As most of you know I’m taking some time away from the Internet due to circumstances beyond my control. It’s been a bit much to take, and today I had to get away from all things Death related, and walked to the Richmond, did some shopping, and basically got away from things. It was good.
ANYWAY, whilst chatting with pals via The Twitter, an idea, not necessarily a new one, hit me. I’d been doing some searching on YouTube and elsewhere about failed TV pilots over the years, or ones that are significantly different from what aired. A few years ago, I found online not only a failed pilot (starring Michelle Forbes!) for the TV version of “Global Frequency,” I also found the lost pilot for the USA version of “Life on Mars,” which orginally was set in Los Angeles and starred, among other people, Colm Meany. In the case of “Global Frequency,” this was a producer-sanctioned release, as he was annoyed the then-WB network for not picking it up. For the record, with a little work it could have been a cool show. On a crappy network.
The old TRIO network enjoyed some success with its “Brilliant But Canceled” series back in the day, and when those of us who are pop culture historians lost it, it was a sad day. However, I’m not the only one who’s thought of this – at one point it was determined that the iTunes store could be a great way for networks to recover the cost of pilots by selling them and perhaps offering a “second chance” if something sold well. (citation later).
Imagine a whole network full of these things, each with intros by TV and film critics, and with explanations as to how the pilot system works (which by the way was the subject of a documentary I remember watching on TRIO, along with a documentary about LA’s old Z Channel, but I can’t remember the name of either), and have commentary by folks like Tim Goodman and others, and I think you’d have a winner people would watch on cable, or Netflix, or whatever.
If anyone does this, can you just send the check payable to me, and make sure it’s delivered safely? I promise to spend it wisely
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