Back Door Pilots Of Shows

[Braves2005]

What exactly are back door pilots of shows? On Green Acres just now they have an episode featuring Richard Deacon and Elaine Joyce which aired during the last season of the show. Oliver and Lisa were only seen in the first part of the show and barely seen for the rest of the show and the rest of the show revolved around the characters that Richard and Elaine played. In another episode from the last season, there was another episode that featured Don Porter that involved a hotel in Hawaii and Oliver and Lisa were there on their 5th honeymoon and this episode was also a back door pilot revolving Don Porter and the person playing his daughter.

Any other examples of back door pilots of shows?

 

[Stanislav]

There've been a lot of those over the years. "Married With Children" did three of them over the course of its run, if memory serves. One of the most notable was the Star Trek:TOS episode "Assignment: Earth" which was intended as a pilot for a possible spinoff. "All in the Family" basically used the episode with Maude as a backdoor pilot. And wasn't there one on "The Brady Bunch?" (The details are lost to me as I can;t stand watching the show -- it's like sugar to a diabetic...)

One that isn't, although often mentioned as one, is the Mork episode of 'Happy Days." It was not intended to be a pilot or even a trial for Robin Williams -- his manic performance simply caught everybody by surprise, and they decided to build a series around the character.

 

[Matt]

One comes to mind in the STAR TREK original series...the episode "Assignment: Earth". It featured Robert Lansing and Teri Garr as Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln.

"Assignment: Earth" was supposed to be a spinoff series for Gene Roddenberry...but somehow it didn't get produced and the episode remains an anomaly in the Star Trek universe.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

 

[bpatrick]

"Happy Days" began as a segment of "Love, American
Style" titled "Love In The Happy Days" (or "Love And
The Happy Day"--I've seen it both ways).

Bobby Sherman (remember him?) had a short-lived
1971 sitcom on ABC, "Getting Together," which began
as an episode of "The Partridge Family."

 

[Braves2005]

"All in the Family" basically used the episode with Maude as a backdoor pilot. And wasn't there one on "The Brady Bunch?" (The details are lost to me as I can;t stand watching the show -- it's like sugar to a diabetic...)

The episode of The Brady Bunch that you are talking about is the episode "Kelly's Kids" with Ken Berry and Beth Brickell(who played Clint Howard's mom on Gentle Ben).

I wouldn't call the All In The Family episode with Maude when Archie and the whole family were sick with the flu a backdoor pilot because Maude was Edith's cousin and they wanted to introduce her character on the show. Now the All In The Family episode where Maude and Walter and Carol are introduced in their home in Tuckahoe when Archie and Edith came for Carol's wedding would be considered the pilot for the show Maude.

When The Jeffersons moved on up, the pilot of the show aired on All In The Family as well. Only Edith was on and that was at the beginning of the show when Edith and Louise hugged each other and said their goodbyes. The rest of the show introduced the new characters on the show(Mr. Bentley and Ralph) and then introduced Roxie Roker, Franklin Cover, and Berlinda Tolbert as Helen, Tom and Jenny Willis. The episode "Lionel's Engagement", which aired on All In The Family, featured different actors playing the Willises.

 

[clichemoth]

There've been a lot of those over the years. "Married With Children" did three of them over the course of its run, if memory serves.

There was the one that spun off "Top of the Heap" with Joe Bologna and Matt LeBlanc and the one where Bud did a college radio show...What was the third?

And were either of the Green Acres episodes mentioned above really backdoor pilots? If so, what would the titles of the spinoffs have been?

 

[Braves2005]

And were either of the Green Acres episodes mentioned above really backdoor pilots? If so, what would the titles of the spinoffs have been?



[/quote/]

They were backdoor pilots since they had little or nothing to do with Green Acres other than the plotline. For instance, the one with Don Porter and the daughter who ran the hotel in Hawaii, the daughter reminded me of a college aged Gidget with an English accent. Oliver and Lisa were seen more in this episode. The other one with Richard Deacon and Elaine Joyce where Oliver and Lisa were seen less frequently there would have been a show about the two working in an office.

Since Green Acres was about to be cancelled because of CBS's banishment of rural programs, they had to find something to air on Green Acres that was not so rural and quite possibly may have stayed for a 7th season, thus the backdoor pilots.

 

[anotherguyTN]

There was an episode of The Cosby Show that featured John Ritter as a coach whose wife was a patient of Cliff Huxtable. Most of the show was centered around Ritter's home life. At the time I first saw the episode I didn't know what a backdoor pilot was, but I had the impression that it might be a pilot for a potential series with John Ritter that didn't materialize.

 

[Ultimajock]

...There was a "Twilight Zone" episode with Carol Burnett and Jesse White titled "Cavender is Coming." It was intended as a pilot for a series about a klutzy movie theater employee and her guardian angel. It didn't sell...

...there was another "Love, American Style" pilot that *did* turn into a series, an animated segment titled "Love and The Old-Fashioned Father" that became the Hanna-Barbera syndicated cartoon "Wait Till Your Father Gets Home"...

 

[bpatrick]

Don't forget the 1960 "Danny Thomas Show" episode
where Danny gets arrested for speeding in Mayberry, NC.
I don't have to tell anyone the result.

 

[therealjm12]

Don't forget the 1960 "Danny Thomas Show" episode
where Danny gets arrested for speeding in Mayberry, NC.
I don't have to tell anyone the result.

And let's not forget about a certain Mayberry sheriff taking his local garage mechanic to Marine boot camp a few years later.

 

[clichemoth]

Don't forget the 1960 "Danny Thomas Show" episode
where Danny gets arrested for speeding in Mayberry, NC.
I don't have to tell anyone the result.

And let's not forget about a certain Mayberry sheriff taking his local garage mechanic to Marine boot camp a few years later.

But that wasn't really a backdoor pilot since Gomer was a regular character on the show. It was merely a spinoff.

 

[Newname]

One that isn't, although often mentioned as one, is the Mork episode of 'Happy Days." It was not intended to be a pilot or even a trial for Robin Williams -- his manic performance simply caught everybody by surprise, and they decided to build a series around the character.

How did that episode end when it originally aired? I've only seen the rebroadcast version, which tacked on a clip of Mork receiving his 'next assignment' from an unseen Orson. ABC added this, and deleted whatever the original last scene had been, when it reran the episode in the summer of 1978.

Another 'backdoor pilot': 'The Golden Girls' had one with Rita Moreno and Paul Dooley as a middle-aged couple who knew the 'girls' somehow.

 

[bpatrick]

How it ended implied that it was all a dream.
In the end, Robin Williams shows up as a
country hick, asking Richie for directions
to wherever he's going.

 

[Stanislav]

How did that episode end when it originally aired? I've only seen the rebroadcast version, which tacked on a clip of Mork receiving his 'next assignment' from an unseen Orson. ABC added this, and deleted whatever the original last scene had been, when it reran the episode in the summer of 1978.

How it ended implied that it was all a dream. In the end, Robin Williams shows up as a
country hick, asking Richie for directions to wherever he's going.

As I recall, nothing was cut from the ending, but rather the brief new clip with Mork getting his instructions for his next assignment in Boulder CO was just tacked onto the end for the repeat broadcast. (They probably just cut out a few seconds somewhere eariler in the show to make it all time out correctly). To me, this led to a clumsy plot contradiction: the bit where RW comes to the door delivering pizza is supposed to imply that the whole episode was Richie's dream, yet that is immediately followed with the new tag making it pretty clear that Mork really WAS an alien. But I suppose ABC was just looking to plug their hot new star/series wherever they could, and continuity was not the first thing on their minds. (Hard to see clearly through dollar signs...)

 

[weee]

On The Golden Girls, they had an episode that focused on the girls's neighbor Harry Weston, played by Paul Dooley and his family with wife Rita Moreno and daughters, with David Leisure. But when Empty Nest debuted, is was very different...don';t know if this counts though.

On Who's The Boss? I can remember two of them
1. Mona moves into her brothers hotel to help him run it, but that show never developed.
2. Sam's childhood friend Charlie (Leah Remini) came to visit and then ended up being recruited into a modeling agency run by Michael Lernerd.

 

[Kurt Toy]

"All in the Family" basically used the episode with Maude as a backdoor pilot. And wasn't there one on "The Brady Bunch?" (The details are lost to me as I can;t stand watching the show -- it's like sugar to a diabetic...)

The episode of The Brady Bunch that you are talking about is the episode "Kelly's Kids" with Ken Berry and Beth Brickell(who played Clint Howard's mom on Gentle Ben).

I wouldn't call the All In The Family episode with Maude when Archie and the whole family were sick with the flu a backdoor pilot because Maude was Edith's cousin and they wanted to introduce her character on the show. Now the All In The Family episode where Maude and Walter and Carol are introduced in their home in Tuckahoe when Archie and Edith came for Carol's wedding would be considered the pilot for the show Maude.

When The Jeffersons moved on up, the pilot of the show aired on All In The Family as well. Only Edith was on and that was at the beginning of the show when Edith and Louise hugged each other and said their goodbyes. The rest of the show introduced the new characters on the show(Mr. Bentley and Ralph) and then introduced Roxie Roker, Franklin Cover, and Berlinda Tolbert as Helen, Tom and Jenny Willis. The episode "Lionel's Engagement", which aired on All In The Family, featured different actors playing the Willises.

According to one of the "Brady Bunch books, it was Brooke Bundy who played Ken Berry's wife in the pilot.

 

[KS-IL-IA]

The Cosby Show had another BDP with Tony Orlando in charge of a rec center.

And The Golden Girls had a BDP with Paul Dooley and Rita Moreno that eventually morphed into Empty Nest.

 

[Markxxx]

NBC seemed to be good for doing this.

I remember Facts Of Life had at least two episodes that were pilots. One was with Richard Dean Anderson and he married Tootie's aunt. So it was a black and white marriage thing. Another was when Jo went back to her old neighborhood and she was staying with her girl "tomboy" cousin. The girl had like 3 brothers and the girl wanted to be a "woman" type deal. I think it had the guy who played "Dutch" in Soap and Peter Deluise.

I bet Diff'rent Strokes probably had one. I wonder about Family Ties?

While not backdoor pilots, Paul Sands was so well liked in the Mary Tyler Moore episode where he played a nervous IRS agent, CBS gave him his own show next season. And there was almost a back door pilot on Mary Tyler Moore featuring Bill Daley as a stupid congressman who Mary wants Ted to interview only to find out he, like Ted, is an idiot. That episode had Isabell Sanford in it too.

 

[mleach]

NBC seemed to be good for doing this.


I bet Diff'rent Strokes probably had one. I wonder about Family Ties?

They did somewhat with Hello Larry. I believe Hello Larry had severe rating problems and it was thought maybe a tie in with Diff'rent Strokes would help ( Drummond buying Larry's radio station ).
It didn't.