TvPilots
Best TV Pilots: Series Premieres That Made Our Jaws Drop
This week's 'V' debut episode on ABC has some dazzling moments, including a few that may shock and surprise even viewers with vivid memories of the original 1983 miniseries. But does it belong on the list of all-time great TV series premiere episodes? Compare and contrast with the list below, featuring 10 of our favorite TV pilot episodes of all time.10. 'The O.C.'
"Welcome to the O.C., bitch," says snobby jock Luke (Chris Carmack) to poor newcomer Ryan (Benjamin McKenzie). "This is how it's done in Orange County." For that exchange alone, this episode belongs in the pilot Hall of Fame.
'Cougar Town' on ABC - New TV Pilot Preview

What should you expect from the new TV shows coming this fall? Read our first impressions of ABC's 'Cougar Town,' starring Courtney Cox ...
TNT making more cop dramas
After the success of The Closer, you can't blame TNT for going with a proven formula.The cable network is close to greenlighting two police drama pilots, a project from Jerry Bruckheimer about young undercover officers and Bunker Hill starring Donnie Wahlberg (which actually already received an a pilot order).
TNT's certainly been a busy little bee, stacking up new series left and right. Besides these two pilots, they've got Time Heals, starring Jada Pinkett Smith as a hospital nursing director; Night and Day, with William Fichtner playing an agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; and Men of a Certain Age, a dramedy featuring Ray Romano, Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher.
Out of the Blogosphere
Now both NBC and Barbara Walters have said no to a Paris Hilton interview. - Nicole Richie might be going to jail too.
- It's a good thing Steve Carell has that day job over at The Office.
- A funny list of TV pilots that didn't make it.
- Here's a whole gallery of photos from Pamela Anderson's DirectTV commercial shoot.
- BuddyTV has an interview with Traveler's Matthew Bomer.
- Stephen Colbert has some thoughts on that condom ad rejected by CBS and FOX.
Is Shane West leaving ER?
In this roundup of all the latest casting and pilot news, it says that ER star Shane West has been added to the cast of Supreme Courtships, a new FOX comedy that really has to get a new title before it hits the air.
Hmmm...does that mean he's leaving the NBC drama? Not that all pilots get picked up of course, but just the fact that he's starring in the pilot is interesting. I think when he joined ER it wasn't supposed to be a long term role. But now it seems like he's smack dab in the middle of all the action at the hospital: concentrating on his medical career instead of his music, being in a possible triangle with Gates and Neela, etc.
In other casting news, The Nine's Daybreak's Adam Baldwin has joined the cast of NBC's Chuck, and LL Cool J will play a cop in CBS' Anthony Zuiker (CSI) drama The Man.
[via TV Tattle]
What happens to pilots that don't make it?
During this upfronts week, you'll not only hear about the shows that make the schedule, you'll hear about pilots that didn't make it. But what happens to the pilots that don't make it? The pilots that are never seen by the public (unless they make it to the internet, which couldn't happen years ago), what happens to them? Forbes has an interesting article about failed pilots (and if you'd like to read a great book on failed pilots, try to track down a copy of Lee Goldberg's two books, Unsold Television Pilots I and II.)Forbe's also lists the Top 10 Failed Pilots, and while it doesn't include Samurai (with Riptide's Joe Penny as a lawyer by day, sword-wielding superhero by night!), it does include Ethel Is An Elephant, about a guy who moves into a NYC apartment with an elephant roommate; Poochinski, with Peter Boyle as a cop who is killed on duty and comes back as a dog; Rewrite For Murder, with George Clooney and Pam Dawber as mystery writers; Wil Wheaton in 13 Thirteenth Avenue, about a kid who moves into a new apartment building and has vampires and werewolves as neighbors (!), and L.A. Confidential, a TV version of the movie, with Kiefer Sutherland! Wow, I actually would have loved to have seen that.
[via TV Tattle]
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