I’m a sucker for unsold pilots. Here’s the 25-minute, unaired demo film
for BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. The first thing you’ll notice is that
some key casting changed before the show went to series. You’ll notice
the same thing about the original WONDERFALLS pilot and the original MUNSTERS pilot.
Did you ever see the unsold Ben Stiller/Jack Black/Owen Wilson pilot for Heat Vision & Jack?
Jack Black plays an astronaut who gets too close to the sun and gets special powers — whenever the sun shines he’s the SMARTEST MAN ON THE PLANET!! When it’s not out, he’s a dumbass. Well, that and Owen Wilson (his best friend) is shot by a special ray gun by the evil villain (Ron Silver playing NASA bad guy “Ron Silver”) and Owen Wilson morphs into Jack Black’s motorcycle — so now Jack’s motorcycle is a talking bike with Owen Wilson’s voice, a la KITT.
Hilarious, and no wonder it never sold.
Unaired pilots are fun! Maybe you can help with this one. I know, I KNOW, I saw commercials for a pilot on NBC (series unsold, which was a surprise) for (as I recall) a half hour comedy series starring Robert Wagner as a horror writer ala Stephen King, complete with wife and adorable children. I KNOW I saw the commercials for it, but it was pre-empted at the last second due some breaking news in the Gulf War. As far as I am aware, it was never shown.
I’m one of the few folks who wasn’t wowed by HEAT VISION AND JACK. It’s always sounded funnier than it actually was in execution.
I believe the Stephen King-esque pilot you’re talking about was called THE GHOST WRITER and starred Anthony Perkins. We tried to use a clip from it in our unsold pilot special but couldn’t clear the rights.
Here’s a 5-minute demo pilot for a 60’s erea Wonder Woman sitcom. It’s shockingly awful. Really.
Now I’m going to watch the Buffy video. Thanks!
Sorry, I posted the wrong permalink for the HV&J pilot: http://youtube.com/watch?v=6lWgXDOAJ5s
Hmmm…. I can’t really say one way or the other, but you may be right. Damned if I’m still not positive it was Wagner as the lead. There’s no trace of it anywhere, not on IMDB or RJ’s website. But dammit, I remember that.
I just watched the Buffy pilot. Extermely cool! Thanks for posting it!