TV Pilots
made-for-TV movies and short that spawned a series (or not). Note: Most do not depict airplane or boat pilots.
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- DirectorGeorge CahanStarsLarry FineMoe HowardShemp HowardTelevision pilot for a Three Stooges situation comedy, where the Stooges are painters and paperhangers and completely wreck a hapless couple's home.
- DirectorWalter ColmesStarsDale EvansForrest TaylorLane BradfordDale snaps the first picture ever of "Notched Ear Jackson" and then the chase is on. This Pilot became the Precursor to the Roy Rogers Show.
- DirectorRichard OswaldStarsDan O'HerlihyMarjo HarrisGertrude MichaelA dramatic t.v. pilot that tells the story of the tragic, mysterious "love deaths" of Crown Prince Rudolf and his mistress, Baroness Marie Vetsera at Mayerling in 1889.
- DirectorJean YarbroughStarsBuddy EbsenMarvin KaplanClaude StroudBoring failed pilot revolving around the Andrews Sisters consisting primarily of them mouthing to already recorded songs with some mediocre comedy bits from a loose plot, sandwiched in between.
- DirectorJames NeilsonStarsEdward G. RobinsonJohn HoytAnn DoranThis is a pilot TV movie for a series about a former police captain turned eager defense attorney.
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsMichael AllenArthur CassellAndrew DugganA school bus driver (Jack Warden) is fired by the local school board when he refuses to sign a loyalty oath. This was a pilot for a proposed anthology series that didn't sell.
- StarsAnn SheridanUna MerkelPhilip OberPilot for a proposed series about the comedic adventures of a Nevada casino's public affairs director.
- DirectorPaul LandresHerbert L. StrockGeorge WaggnerStarsBoris KarloffDenise AlexanderWhit BissellPilot film for an anthology series called "The Veil."
- DirectorJacques TourneurStarsBilly PearsonBenay VenutaMaurice MansonLight-hearted pilot for a proposed CBS detective series featuring characters created by Erle Stanley Gardner (under the pseudonym of A.A. Fair). Penny-pinching, rotund Bertha Cool runs a detective agency while her diminutive junior partner Donald Lam provides the legs and padded expense account. In the pilot, Lam's investigation of infidelity leads to murder.
- DirectorIda LupinoStarsDarrell HowePatrick WayneIda LupinoPilot for a sitcom about a family caught up in the craze over the latest teenage rock-and-roll sensation.
- DirectorJack SmightStarsRichard ErdmanAnne FrancisMargie GranerPilot for a proposed anthology series where each story revolved around the meaning of one of the Ten Commandments in modern times. The theme for this story was the third commandment: "Thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain."
- DirectorOscar RudolphStarsKeith AndesLewis MartinMary AdamsPilot for a proposed medical series set in a large metropolitan hospital. A woman must have an operation to save her life, but her husband refuses to authorize the procedure. Dr. Grant must learn why and convince him to allow the life-saving operation.
- DirectorRobert M. LeedsStarsWilliam JoyceFay SpainRegis PartonPilot for a proposed western series about a footloose, guitar-strumming cowboy who helps folks with their problems. In the pilot episode, Johnny is hired to provide music for a wedding and discovers that the bride is an unwilling participant in the proposed nuptials.
- DirectorNorman Z. McLeodStarsBen BlueRuth McDevittBarbara HellerIn 1958, Ben Blue played all four brothers (the wealthy snob, the vaudevillian, the tramp and the average guy), in this comedy pilot for CBS. The network didn't exercise it's option and the pilot wasn't aired until 1965.
- DirectorRod AmateauStarsMargaret O'BrienLeon AmesFay BakerA famous Broadway husband and wife acting team moves into a staid old Connecticut town,anxious to fit in. Their scatterbrained daughter Maggie does her best to sabotage them with reporters and neighbors, including trying to convince the old lady next door that her hired man is in love with her.
- DirectorNorman TokarStarsMichael O'SheaVirginia MayoLes TremaynePilot for a situation comedy developed by CBS about the adventures of a gentle Irish-American beat cop and his non-confrontational methods of resolving neighborhood problems.
- DirectorOscar RudolphStarsGene NelsonJoe MantellMarvin KaplanPilot for a situation comedy about three war buddies who decide to chuck their individual careers and open a restaurant together.
- DirectorWilliam AsherStarsSheila MacRaeGordon MacRaeKelly SmithUnsold situation comedy pilot about the complicated lives of a show business couple, their kids and friends.
- DirectorCharles R. RondeauStarsSimon OaklandJoe De SantisLisa GayeTelevision series pilot for a proposed series that purported to show the circumstances behind a famous unsolved murder. The victim this time out is Martin 'Mugsy' Heidel, a West Coast underworld boss who loses all his Hollywood friends when he is accused of murdering a small-time bookie. He vows to create a fabulous hotel, casino and entertainment hot-spot just across the border in Nevada and make it so lavish that the men and women who snubbed him will crave his affection again. When Mugsy plows all the profits back into the hotel, his criminal bosses are not pleased and Heidel is 'retired' in a hail of bullets from an unknown assailant in revenge.
- DirectorLesley SelanderStarsBarry KelleyGrant WilliamsRush WilliamsThe adventures of a railroad detective in the old West were depicted in this unsold pilot for NBC- TV.
- DirectorRalph MurphyStarsMickey ShaughnessyTom D'AndreaFrank GerstlePilot for an NBC series concerns the comedic adventures of two U.S. Navy seamen who try to wrangle a honeymoon for a shipmate and his bride.
- StarsRichard AndersonJohn EricsonDiana TraskIn this pilot for a proposed NBC adventurer series, Richard Anderson plays a worldly-wise American who is hired by the French national police to watch over American tourists and prevent them from getting in trouble.
- DirectorBert I. GordonStarsVincent PriceRichard CarlsonSusan GordonTV pilot masterminded by Bert I. Gordon and Herts-Lion International. Vincent Price hosts and plays a poltergeist while introducing the ghost story to follow, which turns out be an edited version of Gordon's "Tormented."
- DirectorSidney SalkowStarsMarie WilsonCharles RugglesCharles LanePilot for a situation comedy where Ernestine (Marie Wilson) is constantly getting her father, the president of a small loan company, in trouble.
- DirectorNorman TokarStarsJeanne CrainJohn VivyanJimmie Lee GainesPilot for a situation comedy about the misadventures of a family consisting of a former model, a magazine publisher and two kids.