27 Television Pilots That Saw Significant Changes Before Air
Television pilots serve an interesting dual role in their path to becoming a series: They're both the first episode of a new show, as well as an effort to sell the premise to a potential network. As shows figure themselves out over the course of this process, they tend to see a handful of changes over time. Sometimes, in the cases of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend or The PowerPuff Girls, the original pilot was made with a much more mature demographic in mind-- and eventually have to be drastically reworked to fit their respective homes on The CW and Cartoon Network.
It's not always so extreme, but still have a series of hurdles to jump over and growing pains to navigate past-- Sometimes a casting change needs to be made, or a character that's redundant or otherwise not working and simply vanishes in between the first and second episodes of the show. Here are some of the most notable changes from pilot to finished series.
The (Original) Powerpuff Girls
Source: 15 Pilots That Were Wildly Different from the Rest of the Show
The Amazing World of Gumball
Source: 15 Pilots That Were Wildly Different from the Rest of the Show
Powerpuff Girls
Source: 15 Pilots That Were Wildly Different from the Rest of the Show
Game of Thrones
Source: 15 Pilots That Were Wildly Different from the Rest of the Show
Steven Universe
Source: 15 Pilots That Were Wildly Different from the Rest of the Show
Jimmy Neutron
Source: 15 Pilots That Were Wildly Different from the Rest of the Show
Sherlock
Source: 15 Pilots That Were Wildly Different from the Rest of the Show
MST3K
Source: 13 Sitcoms Whose Pilots Were Different From Later Episodes
Beverly Hills 90210
Source: 13 Sitcoms Whose Pilots Were Different From Later Episodes
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Source: 13 Sitcoms Whose Pilots Were Different From Later Episodes
Saved by the Bell
Source: 13 Sitcoms Whose Pilots Were Different From Later Episodes
Parks & Recreation
Source: 13 Sitcoms Whose Pilots Were Different From Later Episodes
Seinfeld
Source: 13 Sitcoms Whose Pilots Were Different From Later Episodes
Gilligan's Island
Source: 13 Sitcoms Whose Pilots Were Different From Later Episodes
The Pilot
Source: 13 Sitcoms Whose Pilots Were Different From Later Episodes
Heroes
Source: 15 Pilots That Were Wildly Different from the Rest of the Show
Adventure Time
Source: 15 Pilots That Were Wildly Different from the Rest of the Show
South Park
Source: 15 Pilots That Were Wildly Different from the Rest of the Show
Succession
Source: 15 Pilots That Were Wildly Different from the Rest of the Show
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Source: 15 Pilots That Were Wildly Different from the Rest of the Show
All in the Family
Source: 13 Sitcoms Whose Pilots Were Different From Later Episodes
Friends
Source: 13 Sitcoms Whose Pilots Were Different From Later Episodes
30 Rock
Source: 13 Sitcoms Whose Pilots Were Different From Later Episodes
Fawlty Towers
Source: 13 Sitcoms Whose Pilots Were Different From Later Episodes
Family Guy
Source: 13 Sitcoms Whose Pilots Were Different From Later Episodes
Ancient Aliens
Source: 15 Pilots That Were Wildly Different from the Rest of the Show
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Source: 15 Pilots That Were Wildly Different from the Rest of the Show
