IIRC, the A-Team pilot was the only one where the team actually shot and killed the baddies during the gunfights, instead of always shooting at their feet in the regular episodes.
Though the difference is not noticeable, Martin Landau was not in the original cast of Mission Impossible. He appeared as a guest star in the pilot and it was planned to be a one-shot deal. However, the producers liked him so much he became a guest star in every episode. And, of course, in the pilot, the tape did not self-destruct (the last line of the instruction was “Please dispose of this tape in the usual manner,” and they used this method several times in the first season.)
One of my favorite obscure TV shows, Once a Hero recast its lead actor in between the original pilot. The new actor appeared in the two-hour premiere. Alas, the change caused people to think this brilliant series was in trouble, so it was preempted in major markets, got terrible ratings and was cancelled after three episodes.
Had Tomita’s character, Takashima, stuck around then, acording to Straczynski: “Takashima would have been revealed as having been in on the Vorlon
assassination attempt by season’s end, and would have betrayed Garibaldi
in the events in “Chrysalis,” either giving him over to those involved
with the coup, or pulling the trigger herself. While we would know this,
our characters would not, for as much as another full season.”
The pilot of The Andy Griffith Show was an episode of The Danny Thomas Show (or Make Room for Danny or whatever). Don Knotts wasn’t in it and the premise was that Andy was the kind of Sheriff who would flip a sign on his desk and now he’s the Justice of the Peace, etc.
Some may rememeber that the pilot of Happy Days was an episode of Love American Style. Along with Ron Howard, Marion Ross and Anson Williams were in it–Potsie was much cooler than he eventually became–but Richie’s dad was played by Harold Gould.
Donal Logue originally played the Phil Stubbs character on Ed. I don’t know if the full pilot was shot with him but I remember seeing commercials before the show aired that had him in them. Also, the pilot for Ed was called Stuckeyville.
This guy sees her as kind of the Wally Pipp of television pilots.
Loretta Switt was Cagney in the pilot of Cagney & Lacey, then replaced by Meg Foster, then replaced by the excellent Sharon Gless.
IIRC Columbo dressed in a suit in the original movie, he didn’t develop the raincoat look until the series.
Lost in Space:
In the unaired pilot, the ship was called the Gemini XII and there was no Robot or Dr. Smith.
Gilligan’s Island:
Different theme song, Professor, and the two girls were both secretaries.
Not to mention the Delenn makeup change. The original idea was that Delenn was meant to be a hermaphrodite, who would become fully female as part of her chrysalis change.
There were also a couple of cosmetic changes, IIRC; PPGs were originally much bigger, and I don’t believe handlinks were introduced until S1 proper.
I don’t believe you do RC, Gargoyle. According to Wikipedia and confirmed by several other reliable resources, only one episode contains anybody being shot on camera and even then it wasn’t the A-Team who did it.
I get an “about Variety weblogs” page plus lots of pop-ups at the other end of that link. Who is Wally Pipp?
I got that “about Variety weblogs” page as well the first time – then I did something (which I forget) to make the page work correctly. The page I was intending people to see was an article about “The Riff Regan Awards,” which the author named after the actress who lost the job as Willow. The article mentions how, for instance, Lisa Kudrow was originally slated to play the role that Peri Gilpin landed on “Frasier,” or how Ray Romano originally had Joe Rogan’s job on “NewsRadio” (but Romano was NOT the guy who appeared in the pilot – they apparently had a lot of turnover in the role).
Wally Pipp is the legendary Yankees first baseman who begged off one day because he had a headache, only to be replaced by … Lou Gehrig, who kept the job and went on his famous games-played streak. My analogy wasn’t PERFECT, since Pipp voluntarily gave up his spot and Regan obviously didn’t, but it was close enough.
Legend has it that Sipowicz was originally set to die from the gunshot wounds he received in the pilot of NYPD Blue. I did not begin watching the show until it was into the Bobby Simone years. After seeing the first season in syndication, I can’t imagine what it would have been like without Dennis Franz. He was far more interesting both as an actor and as character than the presumptive lead in the show, David Caruso as Kelly.
Laverne & Shirley were “women of easy virtue” when they first appeared on Happy Days. Donna’s little sister disappeared immediately on That 70s Show.
If you watch the very first episode or pilot of many shows, you will notice a distinct difference in many characters from the bulk of the series. E.g., Archie Bunker and Homer Simpson were a lot brighter and better spoken than in later episodes.
The Huxtables had only 4 children and a different house in the pilot of The Cosby Show.
Jerry Robinson was Bob Hartley’s psychologist partner instead of a dentist on The Bob Newhart Show.
MASH* had a different Father Mulcahey (George Morgan) in the pilot.
Carol Hathaway’s (Julianna Margulies) suicide attempt in the *ER * pilot was supposed to be successful, but the producers had second thoughts and let her live.
Pretty much the same is true for William B. Davis as The Cigarette-Smoking Man in The X Files- although I’m not sure if it was the pilot and the first episode, and CSM became a recurring character (and the show’s primary villain), but didn’t appear in every episode.
Another X-Files bit, IIRC, is that the pilot includes the only mention of Mulder as an “Oxford-educated psychologist.” This line from Scully precedes the only shot of Mulder wearing glasses which I remember. Apparently they thought the “brainy” cliches didn’t fit with the Spooky persona.
Anyone ever seen the Brady Bunch pilot? Completely different house, different set of grandparents, and of course the infamous “Fluffy,” the girls’ tabby cat that’s never seen again.
Also, Jerry’s father was played by a different actor.
On Hogans Heroes pilot episode Larry Hovis played Lt. Carter a shot down pilot who just arrived at the camp. When series time came around Larry Hovis is playing Sgt Carter an explosives expert.