# Backdoor Pilots **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 22, 2015, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356 "2015-02-22T17:53:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356/21 "2015-02-22T21:12:37Z")
Would the Simpson’s shorts in _The Tracy Ullman Show_ count? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356/22 "2015-02-22T22:26:54Z")
Jack Webb tried it with Mark Harmon on an episode of “Emergency”–“[905-WILD](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0570596/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv)” was an animal control group. It totally sucked. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356/23 "2015-02-22T23:09:02Z")
_Private Practice_ started as a two-part episode of _Grey’s Anatomy_. When it became a real series, the actress who played Naomi changed. _Happy Days_ itself was a sort of a backdoor pilot. It was filmed as a regular pilot. Got passed on, it was turned into a segment of _Love American Style_ which attracted interest and the show got picked up. An anti-backdoor pilot is _The Bionic Woman_. Jaime died in her _Six Million Dollar Man_ segment. But having a dead lead character never stopped a network. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356/24 "2015-02-22T23:09:37Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Jack Webb tried it with Mark Harmon on an episode of “Emergency”–“[905-WILD](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0570596/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv)” was an animal control group. It totally sucked. He also did it on Adam-12, “Clinic on 18th Street”. It, too, wasn’t very good. Magnum PI had at least two: “J Digger Doyle” and “Birds of a Feather”. CHiPS had one with Fred Dryer that was horrible called “Force Seven”. You know the fake pilot that was a plot point in _Pulp Fiction_, “Fox Force Five”? Well, this one was worse, and it was real. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356/25 "2015-02-22T23:48:08Z")
Near the end of its run, _Green Acres_ had an episode where Oliver and Lisa go for a romantic vacation at a tropical resort (might have been Hawaii.) They disappeared and the rest of the episode centered around the wacky misadventures of the hotel manager and his daughter. Ahh, checking IMDB shows not only that episode, but another backdoor pilot with Oliver’s ex-secretary and her new boss. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356/26 "2015-02-22T23:48:22Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > There was an NCIS episode (it may have consisted of two episodes, the first being “continued”) in which the characters — the Red Team, IIRC — working with a different cast operating out of two double-wide trailers trucking around the U.S. Southwest. > > It was even sillier than NCIS New Orleans, where, at least, spies, pirates and the U.S. Navy don’t sail around in the desert. NCIS was a backdoor pilot itself. It was originally introduced on an episode of JAG. NCIS: LA, NCIS: Red, and NCIS: NO were all introduced as backdoor pilots on NCIS. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356/27 "2015-02-22T23:52:14Z")
They did an INCREDIBLE HULK episode where Bill Bixby studied meditative kung-fu, which didn’t help him control the raging spirit that dwells within him – but was great stuff for young private eye Rick Springfield, using his (a) Chinatown connections to crack cases that baffle the cops, and his (b) martial artistry to foil assailants. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356/28 "2015-02-23T00:17:17Z")
Does Doctor Who / Torchwood count? ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356/29 "2015-02-23T00:25:13Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > _Happy Days_ itself was a sort of a backdoor pilot. It was filmed as a regular pilot. Got passed on, it was turned into a segment of _Love American Style_ which attracted interest and the show got picked up. “Happy Days” got no interest until after “American Graffiti” became a hit. Well, that and “Grease” becoming a popular play. “Love, American Style” was a graveyard for pilots that didn’t get picked up. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356/30 "2015-02-23T00:48:32Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > But were any of these actually cases of backdoor pilots? I think they were simply spinoffs of popular or memorable characters that were decided upon after the fact. Sort of like _Better Call Saul_ is a spinoff of _Breaking Bad_ but did not originate as a backdoor pilot. Yes, these were all spin-offs, not backdoor pilots. \*Maude \*itself was a backdoor pilot episode of _All in the Family_. Bea Arthur first played the character in a regular episode of AITF were she takes care of the sick Bunkers. The character proved very popular [(it contains one of Archie’s funniest monologs)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkIZlk-QOZs) so later they did do [a backdoor pilot episode](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4Xj7m-1j50) that takes place mostly on the new ‘Maude’ set but it was still an AITF episode (Maude is Edith’s cousin so she & Archie come to Maude’s daughter’s wedding). It also proved popular enough that the series was picked up. BTW, a different actress, not Adrienne Barbeau, played Maude’s daughter in that episode. But neither _The Jeffersons_ nor _Good Times_ had backdoor pilots. In fact, while the spin-off premise for _The Jeffersons_ was perfectly believable, it made little sense how Esther Rolle’s _Maude_ character ‘Florida’ could have gone from being a maid in an upscale Westchester NY home to suddenly having a big family & living in poverty in the Chicago projects! (the 70s were a simpler time :D) _Mork & Mindy_ in particular was not a backdoor pilot. In the original \*Happy Days \*episode featuring Robin Williams as Mork it was established at the end that the whole thing was Richie’s dream. But Williams’ character was so popular ABC green lit him a sitcom based on it. So right before the premiere of M&M they reran that episode of _Happy Days_ only this time they had filmed & added a new, tacked-on ending. Robin Williams is shown alone outside the Cunningham’s house where he does some Mork schtick and says how he in fact erased Richie’s memory, then he time travels ahead to the present day (the late 70s). Same for _Laverne & Shirley_. The two of them were a little ‘rough’ around the edges in their\* Happy Days\* introduction where they double date Richie & Fonzie. They actually get into an off-camera cat fight over a joke Laverne makes. Shirley was especially more blue-collar like Laverne. When they got their own show the creator, Garry Marshall, essentially made it a female \*Odd Couple \*(also his show) so Shirley was made into a female ‘Felix’… ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356/31 "2015-02-23T01:07:39Z")
A few weeks ago TNT ran an episode of Supernatural that I’m positive was a backdoor pilot (I didn’t know the exact term until this thread). Yeah, Googling “Supernatural backdoor pilot” Wikipedia confirms that the episode [Bloodlines](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernatural:_Bloodlines) was a backdoor pilot. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356/32 "2015-02-23T01:21:29Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Near the end of its run, _Green Acres_ had an episode where Oliver and Lisa go for a romantic vacation at a tropical resort (might have been Hawaii.) They disappeared and the rest of the episode centered around the wacky misadventures of the hotel manager and his daughter. > > Ahh, checking IMDB shows not only that episode, but another backdoor pilot with Oliver’s ex-secretary and her new boss. Yes, they were the last 2 episodes of **Green Acres** to boot. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356/33 "2015-02-23T01:22:05Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > A few weeks ago TNT ran an episode of Supernatural that I’m positive was a backdoor pilot (I didn’t know the exact term until this thread). > > Yeah, Googling “Supernatural backdoor pilot” Wikipedia confirms that the episode [Bloodlines](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernatural:_Bloodlines) was a backdoor pilot. And it was horrible. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356/34 "2015-02-23T01:24:34Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > And it was horrible. I totally agree. ---
**Author:** ![Monkey\_Chews](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Monkey\_Chews](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkey_Chews)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356/35 "2015-02-23T03:37:52Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > Does Doctor Who / Torchwood count? Nope, that was just your garden variety spin-off. The Doctor Who episodes are proper, regular episodes of Doctor Who (if rather important, as the season finale), rather than being a test-run of a Torchwood episode. And they hadn’t come up with the concept for the spin-off when those episodes of Doctor Who were written. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356/36 "2015-02-23T05:34:47Z")
Didn’t _Cheers_ do a backdoor pilot for _The Tortellis_? I don’t remember for sure, but I do remember a bunch of episodes focused on them. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356/37 "2015-02-23T06:15:28Z")
What about the “Wojo’s Girl” episodes of “Barney Miller”? ["Barney Miller" Wojo's Girl: Part 1 (TV Episode 1979) - Trivia - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0519156/trivia) > [@](#): > > This two-part episode was the pilot for a potential spin-off series titled “Off Duty”. Each episode was to focus on one of the detectives’ home life. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356/38 "2015-02-23T06:25:24Z")
**Gomer Pyle USMC** began with a backdoor pilot on the **Andy Griffith Show**. The backdoor pilot episode centers on Gomer Pyle joining the Marines, and Andy Griffith just pops up a few times to remind us that this is still the Andy Griffith Show. ---
**Author:** ![RobotDevilDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19adc/32.png) [@RobotDevilDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobotDevilDog)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356/39 "2015-02-23T06:49:08Z")
_Who’s the Boss?_ had two backdoor pilots, one of which made it to its own series, the other didn’t. The more successful one was _Living Dolls_, which starred Michael Learned, Leah Remini and Halle Berry (!). The other one was to be called _Charmed Lives_, with Fran Drescher and Donna Dixon, but was never spun off at all. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356/40 "2015-02-23T07:07:17Z")
Charles in Charge had at least one–a show about a car wash run by Charles’ mom (played by John Travolta’s mom? Sister?) Charles showed up at the beginning and then at the end of the episode. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backdoor-pilots/713356.md?page=3)