Unsold TV Pilots: The Greatest Shows You Never Saw

by Lee Goldberg

  Cast: Bob Neill (as Eric Smith), Persis Khambatta (Princess Siri), Vic Morrow (Paul), Noel DeSouza (Shanda), Rene Assa (Sajid), Tim O'Connor (Agent Bloom), Roger Perry (Farnsworth), Jason Wingreen (Klein).

  47. McClone. NBC 4/8/88. 60 minutes. New West Productions. Director: Allan Holzman. Executive Producer: Glen A. Larson. Producers: Donald C. Klune, Scott Levita, J.C. Larson, David Garber, and Bruce Kalish. Writers: Glen A. Larson, David Garber, and Bruce Kalish. Creator: Glen A. Larson. Music: Dave Fisher and Rocky Davis.

  Aired as the "Send in the Clones" episode of The Highwayman. The adventures of a genetically engineered soldier (Howie Long) who escapes from the secret military research base where he was created and now roams America, pursued by evil clones and government scientists. The episode doubled as a send-up of producer Glen Larson's McCloud series, with J.D. Cannon and Terry Carter returning in thinly disguised reprises of their former roles. Cannon has just been released from the loony bin when he encounters McClone, a fish-out-of-water who makes working with McCloud seem positively tranquil. The city of Phoenix badly, and obviously, stood in for New York locations (with palm trees in Central Park!) in this sloppily shot pilot.

  Cast: Howie Long (as Mac), J.D. Cannon (Cmdr. Briggs), Terry Carter (Lieutenant), Pamela Shoop (Dr. Chadway), Gary Lockwood (Col. Westcourt), Greta Blackburn (Prostitute), Michael Pataki (Detective), Mel Young (Reporter), John Wade (Clone), Perry D'Marco (Hood), Sam Jones (Highwayman), Jacko (Jetto), Jane Badler (Miss Winthrop), Tim Russ (D.C. Montana).

  48. Men of the Dragon. ABC 3/20/74. 90 minutes. David Wolper Productions. Director: Harry Falk. Executive Producer: Stan Margulies. Producer: Barney Rosenzweig. Writer/Creator: Denne Bart Petitclerc. Music: Elmer Bernstein.

  Jared Martin and Katie Saylor star as an American brother and sister who are experts in the martial arts and, with an Asian friend (Robert Ito), open a self-defense school in Hong Kong—where this pilot was shot on location. Inevitably, they are called on to use their special skills to help people in trouble. Martin and Saylor would later costar in the short-lived NBC series Fantastic Journey.

  Cast: Jared Martin (as Jan Kimbro), Katie Saylor (Lisa Kimbro), Robert Ito (Li-Teh), Joseph Wiseman (Balashev), Lee Tit War (Sato), Hsai Ho Lan (Madame Wu), Nang Sheen Chiou (0-Lan), Bill Jarvis (Inspector Endicott), Bobby To (K'Ang), Victor Kan (Chok), Herman Chan (Bellboy), David Chow (Tao).

  49. Microcops (aka Micronauts; aka Meganauts). CBS 6/20/89. 60 minutes. MGM/UA Television and Moonglow Productions. Director: David Jackson. Executive Producer: Lewis Chesler. Producers: Charles "Chip" Proser, Rachel Singer, Terry Carr, and Alan Levy. Writers: Charles "Chip" Proser and Rachel Singer. Music: Tim Truman.

  The adventures of microscopic, alien cops (William Bumiller and Shanti Owe) who come to earth pursuing an intergalactic criminal (Page Moseley). The aliens, because of their size, attach their tiny spaceships to people, dogs, birds, or whatever creature is convenient, and communicate to their human hosts through holograms or by appearing in any electronic monitors that are around. Special effects by Industrial Light and Magic.

  Cast: William Bumiller (as Nardo), Shanti Owen (Bidra), Page Moseley (Cloyd), Peter Scolari (Morgan), Tony Bill (Travis), Lucinda Jenney (Lucy), also Lois Bromfield, Rex Ryan, Brian George.

  50. Momma the Detective. CBS 11/12/81. 60 minutes. Production Company: Big Hit Productions. Director/Writer/Creator: Larry Cohen. Producers: Larry Cohen and Hal Schaffel. Music: Joey Levine and Chris Palmaro.

  Esther Rolle is a maid who solves mysteries and, in the pilot, she unravels the stabbing death of her boss, to the consternation of her son (Kene Holliday), a homicide detective. Shot on location in New York in 1979 and syndicated under the title See China.

  Cast: Esther Rolle (as Momma Sykes), Kene Holliday (Sgt. Alvin Sykes), Paul Dooley (Ames Prescott), Andrew Duggan (Edward Forbes), Jean Marsh (Sally Hackman), Frank Converse (Tom Hackman), Laurence Luckinbill (Dr. Glickman), Fritz Weaver (Mr. Foster), Claude Brooks (Jessie Sykes), William Walker, II (Andy Sykes), Jack Straw (Norman), Arthur French (Ribman), Colin Evans (Butler), James Dickson (Sweeney), Gordon Gould (DeSantos), also Jane Hitchcock and Miguel Pinero.

  51. The Mysterious Two (aka Follow Me If You Dare). NBC 5/31 /82. 2 hours. Alan Lansburg Productions. Director: Gary Sherman. Executive Producer: Alan Landsburg. Producers: Sonny Fox and Gary Credle. Writer: Gary Sherman. Music: Joe Renzetti.

  In this pilot, which set on the shelf for more than two years before being aired, James Stephens is the only one who knows that two evangelists (John Forsythe and Priscilla Pointer) are actually alien invaders out to brainwash earthlings as the first step toward invasion. In the proposed series, they snatch his girlfriend, and he vows to save her, warn society, and thwart the aliens' evil plot.

  Cast: James Stephens (as Tim Armstrong), John Forsythe (He), Priscilla Pointer (She), Vic 'Payback (Ted Randall), Noah Beery, Jr. (Sheriff Virgil Malloy), Robert Pine (Arnold Brown), Karen Werner (Natalie), Kenny Roker (William), Robert Englund (Boone), Mo Malone (Martha), Candy Mobley (Amanda), Dale Reynolds (Reporter), Georgia Paul (Woman).

  52. Nick Knight. CBS 8/30/89. 2 hours. New World Television, Barry Weitz Films, and Robirdie Pictures Inc. Director: Farhad Mann. Executive Producers: James Parriott, Barry Weitz, and Roberta Becker Ziegel. Producer: S. Michael Formica. Writer: James Parriott. Story: Barney Cohen and James Parriott. Music: Joseph Conlan.

  Rick Springfield is Nick Knight, a crime fighting vampire on the San Francisco police force. He drives a '59 Caddy, lives in a spiffy loft, and has a refrigerator stocked with blood. The only one who knows his secret is . . . the police coroner (Robert Harper). Not even his loud-mouth partner (John Kapelos) knows that Nick Knight can turn into a bat—and that the nocturnal detective, in the pilot, is pursuing an evil vampire named LaCroix, responsible for the gruesome murders of some transients. (Update: In 1992, CBS revived the pilot concept and it became the Canadian-produced TV series Forever Knight)

  Cast: Rick Springfield (as Nick Knight), John Kapelos (Don Schanke), Laura Johnson (Alyce Hunter), Robert Harper (Dr. Jack Brittington), Michael Nader (LaCroix), Cec Verrell (Janette), Craig Richard Nelson (Jack Fenner), Fran Ryan (Jeannie), Jack Murdock (Topper), also Al Fann, Al Berry, Robert Neckes, Gregory Wagrowski, Davis Roberts, Irene Miracle, David Correia.

  53. Night Vision. NBC 11/30/90. 2 hours. Wes Craven Films and MGM/UA Television. Director: Wes Craven. Executive Producer: Wes Craven. Producers: Rick Nathanson, Thomas Baum and Marianna Mad-Mena. Writers: Wes Craven and Thomas Baum. Music: Brad Fiedel.

  One can just see the NBC ad campaign on this one: "He's a rogue, a cop who's never read the rulebook. She's double trouble—a psychic cop with split personalities. They're HUNTER & SYBIL, fighting crime the hard way!" Actually they're surly, rumpled detective Toni Mackey and prescient Sally Peters, and in the pilot, they're after a serial killer who's stalking women.

  Cast: Loryn Locklin (as Sally Peters), James Remar (Sgt. Toni Mackey), Penny Johnson (Luanne), Bruce MacVittie (Sgt. Stark), Francis X. McCarthy (Cmdr. Nathan Dowd), Mitch Pileggi (Capt. Stuart Keller), John Tenney (Martin), Mark Lindsay Chapman (Famous Actor), Angela Alvarado (Aura Lopez), Daniel Beer (Rocker), Kristen Corbett (Young Sally), Timothy Leary (New Age Minister), also Jessica Craven, Ron Howard George, John Benjamin Martin, Roxanna Michaels, Eric Rosse, Michele Roth, Dendrie Taylor, Bruce Wagner.

  54. 905-WILD. NBC 3/1/75. 60 minutes. Mark VII Productions and Universal Television. Executive Producer: Jack Webb. Producer: William Stark. Writers: Buddy Atkinson and Dick Connaway.

  This pilot for a proposed thirty-minute series aired as an episode of Webb's Emergency! The adventures of two officers (Mark Harmon and Albert Popwell) working for the Los Angeles Bureau of Animal Control who have to deal with mountain lions who wander into suburbia, seals who sneak into beach homes, skunks who stink up restaurants and other-bothersome beasts. David Huddleston is the staff veterinarian, Gary Crosby of Adam-12 is their boss, and Roseanne Zecher is the unit secretary/clerk.

 
55. Northstar. ABC 8/10/86. 90 minutes. Phillips/Grodnick Productions and Warner Bros. Television. Director: Peter Levin. Executive Producers: Clyde Phillips and Dan Grodnick. Producer/Writer: Howard Lakin. Music: Brad Fiedel.

  Originally titled The Einstein Man, this stars Greg Evigan as an astronaut who, while on a walk outside the spaceship, is zapped by a solar disturbance. When he gets back to earth, he has superhuman powers—and a superhuman mind—that's triggered by sunlight. But if he gets too much direct sunlight—without the protection of special sunglasses—he'll literally explode from overload. So, like his predecessor The Six Million Dollar Man, he becomes a secret agent. Mitchell Ryan is his boss, Deborah Wakeman is the scientist who works with him.

  Cast: Greg Evigan (as Major Jack North), Deborah Wakeman (Dr. Allison Taylor), Mitchell Ryan (Col. Evan Marshall), Mason Adams (Dr. Karl Janss), David Hayward (Bill Harlow), Sonny Landham (Becker), Robin Curtiss (Jane Harlow), Richard Garrison (Agent), Steven Williams (Agent), Ken Foree (Astronaut).

  56. Out of Time. NBC 7/17/88. 2 hours. TriStar Television. Director: Robert Butler. Executive Producer: Robert Butler. Producers: David Lait, Kerry Lenhart, and John J. Sakmer. Writers: Brian Alan Lane, Kerry Lenhart, and John J. Sakmer, from a story by Lane. Music: Andy Summers.

  In this time travel pilot, Bruce Abbott is a rogue future cop, living in the shadow of his long-dead, famous grandfather (Bill Maher), who chases a notorious criminal (Adam Ant) one hundred years into the past, to Los Angeles circa 1988. The future cop ends up teaming with his great-grandfather, now an underappreciated rookie officer, to find the bad guy and fight crime.

  Cast: Bruce Abbott (as Charming Taylor). Bill Maher (Max Taylor), Adam Ant (Richard Markus), Rebecca Schaeffer (Pam Wallis), Kristian Alfonso (Cassandra Barber), Leo Rossi (Ed Hawkins). Ray Girardin (Capt. Stephen Krones), Barbara Tarbuck (Dr. Kerry Langdon), Arva Holt (Capt. Stuart), Tom LaGrua (Frank), Kimberley Sedgewick (Salesgirl), also Chuck Lindsly, Arthur Mendoza, Rick Avery, Ashley Brittingham, Richard Lavin, Neal Penso, Jay Richardson, Shaun Toub, Martin Treat, Thomas Wagner, Patrick DeSantis.

  57. The People. ABC 1/22/72. 90 minutes. Metromedia Producers Corp. and American Zoetrope. Director: John Korty. Executive Producer: Francis Ford Coppola. Producer: Gerald I. Isenberg. Writer: James M. Miller, from the novel Pilgrimage by Zenna Henderson. Music: Carmine Coppola.

  A slow-moving, low-key pilot which casts Kim Darby as a schoolteacher who goes to an isolated California community and is puzzled by students that don't behave like kids at all—and have some unusual abilities. What she eventually discovers is that they, along with William Shatner and Diane Varsi, are the last descendants of a peaceful alien race that possesses awesome psychic powers.

  Cast: Kim Darby (as Melodye Amerson), William Shatner (Dr. Curtis), Diane Varsi (Valency), Dan O'Herlihy (Sol Diemus), Laurie Walters (Karen Dingus), Chris Valentine (Francker), Johanna Baer (Bethie), Stephanie Valentine (Tabitha), Jack Dallgren (Kish), Andrew Chrichton (Thann), David Petch (Matt), Dorothy Drady (Dita), Mary Rose McMaster (Maras), Anne Walters (Obla), Tony Dario (Bran).

  58. Planet Earth. ABC 4/23/74. Warner Bros. Television. Director: Marc Daniels. Executive Producer/Creator: Gene Roddenberry. Producer: Robert H. Justman. Writers: Gene Roddenberry and Juanita Bartlett, from a story by Roddenberry. Music: Harry Sukman.

  A reworking of the flop CBS pilot Genesis II. The title narration explained it like this: "This is the twenty-second century. the land renewed, the air and water pure again. The conflicts of the past are gone. It is a new Earth, with new peoples and new customs. In some places, bizarre savagery, in others, advanced cities. Everywhere, new challenge and new adventure. This is also the story of Dylan Hunt 'this time played by John Saxon], lost in 1979 in a suspended animation accident. Over a century and a half later, in the year 2133, he was found and awakened by the people of this city called PAX, peace. The one place on Earth that escaped the final conflict of the twentieth century. The one place on earth where civilization did not perish. Dylan Hunt is one of them now, leader of a PAX science team exploring a much changed world, part of the PAX dream of rebuilding a new and wiser civilization. Their mission is mankind, rebirth of Planet Earth." In the pilot. while his team is doing its thing, traveling in super speed shuttles through underground tubes that honeycomb the earth, Dylan Hunt is captured by a society run by women and enslaved.

  Cast: John Saxon (as Dylan Hunt), Janet Margolin (Harper-Smythe), Ted Cassidy (Isiah), Christopher Cary (Baylock), Diana Muldaur (Marg), Jo De Winter (Villar), Majel Barrett (Yuloff), Jim Antonio (Dr. Jonathon Connor), Sally Kemp (Treece), Claire Brennan (Delba), Corinne Co-macho (Bronta), Sarah Chaffin (Thetis), John Quade (Kreeg Commandant), Patricia Smith (Skylar), Raymond Sutton (Kreeg Captain), Rai Tasco (Paytre Kimbridge), Aron Kincaid (Gorda), James Bacon (Partha), Joan Crosby (Ayla), Lew Brown (Merlo), Craig Hundley (Harpsichordist),.

  59. The Possessed. NBC 5/1/77. 90 minutes. Warner Bros. Television. Director: Jerry Thorpe. Executive Producer: Jerry Thorpe. Producer: Philip Mandelker. Writer: John Sacret Young. Music: Leonard Rosenman

  James Farentino is a defrocked cleric (for adultery and alcoholism) who, after a serious car accident, is "saved– in order to battle supernatural evil wherever it lurks. In the pilot, it lurks at a girls' school, and Farentino is called upon to perform an exorcism.

  Cast: James Farentino (as Kevin Leahy), Joan Hackett (Louise Gelson), Claudette Nevins (Ellen Sumner), Eugene Roche (Sgt. Taplinger), Ann Dusenberry (Weezie), Harrison Ford (Paul Winjam), Diana Scarwid (Lane), P.J. Soles (Marty), Susan Walden (Sandy), Dinah Manoff (Celia), Ethelinn Block (Barry).

  60. The Power Within (aka The Man With the Power; aka The Power; aka The Power Man). ABC 5/11/79. 90 minutes. Aaron Spelling Productions. Director: John Llewellyn Moxey. Executive Producers: Aaron Spelling and Douglas S. Cramer. Producers: Alan Godfrey and E. Duke Vincent. Writer: William Clark. Creator: Ed Lasko. Music: John Addison.

  This pilot went through many titles, but under any name it would still be the same old story about a man who, thanks to a freak accident, acquires superpowers which he then uses to fight crime. Art Hindle is a decorated Vietnam hero who is struck by lightning, emerges with X-ray vision and the power to shoot electric bolts from his fingers, and takes on secret missions for this father, an Air Force general.

  Cast: Art Hindle (as Chris Darrow), Edward Binns (General Torn Darrow), Joe Rassulo (Bill), Dick Sargent (Capt. Ed Holman), Susan Howard (Dr. Joanna Mills), Karen Lamm (Marvalee), Eric Braeden (Stephens), David Hedison (Danton), lsabell Macaoskey (Grandma), Chris Wallace (First Guard), John Dennis (Rancher).

  61. Questor (aka The Questor Tapes). NBC I /23/74. 2 hours. Universal Television. Director: Richard A. Colla. Executive Producer: Gene Roddenberry. Producer: Howie Hurwitz. Writers: Gene L. Coon and Gene Roddenberry. Creator: Gene Roddenberry. Music: Gil Wile.

  Gene Roddenberry's second post-Star Trek pilot. Robert Foxworth is an android called Questor searching the globe for the missing scientist—perhaps from another planet—who created him (Leonard Nimoy was originally cast in the role, but dropped out at the last minute). Mike Farrell is the human scientist who accompanies him in his search, which brings them into contact with people in trouble. In the process, Questor's exposed to the constantly perplexing emotions of human beings. A humanoid robot would play a central role in Roddenberry’s 1987 syndicated series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

  Cast: Robert Foxworth (as Questor), Mike Farrell (Jerry Robinson), John Vernon (Geoffrey Darro), Lew Ayres (Vaslovik), James Shigeta (Dr. Chen), Robert Douglas (Dr. Michaels), Ellen Weston (Allison Sample), Majel Barrett (Dr. Bradley), Reuben Singer (Dr. Gorlov), Walter Koenig (Administrative Assistant), Fred Sadoff (Dr. Audret). Gerald Sanderson (Randolph), Alan Caillou (Immigration Officer),

  62. Return of the World's Greatest Detective (aka Alias Sherlock Holmes). NBC 6/16/76. 90 minutes. Production Company: Universal Television. Director: Dean Hargove. Producers/Writers: Dean Hargrove and Roland Kibbee. Music: Dick DeBenedictis.


  An L.A.P.D. motorcycle cop with a love for Sherlock Holmes is knocked out in a traffic accident and, when he comes to believes he actually is the famous detective. Now, with the help of a lady psychiatrist named Watson, he goes about solving cases and badgering his harried former lieutenant.

  Cast: Larry Hagman (as Sherman Holmes), Jenny O'Hara (Dr. Watson), Nicholas Colasanto (Lt. Tinker), Woodrow Parfrey (Himmel), Helen Verbit (Landlady), Ivor Francis (Spiner), Charles Macauley (Judge Harley), Ron Silver (Dr. Collins), Sid Haig (Vince Cooley), Booth Colman (Psychiatrist), Lieux Dressler (Mrs. Slater), Benny Rubin (Klinger), Fuddle Bagley (Detective).

  63. Samurai. NBC 4/30/79. 90 minutes. Danny Thomas Productions, Lamas Corporation, and Universal Television. Director: Lee H. Katzin. Executive Producers: Fernando Lamas and Danny Thomas. Producers; Allan Baiter and Ronald Jacobs. Writer: Jerry Ludwig. Music: Fred Karlin.