Back in the late 70s and early 80s, I watched just about every television show with an SF or fantasy premise, even the most obscure (“A Year at the Top,” “Tabitha,” “Dr. Strange”, etc.) including a couple of shows that only had pilot episodes. Today I was thinking of one of those pilots that wasn’t picked up - it was about someone from the present day (of the time - ~ 1980) who is cryogenically frozen and wakes in the future. There’s a prejudice against revivees - they’re referred to by the impolite as “dead people” (or something like that). Our hero gets a job at an antique store, and makes friends with people from the future, who have a haughty robot and refresh themselves by taking short naps in what looks like a giant toaster. One joke I remember in particular is that when our hero visits his friends, he finds out that they are watching “I Love Lucy” - he’s shocked to find out that those reruns are still being broadcast. Anyone know of a good list of pilots from that era that were never picked up?
Is it possible you watched it during a Schwerin test session? Did you ever get invited to a theater or similar setting to “rate TV shows?” The Schwerin system is actually about testing the commercials, but the filler material they use is often discarded TV pilots. I saw a couple of really, really bizarre pilots that way.
Point being, there might not be anyone who ever saw it with you, if it wasn’t publicly shown.
No, I definitely saw it on broadcast TV. Wouldn’t surprise me if the show ended up being used as filler material though.
Heh…almost sounds like Futurama.
I’m wondering if Andy L is conflating two obscure pilots. The description of “Stick Around” doesn’t mention anything about cryogenics.
I asked a similarquestion several (holy crap! more than 7!) years ago about a pilot I remembered. I still haven’t figured out what it was called.
Baldwin, a poster who is now banned, at least knew what I was talking about. I’m not sure if it is kosher to quote banned posters, but his reply is post #5 in the linked thread.
So even if Andy L wasn’t conflating the two shows, and his question has been answered, I’ll shamelessly take this opportunity to ask mine again.
And you can watch it on youtube! What a country!
That’s it. I just watched the first 3/4 of it on Youtube, and spotted the two scenes I remembered best (the burglary in part II starting at about 2:50 and the scene when Lucy is mentioned in Part III starting at 3:25. It’s funny what I misremembered - I thought the show was about the neighbor from the past, and forgot about Andy the robot - I just remembered the obnoxious other robot (Earl). Another weird fact - when the show was broadcast in 1977, 2055 was unimaginably far in the future - but 2016 (just 3 years from now) is halfway between 1977 and 2055.
Thanks, GuanoLad.
That does sound familiar to me too; I’ll think about it. This book “Experimental Television, Test Films, Pilots and Trial Series” http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/experimental-television-test-films-pilots-and-trial-series-1925-through-1995-vincent-terrace/1111757137 lists my show - so maybe it mentions yours too (unfortunately the book isn’t available electronically, but it might be available from a library).
“America 2100”? A description of it is given at the bottom of this page:
Wow, the internet is awesome. When I was a kid and I had a vague memory of something like this – tough luck!
The title doesn’t ring a bell, but that description is definitely the show I’m thinking about. Thanks!
Yeah. It’s great.
There are several short stories about people trying to find vaguely remembered shows:
“Sitcom” by Lewis Shiner called " http://www.lewisshiner.com/liberation/sitcom.html
“Candle Cove” (deeply creepy) http://www.ichorfalls.com/2009/03/15/candle-cove/
“Mr. Goober’s Show” by Harold Waldrop http://www.astralgia.com/webportfolio/omnimoment/fiction/goober/index.html