23 TV Pilot Episodes from the ’90s That Would Be Cancelled Immediately Now
We all love a good TV show, and the ‘90s was an era filled with some of the best shows that remain viewer favorites today. TV shows usually start with pilot episodes that give audiences a feel of what to expect from the rest of the show. These episodes also determine the show’s potential and how well it would do when released for public viewership. Sometimes, the need to be picked up by a TV network may take the producers of these episodes too far. These are 23 TV pilot episodes from the ‘90s that would now be canceled immediately:
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Poochinski
Poochinski is a pilot TV episode that was never picked up by a TV network owing to its bizarre themes and plot. The pilot episode introduces audiences to a canine detective who was meant to solve crimes after a police detective was killed and his soul entered into a bulldog. The show’s premise was weird and poorly-written, with terrible jokes.
Family Guy
This show is beloved by many people, and although its TV pilot was released back in 1999, the show continues to run strong with renewed seasons. Family Guy is known to have many jokes that would be highly inappropriate if said out loud or in public. Its TV pilot episode did not lack any of these jokes either. If the pilot were released today, it would have a high chance of being canceled because of the kinds of jokes featured in the episode.
Home Improvement
Audiences who watched the show in the ‘90s would be quite surprised to see it on this list, especially because of its popularity and length. The show’s pilot episode featured insensitive jokes that could be considered sexist and even misogynistic, which would not be well received today, especially because of the increased sensitivity in the modern world.
He-Hog the Atomic Pig
He-Hog the Atomic Pig was an unsold TV pilot released in 1999. This animated episode was made by John Kricfalusi, who had other successful animated series. The pilot episode featured a psychiatrist interviewing a female patient going through puberty. The episode had many bizarre jokes and even included inappropriate examination scenes.
That ‘70s Show
That ‘70s Show’s TV pilot was released in the late ‘90s and saw huge success, which led to the show’s continued existence for multiple seasons. However, the pilot episode, when watched today, may be deemed highly inappropriate and may even be canceled because of the jokes featured on it. This episode had many jokes with racist undertones aimed at one of the foreign exchange student characters, who became the target of many racist jokes throughout the rest of the show.
Heil Honey, I’m Home!
This TV show never made it past the pilot episode owing to the Nazi themes of the show and the poorly attempted jokes aimed at one of the most significant historical events of our time. The show was considered to be poorly written even when it was released in 1990. Its plot focused on the Hitler family, who were coping with their Jewish neighbors and considered to be in bad taste over the horrible historical events that unfolded in the past. The show was rightfully canceled then and would also be immediately canceled today.
What a Dummy
This TV show lasted a whole season but had quite an unusual plot line. Its TV pilot episode introduces the audience to a family who finds a ventriloquist dummy in a trunk. This dummy then proceeds to become a member of the family. This show began with an unusual pilot episode that seemed good enough to be picked up for a whole season. Today, a show like What a Dummy would be immediately canceled as TV networks have better foresight into what kind of shows would succeed better with audiences.
Unhappily Ever After
The TV pilot episode of Unhappily Ever After introduces the Mallow family, consisting of parents who are in the middle of a separation and their two children, who are portrayed as a stereotypical self-absorbed daughter and dumb brother. The TV show went on to run for multiple seasons. However, today’s audiences would not receive the pilot episode well because of the stereotypical characters seen on screen many times, leading to its immediate cancellation today.
Dawson’s Creek
Yet another well-loved show that ran for multiple seasons that may be immediately canceled today is Dawson’s Creek. Watching back on this iconic show’s pilot episode would reveal outdated moral implications and ideas about what friendships between opposite genders can look like. There were also many negative lines and predictable character tropes that many people were tired of seeing.
Ally McBeal
This show was a major part of pop culture from the late ‘90s when it was first released, until the early 2000s, when it finally ended. In the pilot episode, we see Ally McBeal, a young lawyer who gets harassed by a senior associate at work. This iconic character loses her job for complaining about the harassment to the higher authorities at her firm. The episode has themes that could lead it to be immediately canceled today because of the power play it shows to audiences and the message it sends.
Homeboys in Outer Space
Homeboys in Outer Space is a TV show that ran for an entire season before it was canceled. The show’s pilot episode is about two friends flying around the galaxy in a used starship with its version of a talking AI, who is portrayed as having a crush on one of the characters. The episode would not be well received by networks today. It would potentially be immediately canceled because of the bad storyline and jokes featured in the episode and throughout the show.
The Chevy Chase Show
The Chevy Chase Show was a late-night talk show that lasted only a month after being canceled because of low audience ratings and low performance. The show’s pilot episode was not very good either. In the episode, we see Chevy Chase fall on the cement and smooch with one of the guests. Today, a talk show kissing one of his guests would be deemed highly inappropriate and would lead to the immediate cancellation of the show.
Baywatch Nights
The Baywatch Pitch pilot was never aired on television, but the show ran for two seasons before it was eventually canceled. This episode sees one of the main characters break the fourth wall to describe to audiences how he and another character opened a detective agency at a nightclub. The episode also includes one of their first cases, where they help a girl run away from her chasers. This pilot episode would have been immediately canceled today as audiences would prefer to watch events unfolding rather than have major plot points revealed through them through narration.
The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer
The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer is a comedy TV show. The show follows the misadventures of Abraham Lincoln and his companions, the only sane one of whom is his butler, Desmond Pfeiffer. The pilot episode was highly criticized even when it was released in 1998, and it would be immediately canceled today if it came out in modern times. This episode contains many jokes that many saw as a mockery towards slavery and was protested against by many. However, the show continued to run for an entire season.
The Jerry Springer Show
The Jerry Springer Show is a talk show that is considered one of the trashiest talk shows on air. The show went on to run for 27 years, from 1991 to 2018. Its pilot episode is about a girl who comes on the show under the impression that she is about to marry her boyfriend, shedding light on the kind of episodes and tone the show would have. The show hinged on drama and talking about controversial topics. Its pilot episode would have been immediately canceled today because it involves giving false impressions to a guest on the show just to make good and dramatic TV.
Everybody Loves Raymond
This is another well-loved show that was enjoyed by viewers for many years. However, some elements of its pilot episode may have led to its cancellation by modern standards. In the episode, the wife handles her children while her husband enters the house after a sports-related road trip. She decides to go out for the night and leaves the children with their father, who leaves them with his mother while he steps out with his friend to return to a house in shambles. This episode highlights a house not functioning without the mother and a father’s inability to care for his children, projecting the “roles” that women are supposed to play at home.
Cop Rock
Cop Rock was a TV show based on a police force that would fight crime while also performing musical numbers. Its pilot episode features a drug dealer and a drug addict who loses her baby while featuring musical numbers that would be deemed questionable. The pilot was considered poorly written, and the idea of singing police men and women fighting crime would not be well-received by modern audiences. Today, the show would have been immediately canceled, yet it ran on for 11 episodes.
Heat Vision and Jack
This TV pilot existed independently, even though it was filled with some of the biggest names in the industry. The episode follows an astronaut who has special powers but is on the run. He has a talking motorcycle and is faced with an artificial life form that is possessing people and killing them off. The episode was quite outrageous regarding its themes and plot, causing it to be immediately canceled by modern TV networks.
Late Night With Conan O’Brien
This late-night comedy talk show found massive success despite the inappropriate undertones throughout the show’s 16 seasons. The pilot episode featured interviews with John Goodman, Drew Barrymore, and Tony Randall. The interviews on the episode were awkward, making it a cringe and uncomfortable watch for audiences. Today, if a talk show’s pilot episode were deemed uncomfortable, it would be immediately canceled to please audiences.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is another top-rated show from the late ‘90s that many continue to watch today. The show had an unaired pilot where Buffy starts her first day at a new school and encounters weird experiences, including discovering a dead body in the locker room that she investigates with her friends. The episode ends with the girls fighting a gang of vampires. The pilot episode was never aired, owing to its poorly-written storyline. The show was considered to have potential and went on to have multiple seasons. Today, a poorly written pilot episode would seldom get a second chance and would be immediately canceled.
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is one of the greatest sitcoms ever to hit the small screen. The TV show has garnered an enormous following and is still watched today. If the show was only judged on its pilot episode, it may not see the same success it eventually earned. Many people describe the pilot episode as dreadful, with stagnant jokes and missing characters. It is rare for a bad pilot episode to be picked up by a TV network, and by today’s standards, the show might’ve been canceled immediately.
Clerks
Clerks became a TV film with only one pilot episode. Many people considered the pilot a failure and viewed it as a failed attempt to make the famous film that came a year before into a TV series. In modern television, pilots with bad adaptations of popular shows are canceled immediately, which was also the case when this pilot aired in 1995.
