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Television pilot

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A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as 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 the start of larger activity.

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135-418: 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

270-509: A 16:9 widescreen presentation, CBS and The CW were the only remaining networks that framed their promotions and on-screen graphical elements for a 4:3 presentation, though with CBS Sports' de facto 16:9 conversion with Super Bowl 50 and their new graphical presentation designed for 16:9 framing, in practice, most CBS affiliates ask pay-TV providers to pass down a 16:9 widescreen presentation by default over their standard definition channels. This continued for CBS until September 24, 2018, when

405-421: 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"

540-449: 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

675-463: 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,

810-498: 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

945-447: 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 a college student who winds up working at

1080-400: 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

1215-413: A commercial broadcast network, since most primetime classical music specials were relegated to PBS and A&E by this time. The program was a concert commemorating the re-opening of Carnegie Hall after its complete renovation. A range of artists were featured, from classical conductor Leonard Bernstein to popular music singer Frank Sinatra . To compete with NBC, which produced the televised version of

1350-427: 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

1485-659: 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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1620-524: A half-hour break for local news and features the game shows The Price Is Right and Let's Make a Deal , soap operas The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful , and talk show The Talk . CBS News programming includes CBS Mornings from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. weekdays and CBS Saturday Morning in the same period on Saturdays; nightly editions of CBS Evening News ;

1755-574: A little-known German-American filmed production in 1965 (which was subsequently repeated three times and starred Edward Villella , Patricia McBride and Melissa Hayden ), and beginning in 1977, the Mikhail Baryshnikov staging of the ballet, starring the Russian dancer along with Gelsey Kirkland – a version that would become a television classic, and remains so today (the broadcast of this production later moved to PBS). In April 1986, CBS presented

1890-450: A mere two months later by popular demand, this time on videotape, rather than live. In later years, the program was shown as a standalone special on PBS ; the current DVD of the telecast omits the commentary by Charles Kuralt but includes additional selections not heard on the CBS telecast. In 1986, CBS telecast Carnegie Hall: The Grand Reopening in primetime, in what was then a rare move for

2025-549: A new television special. Under the agreement, CBS would videotape Presley's concerts during the summer of 1977; the special was filmed during Presley's final tour at stops in Omaha, Nebraska (on June 19) and Rapid City, South Dakota (on June 21 of that year). CBS aired the special, Elvis in Concert , on October 3, 1977, nearly two months after Presley died in his Graceland mansion on August 16. Since its inception in 1978, CBS has been

2160-480: A pilot, a standalone episode that is used to sell the show to a television network . At the time of its creation, the pilot is meant to be the testing ground to gauge whether a series will be successful. As such, "Pilot" is overwhelmingly the most common title used for a series premiere. Sometimes a series' pilot may be aired as a later episode or never aired at all. For the Canadian supernatural drama Lost Girl ,

2295-468: 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

2430-681: A primary feed CBS affiliate has not yet upgraded their transmission equipment to allow content to be presented in HD. A small number of CBS stations and affiliates are also currently broadcasting at 1080p via an ATSC 3.0 multiplex station to simulcast a station's programming such as WNCN through WRDC in Durham, North Carolina , WTVF through WUXP-TV in Nashville , and KLAS-TV through KVCW in Las Vegas , Nevada . CBS began its conversion to high definition with

2565-541: A season without viewing any produced episodes, hence no episode is considered 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 the first series commissioned without a pilot. The model has seen a rise since Netflix popularized it. CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc. , commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System ),

2700-430: A separate company in 1971. In 1974, CBS dropped its original full name and became known simply as CBS, Inc. The Westinghouse Electric Corporation acquired the network in 1994, renaming its legal name to the current CBS Broadcasting Inc. two years later, and in 1997 adopted the name of the company it had acquired to become CBS Corporation . In 1999, CBS came under the control of the original incarnation of Viacom , which

2835-458: 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,

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2970-501: A slightly abbreviated version of Horowitz in Moscow , a live piano recital by pianist Vladimir Horowitz , which marked his return to Russia after over 60 years. The recital was televised as an episode of CBS News Sunday Morning (televised at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time in the U.S., as the recital was performed simultaneously at 4:00 p.m. in Russia). It was so successful that CBS repeated it

3105-464: A sports anthology series that fills certain weekend afternoon time slots before (or in some cases, in place of) a major sporting event. CBS' daytime schedule is the longest among the major networks at 4 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours. It is the home of the long-running game show The Price Is Right , which began production in 1972 and is the longest continuously running daytime game show on network television. After being hosted by Bob Barker for 35 years,

3240-473: 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

3375-506: A subchannel of a co-owned/co-managed full-power television station. CBS also maintains a sizeable number of subchannel-only affiliations, the majority of which are with stations in cities located outside of the 50 largest Nielsen-designated markets; the largest CBS subchannel affiliate by market size is KOGG in Wailuku, Hawaii , which serves as a repeater of Honolulu affiliate KGMB (the sister station of KOGG parent KHNL). Nexstar Media Group

3510-439: A syndicated Saturday morning block exclusive to ABC stations and later produced a block for CBS' sister network The CW that received its debut the following year, to launch a new Saturday morning block featuring live-action reality-based lifestyle, wildlife, and sports series. The Litton-produced CBS Dream Team block, aimed at teenagers 13 to 16 years old, began broadcasting on September 28, 2013, replacing Cookie Jar TV. The block

3645-640: A three-year agreement with DIC Entertainment , which was acquired later that year by the Cookie Jar Group , to program the Saturday morning time slot as part of a deal that included distribution of select tape-delayed Formula One auto races. The KOL Secret Slumber Party on CBS replaced Nick Jr. on CBS that September, with the inaugural lineup featuring two new first-run live-action programs, one animated series that originally aired in syndication in 2005, and three shows produced before 2006. In mid-2007, KOL,

3780-477: 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 ,

3915-535: 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"

4050-458: 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

4185-400: 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

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4320-511: Is also provided most weekend afternoons. Due to the unpredictable length of sporting events, CBS occasionally delays scheduled primetime programs to allow the programs to air in their entirety, a practice most commonly seen with the NFL on CBS . In addition to rights to sports events from major sports organizations such as the NFL , PGA , and NCAA , CBS broadcasts the CBS Sports Spectacular ,

4455-621: Is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainment Group division of Paramount Global and is one of the company's three flagship subsidiaries, along with namesake Paramount Pictures and MTV . Headquartered at the CBS Building in New York City and being part of the " Big Three " television networks, CBS has major production facilities and operations at

4590-451: 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

4725-572: 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

4860-436: Is served by Boston O&O WBZ-TV and Burlington, Vermont , affiliate WCAX-TV ). CBS maintains affiliations with low-power stations (broadcasting either in analog or digital) in a few markets, such as Harrisonburg, Virginia ( WSVF-CD ), Palm Springs, California ( KPSP-CD ), and Parkersburg, West Virginia ( WIYE-LD ). In some markets, including both of those mentioned, these stations also maintain digital simulcasts on

4995-629: Is shared with its U.S. counterpart, whilst the Australian version also features numerous full seasons of local Network 10 shows, all commercial-free. It was announced in September 2020 that the service would be rebranded as Paramount+ in early 2021, and would feature content from the wider ViacomCBS library following the re-merger between CBS and Viacom. The name was also extended to international markets and services such as 10 All Access. The rebrand to Paramount+ took place on March 4, 2021. CBS' master feed

5130-463: Is the largest operator of CBS stations by numerical total, owning 49 CBS affiliates (counting satellites); Tegna Media is the largest operator of CBS stations in terms of overall market reach, owning 15 CBS-affiliated stations (including affiliates in the larger markets in Houston , Tampa and Washington, D.C. ) that reach 8.9% of the country. CBS provides video-on-demand access for delayed viewing of

5265-415: Is transmitted in 1080i high definition , the native resolution format for CBS Corporation's television properties. However, seven of its affiliates transmit the network's programming in 720p HD, while seven others carry the network feed in 480i standard definition either due to technical considerations for affiliates of other major networks that carry CBS programming on a digital subchannel or because

5400-535: 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

5535-436: 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

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5670-643: 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

5805-711: The CBS Broadcast Center and the headquarters of owner Paramount at One Astor Plaza (both also in that city) and Television City and the CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles. It is sometimes referred to as the Eye Network , after the company's trademark symbol of an eye (which has been in use since October 20, 1951), and also the Tiffany Network , which alludes to the perceived high quality of its programming during

5940-540: The Mary Martin Broadway production of Peter Pan , CBS responded with a musical production of Cinderella , with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II . Based upon the classic Charles Perrault fairy tale , it is the only Rodgers and Hammerstein musical to have been written for television. It was originally broadcast live in color on CBS on March 31, 1957, as a vehicle for Julie Andrews , who played

6075-475: The Pillsbury Bake-Off , an annual national cooking contest, was broadcast on CBS as a special. Hosts for the broadcast included Arthur Godfrey , Art Linkletter , Bob Barker , Gary Collins , Willard Scott (although under contract with CBS' rival NBC), and Alex Trebek . The Miss USA beauty pageant aired on CBS from 1963 to 2002, during a large portion of that period, the telecast was often emceed by

6210-403: The 1940s to 1951, consisted of an oval spotlight which shone on the block letters "CBS". The present-day Eye device was conceived by William Golden, based on a Pennsylvania Dutch hex sign and a Shaker drawing. While the logo is commonly attributed to Golden, some design work may have been done by CBS staff designer Georg Olden , one of the first African-Americans to attract some attention in

6345-499: 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

6480-411: The 1970s, was used for the title logo). The word "SPECIAL", in all caps and repeated multiple times in multiple colors, slowly zoomed out from the frame in a spinning counterclockwise motion against a black background, and rapidly zoomed back into frame as a single word, in white, at the end; the sequence was accompanied by a jazzy though majestic up-tempo fanfare with dramatic horns and percussion (which

6615-486: The 1980s. The "Reach for the Stars" campaign used during the 1981–82 season features a space theme to capitalize on both CBS's stellar improvement in the ratings and the historic launch of the space shuttle Columbia . 1982's "Great Moments" juxtaposed scenes from classic CBS programs such as I Love Lucy with scenes from the network's then-current classics such as Dallas and M*A*S*H . From 1983 to 1986, CBS (by now firmly atop

6750-482: The 1990s, but then the practice of broadcasting them ended almost entirely. Series premiere A series premiere is the first aired installment of an episodic entertainment series, most often a television series . In the United States, many series premieres are aired in the fall time or, for mid-season replacements , either in the spring or late winter. A television series' first episode often originates as

6885-466: The 2010–11 season, while ABC was broadcasting its entire schedule in HD by the 2011–12 midseason). All of the network's programming has been presented in full HD since then (except for certain holiday specials produced before 2005 – such as the Rankin-Bass specials – which continue to be presented in 4:3 SD, although some have been remastered for HD broadcast). On September 1, 2016, when ABC converted to

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7020-480: 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,

7155-531: 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

7290-506: 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

7425-579: The Columbia Phonograph Company, parent of Columbia Records ' record label, invested in the network, resulting in its rebranding as the Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System ( CPBS ). In early 1928, Judson and Columbia sold the network to Isaac and Leon Levy, two brothers who owned WCAU , the network's Philadelphia affiliate, as well as their partner Jerome Louchheim. They installed William S. Paley, an in-law of

7560-572: The Cosby Kids , Jim Henson's Muppet Babies , Garfield and Friends , and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles . In 1997, CBS premiered Wheel 2000 , a children's version of the syndicated game show Wheel of Fortune which aired simultaneously on the Game Show Network . In September 1998, CBS began contracting the time out to other companies to provide programming and material for its Saturday morning schedule. The first of these outsourced blocks

7695-573: The Dome ) and Netflix . Notably, however, CBS is the only major broadcast network that does not provide recent episodes of its programming on Hulu (sister network The CW does offer its programming on the streaming service, albeit on a one-week delay after becoming available on the network's website on Hulu's free service, with users of its subscription service being granted access to newer episodes of CW series eight hours after their initial broadcast), due to concerns over cannibalizing viewership of some of

7830-528: The Grenadines . The network has a national reach of 95.96% of all households in the United States (or 299,861,665 Americans with at least one television set). Currently, New Jersey , New Hampshire and Delaware are the only U.S. states where CBS does not have a locally licensed affiliate (New Jersey is served by New York City O&O WCBS-TV and Philadelphia O&O KYW-TV; Delaware is served by KYW and Salisbury, Maryland , affiliate WBOC-TV ; and New Hampshire

7965-633: The Levys, as president of the network. With the Columbia record label out of ownership, Paley rebranded the network as the Columbia Broadcasting System . By September 1928, Paley became the network's majority owner with 51 percent of the business. Paramount Pictures then acquired the other 49 percent of CBS in 1929, but the Great Depression eventually forced the studio to sell its shares back to

8100-531: The Miss USA, Miss Universe and Miss Teen USA pageants and moving them to that network as part of an initial five-year contract, which began in 2003 and ended in 2015 after 12 years amid Trump's controversial remarks about Mexican immigrants during the launch of his 2016 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination . On June 1, 1977, it was announced that Elvis Presley had signed a deal with CBS to appear in

8235-436: The Restless became the first daytime soap opera to broadcast in HD on June 27, 2001. CBS' 14-year conversion to an entirely high-definition schedule ended in 2014, with Big Brother and Let's Make a Deal becoming the final two series to convert from 4:3 standard definition to HD (in contrast, NBC, Fox, and The CW were already airing their entire programming schedules – outside of Saturday mornings – in high definition by

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8370-711: The Snowman are the only two pre-1990 animated specials remaining on CBS; the broadcast rights to the Charlie Brown specials are now held by Apple, The Grinch rights by NBC, and the rights to the Garfield specials by Boomerang . All of these animated specials, from 1973 to 1990, began with a fondly remembered seven-second animated opening sequence, in which the words "A CBS Special Presentation" were displayed in colorful lettering (the ITC Avant Garde typeface, widely used in

8505-500: The Sunday political talk show Face the Nation ; early morning news program CBS Morning News ; and the newsmagazines 60 Minutes , CBS News Sunday Morning , and 48 Hours . On weeknights, CBS airs the talk shows The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Late Late Show with James Corden (until 2023, which is now replaced by game show After Midnight ). CBS Sports programming

8640-850: The United States, some also available in Canada via pay-television providers or in border areas over-the-air. As of 2013 , CBS provides 87 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours of regularly scheduled network programming each week. The network provides 22 hours of primetime programming to affiliated stations Monday through Saturday from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. and Sunday from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time (7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Sunday in Central/Mountain time). The network also provides daytime programming from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific weekdays (subtract 1 hour for all other time zones), including

8775-757: The World Turns , Love of Life , Search for Tomorrow , The Secret Storm , The Edge of Night , and Capitol . CBS broadcast the live-action series Captain Kangaroo on weekday mornings from 1955 to 1982, and on Saturdays until 1984. From 1971 to 1986, CBS News produced a series of one-minute segments titled In the News , which aired between other Saturday morning programs. Otherwise, CBS's children's programming has mostly focused on animated series such as reruns of Mighty Mouse , Looney Tunes , and Tom and Jerry cartoons, as well as Scooby-Doo , Fat Albert and

8910-594: The app were limited until the release of its Google Play and Windows 8 apps in October 2013, expanded the selections to include full episodes of all CBS series to which the network does not license the streaming rights to other services. On October 28, 2014, CBS launched CBS All Access , an over-the-top subscription streaming service – priced at $ 5.99 per month ($ 9.99 with the no commercials option) – which allows users to view past and present episodes of CBS shows. Announced on October 16, 2014 (one day after HBO announced

9045-421: 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

9180-557: 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"

9315-520: 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

9450-509: The children's service of AOL , withdrew sponsorship from CBS' Saturday morning block, which was subsequently renamed KEWLopolis. Complementing CBS's 2007 lineup were Care Bears , Strawberry Shortcake , and Sushi Pack . On February 24, 2009, it was announced that CBS would renew its contract with Cookie Jar for another three seasons through 2012. On September 19, 2009, KEWLopolis was renamed Cookie Jar TV . On July 24, 2013, CBS agreed with Litton Entertainment , which already programmed

9585-573: 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 the new series. The Dukes of Hazzard aired two episodes, named "Jude Emery" and "Mason Dixon's Girls", which served as

9720-798: The early 1970s, and is occasionally broadcast on various cable networks to this day; both versions are available on DVD. CBS was also the original broadcast home for the primetime specials produced by the National Geographic Society . The Geographic series in the U.S. started on CBS in 1964, before moving to ABC in 1973 (the specials subsequently moved to PBS – under the production of Pittsburgh member station WQED – in 1975 and NBC in 1995, before returning to PBS in 2000). The specials have featured stories on many scientific figures such as Louis Leakey , Jacques Cousteau , and Jane Goodall , that not only featured their work but helped make them internationally known and accessible to millions. A majority of

9855-654: The eloquent commentaries of Bernstein. The specials were nominated for several Emmy Awards , including two wins in 1961 and later in 1966, and were among the first programs ever broadcast from the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts . Over the years, CBS has broadcast three different productions of Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker – two live telecasts of the George Balanchine New York City Ballet production in 1957 and 1958 respectively,

9990-606: 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,

10125-416: 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,

10260-650: 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

10395-417: 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

10530-412: 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

10665-424: 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

10800-442: 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

10935-528: 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 a backdoor pilot that focused on

11070-417: The host of one of the network's game shows including Bob Barker from 1967 to 1987 (at which point Barker, an animal rights activist who eventually convinced producers of The Price Is Right to cease offering fur coats as prizes on the program, quit in a dispute over their use), succeed by Alan Thicke in 1988, Dick Clark from 1989 to 1993, and Bob Goen from 1994 to 1996. The pageant's highest viewership

11205-504: The hour-long series The Young and the Restless , which debuted in 1973, and the half-hour series The Bold and the Beautiful , which debuted in 1987. CBS has long aired the most soap operas out of the Big Three networks, carrying 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours of soaps on its daytime lineup from 1977 to 2009, and still retains the longest daily schedule. Other than Guiding Light , notable daytime soap operas that once aired on CBS include As

11340-543: 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

11475-463: The introduction of the Eye logo, featuring special IDs of logo versions from previous CBS image campaigns being shown during the network's primetime lineup. CBS historically used a specially-commissioned variant of Didot , a close relative to Bodoni , as its corporate font until 2021. CBS has developed several notable image campaigns, and several of the network's most well-known slogans were introduced in

11610-399: 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

11745-756: The late 1960s to the early 1970s). The eye logo has served as inspiration for the logos of Associated Television (ATV) in the United Kingdom, Canal 4 in El Salvador, Televisa in Mexico, France 3 , Latina Televisión in Peru, Fuji Television in Japan, Rede Bandeirantes and TV Globo in Brazil, and Canal 10 in Uruguay. In October 2011, the network celebrated the 60th anniversary of

11880-422: The launch of its over-the-top service HBO Now ) as the first OTT offering by a USA broadcast television network, the service initially encompassed the network's existing streaming portal at CBS.com and its mobile app for smartphones and tablet computers ; CBS All Access became available on Roku on April 7, 2015, and on Chromecast on May 14, 2015. In addition to providing full-length episodes of CBS programs,

12015-589: The launch of its simulcast feed CBS HD in September 1998, at the start of the 1998–99 season . That year, the network aired the first NFL game broadcast in high-definition, with the telecast of the New York Jets – Buffalo Bills game on November 8. The network gradually converted much of its existing programming from standard definition to high definition beginning with the 2000–01 season , with select shows among that season's slate of freshmen scripted series being broadcast in HD starting with their debuts. The Young and

12150-462: The multiple-voting shares held by National Amusements) were given a 72% stake in the combined Entercom, CBS no longer owns or operates any radio stations directly; however, it still provides radio news broadcasts to its radio affiliates and the new owners of its former radio stations, and licenses the rights to use CBS trademarks under a long-term contract. The television network has over 240 owned-and-operated and affiliated television stations throughout

12285-415: The network converted its on-screen graphical elements to a 16:9 widescreen presentation for all non-news and sports programs. Litton Entertainment continues to frame the graphical elements in their programs for Dream Team within a 4:3 frame due to them being positioned for future syndicated sales, though all of its programming has been in high definition. The CBS television network's initial logo, used from

12420-486: The network in 1932. CBS would then remain primarily an independent company throughout the next 63 years. Under Paley's guidance, CBS would first become one of the largest radio networks in the United States and eventually one of the Big Three American broadcast television networks. CBS ventured and expanded its horizons through television starting in the 1940s, spinning off its broadcast syndication division Viacom to

12555-635: The network include Beat the Clock and To Tell the Truth . Two long-running primetime-only games were the panel shows What's My Line? and I've Got a Secret . The network is also home to The Talk , a panel talk show similar in format to ABC's The View . It debuted in October 2010. As of the show's thirteenth season, the panel features Sheryl Underwood , Amanda Kloots , Jerry O'Connell , Akbar Gbajabiamila , and Natalie Morales who serves as moderator. CBS Daytime airs two daytime soap operas each weekday:

12690-497: 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

12825-568: The network's most prominent programs; however, episode back catalogs of certain past and present CBS series are available on the service through an agreement with CBS Television Distribution. Upon the release of the app in March 2013, CBS restricted streaming of the most recent episode of any of the network's programs on its streaming app for Apple iOS devices until eight days after their initial broadcast to encourage live or same-week (via both DVR and cable on demand) viewing; programming selections on

12960-402: The network's programming through various means, including via its website at CBS.com; the network's apps for iOS , Android , and newer version Windows devices; a traditional VOD service called CBS on Demand available on most traditional cable and IPTV providers; and through content deals with Amazon Video (which holds exclusive streaming rights to the CBS drama series Extant and Under

13095-472: 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

13230-455: The next 30 years. The CBS eye has since become a widely recognized symbol. While the logo has been used in different ways, the Eye device itself has never been redesigned. As part of a then-new graphical identity created by Trollbäck + Company that was used by the network during the 2006–2007 network television season, the eye was placed in a "trademark" position on show titles, days of the week and descriptive words, an approach highly respecting

13365-667: 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

13500-620: 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

13635-430: 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

13770-456: 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") was intended to serve as the series premiere but was rejected by the network, and a new first episode, "Train Job", was shot specifically for broadcast. Other television series are commissioned "straight-to-series" where a network orders

13905-405: 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

14040-414: The postwar graphic design field. The Eye device made its broadcast debut on October 20, 1951. The following season, as Golden prepared a new "ident", CBS President Frank Stanton insisted on keeping the Eye device and using it as much as possible. Golden died unexpectedly in 1959, and was replaced by Lou Dorfsman , one of his top assistants, who would go on to oversee all print and on-air graphics for CBS for

14175-553: 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

14310-509: 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

14445-470: 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

14580-432: 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

14715-414: 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

14850-532: The service allows live programming streams of local CBS affiliates in 124 markets reaching 75% of the United States. CBS All Access offered the most recent episodes of the network's shows the day after their original broadcast, as well as complete back catalogs of most of its current series and a wide selection of episodes of classic series from the CBS Television Distribution and ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks program library to subscribers of

14985-556: The service. CBS All Access also carried behind-the-scenes features from CBS programs and special events. Original programs aired on CBS All Access included Star Trek: Discovery , The Good Fight , and Big Brother: Over the Top . In December 2018, the service was launched in Australia under the name 10 All Access , due to its affiliation with CBS-owned free-to-air broadcaster Network 10 . Due to local programming rights, not all content

15120-580: The show has been hosted since 2007 by actor and comedian Drew Carey . The network is also home to the current incarnation of Let's Make a Deal , hosted by singer and comedian Wayne Brady . CBS is the only commercial broadcast network that continues to broadcast daytime game shows. Notable game shows that once aired as part of the network's daytime lineup include Match Game , Tattletales , The $ 10/25,000 Pyramid , Press Your Luck , Card Sharks , Family Feud , and Wheel of Fortune . Past game shows that have had both daytime and prime time runs on

15255-426: 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

15390-595: The sole broadcaster of The Kennedy Center Honors , a two-hour performing arts tribute typically taped and edited in December for later broadcast during the holiday season. CBS has 15 owned-and-operated stations, and current and pending affiliation agreements with 228 additional television stations encompassing 50 states, the District of Columbia, two U.S. possessions (Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands) and Bermuda and St. Vincent and

15525-657: The specials were narrated by various actors, notably Alexander Scourby during the CBS run. The success of the specials led in part to the creation of the National Geographic Channel , a cable channel launched in January 2001 as a joint venture between the National Geographic Society and Fox Cable Networks . The specials' distinctive theme music, by Elmer Bernstein , was also adopted by the National Geographic Channel. From 1949 to 2002,

15660-487: 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

15795-400: 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

15930-464: 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

16065-524: The tenure of William S. Paley (and can also refer to some of CBS's first demonstrations of color television , which were held in the former Tiffany and Company Building in New York City in 1950). The network has its origins in United Independent Broadcasters, Inc. , a radio network founded in Chicago by New York City talent agent Arthur Judson in January 1927. In April of that year,

16200-552: The time of the deal, Nickelodeon and CBS were corporate sisters through the latter's then parent company Viacom as a result of its 2000 merger with CBS Corporation. From 2002 to 2005, live-action and animated Nickelodeon series aimed at older children also aired as part of the block under the name Nick on CBS . Following the Viacom-CBS split, the network decided to discontinue the Nickelodeon content deal. In March 2006, CBS entered into

16335-422: The title role; that broadcast was seen by over 100 million people. It was subsequently remade by CBS in 1965, with Lesley Ann Warren, Stuart Damon, Ginger Rogers , and Walter Pidgeon among its stars; the remake also included the new song "Loneliness of Evening", which was originally composed in 1949 for South Pacific but was not performed in that musical. This version was rebroadcast several times on CBS into

16470-702: The two separated companies agreed to re-merge to become ViacomCBS (now known as Paramount Global). Following the sale, CBS and its other broadcasting and entertainment assets were reorganized into a new division, CBS Entertainment Group. CBS operated the CBS Radio network until 2017 when it sold its radio division to Entercom (now known as Audacy, Inc. since 2021). Before this, CBS Radio mainly provided news and feature content for its portfolio of owned-and-operated radio stations in large and mid-sized markets, as well as its affiliated radio stations in various other markets. While CBS Corporation common shareholders (i.e. not

16605-783: The value of the design. The logo is alternately known as the "Eyemark", a branding used for CBS' domestic television syndication division , under the Eyemark Entertainment name, in the mid-to-late 1990s after Westinghouse Electric bought CBS, but before the King World acquisition (which Eyemark was folded into), and subsequent merger with Viacom; Eyemark Entertainment was the result of the merger of MaXaM Entertainment (an independent television syndication firm which Westinghouse acquired shortly after its merger with CBS in 1996), Group W Productions (Westinghouse Broadcasting's own syndication division), & CBS Enterprises (CBS's syndication arm from

16740-509: 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 the anthology series . They have variously been used as

16875-704: The works of Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel), beginning with How the Grinch Stole Christmas in 1966, as well as several specials based on the Garfield comic strip during the 1980s (which led to Garfield getting his Saturday-morning cartoon on the network, Garfield and Friends , which ran from 1988 to 1995). Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer , produced in stop motion by Rankin/Bass , has been another annual holiday staple of CBS; however, that special first aired on NBC in 1964. As of 2011 , Rudolph and Frosty

17010-534: 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

17145-493: 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

17280-817: Was edited incidental music from the CBS crime drama Hawaii Five-O , titled "Call to Danger" on the Capitol Records soundtrack LP). This opening sequence appeared immediately before all CBS specials of the period (such as the Miss USA pageants and the annual presentation of the Kennedy Center Honors ), in addition to animated specials. CBS was also responsible for airing the series of Young People's Concerts , conducted by Leonard Bernstein . Telecast every few months between 1958 and 1972, first in black-and-white and then in color beginning in 1966, these programs introduced millions of children to classical music through

17415-455: Was formed as a spin-off of CBS in 1971. In 2005, Viacom split itself into two separate companies and re-established CBS Corporation through the spin-off of its broadcast television, radio and select cable television and non-broadcasting assets, with the CBS network at its core. CBS Corporation was controlled by Sumner Redstone through National Amusements , which also controlled the second incarnation of Viacom until December 4, 2019, when

17550-457: 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

17685-418: 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

17820-541: Was recorded in the early 1980s when it regularly topped the Nielsen ratings on the week of its broadcast. Viewership dropped sharply throughout the 1990s and 2000s, from an estimated viewership of 20 million to an average of 7 million from 2000 to 2001. In 2002, Donald Trump (owner of the Miss USA pageant's governing body, the Miss Universe Organization ) brokered a new deal with NBC, giving it half-ownership of

17955-462: 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

18090-483: Was renamed CBS WKND in 2023. CBS was the original broadcast network home of the animated primetime holiday specials based on the Peanuts comic strip, beginning with A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965. Over 30 holiday Peanuts specials (each for a specific holiday such as Halloween ) were broadcast on CBS until 2000 when the broadcast rights were acquired by ABC. CBS also aired several primetime animated specials based on

18225-462: Was the CBS Kidshow , which ran until 2000 and featured programming from Canadian studio Nelvana such as Anatole , Mythic Warriors , Rescue Heroes , and Flying Rhino Junior High . After its agreement with Nelvana ended, the network then entered into a deal with Nickelodeon to air programming from its Nick Jr. block beginning in September 2000, under the banner Nick Jr. on CBS . By

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