Unsold TV Pilots: The Greatest Shows You Never Saw

by Lee Goldberg

  Cast: Glenn Ford (as Sam Jarrett), Anthony Quayle (Bassett Cosgrove), Forrest Tucker (as Reverend Vocal Simpson), Laraine Stephens (Sigrid Larsen), Yvonne Craig (Luluwa), Richard Anderson (Spenser Loomis), Herb Jeffries (Karoufi), Elliot Montgomery (Dr. Carey), Lee Kolima (Kara George), Joseph Paul Herrara (I Knooh), Bob Schott (Gordon), Peter Brocco (Arnheim), Jody Gilbert (Sawyer), Robert Easton (Toby), Stack Pierce (Prison Guard), Read Morgan (Casimin), Ted White (Arthur), Frank Arno (Motor Man).

  254. The Judge and Jake Wyler. NBC 12/2/72. 2 hours. Universal Television. Director: David Lowell Rich. Executive Producers/Writers: Richard Levinson and William Link. Producer: Jay Benson. Music: Gil Mille

  Bette Davis stars as a retired judge who becomes a private eye and lures Doug McClure, an ex-con serving his probation with her to be her legman. In the pilot, they help a girl prove tier father's suicide was actually murder. Davis was previously committed to Madame Sin, and could only star in a series as Judge Meredith if the ABC pilot failed. As it turned out, both pilots died-though this one didn't go quietly. It was pitched again the following year as Partners in Crime, starring Lee Grant as a judge who goes into the private detective business with ex-con, legman, Lou Antonio.

  Cast: Bette Davis (as Judge Meredith), Doug McClure (Jake Wyler), Eric Braeden (Anton Granicek), Joan Van Ark (Alicia Dodd), Gary Conway (Frank Morrison), Lou Jacobi (Lt. Wolfson), James McEachin (Quint), Lisabeth Hush (Caroline Dodd), Kent Smith (Robert Dodd), Barbara Rhoades (Chloe Jones), John Randolph (James Rockmore), Milt Kamen (Mr. Gilbert), John Lupton (Senator Joseph Pritchard), Michael Fox (Dr. Simon), Eddie Quillan (Billy Lambert), Celeste Yarnall (Ballerina), Ray Ballard (Harvey Zikoff), Virginia Capers (Mabel Cobb), Myron Natwick (Lyle Jefferson), Harriet E. MacGibbon (Hostess), Stuart Nisbet (Doctor), Rosanna Huffman (Receptionist), Steven Peck (Paul), Don Diamond (Workman), Margarita Cordova (Woman), Khalil Ben Bezaleel (African Diplomat).

  255. Las Vegas Beat. NBC 1961. 60 minutes. Fenady /Kowalski Corp., Goodson-Todman Productions, and NBC Productions. Director: Bernard L. Kowalski. Executive Producers: Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. Producer/Writer/Creator: Andrew J. Fenady. Music: Richard Markowitz.

  Peter Graves is Bill Bailin, an ex-cop-turned-private eye who works for the casinos and occasionally helps out the police, through his friend, Lt. Bernard McFeety (Richard Bakalyan). He's aided by a wisecracking assistant (Jamie Farr) and a crusty, cynical reporter (William Bryant). This pilot wasn't cheap. It was shot on location in Las Vegas, and featured a helicopter chase and a climax at Hoover Dam. The unusually violent story pits Bailin against a gang plotting to rob an armored car loaded with casino cash.

  "I played a kind of public relations guy who also worked as a detective for some of the casinos," recalls Graves. "It was going to be a mystery but it would incorporate Las Vegas shows." The pilot ended with a sales pitch from Graves to would-be sponsors. "Well, that's it. The pilot. The Beginning. Now it's a well known fact for the great majority of pilots, the beginning and the ending are one in the same. Quite unashamedly, we don't think that's so for 'Las Vegas Beat.' . . . We think we have a chemistry that adds up to a tubeful of excitement." Of course, Graves was wrong. Today, he still doesn't know what happened. "We had a very hot line to NBC and then all of a sudden we weren't hearing anything anymore."

  Cast: Peter Graves (as Bill Ballin), Jamie Farr (Gopher), William Bryant (R.G. Joseph), Richard Bakalyan (Lt. Bernard McFeety), Diane Millay (Cynthia Raine), Lawrence Dobkin (Fredericks), Maggie Mahoney (Helen Leopold), Jay Adler (Duke Masters), Tom Drake (Leopold), Jim Sutton (Martin Scott), also Harry Harvey, Jr., Ralph Moody, Beau Hickman, Jimmy Cavanaugh, Lisa Seagram, Bill Couch.

  256. Lassiter. CBS 7/8/68. 60 minutes. Filmways. Director: Sam Wanamaker. Producer/Writer: Richard Alan Simmons.

  Burt Reynolds played a freelance writer who specializes in exposing underworld crime for Contrast magazine.

  Cast: Burt Reynolds (as Pete Lassiter), Cameron Mitchell (Stan Marchek), Sharon Farrell (Joan Mears), James MacArthur (Russ Faine), Nicholas Colasanto (Charlie Leaf), Stanley Waxman (Pat), Lloyd Haynes (Kramer), Lawrence Haddon (Jerry Burns).

  257. Luxury Liner. NBC 2/12/63. 60 minutes. Four Star. Executive Producer: Dick Powell. Producer: Aaron Spelling. Music: Herschel Burke Gilbert.

  Aired as an episode of Dick Powell Theatre. An anthology/drama, which would be hosted by James Stewart, about the lives of the people who travel on a cruise ship commanded by Rory Calhoun, who would be the only regular. Over a decade later, producer Aaron Spelling would later take the same concept, add a touch of Love American Style, and title it The Love Boat.

  Cast: Rory Calhoun (as Capt. Victor Kihlgren), Jan Sterling (Selena Royce), Michael Davis (Digo), Carroll O'Connor (Dr. Lyman Savage), Ludwig Donath (Jan Veltman), Ed Kemmer (Sam Barrett), Oscar Beregi (La Guerne), Danny Scholl (Mr. Marion).

  258. The Man From Everywhere. CBS 4/13/61. 30 minutes. Four Star. Producer: Hal Hudson. Writer: Fred S. Fox.

  Aired as an episode of Zane Grey Theatre. Burt Reynolds is a saddle tramp wandering through the Old West, picking up odd jobs as he goes.

  Cast: Burt Reynolds (as Branch Taylor), Cesar Romero (Tom Bow-dry), King Calder (Sheriff Jed Morgan), Peter Whitney (Moose), Ruta Lee (Jenny Aldrich).

  259. The Mouse That Roared. CBS 1967. 30 minutes. Screen Gems. Producer: Jack Arnold.

  Sid Caesar plays three different roles in this pilot based on the Leonard Wibberly novel and the 1959 Peter Sellers movie about a mythical kingdom declaring war on the United States in order to lose—and then receive foreign aid. Arnold directed the original movie version. Costars include Joyce Jameson and Richard Deacon.

  260. Murder in Music City (aka Music City Murders; aka Country Music Murders; aka Sonny and Sam). NBC 1/16/79. 2 hours. Frankel Films/Gank Inc. Director: Leo Penn. Executive Producer: Ernie Frankel. Producer: Jimmy Sangster. Writers: Ernie Frankel and Jimmy Sangster. Music: Earle Hagen.

  Sonny Bono is a Nashville songwriter who buys a detective agency as a tax shelter and ends up taking over the business—with his bride, a model (Lee Purcell)—when the private eye is killed. Country singers Charlie Daniels, Larry Gatlin, Barbara Mandrell, Ronnie Milsap, Ray Stevens, and Mel Tillis all make cameo appearances as themselves.

  Cast: Sonny Bono (as Sonny Hunt), Lee Purcell (Samantha Hunt), Lucille Benson (Mrs. Bloom). Claude Akins (Billy West), Belinda J. Montgomery (Peggy Ann West), Morgan Fairchild (Dana Morgan), Michael MacRae (Chigger Wade), Harry Bellaver (Jim Feegan), Jim Owen (Sam Prine), T. Tommy Cutrer (Lt. Culver).

  261. The Oprah Winfrey Show (aka Natalie). ABC 1988. 30 minutes. Reeves Entertainment and Mort Lachman Productions... director: Barnet Kellman. Executive Producer: Mort Lachman. Writers: Winifred Hervey and Mort Lachman.

  ABC hoped to capitalize on the phenomenal success of syndicated talk-show host Oprah Winfrey by giving her a thirteen-episode commitment for a sitcom loosely based on her own life. However, Winfrey scuttled the deal after filming the pilot, which she publicly decried as horrible, and chose instead to concentrate on her fledgling movie career.

  262. The Orson Welles Show. NBC 9/16/58. 30 minutes. Desilu Productions. Producer/Director/Writer: Orson Welles.

  Aired as an episode of Colgate Theatre. The series would have been comprised of dramatizations of classic tales, including books by Kipling and H.G. Wells, as well as episodes devoted to magic, interviews, readings and whatever else Welles wanted to do. For the pilot, Welles directed and narrated an adaptation of John Collier's Fountain of Youth, about a scientist who invents a secret elixir that keeps people young. Before the pilot was even completed, the proposed series was doomed. Welles went over budget, took four weeks instead of the allotted ten days to shoot it, and threw an expensive wrap-party that he billed to Desilu. The pilot, though hailed by critics for its inventive directing and honored with the Peabody Award of Excellence, was rejected by the networks because they felt it was too sophisticated. It was, according to Variety, "unceremoniously dumped. Welles was never hired again to
direct anything in Hollywood."

  Cast: Orson Welles (as Dr. Humphrey Baxter), Joi Lansing (Caroline Coates), Rick Jason (Alan Broadie), Nancy Kulp (Stella Morgan), Billy House (Albert Morgan).

  263. Return of the Original Yellow Tornado. NBC 1967 30 minutes. Universal Television. Producer/Creator: Jack Laird. Writers: George Balzar, Hal Goldman, and Al Gordon.

  In the year 1987, two famous superheroes have retired. Then, the Yellow Tornado, their arch enemy whom they put in prison in 1967, is set free—and vows to wreak havoc on the world. Mickey Rooney and Eddie Mayehoff played the not so young good-guys.

  264. Savage. NBC 3/31/73. 90 minutes: Universal Television. Director: Steven Spielberg. Executive Producers/Creators: Richard Levinson and William Link. Producer: Paul Mason. Writers: Mark Rodgers, Richard Levinson, and William Link. Music: Gil Mille.

  Martin Landau is Savage, an investigative reporter with his own television show that examines the political world. Landau's then-wife Barbara Bain plays his producer. In the pilot, they investigate a scandal involving a Supreme Court nominee. This was the last TV movie Spielberg directed before going into motion pictures and becoming an industry unto himself. "It needed work, no question about it, but it was a good beginning," Landau says. "It was ahead of its time. That show was a platform to do intelligent television. It was television doing television and it was innovative as hell and we got shot down for the wrong reasons. It was clearly political. The network news department took exception to our show. I got a call from (Universal president) Sid Sheinberg and he said `it's the best thing we've got, NBC is crazy about it, it's on-the-air.' And it went from there to being buried in a week's time."

  Cast: Martin Landau (as Paul Savage), Barbara Bain (Gail Abbott), Will Geer (Joel Ryker), Paul Richards (Phillip Brooks), Michele Carey (Allison Baker), Barry Sullivan (Judge Daniel Stern), Louise Latham (Marion Stern), Dabney Coleman (Ted Seligson), Pat Harrington, Jr. (Russell), Susan Howard (Lee Reynolds), Jack Bender (Jerry).

  265. The Sheriff and the Astronaut. CBS 5/24/84. 60 minutes. Warner Bros. Television. Director: E.W. Swackhamer. Producers: Gerald DiPego and Robert Lovenheim. Writer: Gerald DiPego. Music: Basil Poledouris.

  Alec Baldwin is a Florida county sheriff in love with an astronaut (Ann Gillespie) and at odds with the space center's security chief (Keno Holliday).

  Cast: Ann Gillespie (as Dr. Ellen Vale), Alec Baldwin (Sheriff Ed Cassaday), Don Hood (Deputy Tom Cassaday), Kene Holliday (Al Stark), Gregg Berger (John Fitch), Tuck Milligan (Deputy Billy LaPantier), Scott Paulin (Robert Malfi), Ruth Drago (Felice Winter), John Randolph (Hank Bashaw), Steve Franken (Agent Henley), Bruce Fischer (Axel Soames), Stanley Kamel (Phillip Tabbet), Bill Morey (Charles Tabbet), Mark Schubb (Tim Hillman).

  266. The Shirley Temple Show. ABC 1965. 30 minutes. Twentieth Century Fox Television. Producer/Director: Vincent Sherman.

  Shirley Temple stars as a San Francisco social worker who gets involved with the people she works with.

  267. Tom Selleck Project. NBC 60 minutes 11/16/79. Cherokee Productions and Universal Television. Director: John Patterson. Executive Producer: Meta Rosenberg. Producers: Stephen J. Cannel!, Chas. Floyd Johnson, David Chase, and Juanita Bartlett. Writer/Creator: Stephen J. Cannell. Music: Mike Post and Pete Carpenter.

  Aired as the "Nice Guys Finish Dead" episode of The Rockford Files. Tom Selleck stars as mediocre private eye Lance White, who does everything wrong but still gets more glory than Jim Rockford (James Garner), who does everything right. Lance White is a spoof of Mannix and the epitome of the private eye cliché The Rockford Files set out to debunk. (The White character first appeared in the "White on White and Nearly Perfect" episode, which was written and directed by Cannell and aired on 10/20/78.)

  Cast: Tom Selleck (as Lance White), James Luisi (Lt. Chapman), Simon Oakland (Vernon St. Cloud), Larry Manetti (Larry St. Cloud), James Whitmore, Jr. (Fred Beemer), Joseph Bernard (Carmine Deangelo), Fritzi Burr (Mrs. DeAngelo), Roscoe Born (TV Commentator), Steve James (Newsman), Al Berry (Ed Fuller), Gregory Norman Cruz (Attendant), Larry Dunn (Norm Cross), John Lombardo (Police Clerk).

  THE NEW OLD

  TELEVISION SERIES REVIVALS

  Old is the newest thing on television these days. You only have to crack open the latest TV Guide to sec that for yourself . . . Kojak, Perry Mason, The Bradys, Star Trek, Dark Shadows, and the Mission Impossible team are all back, even if they are a bit older and fatter than you remember them.

  Television series revivals and remakes are exploding across the big and small screen—a trend that began with Rescue From Gilligan's Island in 1978 and has continued, unabated, through the eighties and into the nineties with resurrections of such favorites as Maverick and such losers as That's My Mama.

  It's a trend that has reached insane proportions. Maverick was revived three times in three years on three networks, while in syndication, independent stations revived a revival of The Twilight Zone. With a hundred revivals done already, there aren't many "old favorites" left. Why this mad rush to remake the old shows'?

  Sheer desperation.

  The television marketplace has radically changed in the last ten years. The three networks once dominated television, but now they are running scared, looking over their shoulders at the likes of HBO, Lifetime, MTV, and the coalition of independent stations that are producing their own network-quality programming, as well as made-for-home video.

  The good old days are gone, but the networks are hoping to regain some of their lost glory by recreating them. And, to some degree, it's working.

  Rescue From Gilligan's island, which started the whole trend, copped a staggering 30.4 rating, 52 share. More recently, A Very Brady Christmas stomped the competition with a 25.1 rating, 39 share.

  Now, NBC routinely trots out Perry Mason specials during the crucial "sweeps" periods to stoke ratings, while other networks ravage their old TV Guides, searching for the few ancient hits left to exhume. While the "one-shot" reunion specials may shore up sagging audience shares, the series that spin off from them aren't so lucky. The Bradys, Sanford, Kojak, Bret Maverick, and Mission Impossible, to name a few, all bombed.

  Yet cable producers, not to be outmaneuvered, are willing to feed on nostalgia, too. Showtime revived The Paper Chase, the Disney Channel mounted Still the Beaver, and independent stations have turned Star Trek—The Next Generation into a bigger hit than the original series. Even the movie industry, feeling the pinch from cable and home video, has gotten into the act, recruiting Star Trek, Get Smart, The Jetsons, The Twilight Zone, Dragnet, Addams Family, Car 54 – Where Are You, and The Untouchables to lure patrons to the box-office.

  And more are on the way.

  All this nostalgia makes the studios very happy. It's a way to tack on additional episodes to tired syndication packages, a way to make old series look more attractive as reruns and to rekindle interest in forgotten shows. It's also easier to sell a network or station consortium a revived older series than a new one, the theory being if they liked it once, maybe they'll like it all over again.

  But there's something more at work here than network panic and studio greed.

  We've grown up with television. There's something comforting about seeing those familiar faces again, even if the hair is gray, the paunches pronounced, and the smiles not as sparkling.

  Because, for that hour or two, we aren't just anonymous TV viewers sitting alone in our living rooms—we're plugging into a big, cultural, family reunion, sharing fond memories and old friends.

  And despite the crass manipulation of it all, that's still pretty special.

  268. Aliens Are Coming (aka The Aliens; aka The New Invaders). NBC 3/2/80. 2 hours. Quinn Martin Productions. Director: Harvey Hart. Executive Producer: Quinn Martin. Producer: Philip Saltzman. Writer: Robert W. Lenski. Music: William Goldstein.

  A new version of The Invaders, Quinn Martin's 1967-68 series about an architect who knows Earth is being invaded by humanoid aliens—but only a handful of people believe him. In this r
emake/pilot, Dr. Scott Dryden tries to stop invading aliens who possess earthlings to achieve their evil ends. But Dr. Dryden isn't fighting alone—he works with the Nero Institute, where he gets help from Leonard Nero and Gwen O'Brien.

  Cast: Tom Mason (as Dr. Scott Dryden), Melinda Fee (Gwen O'Brien), Eric Braeden (Leonard Nero), Max Gail (Russ Garner), Caroline McWilliams (Sue Garner), Matthew Laborteaux (Timmy Garner), Fawne Harriman (Joyce Cummings), Ron Masak (Harve Nelson), John Milford (Eldon Gates), Lawrence Haddon (Bert Fowler), Hank Brandt (John Sebastian), Richard Lockmiller (Officer Strong), Sean Griffin (Dr. Conley), Gerald McRaney (Norman), Curtis Credel (Frank Foley).

  269. Dobie Gillis [Pilot # I] Whatever Happened to Dobie Gillis? CBS 30 minutes. 5/10/77. Komack Company. Directors: James Komack and Gary Shimokawa. Executive Producers: James Komack and Paul Mason. Producer: Michael Manheim. Writers: Peter Meyerson and Nick Arnold. Creator: Max Schulman. Music: Randy Newman.