# Movies and Pilots that were supposed to be a series but weren't **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [November 3, 2020, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650 "2020-11-03T15:08:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/121 "2020-12-16T16:27:44Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Even earlier than that, **Mr. Magoo’s A Christmas Carol** lead to the prime-time animated series **The Famous Adventures of Mister Magoo** in 1964, in which the nearsighted hero of UPA cartoons was shoehorned into famous works of fiction in half-hour long productions . A sort of _Classics Illustrated_ on TV. Or a proto-“Wishbone” > > It flopped and lasted only one season. They hadn’t tumbled to the fact that it was a “Christmas” special that was the attraction, not that it was a prime-time TV cartoon. There were already several of those. > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tkNmb4M2lg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tkNmb4M2lg) > [The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Famous_Adventures_of_Mr._Magoo) A little trivia: The powers at NBC wanted Jim Backus (Magoo’s voice) to do a promo for the show that was coming up next. Backus said he’d rather have the viewers switch to CBS, where he was in _Gilligan’s Island._ Later, Magoo changed its time slot so it was opposite Gilligan, making Backus the first actor to appear in two shows on two different networks in the same time slot. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/122 "2020-12-16T18:48:14Z")
Another Christmas special that was supposed to be the pilot for a planned full series is the INFAMOUS 2002 cgi nightmare cartoon **Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa** which despite having top tier voice talent including Mark Hamill, Nancy Cartwright, and Clint Howard looks like it was done as a high school computer class final project from the mid 90s. And somehow the producers behind it were somehow able to con the WB channel to air it in over 100 markets. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/123 "2020-12-16T19:14:45Z")
I never heard of this but it sounds like Classic BadFilm. I assume “Rapsittie” is a “cute” misspelling of “Rhapsody”, but with a shout out to “Rap”. Not sure if I should track this turkey down and watch it. > **[Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapsittie_Street_Kids:_Believe_in_Santa)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa is a 2002 American musical animated Christmas special. One of two films produced by Colin Slater's Wolf Tracer Studios, the special features the voices of Walter Emanuel Jones, Mark Hamill, Jodi Benson, Paige O'Hara and Nancy Cartwright. Believe in Santa tells the story of how suburban boy Ricky Rodgers celebrates Christmas after the death of his mother. > Believe in Santa was broadcast throughout December in... ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/124 "2020-12-16T20:33:40Z")
The New York Times has an [article](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/movies/heat-anniversary.html) (paywall warning) today on an interesting corollary to this subject. In 1989, Michael Mann (of Miami Vice and Crime Story fame) made a TV movie called L.A. Takedown as the pilot for a series but NBC chose not to proceed. Later, he remade the story as the 1995 movie Heat. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2020, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/125 "2020-12-17T04:59:47Z")
Whole thing’s on [youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e-wuyjgDPQ). Thanks for mentioning this one **Asuka** , I hadn’t heard of it, and it’s truly an abomination. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2020, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/126 "2020-12-17T19:40:36Z")
Related to pilots, there is the [Dead Pilots Society](https://maximumfun.org/podcasts/dead-pilots-society/) podcast where actors and writers do table reads of their scripts that didn’t even make it to the pilot stage. When it started I listened to the first few episodes, and some of the pilots had moments, but on the whole it was real obvious why these shows were never made. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2020, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/127 "2020-12-18T17:34:13Z")
The problem with the Fox DW movie was that it tried to reintroduce the entirety of the mythos in one shot. The 2005 series started off just right: having a perfectly normal person just happen to run into this mysterious guy while he’s busy saving the world. Then it let the info about the TARDIS and the Time Lords and all the other goodies get served in dribs and drabs through the next few episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/128 "2020-12-18T17:56:52Z")
The 2009 movie _Push_ was clearly supposed to be the first movie in a larger series. But the producers apparently figured that Chris Evans wasn’t a credible lead in a superhero movie. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2020, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/129 "2020-12-18T18:06:02Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Whole thing’s on [youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e-wuyjgDPQ). > > Thanks for mentioning this one **Asuka** , I hadn’t heard of it, and it’s truly an abomination. Was this created on a Commodore 64? ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2020, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/130 "2020-12-18T18:25:51Z")
The thing that just cracked me up was noticing that during the [group scenes](https://youtu.be/4e-wuyjgDPQ?t=2244) only 1 or max 2 people are moving at any time; the rest are frozen. I guess it’s teaching kids a good lesson not to interrupt people; patiently (paralysed-ly) wait your turn to speak. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2020, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/131 "2020-12-18T19:13:53Z")
I have to concur. Remember when Evans played the Human Torch in those two Fantastic Four movies? They were only so-so. I can’t imagine that there’s any other evidence that might have come along that would change my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2020, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/132 "2020-12-18T21:40:16Z")
And they replaced him in the latest FF movie with an entirely different actor. I don’t think Evans has much of a future as a leading man after that. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2020, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/133 "2020-12-18T21:52:07Z")
The 2015 Fantastic Four, with Michael B Jordan as Johnny Storm and Miles Teller as Reed Richards? They were clearly going for a younger cast and probably a cheaper payroll, which was why they didn’t have people like Chris Evans in it. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2020, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/134 "2020-12-18T22:41:15Z")
Yes, that’s… that’s the joke. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2020, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/135 "2020-12-18T22:42:03Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > The INFAMOUS 2002 cgi nightmare cartoon **Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa** which… looks like it was done as a high school computer class final project from the mid 90s. Boy, you are NOT kidding about the awkwardly lame CGI. Character’s heads float and move differently than their bodies, extremities and facial features move in ways no human does, and the… well, I’m sending this to a few artsy people (they’ll love the titles in comic Sans, too! _Merry Christmas… full of pain, graphic designer friends!)_ [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/4e-wuyjgDPQ/hqdefault.jpg "Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa (EXTREMELY RARE 2002 TV MOVIE)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e-wuyjgDPQ) ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2020, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/136 "2020-12-18T23:21:10Z")
> [@digs](#): > > (EXTREMELY RARE 2002 TV MOVIE) Extremely rare (well, certainly not extremely well done). ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2020, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/137 "2020-12-19T01:00:20Z")
Dear Og, put a spoiler tag on shit like that! 😣 My eyes! 😭 ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2020, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/138 "2020-12-19T01:31:21Z")
_Your_ eyes? I watched most\* of that abomination! And I teach computer graphics! \*It felt SO good to quit… (sorry to be part of torturing the world with it!) ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2020, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/139 "2020-12-19T02:57:27Z")
That movie actually fits with this thread as “a Movie that was supposed to be a movie series/franchise but weren’t”. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2020, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/140 "2020-12-19T14:38:30Z")
I think you’ve found the perfect “What Not To Do” example for your classes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650.md?page=8)