"Well, the way they pick the shows on TV is they make one show, and that show's called a pilot. And they show that one show to the people who pick the shows, and on the strength of that one show, they decide if they want to make more shows. Some get accepted and become TV programs, and some don't, and become nothing. [Mia Wallace] starred in one of the ones that became nothing."
—Jules Winnifeld, discussing with Vincent about Mia Wallace's failed show titled "Fox Force Five", on The Best TV Shows That Never Were
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For every show that gets picked up, there's a dozen that aren't. This index is for pilots that were never made into full series.
Also see Short-Runners, Poorly-Disguised Pilot, One-Episode Wonder, Stillborn Franchise, and What Could Have Been.
Examples:
Anime
Live-Action TV
- 13 13th Avenue
- 17th Precinct
- 1994 Baker Street: Sherlock Holmes Returns
- Amazon High
- Annihilator
- Aquaman (2006)
- The Archer: Fugitive from the Empire
- Archie
- Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again
- Babylon Fields
- Badlands: 2005
- Baffled!
- Bermuda Triangle
- Black Bart
- Boldly Going Nowhere Pilot, a proposed sitcom parody of Star Trek by the creators of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
- Chameleon
- Condor
- Code Name: Diamond Head
- Crash Island
- Day One
- Dear Diary, which went on to win the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.
- Dick Tracy (1967)
- Doctor Strange (1978)
- Doctor Who (1996) note
- The Elvira Show
- Emily's Reason's Why Not
- Ethel Is an Elephant
- The Exo-Man
- Fearless
- The Firechasers was originally made as a pilot for a television series based on the radio drama Destination - Fire!. The Persuaders! got the green light instead. The Firechasers was later released theatrically in the UK as the supporting feature to Carry On Henry.
- Fuzzbucket
- Generation X
- Ghost of a Chance
- Heat Vision and Jack
- Heavens to Betsy
- Heil Honey I'm Home!
- Hieroglyph
- I-Man
- Invisible Avenger was originally intended as a pilot for a The Shadow TV series. However, the show never eventuated and it was turned into a movie instead.
- Island City
- Jake and Amir
- Jake's Journey
- Jane the Novela
- Just Deserts
- Justice League of America
- K-9000
- K-9 and Company
- L.A.X. 2194
- Lizzie and Sarah
- Little Mermaid's Island
- The Long Hunt of April Savage
- The Long Night note
- Lookwell
- Lost Flight
- Lost in Oz
- Madame Sin
- Mandrake
- The Man with the Power
- Me and Lee
- The Melting Pot
- Members Only
- Men of the Dragon
- Mockingbird Lane
- Munroe
- My Big Fat Greek Life
- New Warriors
- Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
- Northstar
- The Nut House
- N.Y. Mounted
- The Omen
- Once Upon a Spy
- Original Cast Album
- The Orphan and the Dude
- Over/Under
- The People
- The Phantom
- Poochinski
- Poor Devil
- The Prosecutors
- The Questor Tapes
- Red Dwarf USA
- The Return of Sherlock Holmes
- The Robinsons
- Sawdust
- Scamps
- Septuplets
- Shangra-La Plaza
- Snip
- Star Command
- Steel Justice
- Stranded
- Suburban Beat
- Sucker Free City
- Superboy 1961
- Tag Team
- Take Me to Your Leader
- Tarzan in Manhattan
- Thick and Thin
- The Tribe
- Virtuality
- The Warlord: Battle for the Galaxy was originally filmed as a pilot for a series intended to be called The Osiris Chronicles.
- ...Where's Rodney
- Which Way to the War?
- Wishman
- Wonder Woman (1974)
- Wonder Woman (2011)
- Young MacGyver
Puppet Shows
Web Animation
Western Animation
- Seven Manly Men And The Kid
- The Amazing Screw-On Head
- Atlantis: Milo's Return
- Barbie and the Rockers: Out of This World
- Bamimation
- Battletoads
- Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World
- Bubsy
- Buffy The Vampire Slayer The Animated Series
- Captain Sturdy - This was actually two pilots, neither of which got picked up for a series.
- Carmen Got Expelled!
- The Charmkins
- Cheyenne Cinnamon and the Fabulous Unicorn of Sugar Town Candy Fudge
- Christmas In Tattertown
- Cinderella II: Dreams Come True
- Constant Payne
- Curbside
- Deadtime Stories
- Defenders of Dynatron City
- Diseasy Does It
- Doozy Bots
- Dorbees: Making Decisions
- Ferret And Parrot
- Flavio the Goat
- Fluppy Dogs
- Gen Zed
- Groove Squad
- The Groovenians
- Guardians of the Cosmos
- Joey To The World
- A Kitty Bobo Show
- Korgoth of Barbaria
- The Magic Trolls and the Troll Warriors
- Magical Super Trolls
- Major Flake
- Mina and The Count
- The Modifyers
- Mt. Pleasure
- Murder Police
- Oh Yeah! Cartoons - An anthology show consisting of pilots for potential Nicktoons, where essentially every entry that wasn't The Fairly OddParents!, ChalkZone and My Life as a Teenage Robot was a pilot that never took off.
- Penguins Behind Bars
- Prickles the Cactus
- Pryde of the X-Men
- Psyko Ferret
- Random! Cartoons - Much like Oh Yeah! Cartoons, an anthology show intended to showcase pilots for potential Nicktoons (and was in fact originally intended as a revival of Oh Yeah! Cartoons before being retooled into its own thing). Like its predecessor, only three entries got their own series: Fanboy and Chum Chum, Adventure Time and Bravest Warriors, with the first being the only one to have its series produced with any involvement from Nickelodeonnote .
- Sgt. Savage and his Screaming Eagles
- Solarman
- Tamagotchi Video Adventures
- Toon Makers’ Sailor Moon
- Welcome to Eltingville
