Various feature length pilot episodes and one-off movies from American TV.
A list of American TV pilot episodes and one-off movies, mainly the older ones.
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- DirectorRichard IrvingStarsPeter FalkGene BarryKatherine JusticeA psychiatrist uses a patient he is having an affair with to help him kill his wife, but his perfect alibi may come apart at the hands of a seemingly befuddled LAPD lieutenant.
- DirectorDon SiegelStarsLee MarvinAngie DickinsonJohn CassavetesSurprised that their contract victim didn't try to run away from them, two professional hit men try to find out who hired them and why.Made for TV but rejected for its violence.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsDennis WeaverJacqueline ScottEddie FirestoneA business commuter is pursued and terrorized by the malevolent driver of a massive tractor-trailer.
- DirectorJoseph SargentStarsTelly SavalasMarjoe GortnerJosé FerrerA homicide detective begins to suspect that the black teenager accused of murdering two white girls is being framed by his fellow detectives.
- DirectorJames GoldstoneStarsRaymond BurrGeraldine BrooksWally CoxParalyzed by a sniper's bullet, Robert T. Ironside continues investigating criminal cases as a citizen volunteer. With the assistance of two former protegees, Ironside sets out to find his would-be assassin.
- DirectorJerry JamesonStarsBen MurphyBonnie BedeliaLew AyresThe residents of an isolated mountain town must band together to survive during a devastating heat wave.
- DirectorDon WeisStarsFred GwynneYvonne De CarloAl LewisWhen the owner of a wax museum attempts to frame Herman and Grandpa Munster for pulling a jewelry heist, they must both prove their innocence and find out who the true thieves are.
- 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 FrancisJohn HoytPilot 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 BakerPilot for a proposed sit-com concerns the misadventures that occur when a sophisticated husband-and-wife team of actors and their clever teen-age daughter move from Manhattan to suburban Connecticut and immediately clash with their new neighbors.
- 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 CarlsonTV 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.
- DirectorDavid ButlerStarsDon PorterPhyllis AveryRickey KelmanUnsold pilot for a proposed sitcom about a young doctor, his wife and two children who leave the big city for life in the country.
- DirectorDon TaylorStarsDub TaylorLoie BridgeGrace AlbertsonA retired couple decide to buy a mobile home and tour the United States. In the unsold pilot episode, the help another couple they meet in a campground patch up their marriage.
- DirectorDavid SwiftStarsEdward AndrewsAgnes MooreheadRuta LeeUnsold pilot for a proposed CBS sitcom about the comic misadventures of a hen-pecked husband.
- DirectorBuzz KulikStarsDavid WayneGeorgann JohnsonKathy DunnPilot for a proposed TV comedy series about a family of Vaudevillians.
- DirectorRichard L. BareStarsLynn AldenPatricia BlairCharlie BriggsUnsold pilot for a proposed CBS sitcom concerns the misadventures of recently married college students who are forced to live in one of the school's dormitories because of their precarious financial status.
- DirectorGene NelsonStarsWayne AdamsFrank BankKathy BennettUnsold pilot for a television show based on Archie Comics.
- DirectorJules BrickenStarsRod TaylorWillis BoucheyLarry GatesIn this pilot for an unsold series, Rod Taylor stars as a newspaper columnist trying to help the daughter (Barbara Rush) of his publisher (Larry Gates) after she tells him she thinks she's killed someone.
- DirectorSidney LanfieldStarsDebbie MegowanWilliam LeslieShary MarshallNine-year-old Amy has decided that klutzy neighbor Arthur is the one she's going to marry. However, Arthur is too busy trying, and failing miserably, to get a place on the football team to pay any attention to her. So she comes up with what she thinks are foolproof schemes to get him to succeed, which will give him more time to spend with her. Complications ensue.
- DirectorGene ReynoldsStarsBobby RydellJames DunnPeter BrooksUnsold pilot for a proposed CBS comedy series about the comic misadventures of a band trying to make it big on the music scene.
- DirectorDavid AlexanderStarsEthel MermanMark GoddardSusan WatsonUnsold pilot for a proposed sitcom revolves around the efforts of a widow to raise and daughter and run a nightclub which is next to a Marine Corps base.
- DirectorPaul StanleyStarsFrank AletterEllen BurstynGeorge N. NeiseIn this unsold 1962 pilot for a proposed NBC comedy series, scientist Lester Belstrup invents a machine that forces people to tell the truth.
- DirectorWalter GraumanStarsStanley AdamsPaul ComiJohn HoytBlake Edward's second try at creating a pilot for a proposed adventure series about a private detective who graduated from Harvard.
- DirectorBlake EdwardsStarsWilliam BryantVictor BuonoUnsold televised dramatization of the long running radio crime drama about Hartford-based insurance investigator Johnny Dollar.
- DirectorJohn NewlandStarsDan DaileyDiana LynnJohn McGiverUnsold pilot based on the truth life experience of writer H. Allen Smith who lives in New York City's Greenwich Village and struggles to get his work published.
- DirectorGene NelsonStarsJohn SimpsonRoland WintersWilliam SchallertSitcom about comic strip character "Archie "
- DirectorStuart RosenbergStarsJackie CooperBarbara StanwyckRobert LansingUnaired pilot for an adventure series about a county agent.
- DirectorHerman HoffmanMontgomery PittmanStarsRichard BakalyanJim BannonDick BernieUnsold pilot for a proposed NBC western series concerns the misadventures of a shady peddler and the young man he tries to teach the sleazy side of his business.
- StarsLew AyresRobert HortonShirley KnightThis is the lost pilot to a private eye series in which Robert Horton was to star. It was written by N. Richard Nash who also wrote the musical version of "The Rainmaker" which featured Horton.
- DirectorPeter TewksburyStarsMarlo ThomasRon HusmannAnne JeffreysNewlywed couple Bob and Caroline Sommers seem to be enjoying their new life together. In this failed TV-pilot, Bob quits his job as an assistant at a law firm, and former model Caroline tries to go back to work in an effort to make ends meet by modeling maternity fashions, which makes Bob assume that his wife is hiding her pregnancy.
- DirectorJack ArnoldStarsPat HingleBen BlueLisa GayeThis rejected CBS 1964-1965 sitcom pilot starred Pat Hingle as the ghost of Lt. Col. George A. Custer and comedian Ben Blue as his Indian sidekick, Running Dog, who "return from the happy hunting ground to gambol with a typical American family." By means that go unexplained in the pilot, the two frequently materialize from images in a painting hanging in a West Los Angeles residence (once owned by Benjamin Custer, a relative of the colonel) into living form, causing much mischief. In the pilot, a real-estate agent (Jack Weston) rents the house to Helen and Tom Woodley (Lisa Gaye and Curtis Taylor), who move in along with their young children, Liz (Kym Harath) and Larry (Randy Whipple).
- StarsCordy ClarkJonathan HarrisAldo RayUnsold pilot for an American version of a classic British sitcom.
- DirectorStuart RosenbergStarsAnthony FranciosaJill St. JohnJack KlugmanAn investigative reporter looks into the murder of a call girl. His investigation unearths her diary, with the names of many prominent people in it. He sets out to find her killer from among the names contained in it.
- DirectorClaudio GuzmánStarsBill MumyPat CrowleyMary Jane CroftUnsold pilot for a proposed CBS sitcom concerns the adventures of a young boy who lives with his widowed mother a writer/illustrator of children's books. He relates better to the imaginary characters his mother creates than flesh-and-blood people
- DirectorRichard CrennaStarsJames StacyJoan BlondellLynn LoringPilot for a proposed television series about a young doctor who cannot resist telling parents how to raise their children despite having none of his own.
- DirectorHoward MorrisStarsDarryl HickmanKathleen FreemanNed GlassUnsold pilot for a proposed sitcom about the comedic adventures of a family of cavemen and women
- DirectorJean YarbroughStarsPaul DooleyJan ShutanMichael BlodgettThis was a pilot for a TV series that didn't make it to the series level. The man in the square suit is a 37-year-old writer who ends up being forced into the position of becoming the main writer for the TEEN BEAT tv show, where everyone else is (comparatively) a child, even the executive producer, all 22 or under. As the show begins, we see that our hero is someone who hates change. In a gimmick straight out of the old Dick van Dyke, we see him falling over furniture that his wife moved, and plunging his hand into a fish tank that used to be a bowl of peanuts before his wife rearranged his desk. At the beginning, he doesn't want anything to do with the idea of this new show. He is asked to write up a presentation for the network, but agrees only if he will not be involved with anything else. He does not want to be involved with the week-to-week running of the show. He suffers Writer's Block, unable to write anything worthwhile, even playing a tape recording of typewriter sounds so he can putt some golf balls in his den. When his wife forces him to write, he starts typing but refuses to show his daughter what he is writing. Before he can prevent it, his wife grabs the paper from the typewriter and reads it to us, all words like ZXVW and other garbage. Meanwhile, their red head daughter banters on about what is happening in her world. After the wife and daughter leave the room, he continues to try to write, but nothing comes to him, but then we hear the words that his daughter was bantering about, as something that he is hearing in his mind, and he starts writing down her words. We don't see the actual presentation, but we join them three weeks later at breakfast, where her daughter finds an article on the front page of the paper that says he is writer for a new TV show, Teen Beat. He goes down to the office to tell them that he never agreed to be the writer. The production office is full of young guys and gals all acting like those young dancers on Rowan and Martin's Laugh In. He leaves, thinking he is not the writer. The producer wanted a young writer with experience, not an old fogie with experience. Later, the young producer shows up at the man's home. Between him and the wife, they convince him (manipulate him) into becoming the writer anyway, admitting that sometimes, you have to accept an older person with experience when there are no younger ones with experience. During the rest of the show, we see our hero try to fit in at the disco, but wearing himself out, and the wife tries dancing with the produce later at their home to the new beat, but ends up dancing with her husband to some old music. I saw it as an extra item on the Season Three "My Favorite Martian" DVD set.
- DirectorAlan D. CourtneyJeffrey HaydenStarsShelley FabaresCeleste HolmWesley AddyIn the early 1900s, the life story of the Smith family in St. Louis, and their daughter's love for the boy next door.
- DirectorWilliam AsherStarsHermione BaddeleyJane ConnellMaurice DallimoreSedwich Hawkstyles is a Victorian detective who is hired to solve crimes when Sherlock Holmes is unavailable. In this pilot episode he makes horrible mistakes but in his ineptitude eventually solves the crime., theft of the Magna Carta.
- DirectorGordon DouglasStarsHoward DuffJeanne CrainBen AlexanderPilot for sixties crime series Felony Squad.
- DirectorMichael RitchieStarsDarren McGavinSean GarrisonShirley KnightPilot for the detective drama series has Darren McGavin playing David Ross, a hard-nosed, private eye/ex-con hired to tail a woman in an embezzling case which takes a turn when he finds himself the prime suspect when the woman is found dead in his own office, by his gun.
- DirectorBuzz KulikStarsPhilip AbbottVito ScottiDino FazioPilot for a proposed comedy/adventure series about hijinks in an Italian P.O.W. camp during World War II.
- StarsEddie Foy Jr.Jimmy HawkinsKaye StevensA failed night club performer (Kaye Stevens) finds herself stranded in a rural town. She lands a job at a TV station/General store run by Eddie Foy Jr. and Jimmy Hawkins. A fish out of water tale, part of the larger rural television craze.
- DirectorCoby RuskinStarsSammy JacksonJudy CanovaRobert ReedUnsold sitcom TV pilot about the misadventures of the Yokum clan and their hillbilly neighbors
- DirectorDick WessonStarsJoe FlynnJack WestonMelodie JohnsonUnsold sitcom pilot about a pretty girl with a criminology degree who helps two hapless detectives solve perplexing cases.
- DirectorVincent McEveetyStarsSteve IhnatRafer JohnsonGary ClarkeAn elite squad of police detectives who report directly to the police commissioner handle the city's toughest and most sensitive cases
- DirectorNorman LearGordon RigsbyStarsCarroll O'ConnorTim McIntireKelly Jean PetersThe 1968 unaired pilot for what would eventually become the iconic TV series All in the Family (1971).
- DirectorJack WebbStarsJack WebbHarry MorganVic PerrinInitially intended as a pilot for the Dragnet-1967 TV series, featuring L.A. police detective Sgt. Joe Friday and his partners, but not aired until 1969.
- StarsCraig StevensBrooke BundyRobyn MillanUnsold sitcom pilot about the struggles of a young widower trying to raise three rambunctious daughters.
- DirectorAlan RafkinStarsForrest TuckerDon ScardinoJames GregoryIn this short-lived TV series based upon the film of the same name, The Flim-Flam Man (1967), a conman and his protégé roam the rural South swindling greedy scalawags, dishonest businessmen and gullible lowlifes, but never poor, honest folk.
- DirectorJames FrawleyStarsHal BuckleyPat DelaneySally Ann RichardsPaul Manning discovers one day that his dear friend and neighbor Ed Stander has been cheating on his wife. Curious, he asks Ed about it and is given the history and tactics of men who have successfully committed adultery.
- DirectorNorman TokarStarsLogan HarboughMark BrownBernie HamiltonRecast and rewritten version of the 1967 pilot of the same title, the plot concerns the adventures and tribulations of two young friend, one black and one white and their families.
- DirectorEdward MontagneStarsDavid AstorAdam KeefeRobert MiddletonIn a plot that bears marked similarities to the CBS pilot "Run, Buddy, Run" (which was also shot in 1966) and "The Fugitive," two men are framed for murder are pursued by Mafia hit men and the police.
- DirectorGeorge McCowanStarsWilliam ConradJ.D. CannonLynda Day GeorgeCannon investigates the murder of a war-buddy to clear the man's wife of suspicion in his death.
- StarsJohn AmosDiana SandsA baseball player tries to balance his playing career with the needs of his wife.
- DirectorBuzz KulikStarsVincent PricePeter LorreWhitney BlakeMr. Prentiss is an appraiser at his firm, the House of Prentiss. He is about to go to Florida to appraise a vast collection of a recently deceased collector, Van der Locken, when he receives an unwanted visit from Ivor Hager, who informs him of "The Left Fist of David," a valuable but mysterious art object that was stolen from a Mexican church. Hager offers a bribe but Prentiss firmly rejects it and heads to Florida. In Florida, Prentiss meets up with his cohorts, Mr. Munsey and his secretary, and they set about to appraise the collection. However, Hager shows up again, since he is a neighbor, with a teasing shot of a bow and arrow. It appears all are interested in the "Left Fist of David." After a mistaken poisoning of a cat, Prentiss and Munsey become concerned, and fabricate a sculpture of a fist. Thinking the sculpture is real, Hager enters with a gun, ready to steal the object, but then discovers it's a fake. In a fight-out with Prentiss and Munsey, Hager fires his gun at the ceiling, where it hits a chandelier...
- DirectorRobert DayStarsLouis HaywardRichard O'SullivanAdrienne CorriIn 18th Century England, James MacDonald - an aristocrat by day and outlaw by night - tries to right wrongs perpetrated against the poor farmers of England by evil landlords and their government minions.
- StarsDean Jagger
- DirectorArthur HillerStarsMartin MilnerStuart WhitmanDavid ThursbyNew York Yankee rookie Joe Starr (Martin Milner) attempts to make a comeback after being injured when he is hit in the head by a baseball during a game. Also known under the title "Starr of the Yankees."
- DirectorDon TaylorStarsTommy AndreHal BaylorWalter BrennanGrandfather lives with his four grandchildren and helps his oldest grandson run a garage.
- DirectorLarry PeerceStarsRichard GatesTim MathesonPortia NelsonThe Hardy Boys become owners of the Chinese junk Hai Hau. They head to New York City and go spelunking to break up a gang of criminals.
- DirectorRobert DayStarsJanet LeighJulie HarrisTim O'ConnorA detective investigates the disappearance of the promiscuous wife of a timid salesman, and finds that everything is not quite as it appears.
- DirectorDon McDougallStarsRicardo MontalbanJosé FerrerLeslie NielsenA scientist and his team of underwater explorers search for the culprit who has stolen the world's supply of nerve gas and hidden it somewhere in the ocean.
- DirectorFielder CookStarsPatricia NealRichard ThomasEdgar BergenOn Christmas Eve 1933, the Waltons prepare for the holiday, but they are becoming increasingly worried because John Walton, who was forced to take work in another part of the state, has not yet returned home.
- DirectorRuss MayberryStarsHugh O'BrianElke SommerBurgess MeredithHigh-tech investigations company World Securities uses Agents, called Probes, to solve various international cases, such as the retrieval of a famous diamond collection stolen by the Nazis during World War II.
- DirectorHerbert KenwithStarsVan JohnsonNancy MaloneMichael BrandonA father must deal with his family whose members espouse political philosophies of all stripes
- DirectorRichard IrvingStarsLee MajorsBarbara AndersonMartin BalsamAfter an astronaut and test pilot is catastrophically mutilated in a test plane crash, he is rebuilt and equipped with nuclear powered bionic limbs and implants.
- DirectorJoseph SargentStarsCristina RainesCliff De YoungMeg FosterWhen a young woman who is living in the woods with her struggling-musician husband and her very young daughter discovers that she has terminal cancer, she begins to tape-record a journal of the time she has left, hoping to leave something precious for her daughter.
- DirectorAlex MarchStarsMichael LernerPaul Le MatVal AveryTensions arise when a previously all-white firehouse gets its first black fireman.
- DirectorJerry ThorpeStarsDavid JanssenJodie FosterAndrea MarcovicciAn ex-cop protects his ex-partner's supermodel daughter when she becomes the target of an obsessed psychopath who kills the men intimately involved with her.
- DirectorWalter GraumanStarsKen HowardGary LockwoodTim O'ConnorPilot for the short-lived TV series set in the 1930's about a World War I ex-marine-turned-bounty-hunter, named Dave Barrett, who goes after two Bonnie-and-Clyde style bank robbers who murdered his former girlfriend.
- DirectorDon TaylorStarsBarry NewmanSusan HowardAlbert SalmiA Harvard-educated, big-city lawyer moves to a small Arizona town to set up practice. His first case is defending a beautiful socialite accused of murdering her husband.
- DirectorGary NelsonStarsBeau BridgesClaude AkinsWendell BurtonA young intern goes up against three older surgeons as to whether or not a young actress should get a hysterectomy.
- DirectorRichard KinonAlan MyersonStarsDon AdamsTom BosleyFlorence HendersonThe adventures of the passengers and crew aboard a luxury liner on a cruise from California to Mexico.
- DirectorLee H. KatzinStarsKurt RussellTim MathesonBrian KeithTwo brothers search the west for their sister, who was kidnapped as a child and is now living with a tribe of Indians.
- DirectorMichael O'HerlihyStarsRoger KernLinda PurlRobert HaysPilot for the TV series of the same name released in 1978 that told the tale of teenage newlyweds Molly and David Beaton in the Dakota Territory in the 1870s.