# Shows that weren't picked up as a series/never came to be. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 6, 2020, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024 "2020-03-06T18:25:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024/21 "2020-03-06T23:14:24Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Was that the one where the kid and his older friend got free pizzas from a Domino’s dumpster? All they had to do was order them over the phone, not pick them up, and then wait for them to get tossed out. That sounds like something he would do. I don’t remember that particular episode though. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024/22 "2020-03-06T23:23:04Z")
There were a couple of specials on CBS and ABC, in 1996 and 2004 respectively, dedicated to unsold pilots. A good place to start for those interested in the topic. [_The Greatest Shows You Never Saw_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_rzKHdSL4k) [_Best TV Shows That Never Were_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7fu7Nn_Tdk) One that caught my eye: _Poor Devil_, 1973. It starred Sammy Davis Junior as a clutzy minion of Lucifer, who can’t seem to harvest his requisite quota of souls. Just to see Sammy with horns, flashing the Devil sign like at a Black Sabbath concert… ---
**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:** [March 6, 2020, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024/23 "2020-03-06T23:28:07Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The story I read was that Ruddy (or Fein) was on the way home after the original concept (set in a US prison) was rejected. On the plane, he saw someone reading the book _ **Stalag 17** _ (the play, I presume), rewrote the proposed script overnight, and headed back the next day. It was originally called _ **Stalag 13** _, but the title was changed to avoid charges of plagarism. > > I’ve never heard of _ **Campo 44** _, but I find it odd that it’s dated 1967. _ **Hogan’s Heroes** _ debuted in 1965, meaning the other series would have been in limbo for at least two years. > > Vito Scotti played an Italian officer on _ **Hogan’s Heroes** _ (Major Bonacelli). He agreed to work for the Allies before he went back to Italy. I wonder if _ **Campo 44** _ wasn’t an attempt at a spinoff. The accounts I’ve seen indicate that _Campo 44_ was written and pitched before _Hogan’s Heroes_ but couldn’t go to pilot until after. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024/24 "2020-03-06T23:30:02Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > This show made it to production, but holly crap was it a bad idea. > > Basically a con artist gives his viewers step by step instructions on how to pull off some of his easier scams. Like how to get a free meal from McDonald’s. Or how to have two hot models clean your house for free. > > I can’t believe that show ever made it on the air even if it was short lived. Sounds like the Abbie Hoffman book Steal this Book where he wrote about various scams. As you might guess it was turned down by many publishers before it was released. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024/25 "2020-03-06T23:33:55Z")
Disney was talking about a traditionally animated TV version of an Incredibles series. Vanished. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024/26 "2020-03-06T23:43:11Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > There was also a retooling of _ **Genesis II** _ after it wasn’t picked up. It was called _ **Planet Earth** _ and starred John Saxon. And it was re-tooled yet again, as _ **Strange New World.** _ ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024/27 "2020-03-06T23:54:22Z")
_Supernatural_ had two backdoor pilots–[_Wayward Sisters_](https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/pics-from-supernaturals-wayward-sisters-backdoor-pilot-are-proof-we-need-this-spinoff), which should have become a series, and [_Bloodlines_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernatural:_Bloodlines), which good riddance. ---
**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:** [March 7, 2020, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024/28 "2020-03-07T02:44:26Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Early '70s: Gene Roddenberry’s _ **Genesis II** _ and _ **Questor** _. The pilots were made and aired, and they were excellent. Unfortunately, they were never picked up as series. In the case of the latter, it was said the network thought it was too much like _ **The Six Million Dollar Man** _. :rolleyes: > [@CastletonSnob](#): > > IIRC, Roddenberry also wanted to make a new Star Trek series titled Phase II. > [@terentii](#): > > Yes. It eventually morphed into the first motion picture a couple of years later, riding the popularity of _ **Star Wars** _. > > There was also a retooling of _ **Genesis II** _ after it wasn’t picked up. It was called _ **Planet Earth** _ and starred John Saxon. > > “Assignment: Earth” was the final episode of _ **TOS** _’s second season. Roddenberry came up with it because at the time, he wasn’t sure the series would be renewed for a third one. > [@terentii](#): > > There was another pilot sadly not picked up: _ **Spectre** _, Roddenberry’s venture into the supernatural. I saw it on late-night TV back in 1977 or '78. > > [Spectre (1977 film) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectre_(1977_film)) > > I had seen John Hurt a couple of years earier, playing Caligula in _ **I, Claudius** _. He was just as scary in _ **Spectre** _. > [@mbh](#): > > And it was re-tooled yet again, as _ **Strange New World.** _ There was also a non-Roddenberry pilot called _ **Earth II** _ with Gary Lockwood and two-navelled Mariette Hartley on a space station. ---
**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:** [March 7, 2020, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024/29 "2020-03-07T02:48:43Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Early '70s: Gene Roddenberry’s _ **Genesis II** _ and _ **Questor** _. The pilots were made and aired, and they were excellent. Unfortunately, they were never picked up as series. In the case of the latter, it was said the network thought it was too much like _ **The Six Million Dollar Man** _. :rolleyes: > [@CastletonSnob](#): > > IIRC, Roddenberry also wanted to make a new Star Trek series titled Phase II. > [@terentii](#): > > Yes. It eventually morphed into the first motion picture a couple of years later, riding the popularity of _ **Star Wars** _. > > There was also a retooling of _ **Genesis II** _ after it wasn’t picked up. It was called _ **Planet Earth** _ and starred John Saxon. > > “Assignment: Earth” was the final episode of _ **TOS** _’s second season. Roddenberry came up with it because at the time, he wasn’t sure the series would be renewed for a third one. > [@terentii](#): > > There was another pilot sadly not picked up: _ **Spectre** _, Roddenberry’s venture into the supernatural. I saw it on late-night TV back in 1977 or '78. > > [Spectre (1977 film) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectre_(1977_film)) > > I had seen John Hurt a couple of years earier, playing Caligula in _ **I, Claudius** _. He was just as scary in _ **Spectre** _. > [@mbh](#): > > And it was re-tooled yet again, as _ **Strange New World.** _ There was also a non-Roddenberry pilot called _**[Earth II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_II)**_ with Gary Lockwood and two-navelled Mariette Hartley on a space station. ETA: Sorry folks, duplicate post. Beachballs, spinning tabs and time-out pages. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024/30 "2020-03-07T03:20:13Z")
“Zelda” would have spun off Sheila James’ character from “Dobie Gillis” in 1961. Sadly enough, Sheila would relate the reason it never got past the pilot stage was the network execs found out she was a lesbian. “Snip” from 1976 was yanked from the schedule before airing for much the same reasons–[the show featured a gay character.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snip_(TV_series)) In a much lighter vein, probably Norman Lear’s biggest flop was a producer was 1979’s “A Dog’s Life”, which only saw the pilot aired. [The reason–it was awful](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxcjvXHWdgk) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024/31 "2020-03-07T03:43:13Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Sounds like the Abbie Hoffman book Steal this Book where he wrote about various scams. As you might guess it was turned down by many publishers before it was released. My favorite parts were how to get free food by crashing weddings and funerals, and how to manufacture coins for pay phones and vending machines by Scotch taping over appropriately sized washers. 🆒 ---
**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:** [March 7, 2020, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024/32 "2020-03-07T05:46:50Z")
There was a pilot for a tv series version of Zero Effect. I saw it on a program called “Brilliant but Cancelled”. There was another good sounding pilot in there, but damn if I can remember what it was. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024/33 "2020-03-07T17:43:43Z")
One more of Roddenberry’s pre-\*\*\*TOS \*\*\*pilots that was produced but not picked up: _ **Police Story** _, which featured both DeForest Kelley and Grace Lee Whitney. From what I’ve read, it was an early \*\*\*CSI \*\*\*concept. It was apparently Kelley’s performance as the medical examiner that led to his casting as Dr McCoy, replacing Paul Fix as the \*Enterprise \*CMO in the second \*\*\*ST \*\*\*pilot. ---
**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:** [March 7, 2020, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024/34 "2020-03-07T18:06:16Z")
I’ve mentioned this one many times before. I’m a big fan of Robert H. Van Gulik’s _Judge Dee_ detectiove series, based on the T’ang era Chinese Judge (who really existed) who was a sort of Sherlock Holmes in a series of 18th century novels. Van Gulik translated the original, then went on to wroite an entire series based on the character, using elements of real Chiunese detective novels. I learned about this by stumbling across a broadcast of an ABC movie of the week, _Judge Dee and the Monastery Murders_, made by the King of TV Movies, Nicholas Meyer. It was unique not only in bringing to the American TV screen a setting as alien as the planets in _Star Trek_, but in using an almost entirely Asian-ancestry cast to play all the roles.\* The TV movie, like several of the entries in the ABC Movie of the Week, was a trial for a TV series. But the Powers That Be, although they liked K.D. as a detective, didn’t like the whole T’ang dynasty setting. Maybe they figured it would be too expensive every week, or that most Americans wouldn’t be interested in a show with no caucasian characters in it. They made a few episodes of a series entitled _Chang!_ that starred K.D. as a detective in modern-day San Francisco (with none of the other cast members), and it flopped. I would’ve _loved_ to have seen a Judge Dee series. Years later I heard that Paul Veerhoeven was looking into making a Judge Dee movie, but it never happened. There have been two “Judge Dee” movies out of China, but they’re vastly different from Van Gulik’s Judge Dee, or even the Judge Dee of the Chinese novels. They turned him into a martial-arts wizard, with tons of wire work and heav y supernatural elements. (I’ve always suspected, by the way, that the _Judge Dredd_ franchise owes something to JUdge Dee. Both are public safety officials who take an active role in pursuing and catching criminals sa well as carrying out judgment. The Judge Dredd series started in Britain after the run of the British TV series. The name supposedly came from reggae artist Alexander Minto Hughes, who called himself “Judge Dread”, but I suspect a bit of the Dee influence in the naming. ) \*Ironically, the lead role, Judge Dee himself, was played by Khigh Dheigh, an actor of Ethiopian-British ancestry who specialized in playing “Asian” roles (Like Wo Fat on _Hawaii Five O_), even though he apparently had no Asian ancestry. His stage name was a phonetic spelling of his initials “K.D\>” for Kenneth Dickerson. There had earlier been a British TV series based on the Judge Dee books, but I don’t think they used any Asian actors. Timothy Dalton appeared in one episode. ---
**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:** [March 7, 2020, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024/35 "2020-03-07T18:20:37Z")
[If you get a chance, please watch the pilot for Virtuality, which was released and aired on TV as a movie.](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/virtuality) It is a crying shame this did not become a show. My wife and I were blown away by it and ready for it to be awesome. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024/36 "2020-03-07T19:03:25Z")
_The Adventures of Superpup_ was supposed to capitalize on the success of Superman. It was filmed but never seen on TV. The few clips I’ve seen look hilarious, but I guess somebody decided it was too ridiculous. Clip: [SuperPup - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw6eDkczp00) ---
**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:** [March 7, 2020, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024/37 "2020-03-07T23:16:20Z")
> [@Hatchie](#): > > _Poor Devil_, 1973. It starred Sammy Davis Junior as a clutzy minion of Lucifer, who can’t seem to harvest his requisite quota of souls. Just to see Sammy with horns, flashing the Devil sign like at a Black Sabbath concert… It’s available for viewing on Amazon Prime right now! And it’s got — Adam West, Christopher Lee, and Jack Klugman? What the heck kind of a fever dream is this? ---
**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:** [March 8, 2020, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024/38 "2020-03-08T00:04:02Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > There was also a non-Roddenberry pilot called _ **Earth II** _ with Gary Lockwood and two-navelled Mariette Hartley on a space station. I think you’re a little confused here. Mariette Harltley played a two-naveled lady Lyra-a in Roddenberry’s _Genesis II_ in 1973, which had no space station. She played a one-naveled Lisa Karger aboard a space station alongside Gary Lockwood in _Earth II_ in 1971, a series that had nothing to do with Roddenberry. Unless, of course, I’m being whooshed and you’re deliberately conflating the two. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2020, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024/39 "2020-03-08T04:15:21Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I think you’re a little confused here. Mariette Harltley played a two-naveled lady Lyra-a in Roddenberry’s _Genesis II_ in 1973, which had no space station. > > She played a one-naveled Lisa Karger aboard a space station alongside Gary Lockwood in _Earth II_ in 1971, a series that had nothing to do with Roddenberry. > > Unless, of course, I’m being whooshed and you’re deliberately conflating the two. Didn’t realize she was on both those pilots. My mistake re: navels. As long as we’re setting the record straight, the Khigh Dhiegh\* show was called _ **Khan!** _ - Not Dheigh. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024/40 "2020-03-08T04:42:50Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > As long as we’re setting the record straight, the Khigh Dhiegh\* show was called _ **Khan!** _ > > - Not Dheigh. _ **Khan!** _ actually got on the air, on CBS I think, in the winter of '74–'75. It lasted only three or four episodes before it was yanked. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-werent-picked-up-as-a-series-never-came-to-be/849024.md?page=3)