James says: "How weird did CBS's edgy programming phase almost get? Here are exclusive clips from near-miss fall pilot
Babylon Fields, which just might be the strangest TV show you have never seen."
- Zombies rise from the dead and, in at least one case, have consensual sex with their former spouses.
- Show crosses zombie thriller with CBS-style procedural crime drama, so star Ray Stevenson ("Rome") is giving a murder to solve, while the living dead roam the streets.
- In one clip, zombie neighbors brag about the erectile-enhancing properties of being deceased:
- Zombie #1: "Martha treating you right?"
- Zombie #2: [excited] "Oh, like a newlywed at an oyster fest! Listen, since you been back, have you been, like, ready to 'go,' you know, like all the time?"
- Zombie #2: "Yeah, sure. I got that."
- Zombie #2: "Oh yeah! Hee-hee-hee"
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Well, let's not forget this season's "Pushing Daisies" wherein the protagonist, with the aid of his recently-dead childhood sweetheart, solves murders by reviving corpses and asking them what happened to them, all to fairytale-style voiceovers and cinematics.
I was sad this didn't get picked up. But it also made me wish there was some distribution on non-picked up pilots. I'd totally dig watching a yearly released anthology of shows that never were. It would let the studios make money back on the investment, and if one of the pilots is wildly popular it lets them pick up the pieces and push on with that show risk free.
"I'd totally dig watching a yearly released anthology of shows that never were."
Great idea!
On a similar note, PBS ahows a series called "One Hit Wonders" which are basically Britcoms that lasted only one UK season (6 episodes).
But one-of-a-kind pilots would be far more intriguing.
And give us the power to second-guess them? Why would they do that?
Teresa: to make more money?
second guessing is already happening with the advent of tv series on dvd. We've seen several series hauled out of cancellation because of dvd sales (futurama, family guy) and we saw Firefly turned into Serenity (awesome movie, unfortunately it didn't pay off like they wanted it to.)
If studio execs can admit they were wrong cancelling a T.V. show, then they can make a buck off tv shows that ever were, and possibly see a market for a show looking at the DVD sales. Its 20/20 hindsigh. They can no see where before they wouldn't have been able to determine if they were to put a certain type of show on the airwaves cold.
This zombie show is a good example. If it were my money on the line, i'm not sure if this show could gather a mainstream audience. But if the pilot went to dvd and sales were great...
excuse the typos, sorry.
But Tim, the guys who are getting second-guessed won't get the additional money. All they get is an opportunity to look bad.
I'm fairly ignorant of the inner workings of for example, fox, but i was under the impression that bringing back family guy was done to make more money.
By your logic this should never have happened* because all it would have done was make fox look bad. Instead, they brought it back, to make money. How the cash flow is divided up internally is a mystery to me, but i'm assuming making decisions that make the network money, net the deciscion makers more money.
*in reality this should never have happened because family guy ended exactly when it should have in the first place.
IIRC the cable channel Trio was showing unaired pilots for a while, but I'm not sure 'cause I don't get that channel.
Hot damn diggety! I'm downloading this on BT as we speak! Can't wait.
Thanks BoingBoing! *thumbs up*
For a neat show that never was, I recommend The Jake Effect. It starts kind of slow, but by the last episode it was a real hoot.
Plus is stars Justin Bateman, who's always pretty enjoyable.