Unsold TV Pilots: The Greatest Shows You Never Saw

by Lee Goldberg

  This ludicrous and unintentionally funny pilot starred Caucasian Joe Penny as half-American/half-Asian Lee Cantrall, a San Francisco district attorney by day and sword-wielding samurai warrior by night. In the pilot, the samurai D.A. tackles a dastardly villain who uses an "earthquake machine" to scare people into selling their property to him at a cut rate.

  Cast: Joe Penny (as Lee Cantrall), Dana Elcar (Frank Boyd), James Shigeta (Takeo Chrisato), Beulah Quo (Hang Mitsubishi Cantrall), Norman Alden (Lt. Al DeNisco), Charles Cioffi (Amory Bryson), Geoffrey Lewis (Harold Tigner), Morgan Brittany (Cathy Berman), Ralph Manza (Irving Berman), Shane Sinutko (Tommy), Michael Pataki (Peter Lacey), James McEachin (Richardson), Philip Baker Hall (Professor Gordon Owens), Randolph Roberts (Phil Mercer), Diana Webster (Professor Helen Martell), Don Keefer (Norman Jonas), Michael Danahy (Harry Keller), Bob Minor (Zane), Fred Lerner (Powers), Tom Lupo (Frazier), Greg Barnett (Colfax), Jo McDonnell (Marianne).

  64. Second Chance. ABC 2/8/72. 90 minutes. Metromedia Producers Corp. and Danny Thomas Productions. Director: Peter Tewksbury. Executive Producer: Danny Thomas. Producer: Harold Cohen. Writer: Michael Morris.

  An overworked stockbroker (Brian Keith) buys a Nevada ghost town, renames it Second Chance, and makes it a haven for people who want a second chance at life. This semi-anthology would focus on the lives of the people who come to Second Chance. Shot on location in Arizona. Guest star Kenneth Mars would later play Brian Keith's brother in a 1986 episode of Hardcastle and McCormick.

  Cast: Brian Keith as (Geoff Smith), Elizabeth Ashley (Ellie Smith), Brad Savage (Johnny Smith), Kenneth Mars (Dr. Julius Roth), William Windom (Stan Petryk), Pat Carroll (Gloria Petryk), Juliet Prowse (Martha Foster), Avery Schreiber (Robert Grazzari), Rosie Grier (Maxie Hill), Ann Morgan Guilbert (Charlene), Emily Yancy (Stella Hill), Vernon Weddle (Lester Fern), Bret Parker (Hardin), Bob Nichols (Dr. Strick), Oliver Dunbar (Dr. Willard).

  65. Shadow Man. ABC 1969. Universal Television. Writers: Dean Riesner and Robert Soderberg.

  A college professor, who is inadvertently responsible for the accidental death of his wife and child, agrees to have plastic surgery and assume the identity of a "Howard Hughes"—type billionaire. He uses the billionaire's vast wealth to assuage his guilt and do good deeds around the world.

  66. Shangri-La Plaza. CBS 7/30/90. 30 minutes. Castle/Safan/ Mueller Schmaltzking Productions and CBS Entertainment. Director/ Writer: Nick Castle. Executive Producers: Nick Castle, Craig Safan, and Mark Mueller. Supervising Producer: Stephen Cragg. Producer: Mark Horowitz. Music: Craig Safan. Lyrics: Mark Mueller.

  A surprisingly engaging, warmhearted musical sitcom set in a gaudy Los Angeles street corner mini-mall. The pilot, told almost entirely in song, focuses on a widow (Melora Hardin) and her daughter (Allison Mack) who inherit a rundown donut shop and immediately win the attention of a couple of neighborhood mechanic brothers (Terrence Mann and Jeff Yagher). A lively mixture of music, splashy production design, and energetic choreography made this pilot a successful half-hour of entertainment in its own right—even if it probably wouldn't have worked as a series.

  Cast: Melora Hardin (as Amy), Allison Mack (Jenny), Jeff Yagher (George Bondo), Terrence Mann (Ira Bondo), Chris Sarandon (Victorio), Carmen Lundy (Geneva), Savion Glover (Chili), also Bernie Coulson, Hilary Shepard, Barry Bernal, Travis Payne, Lee Wilkof, Mark David, Victoria Stevens, Glen Chin, George Hamner.

  67. Shooting Stars (aka Hawke and O'Keefe). ABC 7/28/83. 2 hours. Aaron Spelling Productions. Director: Richard Lang. Executive Producers: Aaron Spelling, Douglas S. Cramer, and E. Duke Vincent. Producers: Richard Lang and Michael Fisher. Writer: Michael Fisher, from a story by Fisher and Vernon Zimmerman. Music: Dominic Frontiere.

  Billy Dee Williams and Parker Stevenson are a pair of TV detectives who, when fired by the show's jealous star (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.), become real-life private detectives. They work out of a beachside cafe/ bar and utilize the skills of their various entertainment industry cronies (stunt men, makeup men, writers) to help solve crimes.

  Cast: Billy Dee Williams (as Douglas Hawke), Parker Stevenson (Bill O'Keefe), John P. Ryan (Detective McGee), Edie Adams (Hazel), Fred Travelena (Teddy), Dick Bakalyan (Snuffy), Victoria Spelling (Danny), Frank McRae (Tubbs), Robert Webber (J. Woodrow Norton), Kathleen Lloyd (Laura O'Keefe), Denny Miller (Tanner), John Randolph (Stevenson). Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. (Jonathan Lieghton), Herb Edelman (Rex), Don Calla (Driscoll). Kathryn Daley (Janie). D.D. Howard (Glenda), Lurene Tuttle (Mrs. Brand), Eric Server (Director), David Faustino (Patrick O'Keefe), Paul Tuerpe (Patrolman), Larry McCormick (Newscaster), Cis Rundle (Girl), Elisabeth Foxx (Tracy), Tim Haldeman (Prop-man), Stephen Miller (Newsman).

  68. Silent Whisper. CBS 7/26/88. 60 minutes. Above the Line Productions, Maderlay Enterprises, and Lorimar-Telepictures. Director/Writer/ Creator: Jonathan Betuel. Executive Producers: Jonathan Betuel and Gary Adelson. Music: Bill Conti.

  Aired as a segment of CBS Summer Playhouse. David Beecroft is a San Francisco police detective who discovers his family is about to be murdered by a serial killer, arrives too late, and is stabbed in the throat by the assailant. Now, his voice gone, he works as a special police operative and, in the pilot, stalks the killer who murdered his family. He's aided in his quest by a friend-on-the-force, his former partner (Richard Lawson).

  Cast: David Beecroft (as Eric Bolan), Richard Lawson (as Nick Scott), Claudette Nevins (Capt. Bea Landry), Kate Vernon (Ellen Sanders), Rita Wilson (China Seasons), Joseph Kell (Colin Sanders), Steven Keats (Guido the Ghoul), James Greene (Nathan Sanders), Philip Levien (Dr. Mark Ryler), David Tress (Psychiatrist), Nancy Warren (Elvira Stout), John Brandon (Sergeant), Annie Gegen (Pat Bolari), Robert Factor (Serial Killer), Bridgett Helms (Bolan's Daughter), Brandon Stewart (Bolan's Son), Barney McGeary (Elderly Cop), Laurie Drake (Lady Cop), Al Pugliese (Mover), Robert Lee (Mayor), Gloria Delaney (Nurse), Marie Halton (Mourner), Justin Whelan (Soccer Player), Gregory Deason (David Sanders).

  69. Stranded. NBC 1966. 60 minutes. Universal Television. Director: Leon Benson. Executive Producer: Frank Price. Producer: Frank P. Rosenberg. Writer: Dick Nelson, from a story by Nelson and Larry Marcus. Music: Jack Elliott.

  Richard Egan leads a group of plane crash survivors, lost in the Andes amid ancient Inca ruins, who must form their own civilization until rescued. Among the survivors are Fernando Lamas as a murderer being escorted back to Bolivia by a cop; Peter Graves as a writer and big-game hunter; Karen Sharpe as a stewardess; Joby Baker as a famous singer and actor; Harry Guardino as an ex-alcoholic comic on the way to his big comeback gig; Julie Adams as a shy schoolteacher; Leonard Nimoy as a Miami lawyer, and Otis Young as a black doctor.

  Producer Price loved this concept, and would revive it in several dramatic and comedic incarnations in following years, including Lost Flight (1969) with Lloyd Bridges and Stranded (1976) with Kevin Dobson. The pilot was released theatrically as Valley of Mystery with forty minutes of extra footage that includes entirely new scenes with Lois Nettleton and ends with the castaways getting rescued. The film credits Joseph Leytes as director, Harry Tattelman as producer, and the screenplay to Richard Neal and Lowell Barrington, from a story by Neal and Larry Marcus.

  Cast: Richard Egan (as Wade Cochran), Peter Graves (Ben Barstow), Karen Sharpe (Connie Lane), Joby Baker (Pete Patton), Harry Guardino (Joey O'Neill), Julie Adams (Joan Simon), Fernando Lamas (Francisco Rivera), Lee Patterson (Dino Doretti), Leonard Nimoy (Spence Atherton), Otis Young (Dr. John Quincy), Lisa Gaye (Margo Yorke).

  70. Stranded. CBS 4/30/76. 60 minutes. Universal Television. Director: Earl Bellamy. Executive Producer: David Victor. Producer: Howie Horowitz. Writer: Anthony Lawrence. Music: Gordon Jenkins.

  A straight Gilligan's Island that was tried once before as Lost Flight. An Australia-bound airliner crash-lands on a uncharted South Pacific island and the survivors, led by a New York cop (Kevin Dobson), create their own civilization. Characters include a streetwise ghetto kid who was a stowaway, the criminal the cop was taking back t
o Australia, a retired construction worker who is revitalized by building the island community, a woman who was on her way to get married in Australia, and a teenage brother and sister whose parents are killed in the crash.

  Cast: Kevin Dobson (as Sgt. Rafe Harder), Lara Parker (Crystal Norton), Marie Windsor (Rose Orselli), Devon Ericson (Julie Blake), Jimmy McNichol (Tim Blake), Rex Everhart (John Rados), Erin Blunt (Ali Baba), Lal Baum (Burt Hansen), James Cromwell (Jerry Holmes), John Fujioka (Charley Lee).

  71. Strange New World. ABC 7/13/75. 2 hours. Warner Bros. Television. Director: Robert Butler. Executive Producers: Ronald F. Graham and Walon Green. Producer: Robert E. Larson. Writers: Al Ramrus, Ronald F. Graham, and Walon Green. Music: Elliot Kaplan and Richard Clements.

  A reworking of the flop pilot Planet Earth (a sequel to the failed pilot Genesis II) which starred John Saxon as a scientist who wakes up several hundred years after being placed in suspended animation. This time, producer Gene Roddenberry is not involved and the concept has been altered. Now Saxon, Kathleen Miller, and Keene Curtis are three astronauts who return to post-apocalypse earth after floating in space in suspended animation for two hundred years. Director Robert Butler made the original Star Trek pilot ten years earlier.

  Cast: John Saxon (as Capt. Anthony Vico), Kathleen Miller (Dr. Allison Crowley), Keene Curtis (Dr. William Scott), James Olson (The Surgeon), Martine Beswick (Tana), Reb Brown (Sprang), Ford Rainey (Sirus), Bill McKinney (Badger), Gerritt Graham (Daniel), Cynthia Wood (Araba), Catherine Bach (Lara), Norland Benson (Hide), Richard Farnsworth (Elder).

  72. The Stranger. ABC 2/26/73. 2 hours. Bing Crosby Productions. Director: Lee H. Katzin. Executive Producer: Andrew J. Fenady. Producer: Alan A. Armer and Gerald Sanford. Writer/Creator: Gerald Sanford. Music: Richard Markowitz.

  Glenn Corbett is Stryker, an astronaut on a deep-space probe who crash-lands on Earth—only to find out it isn't Earth, but rather a "parallel world" called Terra hidden behind the sun. They have everything we have (including Chryslers), except freedom. This alternate Earth is run by an evil dictatorship that wants Stryker dead because he preaches free speech and other rights that he had on Earth. The series would depict Stryker's efforts to elude death (wielded by Cameron Mitchell), escape Terra and return home.

  Cast: Glenn Corbett (as Neil Stryker), Cameron Mitchell (George Benedict), Sharon Acker (Dr. Bettina Cooke), Lew Ayres (Prof. Dylan MacAuley), George Coulouris (Max Greene), Steve Franken (Henry Maitland), Dean Jagger (Carl Webster), Tim O'Connor (Dr. Revere). Jerry Douglas (Steve Perry), Arch Whiting (Mike Frome), H.M. Wynant (Eric Sconer), Virginia Gregg (Secretary), Buck Young (Tom Nelson), William Bryant (Trucker).

  73. Stunt Seven. CBS 5/30/79. 2 hours. Martin Poll Productions. Director: John Peyser. Producers: Martin Poll and William Craver. Writer: David Shaw. Music: Bill Conti.

  Christopher Connelly heads a versatile, seven-member Hollywood stunt team who, in the lighthearted pilot, save a movie star (Elke Sommer) held prisoner by a pirate (Patrick Macnee) in an island fortress.

  Cast: Christopher Connelly (as Hill Singleton), Christopher Lloyd (Skip Hartman), Morgan Brittany (Elena Sweet), Bob Seagren (Wally Ditweiler), Soon Teck Oh (Kenny Uto), Brian Brodsky (Horatio Jennings), Juanin Clay (Dinah Lattimore), Bill Macy (Frank Wallach), Peter Haskell (Phil Samson), Patrick Macnee (Maximilian Bourdeaux), Elke Sommer (Rebecca Wayne). Morgan Paull (John Heinlein), Robert Ritchie (Harrison), Lynda Beattie (Monica).

  74. Stunts Unlimited. ABC 1 /4/80. 90 minutes. Paramount Television and Lawrence Gordon Productions. Director: Hal Needham. Executive Producer: Lawrence Gordon. Producer: Lionel E. Siegel. Writer: Laurence Heath. Music: Barry DeVorzon.

  Glenn Corbett is an ex-C.I.A. agent who recruits three stunt experts (Sam Jones, Chip Mayer, Susanna Dalton) to form an elite counterespionage team which, in the pilot, retrieves a stolen laser. People

  magazine thought "the idea is ingenious; it ought to be a series." Apparently, nobody else did.

  Cast: Chip Mayer (as Matt Lewis), Susanna Dalton (C.C. Brandt), Sam Jones (Bo Carlson), Glenn Corbett (Dirk Macauley), Linda Grovernor (Jody Webber), Alejandro Rey (Fernando Castilla), Vic Mohica (Tanis), Mickey Gilbert (Horse Gilbert), Charles Picerni (Stuntman).

  75. Tag Team. ABC 1990. 60 minutes. lndieProd Productions and Walt Disney Television. Director: Paul Krasny. Executive Producer: Bruce Sallan. Writers: Robert L. McCullough and Jonathan Lenikin.

  The adventures of two tag-team wrestlers-turned-cops who use their big ring skills to nab bad guys. This concept was designed, according to ABC development reports, to capitalize on the "enormous popularity of wrestling within a traditional television franchise."

  Cast: Jesse "The Body" Ventura (as Benny "The Body" Bonanno), "Rowdy" Roddy Piper ("Rowdy" Rick MacDonald), Robin Curtis (Lt. Steckler), Michael Genovese (Harrigan), Raymond O'Connor (Hatch).

  76. Time Travelers. ABC 3/19/76. 90 minutes. Irwin Allen Productions and Twentieth Century Fox Television. Director: Alexander Singer. Producer: Irwin Allen. Writer: Jackson Gillis, from a story by Rod Serling and Irwin Allen. Music: Morton Stevens.

  Rod Serling lent his creativity to this reworking of Irwin Allen's old Time Tunnel series. This time, the stories would revolve around a doctor and a research scientist who go back in time for the good of mankind. In the pilot, a dangerous epidemic is spreading across the country. Scientists believe a cure was once found for the disease, but the antidote and the man who developed it perished in the great Chicago fire over one hundred years ago. Heroes Sam Groom and Toni Hallick go back to the days just before the fire in hopes of finding the antidote before everything goes up in flames. The pilot utilized the Twentieth Century Fox backlot sets remaining from Hello, Dolly and footage from the 1938 film In Old Chicago.

  Cast: Sam Groom (as Dr. Clint Earnshaw), Toni Hallick (Jeff Adams), Richard Basehart (Dr. Joshua Henderson), Trish Stewart (Jane Henderson), Booth Colman (Dr. Cummings), Francine York (Dr. Helen Sanders), Walter Burke (Dr. Stafford), Baynes Barron (Chief Williams), Dort Clark (Sharkey).

  77. Toni's Boys (aka Toni's Devils). ABC 4/2/80. 60 minutes. Spelling/Goldberg Productions. Director: Ron Satlof. Executive Producers: Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg. Producer: Robert James. Writer: Kathryn Michael Powers.

  An obvious reworking of Charlie's Angels, the hit show which hosted the pilot episode. Barbara Stanwyck is the matriarchal private eye who solves cases with the help of three hunks (Bob Seagren, Stephen Short-ridge, and Bruce Bauer) and her butler (James E. Broadhead). Stanwyck would later star in The Colbys, a spin-off of Dynasty, which starred Charlie's Angels title character John Forsythe.

  Cast: Barbara Stanwyck (as Antonia Blake), Bob Seagren (Bob Sorenson). Stephen Shortridge (Cotton Harper), Bruce Bauer (Matt Parrish), James E. Broadhead (Rolph), Robert Loggia (Michael Durrano), Cheryl Ladd (Kris Munroe), Jacklyn Smith (Kelly Garrett), Shelley Hack (Tiffany Wells), David Doyle (John Bosley), John Forsythe (Charlie).

  78. Tut and Tuttle (aka Through the Magic Pyramid). NBC 12/6/81 and 12/13/81. 2 hours (2 x 60 minutes. Major H. Productions. Director: Ron 1-loward. Executive Producer: Ron Howard. Producers: Ron Howard and Herbert J. Wright. Writers/Creators: Rance Howard and Herbert J. Wright. Music: Joe Renzetti.

  The misadventures of a boy (Christopher Barnes) who gets a toy pyramid for his birthday—a pyramid that is actually a magic device that can transport him back to ancient Egypt, where he befriends young King Tut and helps him deal with his problems. This two-hour pilot (directed and coproduced by Ron Howard for his own company and co-created and co-written by his dad, Rance) was sliced in half and broadcast as two hour-long specials, which were nominated for an Emmy as Outstanding Children's Special.

  Cast: Christopher Barnes (as Bobby Tuttle). James Hampton (Sam Tuttle), Betty Beaird (as Eleanor Tuttle), Robbie Rist (Bonkers), Olivia Barash (Princess Baket), Hans Conried (Ay), Vic Tayback (Horembeb), Kario Salem (Akenaten), Eric Greene (Tutankamen), Jo Anne Worley (Mutjnedjmet), Mel Berger (Yuzannout), Mary Carver (Tiye), Daniel Leon (Guard), Gino Co
nforti (Hotep), Elaine Giftos (Neferiti), David Darlow (Taduhk), Sydney Penny (Princess).

  79. Twin Detectives (aka Gemini). ABC 5/1/76. 90 minutes. Charles Fries Productions. Director: Robert Day. Executive Producer: Charles Fries. Producer: Everett Chambers. Creator: Don Sharpe. Writer: Robert Specht, from a story by Everett Chambers, Robert Carrington, and Specht. Music: Tom Scott. Songs: "Spinning the Wheel" and "Hard on Me" by the Hudson Brothers.

  Country singers Jim and Jon Hager, who became famous on Hee Haw, starred in this pilot for a series about identical twins who pretend to be a single private eye, thereby using their ability to be in two places at once as an edge in crime fighting. In the pilot, through their twin ruse they unmask a phony psychic, solve a murder, and recover stolen money belonging to Lillian Gish (in her TV movie debut).

  Cast: Jim Hager (as Tony Thomas), Jon Hager (Shop Thomas), Lillian Gish (Billy Jo Haskins), Patrick O'Neal (Leonard Rainer), Michael Constantine (Ben Sampson), Otis Young (Cartwright), Barbara Rhodes (Sheila Rainer), David White (Marvin Telford), Fred Beir (Dr. Hudson), Lynda Day George (Nancy Pendleton), Randy Oakes (Jennie), James Victor (Lt. Martinez), Frank London (Hutchins), Billy Barty (Bartender).