarely occurs. On some occasions, a pilot film for a televised series will air separately long after the series itself has been cancelled. Such was the case with the pilot film for A Man Called Sloane, which featured a different actor in the title role. After it was not picked up for the 2006 fall season, the Aquaman pilot became available on the iTunes Store. A few cable networks, such as the now defunct Trio, showed various pilots (and even episodes) of failed or canceled television series.
The pilot episode of The A-Team features a different actor (Tim Dunigan) in the role of Face, the part that Dirk Benedict would become well known for in the following series. In fact, creators Stephen J. Cannell and Frank Lupo had wanted Benedict from the beginning, after seeing him as Starbuck in Battlestar Galactica, but network executives insisted on a different actor in the role. Upon completion of the pilot (given the title 'Mexican Slayride' in syndication), they changed their minds, feeling that Dunigan wasn't right for the part, and the role was given to Benedict after all[8].
In addition to the occasional occurrence of a different actor or actress playing a lead character, the main set may be different — sometimes substantially — than the one used during the rest of the series. For instance, on The Cosby Show, the Huxtables' living and dining rooms in the pilot episode are different from the ones used in subsequent episodes.
The television show Even Stevens had a unique way of airing its pilot. The original pilot was made two years before the show was picked up so the actors looked younger than they did when the series eventually aired. Taking advantage of this, Even Stevens' tenth episode used the pilot as a flashback for when the characters were much younger. Newer footage was mixed in to show the main characters daydreaming about the events in the pilot while being trapped on a Ferris wheel. The pilot originally contained inconsistencies too, such as the Stevens' last name being the Spiffys. Because of this, some dialogue was overdubbed before it aired.
Since the mid 1990s, television producers and networks have increasingly used presentation tapes called "demos" in lieu of full-length pilots.[1] These demos tend to be substantially shorter than a standard episode, and make limited use of original sets and post-production elements. The idea is merely to showcase the cast and the writing. These types of pilots are rarely broadcast, if ever, although the material is sometimes partially retrofitted onto a future episode of the resulting series.
A backdoor pilot is a "pilot episode filmed as a standalone movie, so it can be broadcast if not picked up as a series".[9] It is distinguished from a simple pilot in that it has a dual purpose. It has an inherent commercial value of its own while also being "proof of concept for the show, that's made to see if the series is worth bankrolling".[10]
A historically important venue for backdoor pilots has been the anthology 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, one-off television movies, and mini-series. As backdoor pilots have either failed to sell or are pending the outcome of the broadcast, networks will not advertise them as pilots. It is thus often unclear to initial viewers of backdoor pilots that they're seeing a pilot of any kind—unless they have been privy to knowledgeable media coverage of the piece.
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Successful Pilots
Retooled Idea
Unused Pilots
For a complete list, see Shows that spun off from Anthology Series
Usually these anthology series were for one off-stories and the episode showed the potential for a series.
In some cases, a series is created specifically to showcase pilots.
While, as listed above, there are many telemovies or episodes within series intended as pilots, there are often telemovies or episodes within other series which are so popular that they inspire later TV series.
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Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
A "put pilot" is an agreement between a network and a studio, where the network will incur substantial penalties if the pilot episode is not aired. This is a virtual guarantee that a pilot will be picked up.[12]
In American television, pilots are generally sought at a specific time of year, called "pilot season". A phenomenon of the shape of the traditional broadcast season, pilot season occurs between mid-March and early May. During this time, the networks must decide what should go on the fall schedule. The networks look at the large pool of pilots, and then decide which ones they will keep for series. These are announced as part of the fall schedule or as mid-season replacements. Sometimes during pilot season it is not unusual for a pilot to be shopped to another network after it has been rejected. To put it simply, a pilot episode is the first episode of a series.