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74-500: CBS aired a backdoor pilot on an episode of Criminal Minds on April 8, 2015, introducing the characters with a crossover episode eponymously titled "Beyond Borders". The series was originally intended to premiere on March 2, 2016, but was pushed back by two weeks and instead premiered on March 16, 2016, and filled the Wednesday 10:00 p.m. time slot, airing immediately after the original Criminal Minds . On May 14, 2017, CBS canceled

148-422: A series 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. An unsold pilot or "busted pilot"

222-497: A tele-movie ) in United Kingdom and United States television , is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television 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 like pilot studies serve as precursors to

296-450: A television film to recoup some of its costs even if the network chooses to not order the show. 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 original Cagney & Lacey movie co-starred Loretta Swit (of M*A*S*H fame) as Chris Cagney, but when she could not get out of her contract, they reshot it with Meg Foster , who after

370-464: A test market approach for its new reality talent competition format The Big Deal , producing a season of the series for Irish broadcaster Virgin Media One with the intent to use it as a pitch for Fox and other broadcasters. 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,

444-498: 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. The Star Trek episode " Assignment: Earth " was a backdoor pilot for a spin-off of the same name, featuring a human named Gary Seven (played by Robert Lansing ), taken from Earth's far past and raised by aliens to be sent to watch over Earth in

518-482: 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 actors Juliette Lewis , Mayim Bialik , Seth Green , and Meredith Scott Lynn were featured as some of Eastland's new students. NBC did not pick up

592-402: 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. Proofs of concept were particularly common for game shows ; in such cases, the pilot may be entirely or partially scripted (and thus, due to regulations passed after

666-601: A college student who winds up working at the campus radio station, with David Garrison set to reprise his role as Steve Rhoades. The other was Enemies , which was intended as an antithesis to Friends in the same way the flagship Married... with Children was for The Cosby Show . The pilot featured a guest appearance by Alan Thicke . In June 2010, Lifetime pursued a spinoff procedural drama of Army Wives featuring Brigid Brannagh 's character, police officer Pamela Moran. The fourth-season episode "Murder in Charleston"

740-429: 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. The survival odds for these new series are low, as typically only one or two of them survive for more than one season. A premise pilot introduces the characters and their world to the viewer; it is structured so that it can be run as

814-659: A few occasions, pilots have been released as a theatrical films prior to the debuts of their respective series. Examples include Battlestar 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's Buck 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,

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888-460: A sizable body of unsold pilots that had never aired. By 1954, the American television industry had begun to consider the idea of packaging these unsold pilots in anthology 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. On June 8, 1956,

962-473: 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 a spin-off series with those characters. Television networks use pilots to determine whether an entertaining concept can be successfully realized and whether

1036-411: A subset of feasibility studies. A feasibility study asks whether the study should proceed, and if so, how. A pilot study asks the same questions, but also has a specific design feature: in a pilot study, a future study is conducted on a smaller scale, which, if having produced positive results, may lead to a Phase I clinical trial . The use of pilot and feasibility studies to estimate treatment effect

1110-528: A traditional pilot on NBC and would be revived by that network as Saved by the Bell ) and the Canadian drama Hillside (which would move to Nickelodeon , Disney Channel's primary rival, and air as Fifteen ). A successful pilot is often used as the series 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 drama Lost Girl ,

1184-535: A two-part story, shown as The 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 was Spock . 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"

1258-458: 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

1332-401: 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. Instead of a single pilot episode, an alternative is a test run , a small number of episodes that air as a short-run series with the potential to go into full production if successful. This

1406-535: Is controversial, with ongoing methodologic discussion about appropriateness. A checklist was published in 2016 to provide guidance on how to report pilot trials. In engineering , a pilot trial may be conducted to understand the design problems, learn the correct technique’s or to capture unknown requirements prior to building a prototype . It may use prototype parts or simply samples to see which are successful and which are not, prior to more significant development effort. A pilot can typically be differentiated from

1480-452: 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. The new series are then presented at the networks' annual upfronts in May, where they are added to network schedules for the following season (either for

1554-576: Is particularly common among shows that are intended to be stripped (airing five days a week). Talk shows occasionally use test runs. Metromedia and its successor Fox Corporation were particularly associated with using test runs for talk shows, with examples including The Wendy Williams Show , The Huckabee Show (a spin-off of Huckabee that aired for six weeks in summer 2010), the final version of The Jerry Lewis Show , and The Kilborn File , an unsuccessful comeback vehicle for Craig Kilborn . In 2021, Fox Alternative Entertainment utilized

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1628-415: Is usually carried out on members of the relevant population. A pilot study is used to formulate the design of the full-scale experiment which then can be adjusted. The pilot study is potentially a critical insight to clinical trial design, recruitment and sample size of participants, treatment testing, and statistical analysis to improve the power of testing the hypothesis of the study . Analysis from

1702-537: The New York Times reported that the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) would begin airing a package of unsold pilots that summer under the title G.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." G.E. Summer Originals premiered on the evening of July 3, 1956, at exactly

1776-436: The 1950s quiz show scandals , illegal to broadcast in many jurisdictions) and use fake contestants and "returning champions" to demonstrate those concepts. The adventure series Lassie 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

1850-415: The 2015–16 season ; however, it was soon announced that Gunn had departed the series, with Alana de la Garza and Annie Funke further being cast as series regulars. The first season of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders received generally unfavorable reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the first season a 20% of approval with an average rating of 3.5/10, based on 15 reviews, with

1924-643: The Arrowverse , a shared universe of interconnected DC Comics superhero TV series. The " Heroes Join Forces " crossover was a two-part backdoor pilot for another spinoff series set in the Arrowverse called Legends of Tomorrow , featuring a team of heroes and villains originally introduced in Arrow and The Flas h. The penultimate episode of Arrow , " Green Arrow & The Canaries " served as an unsuccessful backdoor pilot for

1998-640: The Seven Network in April 2016. In Canada , the series airs simultaneously with the U.S. on CTV . The series also airs same day as the U.S. in Asia on AXN . On April 20, 2016, the series premiered on W in the United Kingdom and Ireland . On July 11, 2016, the series premiered on TV One in New Zealand . Backdoor pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as

2072-526: 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 films , and miniseries . 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

2146-547: The 1960s; while the series was not picked up, its characters have appeared in numerous non-canon Trek productions set in the 20th century. The third season two-part episode "Terra Firma" of Star Trek: Discovery is generally regarded as a backdoor pilot for a series featuring the character Philippa Georgiou. The final two episodes of the CBS sitcom Green Acres (1965–71) were both backdoor pilots. With CBS being pressured by advertisers to develop more urban-themed shows (ultimately at

2220-565: The 1990s, but then the practice of broadcasting them ended almost entirely. Pilot studies A pilot experiment , pilot study , pilot test or pilot project is a small-scale preliminary study conducted to evaluate feasibility , duration , cost , adverse events , and improve upon the study design prior to performance of a full-scale research project . Pilot experiments are frequently carried out before large-scale quantitative research , in an attempt to avoid time and money being used on an inadequately designed project. A pilot study

2294-481: The 2014–2015 season due to dismal overall reception by viewers. The Gossip Girl episode " Valley Girls " was supposed to be a backdoor pilot for a prequel spin-off series starring Brittany Snow as a young Lily van der Woodsen , however the show was not picked up. " The Farm " was an episode of NBC 's The Office that was supposed to act as a backdoor pilot for a spin-off series starring Rainn Wilson and focusing on his character, Dwight Schrute . Upon review,

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2368-531: The BSG pilot was extended for television, and the televised version of the Buck 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

2442-509: The Bane ", the first episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures , is not a pilot because the BBC had committed to the first season before seeing any filmed content – yet it is routinely referred to as a pilot. 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

2516-422: The basis of The Paul Lynde Show . The original Star Trek TV series had two pilots, neither of which became the premiere episode when the series was picked up. The first, titled The Cage , didn't sell, but Desilu head Lucille Ball convinced NBC 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

2590-521: The characters for what would become the NCIS spin-off series NCIS: Los Angeles , and the NCIS season 11 two-part episode " Crescent City " introduced the characters for what would become NCIS: 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. Similarly, the backdoor pilot for the television sitcom Empty Nest

2664-406: The countries the episodes are set in. In its review of the show, pop culture news website The A.V. Club labeled the series as "bland" and "xenophobic". In a more scathing commentary, Slate and USA Today have opined that the show was "jingoistic", especially due to the then-current context of Donald Trump 's allegedly xenophobic 2016 presidential campaign rhetoric. Following the airing of

2738-404: The critical consensus reading, " Beyond Borders relies on the same characters and storylines the franchise has used for years, with an extra undertow of xenophobic paranoia." On Metacritic, the season was given a score of 28 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". The series has received criticism from both viewers and critics for its "inaccurate" depictions of

2812-401: The domain of environmental management. Extrapolation from a pilot study to large scale strategy may not be assumed as possible, partly due to the exceptional resources and favorable conditions that accompany a pilot study. In clinical research , studies conducted in preparation for a future randomized controlled trial are known as "pilot" and "feasibility" studies, where pilot studies are

2886-683: The episode " Cinderella and the Dragon ", which was set in Singapore , the network received significant backlash from locals regarding the "misleading" representations of Singapore and Singaporeans, with local Internet celebrity blogger mrbrown and the Singapore Tourism Board posting up their own satirical responses. Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders . The series premiered in Australia on

2960-607: The expense of additional episodes is justified. A pilot is best thought of as a prototype 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. Each summer, the major American broadcast television networks – including ABC , CBS , NBC , Fox , PBS , Univision , and Telemundo – receive about 500 brief elevator pitches each for new shows from writers and producers. That fall, each network requests scripts for about 70 pitches and,

3034-418: The expense of the network's rural-themed programs ), Green Acres creator Jay Sommers was given an opportunity to develop two series ideas, both of which were rejected. ABC attempted to create a spin-off of Charlie's Angels in 1980 called Toni's Boys . The backdoor pilot that aired near the end of season four was simply titled "Toni's Boys" and guest starred Barbara Stanwyck as Antonia "Toni" Blake,

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3108-650: 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 of Love, American Style that featured a version of the Cunningham family. It was in fact a failed pilot for the proposed 1972 series New Family in Town , but

3182-417: The first episode of the series if substantial changes are not made between the pilot and greenlighting . 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 for Gilligan's Island , for instance, showed the castaways when they had just become stranded on

3256-412: The first season was replaced with Sharon 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 as Jackie Cooper playing the role of Walter Carlson in the TV movie pilot of the 1975 series The Invisible Man , but being replaced by Craig Stevens for the remainder of

3330-425: The first series commissioned without a pilot. The model has seen a rise since Netflix popularized it. A number of unsold pilots have been reworked into theatrically-released feature films, including Lum and Abner Abroad (1956), which wove together three pilot episodes for a 1956 series that would have starred the comedy duo of Lum and Abner ; Agent for H.A.R.M. (1966); and Mulholland Drive (2001), which

3404-500: The following January, orders about 20 pilot episodes. Actors come to Los Angeles from within the area or elsewhere in the United States and around the world to audition for them. By spring, actors are cast and production crews assembled to produce the pilots. Casting is a lengthy and very competitive process. For the 1994 pilot of Friends , casting director Ellie Kanner reviewed more than 1,000 actors' head shots for each of

3478-497: The following season. The series finale of One Day at a Time in May 1984 served as a backdoor pilot to a spin-off featuring Pat Harrington Jr. 's character Dwayne Schneider in a new setting, but CBS ultimately passed on the potential series. Similarly, the 1988 two-part series finale of The Facts of Life ("The Beginning of the End" and "The Beginning of the Beginning") also served as

3552-543: 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

3626-399: 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 aired Gilligan'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

3700-498: The network orders 90 more to bring the total to 100 episodes , immediately enough to rerun the show in syndication . Series that used the 10/90 model include Tyler Perry 's House of Payne , Meet the Browns , For Better or Worse , Debmar-Mercury 's Anger Management , and Are We There Yet? . Byron Allen 's sitcoms followed a similar model, with Mr. Box Office and The First Family airing 26-episode first seasons with

3774-473: 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. 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

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3848-530: 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 a series starring Hazzard County deputy Enos Strate . A pair of Married... with Children episodes aired as backdoor pilots that would not be picked up. The first, Radio Free Trumaine , featured Keri Russell as

3922-719: The original Golden Girls episode. A 1972 episode of All 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 the TV Land original sitcom Hot in Cleveland focused on

3996-620: The parent series who are to be given their own show. For example, to introduce A Different World , built around The Cosby Show character Denise Huxtable ( Lisa Bonet ), the Cosby 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 sitcom The Goldbergs , titled "1990-Something", heavily featured teachers who were recurring characters on

4070-411: The pilot experiment can be added to the full-scale (and more expensive) experiment to improve the chances of a clear outcome. In sociology , pilot studies can be referred to as small-scale studies that will help identify design issues before the main research is done. Although pilot experiments have a well-established tradition, their usefulness as a strategy for change has been questioned, at least in

4144-430: The pilot from that point onward was largely reworked into a flashback episode which aired later (with several key scenes re-shot). Even Gilligan's theme song, which was originally done as a calypso number, was rewritten and recomposed to be completely different. Another example is Star Trek , where footage from the unaired original pilot, " The Cage ", was incorporated into the two-part episode, " The Menagerie ", with

4218-453: The pilot that sold the series to Showcase , " Vexed ", was used as the eighth episode of the first series. In the case of Firefly , 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. Sometimes, too, viewers will assign the word "pilot" to a work that represented

4292-554: The project to series. In 2013, The CW announced there was a spin-off of their genre hit Supernatural in the works. The 20th episode of season nine titled "Bloodlines", served as a back-door pilot, revealed in January 2014 to have been titled Supernatural: 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

4366-512: The same time as another anthology series of unsold pilots, Sneak Preview on NBC , and these thus became the first two series of unsold pilots to air in the United States . 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: By the mid-1980s, the rise of cable television outlets had led to an increase of original programming during

4440-676: The series after two seasons. In total 26 episodes of Beyond Borders have aired, in addition to the pilot episode, "Beyond Borders". A proposed new series in the Criminal Minds franchise was announced in January 2015, and was to be named Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders . Former CSI: NY star Gary Sinise and Anna Gunn had been cast in the lead roles of Jack Garrett and Lily Lambert, with Tyler James Williams and Daniel Henney being cast as Russ "Monty" Montgomery and Matthew "Matt" Simmons, respectively. On May 8, 2015, CBS announced that Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders had been picked up for

4514-471: The series and served as the backdoor pilot to Schooled , which debuted in early 2019. 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, the JAG season eight episodes "Ice Queen" and "Meltdown" introduced the characters for what would become NCIS , while the NCIS season six two-part episode " Legend " introduced

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4588-434: The series, which aired well on into the first season of the series. A backdoor pilot is a film or miniseries that serves as a proof of concept for a full series, but may be broadcast on its own even if the full series is not picked up. The term may also be used for an episode of an existing television show that serves to introduce a spin-off . Such backdoor pilots commonly focus on an existing character or characters from

4662-414: 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. A proof of concept pilot usually takes place chronologically further into a series run than a premise pilot, to give network executives

4736-427: 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 for Warner 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. Since

4810-490: The spin-off was not picked up by NBC 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". The Arrow episode "The Scientist " served as a backdoor pilot for the spinoff series The Flash , introducing Barry Allen as a CSI searching for super-powered people in an attempt to find his mother's murderer. This episode also created

4884-450: The start of larger activity. A successful pilot may be used as the series 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 episodes titled "Pilot" ). On some occasions, pilots that were not ordered to series may also be broadcast as

4958-400: The story justification that it depicts events that happened several years earlier. Conversely, the second pilot for Star 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

5032-467: The summer months and ABC, CBS, and NBC began to experience a decline in summer viewership; the launch of Fox as a fourth major network in 1987 only exacerbated the problem for the former "Big Three" networks. Although CBS viewed CBS 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. Unsold pilots aired as one-offs occasionally during

5106-453: The wedding of the character Elka (played by Betty 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 introduced The Soul Man . A historically important venue for backdoor pilots has been

5180-534: Was an episode of The 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 in Empty 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

5254-493: 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 1958 Tarzan series. In addition, a number of unsuccessful pilot episodes have been released as direct-to-video films, including Belle's Magical World (1998), Cruel Intentions 2 (2001) and Atlantis: Milo's Return (2003). On

5328-459: Was intended to serve as a backdoor pilot for the proposed spin-off. 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. In September 2010, however, Lifetime declined to pick up

5402-418: 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

5476-464: Was recycled as a successful pilot for 1974's Happy Days . So firmly embedded is the notion of it as a Happy Days pilot, that even series actress Erin Moran (who did not appear in the episode) viewed it as such, as well as its creator, Garry Marshall , since Happy Days itself did not have a separate pilot of its own. In a similar situation, the 1962 pilot Howie was resurrected 13 years later to form

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