Talk:Television pilot

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[edit] History section needed

This article could use a history section. What was the first pilot episode aired? When did making of pilots become standard? Which company did it? Scott Ritchie 2 July 2005 22:49 (UTC)

[edit] Other countries

This article is very US-centric; it would be useful to provide links to alternative production methods used in other countries. I'm not sure whether a pilot episode-led system is prevalent only in America, or in some other countries too; but the British system is very different, as is, I expect, that of other places. DWaterson 21:03, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Too much Trek!

This is a good article and told me stuff I didn't know but there do seem to be an awful lot of Star Trek references. Actually the whole thing comes across as a little nerdy. This is not a criticism of the way the article is written, just that some variety in examples would be nice. No offense intended! Peteashton 07:39, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

I think that its a very good example, considering how Star Trek is one of the most influential and successful TV series of all time. Ararararias 12:00, 21 April 2007 (UTC)
I agree that "The Cage" is an excellent example of the "send it back for further development" pilot. However, when the article goes on to claim that merely showing Ro and O'Brian together on TNG was a backdoor pilot, it's reaching. There's a difference between a screen test and a pilot. Overall, the article is lacking examples from the earlier days of television, and it's completely bereft of discussion of how pilots establish ownership in a show. Networks and studios used to manipulate pilots in all sorts of ways that aren't really covered in this article. (See: Girl on the Run and Temple Houston (TV series) for just one way the article could be expanded.) CzechOut talk | work 02:03, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Suggest Move to Pilot (broadcast)

There are also a few, admittedly, only a few, radio pilots as well. I would suggest moving the page to accomodate them. Badbilltucker 14:10, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] backdoor pilots

Didn't Married...With Children try this a couple times during it's run. I know one had Matt Leblanc, but I thought there was another one as well. Sabalon 13:41, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

There was the radio studio and Bud's college one and I think another.
Duggy 1138 13:54, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] TV movies

There also seemed to be a trend in the 1970s of producing movies that have endured on their own, but were filmed as pilots for a series. "The Stranger" with Glenn Corbett and Cameron Mitchell, for one; "Earth II" (not to be confused with the 1990s series), for another. GBC 23:09, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Backdoor pilots

Backdoor pilots are episodes of of existing series and do not include TV movies and miniseries. The point of the "backdoor" is that it's the back of an existing series and not a new enterprise. This needs to be changed soon. The entire article is original research. --Chris Griswold (☎☓) 23:01, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

Backdoor Pilots are when creator makes a pilot without specific funding for one... by making it as an episode of another TV series or by making a MOW or mini-series.
Duggy 1138 01:22, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
Surely my Millennium example of an X-Files episode was a good one? leopheard 15:07, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
No. It wasn't. There was no Pilot for Millenium in The X-Files.
Sorry.
Duggy 1138 16:31, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Shows without a pilot.

While the addition seems to go against the point of this page, I can see how, well done, this section could be an interesting, informative addition. However just restating the section title and adding a dodgy example is none of those things. A brief description of why some shows don't need pilots would be great. For example, if that's So Raven didn't have a pilot, why not? What made the network pick the show up if there was nothing for them to see?

Without the extra info the addition is pointless. Duggy 1138 15:46, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lost's pilot is bare-bones?

This article claims that Lost's pilot is an example of a bare-bones pilot. However, the Lost article states that "Lost's two-part pilot episode was the most expensive in the network's history, reportedly costing between US $10 and US $14 million, compared to the average cost of an hour-long pilot in 2005 of US $4 million." Have I misunderstood the bare-bones concept? --Spug 09:27, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Maybe there was another unaired pilot. However, the Lost example was added anonymously during this edit, we need a reference for it. -- memset 09:19, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Orginal research

I was thinking of translating this article into Hungarian, but I am not sure, which parts should I avoid, as being original research, unsourced or dubious. --Dami 12:47, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

I initially added a refimprovesect template to the "Types of Pilots" section, which seems to be the most blatant example of unsourced or dubious research. Given that this has been tagged now for nearly five months, maybe it's time to start doing a little weeding? --jonny-mt 02:24, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Stargate SG-1

"Occasionally, more than one pilot is commissioned for a particular proposed television series to evaluate what the show would be like with modifications. Star Trek and Stargate SG-1 are famous examples of this situation." - There were two pilots made for Stargate SG-1? Tried searching for it but got nothing. There's no mention of it in the article about Stargate SG-1 either... Davhorn 12:22, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

I think that is a reference to the Stargate movie by someone who didn't understand the relationship between the two productions, and thought that the movie was originally a pilot for the TV series, rather than the movie inspiring the TV series. I will go ahead and remove the reference, since I've never heard of a pilot other than the first episode, Children of the Gods. 72.151.39.230 (talk) 16:23, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Not Without My Anus? More like not a backdoor pilot...

Why is that included? It's not a pilot of any sort, it was a practical joke Stone and Parker played on the audience. There never was any intention of a Terrance and Phillip series to launch based on that episode.69.216.115.65 03:48, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Examples of pilots within other series

Are these examples really "backdoor pilots"? The description of what that is says that such pilots are intentional, designed by the network and producers of a show to "test the waters" and gauge audience reaction to a show idea, without admitting as much. That is, you never know it's a "backdoor pilot" unless the series is picked up, but the "media insiders" do. Many of those examples, on the other hand, look like spin-offs, where a one-time character became so popular that the producers later decided to create a new series. --70.142.49.24 14:52, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

This all goes to intent, and intent is sometime hard to find. It can be guessed. It can be claimed. But what the original intent was isn't always clear. However,
A backdoor pilot is a "pilot episode filmed as a standalone movie, so it can be broadcast if not picked up as a series".[8] It is distinguished from a simple pilot in that it has a dual purpose. It has an inherent commercial value of its own while also being "proof of concept for the show, that's made to see if the series is worth bankrolling
Although the claim is "movie or mini-series" the point is, you are using money for one thing (a movie, a mini-series or an episode of an existing TV show) to be just that, a movie, a mini-series or an episode of a TV show but with the hope that the idea will become a show of its own. So, if an episode is written as a pilot of another show, it's a back door pilot.
Now, back to intent. Yes, there certainly are examples of in the list of "that idea was popular, let's make it a series." But once again, intent is hard to determine.
Duggy 1138 15:56, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

I just recently tagged the section as an {{examplefarm}} Surely not all of these listed examples are necessary to illustrate the term, and I agree that a good number of them are more appropriately considered spinoffs -- RoninBK T C 09:45, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Incredible Hulk TV movies?

Just wondering if they can be confirmed, as they are denoted as backdoor pilots in their own pages. Return of the Incredible Hulk is listed as such for Thor, while Trial of the Incredible Hulk features Daredevil, and both descriptions indicate that there were possible series planned for these characters. However I haven't been able to find anything concrete that suggests anything other than a tie-in to the Marvel Universe.... Enigmatic2k3 (talk) 20:22, 13 June 2008 (UTC)