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spinoffs that never happened

There were several episodes of Matlock in which Andy Griffith's Ben Matlock only made a brief appearance in but focus around other character's that just seemed like they were testing them out for possible spin-offs. One in which George Peppard played a Private Eye in LA that was estranged from his daughter, played by Tracy Nelson, both of whom happened to be friends with Ben Matlock. Another one was with Jane Sibbett and either Mitchell or Matthew Laurance in which Jane Sibbett charcater and her children move from St. Louis to Atlanta to work in the Atlanta District Attorney's office as one of the Assistant DAs, along with one of the Laurance twins. Even though Ben Matlock appearred in both episodes, it was nothing more than just a few scenes in each. Both episodes seemed to be Pilot episodes for possible spin-offs.
 
One of the more frustrating spinoffs that never happened was the Zelda Gilroy spinoff of "Dobie Gillis". It was far enough ahead that it's mentioned on a TV Guide profile of Sheila James at the time. IIRC, Jean Byron and Joe Flynn were to be her TV parents. Alas, when word got around Hollywood James was gay, CBS' president James Aubrey canned the show.
 
One early morning in the Summer of 1994 I caught the radio show First Light with Dirk Van. He had actor Chris Burke from the then recent cancelled show Life Goes On. Anyway during First Light I can remember Burke telling host Dirk Van that a deal was almost set between ABC and Warner Brothers that if everything fell into place there would be a spinoff featuring his Corky character living alone dealing with everyday life and his down syndrome. Chris seemed to be very happy that he would continue to play Corky again on TV. Come to think of it the radio station I was working for at the time was an affiliate of ABC radio and I do remember the morning news copy that even mentioned this possible new series with Chris Burke. That was in 1994 and I never heard a thing about this ever since. Actually some years back Burke was interviewed on the radio here in Denver. He was asked about this spinoff and Burke apparently had forgot all about it. I did a search on this and found nothing at all but looking back I wonder why in the end ABC and Warner brothers decided to cancel the project was due to the movie "Mommie Dearest". Christina Crawford wrote the book to raise the issue of child abuse but the movie that issue was more/less overlooked with Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford screaming "NO WIRE HANGERS" and her anger fits which made a large chunk of the audience laugh rather than thinking about the child abuse by the hands of Joan. Perhaps maybe ABC & Warner Brothers had the idea that many viewers would probably laugh at a show where the sole main character had down syndrome therefor not taking the show seriously. If this was the reason..very sad !!
 
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Laverne and Shirley's last episode was a pilot that had Carmine trying to become a Broadway star.

The last episode or two of Dr. Kildare focused a vast amount of time on a storyline about a small town doctor, etc., though I don't know if it was actually considered a pilot.
 
Maybe this would fit in this thread but back in the 80s after his WNBC radio gig didn't Soupy Sales had plans on doing an updated and a more "naughty" adult version of his famous pie throwing kids show for one of the pay TV channels like HBO ?? Showtime ?? I just remember him talking about it on Entertainment Tonight back then. Obviously the show never happened.
 
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jwk1979 said:
There were several episodes of Matlock in which Andy Griffith's Ben Matlock only made a brief appearance in but focus around other character's that just seemed like they were testing them out for possible spin-offs. One in which George Peppard played a Private Eye in LA that was estranged from his daughter, played by Tracy Nelson, both of whom happened to be friends with Ben Matlock. Another one was with Jane Sibbett and either Mitchell or Matthew Laurance in which Jane Sibbett charcater and her children move from St. Louis to Atlanta to work in the Atlanta District Attorney's office as one of the Assistant DAs, along with one of the Laurance twins. Even though Ben Matlock appearred in both episodes, it was nothing more than just a few scenes in each. Both episodes seemed to be Pilot episodes for possible spin-offs.
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The first of those failed to become a series largely because George Peppard died a few days after it aired.
 
There was a 2 part episode of Barney Miller that involved Wojo and his girlfriend and the second half was focused on them at home. I didn't think about it until seeing it in recent years in reruns that it might have been a possible spinoff that didn't happen.
 
There were plans for a Family Ties spinoff with Scott Valentine (Nick Moore, Mallory's boyfriend starting in Season 4), "The Art of Being Nick." A pilot aired on Aug. 27, 1987 and received good ratings, but NBC decided not to pick up the show.

Wikipedia article (FWIW): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Being_Nick

Interestingly, Julia Louis-Dreyfus played Rachel on this pilot--and the following spring began a 1 1/2 season run in another Gary David Goldberg show, "Day By Day" (loosely connected to Family Ties).
 
semoochie said:
Murder She Wrote had several apparent pilots for various spinoffs.
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One that did make it to air was The Law & Harry McGraw - which only lasted 5 or 6 episodes on CBS. IIRC, the McGraw episode of MSW was when Lansbury was on hiatus so she didn't make an appearance. I believe there were a few of these MSW episodes starring other characters during that time.

Harry McGraw was played by Jerry Orbach, more famous later as Lenny Briscoe on Law and Order. If memory serves, Orbach made his living primarily as a Broadway actor up to that point.
 
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