Wait, What?: TV Pilot Viewing Surprises

[Kromm]

Ever watch a TV pilot and wind up surprised at the things that changed in the eventual show?  Discuss that here.

[Kromm]

To clarify further, it can be something major, like different actors (it has to have been in an actually AIRED pilot though), extra characters who disappear a mere episode later in regular episodes, a different setting/sets, etc.  or it can even be more subtle stuff, like things that are seemingly taken for granted /glossed over in later episodes, being actually intelligently explained in the pilot but never brought up again.

I bring up that last group of things because in some ways it's actually more interesting.  I just watched the I Dream of Jeannie pilot and was pleasantly surprised it actually addressed stuff I thought was stupid in the show (since I'd never seen the pilot and didn't realize there was an explanation provided). In the pilot we learn that Maj. Nelson isn't simply okay with keeping a personal, if someone mischievous, sex slave (look, that's how I see her, even if the show did persist in insisting Nelson rejects her advances until they eventually get married), he actually "freed" her and she followed him home and refused to leave.  So he wasn't just continuously rebuffing her affection, he HAD tried to do the right thing initially.  And lets be clear.  In the first episode Jeannie refers to herself as his slave.  Those are the literal words she uses.

Also, it always bothered me how she understood him and everyone else her.  "Magic" obviously, but the pilot makes clear it actually was that way because Nelson actually wished for it.

So while I doubt it was ever fated to be a very sophisticated or intelligent show, it's interesting that the show at least STARTED with the intention of actually explaining stuff.

[GHScorpiosRule]

16 minutes ago, Kromm said:

Ever watch a TV pilot and wind up surprised at the things that changed in the eventual show?  Discuss that here.

3 minutes ago, Kromm said:

To clarify further, it can be something major, like different actors (it has to have been in an actually AIRED pilot though), extra characters who disappear a mere episode later in regular episodes, a different setting/sets, etc.  or it can even be more subtle stuff, like things that are seemingly taken for granted /glossed over in later episodes, being actually intelligently explained in the pilot but never brought up again.

 

Okay, I'm going back years, here, but the original Dallas.  In the pilot, J.R. and Sue Ellen had their own home across the yard from the main house. The show premiered in April and it was only like, four episodes before it was picked up as a regular show. When it returned in the Fall, they all lived in the same house, and no sign of the small house across the yard.

The one MAJOR thing that changed and made it icky was that Lucy and the foreman Ray had a fling in the April episodes. Three seasons later, they make Ray, Jock's bastard son, which made him Lucy's uncle. Eww. But the show never addressed it.

 

[ParadoxLost]

The only thing I can remember tight now on an aired pilot was Coach being in the first episode of New Girl and then not from the second because he was committed to another show.

In terms of unaired pilots, I saw the original Big Bang Theory pilot and that was awful.  The difference in Sheldon is about 180 degrees.  And you could really tell that the original pilot was a Chuck Lorre production.

[Annber03]

9 minutes ago, ParadoxLost said:

In terms of unaired pilots, I saw the original Big Bang Theory pilot and that was awful.  The difference in Sheldon is about 180 degrees.  And you could really tell that the original pilot was a Chuck Lorre production.

My former bookstore manager actually got to see the taping of the original pilot of that show. They had a different Penny, if I recall rightly? 

[Silver Raven]

Mark Hamill was the oldest son on the Eight is Enough pilot, but had to be replaced because of his car accident and his rising star in the Star Wars movies.

 

[ParadoxLost]

22 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

My former bookstore manager actually got to see the taping of the original pilot of that show. They had a different Penny, if I recall rightly? 

I I think they had two female leads.  Neither was Penny. Penny was one of the changes they made.  Howard and Raj also weren't in the cast.  Sheldon's personality was closer to Howard's.  Sheldon sold his sperm in the first scene.

[Kromm]

I'm slightly contradicting/cheating my own topic premise, since I originally talked about differences between a Pilot and 2nd episode, but I have always been somewhat fascinated by how much The Facts of Life changed between Season 1 and Season 2.  The Pilot set up something very specific, they stayed with most of it for that season, but then brought it back with massive changes.  So it's still kind of a case of watching the Pilot, then a typical show episode, and seeing massive differences.

You can even tell what most of the differences are by simply watching the opening credits of each season.

 

 

Half the girls.  No teachers.  The girls that DO remain take the teacher's place in the credits, showing the very different emphasis of the show. Even the way they take the singing away from Charlotte Rae, and several segments of the song are different in the 2nd version.  It's a far more vanilla tune missing some specific setup of the show's situation.  Don't believe me?  Listen specifically to the FIRST line of lyrics in each.  If you aren't paying attention you may not realize how different they are.  But once you hear it, you can't unhear it.  Actually, ditto for the SECOND line of lyrics too. 

The third line... "When the World Never Seems To Be Living Up To Your Dreams"... is where they converge, although the themes again diverge a bit later in the song.  All the specific context about things relevant to teenage girls are replaced with more generic cliches.

Also... no more Molly Ringwald.  Did she dodge a bullet there or lose an opportunity for a successful career several years earlier?

Edited September 10, 2020 by Kromm

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, Kromm said:

I'm slightly contradicting/cheating my own topic premise, since I originally talked about differences between a Pilot and 2nd episode

I think you could mine a lot out of just shows whose premise radically changed early on but not necessarily from pilot to second ep.  First ep to second feels kind of narrow.

For instance, Saved By The Bell started out as Good Morning, Miss Bliss and starred Haley Mills.  It moved from Disney to NBC and was retooled as SBTB after its first 13 ep. season.

Or Valerie starring Valerie Harper and Jason Bateman became Valerie's Family in the third season when a contract dispute led to Valerie Harper being replaced by Sandy Duncan and Valerie's character killed off. Then it turned into The Hogan Family.

A Different World also went through a shift; although perhaps not as noticeable since they didn't need to rename the show in between seasons even though there were cast changes.  The big one was when Lisa Bonet left after the first season when Cosby refused to let Debbie Allen (who had come on to take over control of the show in the second season) write in a pregnancy for Denise. Denise's white roommate, played by Marisa Tomei, also left while the characters of Kim and Freddie were introduced. While Denise's departure was noticeable, the real overhaul was what Debbie Allen did to the show by using her college experience to touch on real issues at colleges and HBCUs.

 

Edited September 10, 2020 by Irlandesa

[Bort]

15 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

I think you could mine a lot out of just shows whose premise radically changed early on but not necessarily from pilot to second ep. 

Boy, look at Night Court. That one wasn’t just from the first year to the second, it didn’t really settle into its regular cast until the third season.

[Kromm]

22 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

I think you could mine a lot out of just shows whose premise radically changed early on but not necessarily from pilot to second ep. 

For instance, Saved By The Bell started out as Good Morning, Miss Bliss and starred Haley Mills.  It moved from Disney to NBC and was retooled as SBTB after its first 13 ep. season.

Or Valerie starring Valerie Harper and Jason Bateman became Valerie's Family in the third season when a contract dispute led to Valerie Harper being replaced by Sandy Duncan and Valerie's character killed off. Then it turned into The Hogan Family.

A Different World also went through a shift; although perhaps not as noticeable since they didn't need to rename the show in between seasons even though there were cast changes.  The big one was when Lisa Bonet left after the first season when Cosby refused to let Debbie Allen (who had come on to take over control of the show in the second season) write in a pregnancy for Denise. Denise's white roommate, played by Marisa Tomei, also left while the characters of Kim and Freddie were introduced. While Denise's departure was noticeable, the real overhaul was what Debbie Allen did to the show by using her college experience to touch on real issues at colleges and HBCUs.

 

Point taken, although I think Saved By The Bell is the one of that list that is the best parallel to The Facts of Life.  Valerie was changed out of necessity, albeit necessity driven by egos.  Actually, arguably that was the same reason A Different World got changed, necessity driven by ego, since that would have actually been a great plot for the otherwise boring Denise.  But Cosby's ego, manifesting in his fake morals (well we only learned LATER how fake they were) got in the way of a braver and more interesting plot.

The Good Morning Miss Bliss thing is one I bet I must have known eons ago but totally moved out of my mind. I have literally NEVER seen an episode of it on TV, neither back then or since, so I wonder if we can even count it since it's absence seems to set it as a reboot and not something continued by the other show.  But watching the credits, I DO see the parallels to The Facts of Life.  It was originally created to be more about the adults than the kids, just like Season 1 of TFoL was. It had several kids who just disappeared and essentially the remaining kids took the center of the show, the same as happened with TFoL.  

Fascinating.

 

 

Edited September 10, 2020 by Kromm

[Irlandesa]

1 minute ago, Kromm said:

I have literally NEVER seen an episode of it on TV, neither back then or since, so I wonder if we can even count it since it's absence seems to set it as a reboot and not something continued by the other show. 

You might have seen an ep but not realized it. When Saved By The Bell was packaged for syndication, GMMB was retrofitted to be like a normal SBTB episode with the SBTB theme song and everything. I don't know how much you'ved watched SBTB but if you ever saw an episode with Hayley Mills in it, you saw an episode of what was originally GMMB.  Hayley Mills didn't have anything to do with the retooled show once it left Disney.

[Kromm]

2 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

You might have seen an ep but not realized it. When Saved By The Bell was packaged for syndication, GMMB was retrofitted to be like a normal SBTB episode with the SBTB theme song and everything. I don't know how much you'ved watched SBTB but if you ever saw an episode with Hayley Mills in it, you saw an episode of what was originally GMMB.  Hayley Mills didn't have anything to do with the retooled show once it left Disney.

Man, if you REALLY want to go down a rabbit hole, look at the credits (and a bit of the show) of the Good Morning Miss Bliss Pilot. 

The notes on the YouTube video say this DID air and so is not an unaired pilot.  So it applies to this topic really well. It went from this (even MORE adult centered than the episodes which folded into Saved By the Bell, and with TOTALLY different kids (including.... look closely... Brian Austin Green).

 

 

[Irlandesa]

Just now, Kromm said:

Man, if you REALLY want to go down a rabbit hole, look at the credits (and a bit of the show) of the Good Morning Miss Bliss Pilot.

Here's the crazy thing, I don't remember the credits you originally posted but these "sketch" credits, I completely do.

[Kromm]

4 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

Here's the crazy thing, I don't remember the credits you originally posted but these "sketch" credits, I completely do.

In that bit posted there they make it clear Miss Bliss is set in Indianapolis and not Los Angeles!  So I guess those retrofitted episodes must have been really interesting if they covered that aspect up.

Also damn. Aside from Brian Austin Green, that pilot also had Jaleel White.  Wow.

[Guest]

The weirdest change has to be Baywatch Nights. A ordinary procedural in season 1 and an X-Files copycat in season 2. 

Season 1 opening credits-

Season 2 opening credits - 

 

[Ohiopirate02]

My mother loves to watch reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond, and there are many changes from the pilot to the rest of the series.  In the pilot, the twins have different names and are played by different babies.  The sets are also noticeably different.  Over the course of the first season, the sets begin to morph into what eventually becomes the standard sets in both Ray and Debra's living room and bedroom.  Also, in the pilot Marie and Frank's house is set up as the mirror image of Ray and Debra's house because the house is supposed to be across the street from theirs.  For some reason, this was changed and it has always bothered me.  

[Bort]

18 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

The sets are also noticeably different.

I rewatched Revenge recently and ended up noticing that the Grayson manor layout was way different in the pilot. Emily’s beach house was a little different too.

[Blergh]

Although it aired (and is part of the syndication package), on the original Brady Bunch pilot, there are several differences. First of all, instead of living in the iconic two-story split-level, Mike, his sons and Alice all live  in a rather small one-story abode that would have been a bit cramped for a newlywed couple. No mention of them moving into the split-level but it seemed they'd always lived in the iconic home rather than the tiny house.  Secondly, the girls' cat Fluffy (who gets into a fracas with the boys' dog Tiger which tears apart the wedding) is only seen on the pilot never referred to again. Lastly, Carol's parents, the Tylers whose home she and the girls had lived in (evidently since the end of her first marriage) where the wedding was held, are never seen again (only once mentioned as a babysitting option)-  despite promises at the wedding that they'd stay in their granddaughters' lives and being 'only 20 minutes away'! Oddly, not even relatives on their side (Carol's Grandma Hutchinson, Aunt Jenny, Cousin Oliver) ever mention seeing or visiting when they interact with the Bradys.

[GHScorpiosRule]

This one gave a lot of people whiplash because while it was the Pilot, made in 1988, it was shoved in the middle of the first season in Law & Order.

"Everybody's Favorite Bagman" where George Dzundza's Max Greevy is Detective, and considerably thinner. The District Attorney is NOT Adam Schiff, played by the wonderful Stephen Hill, but Roy Thinnes, and with a different name. Max teased Paul, who said he'd only been working with Ben Stone for "8 months."

"Prescription for Death" was the first episode aired, premiered in 1990, and Max was Sergeant Greevy, and Paul was already Ben Stone's Assistant District Attorney.

The first season had the look of a documentary of sorts--the film was also different. Then in Season Two, it looked sharper, if that makes sense, and more like a show.

Edited September 10, 2020 by GHScorpiosRule

[Zella]

55 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

My mother loves to watch reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond, and there are many changes from the pilot to the rest of the series.  In the pilot, the twins have different names and are played by different babies.  The sets are also noticeably different.  Over the course of the first season, the sets begin to morph into what eventually becomes the standard sets in both Ray and Debra's living room and bedroom.  Also, in the pilot Marie and Frank's house is set up as the mirror image of Ray and Debra's house because the house is supposed to be across the street from theirs.  For some reason, this was changed and it has always bothered me.  

I watched a lot of Raymond as a kid when it was on, and it always bugged me that the names changed! From what I've read, the twins in the first episode have Ray's real twins names, and he decided that was a little too close to real life, so they changed the names slightly. I get the reasoning, but why did nobody have that discussion during pre-production? LOL

Edited September 10, 2020 by Zella

[GHScorpiosRule]

Aside from Chuck (who?) disappearing after a handful of episodes in Happy Days, the set did a 180.

In the first season, the front door was on the left side--that is on our screens, on our left side, was the door. The kitchen was also different. In the second season, the front door was now on our right side.

[Bort]

Happy Days also changed from a single camera show, to a multi-camera studio audience show.

[Silver Raven]

What was the name of the nerdy blond guy in Saved By the Bell who was an early foil for Zach, only to disappear, and then reappear on the last episode to claim he's always been around, just in another part of the school?

 

[Bastet]

The Moonlighting pilot followed the typical pace of the time, but the series was built around rapid-fire dialogue (the scripts were nearly twice as long as a typical one-hour show).  So whenever I do a re-watch, the pilot seems agonizingly slow, even though it was completely normal at the time, because I'm so used to what came after.

Re-watching the Seinfeld pilot is another strange experience -- instead of Elaine, there's Lee Garlington's character (as a server at Monk's ... only it was named something different then) and Kramer is Kessler.

[Stats Queen]

8 hours ago, Blergh said:

Although it aired (and is part of the syndication package), on the original Brady Bunch pilot, there are several differences. First of all, instead of living in the iconic two-story split-level, Mike, his sons and Alice all live  in a rather small one-story abode that would have been a bit cramped for a newlywed couple. No mention of them moving into the split-level but it seemed they'd always lived in the iconic home rather than the tiny house.  Secondly, the girls' cat Fluffy (who gets into a fracas with the boys' dog Tiger which tears apart the wedding) is only seen on the pilot never referred to again. Lastly, Carol's parents, the Tylers whose home she and the girls had lived in (evidently since the end of her first marriage) where the wedding was held, are never seen again (only once mentioned as a babysitting option)-  despite promises at the wedding that they'd stay in their granddaughters' lives and being 'only 20 minutes away'! Oddly, not even relatives on their side (Carol's Grandma Hutchinson, Aunt Jenny, Cousin Oliver) ever mention seeing or visiting when they interact with the Bradys.

Later on in the series, Cousin Oliver went looking for Fluffy, never to be seen again.

[Popples]

4 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

What was the name of the nerdy blond guy in Saved By the Bell who was an early foil for Zach, only to disappear, and then reappear on the last episode to claim he's always been around, just in another part of the school?

 

That was Minkus from Boy Meets World.

[Silver Raven]

49 minutes ago, Popples said:

That was Minkus from Boy Meets World.

Boy Meets World.  That's why I couldn't remember it.

 

[SVNBob]

On 9/9/2020 at 4:25 PM, Kromm said:

I just watched the I Dream of Jeannie pilot and was pleasantly surprised it actually addressed stuff I thought was stupid in the show (since I'd never seen the pilot and didn't realize there was an explanation provided).

Relatedly, the pilot/first episode of Bewitched explains something that many people think of as problematic with that series.

In that episode, the true action starts on Samantha and Darren's honeymoon (Not that kind of action, although Darren is trying to get to that.) after seeing their meeting and courtship in still images as a sort of flashback.  Over the course of immediate events, we learn that Samantha had not revealed that she was a witch to Darren before they got married.  Nor had she any intentions of doing so.  She was going to give up her powers and be a "typical mortal wife" without having even mentioned anything about witchcraft to Darren.  It was Endora threatening him that made Sam tell Darren.

So the whole plot of Darren wanting Sam to stop using witchcraft was not originally his idea.  It was hers, and he was never asking her to do anything that she hadn't planned to do on her own.

[Llywela]

Gilmore Girls. Rory is already 16 in the pilot, Lorelai explicitly says so on-screen. Then she celebrates her 16th birthday a few episodes later. Also, Luke's diner gets a complete remodel between the pilot and second episode - the diner we are later told that he has never, ever re-decorated or changed in any way since converting it from the hardware store it used to be.

[Blergh]

On 9/9/2020 at 4:25 PM, Kromm said:

To clarify further, it can be something major, like different actors (it has to have been in an actually AIRED pilot though), extra characters who disappear a mere episode later in regular episodes, a different setting/sets, etc.  or it can even be more subtle stuff, like things that are seemingly taken for granted /glossed over in later episodes, being actually intelligently explained in the pilot but never brought up again.

I bring up that last group of things because in some ways it's actually more interesting.  I just watched the I Dream of Jeannie pilot and was pleasantly surprised it actually addressed stuff I thought was stupid in the show (since I'd never seen the pilot and didn't realize there was an explanation provided). In the pilot we learn that Maj. Nelson isn't simply okay with keeping a personal, if someone mischievous, sex slave (look, that's how I see her, even if the show did persist in insisting Nelson rejects her advances until they eventually get married), he actually "freed" her and she followed him home and refused to leave.  So he wasn't just continuously rebuffing her affection, he HAD tried to do the right thing initially.  And lets be clear.  In the first episode Jeannie refers to herself as his slave.  Those are the literal words she uses.

Also, it always bothered me how she understood him and everyone else her.  "Magic" obviously, but the pilot makes clear it actually was that way because Nelson actually wished for it.

So while I doubt it was ever fated to be a very sophisticated or intelligent show, it's interesting that the show at least STARTED with the intention of actually explaining stuff.

From the very first episode to the last, I think Barbara Eden put it quite well " She called him ' Master' but who REALLY is running things there? Come on!"

I mean Major Nelson could have wished her to quit doing magic but she never did and just had fun complicating things then trying to clean up her own messes! And, as I said in another thread, she DID initially speak to him in Persian in the pilot until he wished her to speak in English so I think it's safe to say that ALL the dialogue between herself and the other djinis (when they were among themselves) from that point on was also in Persian but got translated to English for the audience's benefit! 

[magicdog]

On 9/9/2020 at 9:12 PM, kariyaki said:

look at Night Court. That one wasn’t just from the first year to the second, it didn’t really settle into its regular cast until the third season.

Not only that but Dan's character was VERY subdued (he inquired if the new judge, Harry knew how to play chess) and it was even hinted at that he was a virgin!  Even during the first season, Dan's sexual proclivities were never really brought up.

In the aired Charmed pilot, the actual house was used for some interior shots as well as exteriors.  The proper interior set used later on was based on it.

[Kromm]

Okay, this DIDN'T air on TV in the 1960s, and as an unaired pilot normally wouldn't count.  But let's bend the rules, because it's interesting AND it DID wind up airing on TBS in the 1990s as a special.

 

 

 

The iconic theme song isn't there, but I don't dislike what they had instead.  The crew (Skipper and Gilligan) are the same, including the actors. The passengers are a mixed bag.  The Howells are exactly the same, including who plays them.  Ginger and Mary-Ann are both not present, although the "two secretaries' probably skew closer to Mary-Ann.  The Professor isn't there, but a High School Teacher is instead. 

[Blergh]

 Interesting,it shows Gilligan CARRYING all the Howells' luggage- which explains why they had all that stuff that they supposedly 'shared' with the others but it didn't get shown for the rest of the series. 

[Kromm]

4 minutes ago, Blergh said:

 Interesting,it shows Gilligan CARRYING all the Howells' luggage- which explains why they had all that stuff that they supposedly 'shared' with the others but it didn't get shown for the rest of the series. 

One imagines Ginger bought a lot for a mere six hour boat ride too.  "The two secretaries"?  Probably less.

[Kromm]

On 9/10/2020 at 5:40 PM, Bastet said:

Re-watching the Seinfeld pilot is another strange experience -- instead of Elaine, there's Lee Garlington's character (as a server at Monk's ... only it was named something different then) and Kramer is Kessler.

As weird as Kramer was, Kessler seems even weirder.  He...

1.) supposedly hasn't left the building for 10 years
2.) is less of a hipster, as Kramer clearly was, and is more... dirty/decrepit. 

Also Jerry, who in the actual series was usually neatly dressed, looks like a real slob as well.  That's like sub-Old Navy level sweats. Whatever is below those in quality.

 

 

[badhaggis]

16 hours ago, Kromm said:

As weird as Kramer was, Kessler seems even weirder.  He...

1.) supposedly hasn't left the building for 10 years
2.) is less of a hipster, as Kramer clearly was, and is more... dirty/decrepit. 

Also Jerry, who in the actual series was usually neatly dressed, looks like a real slob as well.  That's like sub-Old Navy level sweats. Whatever is below those in quality.

 

 

And Elaine was not in the original episode. The only female character was the waitress at Tom's.

[Blergh]

17 hours ago, Kromm said:

As weird as Kramer was, Kessler seems even weirder.  He...

1.) supposedly hasn't left the building for 10 years
2.) is less of a hipster, as Kramer clearly was, and is more... dirty/decrepit. 

Also Jerry, who in the actual series was usually neatly dressed, looks like a real slob as well.  That's like sub-Old Navy level sweats. Whatever is below those in quality.

 

 

While it's not surprising that Jerry would have untucked his shirt and taken off his shoes when he thought he would be alone, it IS surprising that he kept his door unlocked in NYC for the whole series instead of proto-Kramer (or the real one) having  a pass key! Oh, and on a shallow note, did Jerry get those sweatpants from Captain Kangaroo?

[Kromm]

I think a lot of people know about an entire brother, Chuck Cunningham, disappearing from Happy Days.  But I wonder how many remember that the Happy Days pilot was actually an episode of the anthology series "Love American Style"?  It was MEANT as a pilot, but the network passed on the show. Two years after that, they changed their mind and greenlit it as its own show. 

Different actors for Howard and Joanie existed in the Love American Style episode. Chuck was arguably the main character. I also don't think it had Ralph as a character at all, and no... It didn't have Fonzie either. To be fair, I believe both showed up really quickly in the first normal episode. As did Chuck, even though Richie was now clearly the main character instead. 

 

 

[Zella]

Just now, Kromm said:

I think a lot of people know about an entire brother, Chuck Cunningham, disappearing from Happy Days.  But I wonder how many remember that the Happy Days pilot was actually an episode of the anthology series "Love American Style"?  It was MEANT as a pilot, but the network passed on the show. Two years after that, they changed their mind and greenlit it as its own show. 

Different actors for Howard and Joanie existed in the Love American Style episode. Chuck was arguably the main character. I also don't think it had Ralph as a character at all, and no... It didn't have Fonzie either. To be fair, I believe both showed up really quickly in the first normal episode. As did Chuck, even though Richie was now clearly the main character instead. 

 

 

I did not know that! Before today, the only thing I knew about Love, American Style is that's where James Garner first noticed Stuart Margolin, so I guess we can think LAS for both Happy Days and Jim Rockford and Angel Martin being frenemies. 

[Kromm]

39 minutes ago, Zella said:

I did not know that! Before today, the only thing I knew about Love, American Style is that's where James Garner first noticed Stuart Margolin, so I guess we can think LAS for both Happy Days and Jim Rockford and Angel Martin being frenemies. 

A lot of people appeared on this show before they became huge stars.  Burt Reynolds and Kurt Russell appeared on the same episode.  Harrison Ford appeared in an episode.  Cher had an episode. Diane Keaton was on this. Martin Sheen. Sissy Spacek. James Brolin. Albert Brooks. Jerry Orbach. Larry Hagman. Vincent Price. Bill Bixby (later Bruce Banner) was a semi regular.  Tons more. 

[Blergh]

Great work recalling Love American Style, Kromm! Considering all the early work of future stars (as well as later work of onetime stars, e.g. Sid Caesar, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson,etc.) ,it's somewhat ironic that it's virtually entirely forgotten apart from being known as where the original pilot of Happy Days aired.  One memorable episode'Love and the Visitor' had the then-middle aged but onetime leading performers Anne Francis and William Windom playing a married couple having to contend with their new addition that the wife had brought home- a gorilla! As preposterous as that sounds, what's interesting about it is that it was written by Valerie Harper and her then-husband Richard Schaal( their only joint writing credit) - and was filmed in the Brady Bunch's iconic kitchen! LOL

 

To keep this ontopic.  The aired pilot of Boy Meets World had Rider Strong playing Shawn as a 'rotating friend' of Cory's along with another performer but Mr. Strong was at least in the opening credits. Topanga (and Danielle Fishel) were nowhere to be found and wouldn't be brought in until the 4th episode 'Cory's Alternate Friends' - initially as a one-shot who Cory  met for the first time (which got eventually got scuttled in favor of them having been an item from early childhood)  .However, her character proved so popular that she became a regular by the end of the first season but  Miss Fishel wouldn't be in the opening credits until the 2nd season!  

Edited September 18, 2020 by Blergh

[Annber03]

It's not a pilot thing, but I remember there being an episode very early in the show's run where Shawn mentioned he had a sister, too...only for her to never be brought up again (that I can recall, at least). 

23 minutes ago, Blergh said:

Topanga (and Danielle Fishel) were nowhere to be found and wouldn't be brought in until the 4th episode 'Cory's Alternate Friends' - initially as a one-shot who Cory  met for the first time (which got eventually got scuttled in favor of them having been an item from early childhood)  .However, her character proved so popular that she became a regular by the end of the first season but  Miss Fishel wouldn't be in the opening credits until the 2nd season!  

Something kind of similar happened on "Criminal Minds" as well-despite being in much of the first season, Garcia was listed as a recurring character. But she got such a positive reception that she became a series regular from the second season on. And JJ wasn't in the pilot episode at all. 

25 minutes ago, Blergh said:

Great work recalling Love American Style, Kromm! Considering all the early work of future stars (as well as later work of onetime stars, e.g. Sid Caesar, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson,etc.) ,it's somewhat ironic that it's virtually entirely forgotten apart from being known as where the original pilot of Happy Days aired. 

I've heard of the show, but that's because it was one of my mom's favorite series as a kid and she has some of the series on DVD (I don't think the entire series is available on DVD, which may also partly explain why it's not so well-known). Davy Jones of the Monkees appeared in a couple episodes of that show as well-one story had him sneaking into what he thought was his fiancee's room to get her so they could run off and elope, but he wound up in another woman's room by mistake, and naturally, wacky hijinks ensued :p. 

It's not a casting thing, but another example for this thread that comes to my mind is the pilot episode of "3rd Rock from the Sun". Dick and Mary's office is way more cluttered, with their desks seeming to be much closer together, and there's a whole lotta plants throughout the room as well. 

[magicdog]

The Monkees' pilot is also different from the series proper.  

Kind of a long story, but the initial pilot to get NBC to greenlight the show received very low scores with test audiences, so the creators went back to the drawing board and made a few edits.  The show finally got greenlit, but rather than air as the first episode, it aired as the tenth episode of Season 1.  A different episode was filmed and used as the first episode ("The Royal Flush").

In this original pilot, the guys' pad is very different than the set they'd use for the rest of the series.  In fact, it was shot at an actual beach house in Malibu (back when Malibu wasn't quite as exclusive).  They also were supposed to have a manager named Rudy, who also owned a record store.  At the time, teen characters on TV were supposed to have at least one responsible adult around;  Rudy (played by Kurt Russell's dad, Bing Russell) vanished (along with his daughter Jill who was friends with Vanessa, who was Davy's love interest) once the show went to series.  From some scenes used during the audition phase of the show/band, the guys were supposed to have worked at the record store as well in between gigs.  That concept also vanished.

It's also interesting to note that according to DVD commentary, the guys said the pilot was shot on a shoestring and the guys wore their own clothes and bathing suits rather than from wardrobe.  The exception being their initial performance clothing, which was later replaced with the familiar red (or blue) button shirts.  Even their guitar logo hadn't been developed yet and you'll notice it doesn't appear on the drum kit yet either.

The Monkeemobile hadn't been designed yet, so in some early episodes, the guys drove either a Woody, or a jeep.

Edited September 18, 2020 by magicdog

[Cherpumple]

Despite its reputation for having horrible overall continuity, the Golden Girls has several things in the pilot that were permanently changed afterwards. The one most people talk about is the existence of their gay cook/housekeeper Coco. I guess the showrunners realized early on that the four women were more than capable of dishing out the quips, and a fifth house member was unnecessary. Another change was the layout of the house. For most of the show Blanche's bedroom was at the end of the hall with the other bedrooms, but in the pilot it's on the other side of the house, which later became the passageway to their backyard lanai. Her bedroom looked the same, but it was in a different spot.

And speaking of Blanche, in the pilot she had a less pronounced southern accent and seemed less confident. The plot revolves around Blanche having a whirlwind romance with a man who then leaves her at the altar and is arrested for bigamy. There's no way the later version of Blanche would fall for that conman, jump into marriage so quickly, or be so upset about a finding out she was dating a creep.

Finally, in the pilot Blanche explicitly says that the reason Sophia makes such outrageous comments is because her recent stroke affected the part of her brain that censors what she says. They refer to Sophia's stroke throughout the run of the show, but retcon her personality to imply that she was always outspoken and irreverent. 

[Blergh]

@magicdog,

 

 Let's also not forget that the manager Rudy called Michael Nesmith  'Wool Hat' instead of his actual nickname of 'Mike' in the pilot! It seems that 'Wool Hat' was originally supposed to be Mike's moniker in the series but, thankfully, cooler heads prevailed and they just let him be 'Mike'.  Mr. Nesmith, being almost constantly depicted as wearing it on during the first season likely regretted having worn it to his audition (in lieu of an actual motorcyle helmet) as it was without being called that ad nauseum. 

@Cherpumple

 

Good points about the pilot. Also, it was interesting that Rose was the one who actually expressed concerns about Blanche's intended groom being off AND  raised the even more valid question of where she and Dorothy would live after the couple returned from the honeymoon while Dorothy solely was focused on wanting Blanche to be happy and considered Rose's misgivings as mindless, crank rantings and shoved then locked her in a bedroom closet as a result. . Yet, as it turned out Rose was absolutely correct not just about Blanche's intended groom but also how she and Dorothy would have had to have found somewhere else to live at virtually a moment's notice had the wedding happened! True, it's odd that it was only minutes before the intended wedding that Rose would have thought about future residences instead of her and Dorothy having worked that out well in advance but Rose wound up actually being more practical than Dorothy (who despite being the most cash-strapped of the Girls via the triple -whammy of getting shafted via Stan's quickie divorce , her job as a substitute teacher- and being Sophia's main support, never seemed to have thought where she would live next). 

Edited September 20, 2020 by Blergh

[SVNBob]

1 minute ago, Blergh said:

Let's also not forget that the manager Rudy called Michael Nesmith  'Wool Hat' instead of his actual nickname of 'Mike' in the pilot! It seems that 'Wool Hat' was originally supposed to be Mike's moniker in the series

I was just coming here to say the same thing myself.  I thought that that name was even attached to his face in the 4-headshot closing credit bit, but it turns out that wasn't part of the original pilot either.  And it turns out Mike wasn't the only one with a name change, as Micky is credited under a different name.

 

[Blergh]

4 minutes ago, SVNBob said:

I was just coming here to say the same thing myself.  I thought that that name was even attached to his face in the 4-headshot closing credit bit, but it turns out that wasn't part of the original pilot either.  And it turns out Mike wasn't the only one with a name change, as Micky is credited under a different name.

 

Well, George Michael Dolenz, Jr. had originally starred in Circus Boy when he was eleven under the name of 'Mickey Braddock' because the producers thought that his actual Slovenian surname   didn't seem 'American' enough so they had him use a surname from his Texas-born mother's side. Evidently, he decided to drop the 'e' in his nickname by the time of the Monkees pilot and, by the time the show debuted, persuaded them to let him be called by his actual surname [in part to honor his father who had died a few years earlier] which didn't hurt his (or the show's) popularity in the least! 

[kathyk24]

On the first episode of the A-Team there is a different actor playing Face. He was replaced by Dirk Benedict because he was too young to play a Vietnam vet. On Reaper Sam had a younger brother named Kyle who was written out after the first episode.

[KWalkerInc]

On the pilot for Living Single, they use the living room set from Family Matters for the ladies' apartment.  The front door leads directly outside, as opposed to in all the following episodes, where it leads into a hallway that includes a staircase that goes up to Kyle and Overton's apartment.  Also, Overton is very stupid in the pilot and the next episode that was filmed (which aired as episode five), but thankfully not in the other episodes.

On the first aired episode of A Different World (not the pilot, and there seem to be at least a couple episodes filmed even earlier, with one just dumped into summer and another with one storyline cobbled together with another involving characters introduced later to complete the show), Whitley mentions something about her sister, but she doesn't seem to exist in any other episode. 

Eric McCormack's hair in the Will & Grace pilot is I think much longer than in every subsequent episode.