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13 Sitcoms Whose Pilots Were Different From Later Episodes

Change is the only constant, especially in comedy.

13 Sitcoms Whose Pilots Were Different From Later Episodes

December 05, 2021

Welcome to ComedyNerd, Cracked's new deep-dive series on funny business. (Also, you can stay up to date with the ComedyNerd newsletter -- sign up here.)

TV shows, especially comedy shows, don’t emerge fully formed – they sometimes make significant changes after the pilot. Here are 13 examples of that:

13

COMEDY NERD MST3K has a pilot that you probably never saw (until it got put online). Plenty of the elements are there, but in different (and more low-budget) form-and Beeper looks sort of disturbing. CRACKED.COM — Source

12

COMEDY NERD Brooklyn Nine-Nine pilot had a Detective Daniels... ... who was never seen again. She was around Hitchcock and Scully and was supposed to be the third member of their group, but got dropped after the pilot. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

COMEDY NERD Archie Bunker from All In The Family was originally called Archie Justice. And the show was called And Justice For All-and that was just the first of the show's three pilots. CRACKED.COM — Source

10

COMEDY NERD The Gilligan's Island theme song is totally different in the show's (unaired) pilot. It's a calypso song with lyrics like The captain is brave, he's a fearless maaan, and Gilligan helps him all that he caaan. CRACKED.COM — Source

9

COMEDY NERD In the Beverly Hills 90210 pilot, Jim Walsh was played by Lyman Ward. In other words, Brendon and Brenda's dad was played by the guy who was Ferris Bueller's dad-but they re-cast the role and later re-shot his scenes. CRACKED.COM — Source

8

COMEDY NERD The original pilot script for Friends features pretty different characters. HOUSE en CLOSED Phoebe was into busking, Monica was cynical, and Joey was actually sort of mean. CRACKED.COM — Source

7

COMEDY NERD Parks and Rec season one feels pretty different from the later show. Those episodes are usually considered the show's worst, and Leslie Knope was a lot like Michael Scott from The Office. CRACKED.COM — Source

6

COMEDY NERD In the pilot, Rachel Dratch was actually a prominent part of 30 Rock. She played TGS star and Liz's friend Jenna, but Jenna then got totally rewritten and Jane Krakowski got the role. CRACKED.COM — Source

5

COMEDY NERD In the Family Guy pilot, Meg was actually voiced by Lacey Chabert. In a later episode where they revisit the pilot, Stewie hears her and says Oh my God, what's with Meg's voice? She sounds like someone who's about to give up a huge opportunity. CRACKED.COM — Source

4

COMEDY NERD Saved By the Bell's pilot was actually all about Miss Bliss - she was the lead. The show's original name was Good Morning, Miss Bliss, and it took place in Indiana. CRACKED.COM — Source

3

COMEDY NERD Seinfeld originally didn't have Elaine - she's not in the pilot at all. Which means the show came this close to being about Jerry, George, and Kramer, which would have made it totally different (and probably much less successful). CRACKED.COM — Source

2

COMEDY NERD Fawlty Towers originally had a totally different theme song than the one you know. You can hear the original version only in the pilot-it got changed in the very next episode. CRACKED.COM — Source

1

COMEDY NERD The Simpsons pilot was a kinda-strange, one-off Christmas special. Homer and Marge have voices that feel off if you're used to today's versions, and some characters - like Maggie and Ned Flanders - are fairly different. CRACKED.COM — Source

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