History PoorlyDisguisedPilot / LiveActionTV

* The ''Series/{{Rosewood}}'' Season 2 episode "Tree Toxins & Three Stories" seems to have been meant as a backdoor pilot for a series about a group of brilliant pathology students, including a disgraced former influencer, a slacker who studies plastic surgery and takes pathology as an elective, and [[TheSpock guy who is very intelligent but very socially challenged]]. The episode has Rosie and Villa guide the group into assisting on a case they've been working.

* ''Series/DawsonsCreek'' introduced a new character, Will Krudski, into the gang for one episode in Season 3, who would serve as the protagonist for spin-off series ''Series/YoungAmericans''.

** The second season episode "The Girl from Ilandia" was a pilot for a series that wound have followed Amadonna, a super-powered 12-year-old girl from the other-dimensional land of Ilandia.

* The ''Series/JakeAndTheFatman'' episode "It Never Entered My Mind" was the backdoor pilot for''Series/DiagnosisMurder''.

* The ''Series/{{Doom Patrol|2019}}'' episode "Dead Patrol" introduces the Dead Boys Detective Agency, gives a rundown of their individual backstories, and ends with Dorothy leaving Doom Manor to join them. This was intended to set up a spin-off series, although it's since been announced that the new series may not be set in the same continuity.

* ''Film/HomeAlone4'' started off as a stand-alone TV special, but during filming the producers decided that it would be a perfect lead-in to a ''Home Alone'' TV series, and got several of the key players to sign contracts for such a series, as well as making adjustments to the plot to facilitate it (Kevin's parents [[spoiler:didn't get back together]] in the original script, but they did in the finished version). In the end though, ''Home Alone 4'' failed miserably in the ratings, and the series was not to be.

** Season 2, Episode 16, titled "Suicide Squad", was a backdoor pilot for a show based on the [[ComicBook/SuicideSquad titular team]]. The episode focused mainly on the story of John Diggle working with the team that A.R.G.U.S. had put together in the background of the show, using villains from the second season on the team, most notably the character of Deadshot. The episode was mean to launch interest in the character so they could spin-off into their own show, however, this idea was halted by two main factors. Partially because The CW had already began planning a spin-off of the character Barry Allen on the the show, which would later go on to become ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}''. But the main factor was the 2016 film ''Film/{{Suicide Squad|2016}}'', which used a few of the same characters. Warner Bros decided that it would be confusing to have two versions of these characters, as they weren't that well known and to take the characters off of the show entirely to make way for the film's versions.

* The ''Series/{{Rosewood}}'' Season 2 episode "Tree Toxins & Three Stories" seems to have been meant as a backdoor pilot for a series about a group of brilliant pathology students, including a disgraced former influencer, a slacker who studies plastic surgery and takes pathology as an elective, and [[TheSpocka guy who is very intelligent but very socially challenged]]. The episode has Rosie and Villa guide the group into assisting on a case they've been working.

* The third season episode "True Mall" of the series ''Series/TrueJackson,VP'' was a backdoor pilot for a show about a bunch of teens working in a mall. One of the characters was played by Raini Rodriguez and her characterization was that she worked at several businesses in the mall. Interestingly, Raini went on to star in the Disney Channel show ''Austin&Ally'' where she played a very similar character who seemed to accept any job she was offered.

* ''Virtuality'' was a pilot presented as a special TV Movie.

* The 1996 ''Series/TouchedByAnAngel'' episode "Promised Land" was a pilot for the series of the same name that would run for 3 seasons.

* The ''Hooperman'' episode "Nick Derringer, P.I.", revolved around Hooperman teaming up with a pint-size private eye in order to bring down an elusive drug dealer. It never got picked up.

* The last episode of ''Ensign O'Toole'', "Operation Geisha", only features short appearances by Ensign O'Toole and Lieutenant St. John. The episode stars a former acquaintance of St. John and his friend. St. John's friend is supposedly a big operator, but is really a failed businessmen trying to scrape up $1300 in order to avoid being deported back to the states. Coincidentally, this serves as a sort of bookend to the first episode, "Operation Kowana", also taking place in Japan.

* ''Series/TheMandalorian'' has two in the second season: ''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett'' and ''Series/{{Ahsoka}}''.

* It would take less time to list the installments of ''[[Creator/{{Disney}} The Disney Sunday Movie]]'' that ''weren't'' Poorly Disguised Pilots. And even less time to list the pilots that became series, because only one did (''The Last Electric Knight'', which became ''Sidekicks'').

* The ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Assignment: Earth" ends with Kirk and Spock assuring everyone that they are sure Roberta Lincoln (played by then-unknown Teri Garr) and her super-spy boss Gary Seven (played by Robert Lansing) will have many more interesting adventures to come. Sadly, they didn't; the most they got was an occasional appearance in the ExpandedUniverse[[note]]Most notably ''Literature/StarTrekTheEugenicsWars'' in which Gary and Roberta are the heroes matching wits with [[BigBad Star Trek's most iconic villain, Khan Noonien Singh]].[[/note]]. The episode was originally written as a straight pilot and then [[DolledUpInstallment reworked to include the Trek characters when a buyer couldn't be found]]. Note how Kirk and Spock are rather awkwardly shoehorned into a storyline to which they contribute very little. As Kirk himself put it in the episode, "I have never felt so helpless." One reason the pilot failed to sell is that Robert Lansing (who had previously quit "12 O'Clock High") made it clear he wasn't interested in returning to the weekly TV grind (not at that time, anyway - he was later a regular on ''{{Series/Automan}}'' and ''Series/KungFuTheLegendContinues'').
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Disaster" early in Season 5 was partly built around two somewhat minor characters, Ensign Ro and Chief O'Brien interacting & taking a larger focus as a trial run for them to move onto ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. It was a success as Creator/ColmMeaney (O'Brien) moved over, but Creator/MichelleForbes (Ro) declined to join the new series.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': The season 6 episode "One Small Step..." has the heroes discovering the ship of a long-lost 21st century Earth astronaut, Lt. John Kelly, with the crew discovering [[ApocalypticLog his last log entries before his death, with accompanying flashbacks]]. Looking at this today, the story seems like a test run for the style of ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', which detailed the early years of humanity's deep-space exploration and growth into an intergalactic power, leading to the founding of the United Federation of Planets, and premiered shortly after ''Voyager'' ended its 7-season run.
* The second season of ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' recasted Captain Pike, the original captain intended for ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' as seen in "The Cage" (a PilotEpisode that predates the introduction of Kirk and was not shown to the public until the 80's), as ''Discovery'' itself was a {{prequel}} set about the same time. Creator/AnsonMount played him as a new regular cast member for the season, Creator/EthanPeck came in later as Spock and Creator/RebeccaRomijn shows up in the final episode of the season as Number One. The season ends with all three regrouping on the Enterprise and preparing to go exploring. It was no surprise when ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'' was announced featured all three with a new supporting cast. One amusing idea is that "The Cage" was the original pilot episode, only it took 58 years to get picked up.

* The second season of ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' recasted Captain Pike, the original captain intended for ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' as seen in "The Cage" (a PilotEpisode that predates the introduction of Kirk and was not shown to the public until the 80's), as ''Discovery'' itself was a {{prequel}} set about the same time. Creator/AnsonMount played him as a new regular cast member for the season, Creator/EthanPeck came in later as Spock and Creator/RebeccaRomijn shows up in the final episode of the season as Number Two. The season ends with all three regrouping on the Enterprise and preparing to go exploring. It was no surprise when ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'' was announced featured all three with a new supporting cast. One amusing idea is that "The Cage" was the original pilot episode, only it took 58 years to get picked up.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Disaster" early in Season 5 was partly built around two somewhat minor characters, Ensign Ro and Chief O'Brien interacting & taking a larger focus as a trial run for them to move onto ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. It was a success as O'Brien moved over, although Ro's actress declined to join the new series.