How did the filming of 10 famous TV series begin and what the audience did not even know about?

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

It is difficult to imagine that the television series, which have now become cult or at least extremely popular, were once at the stage of creating a pilot episode - the very one that was supposed to decide the future fate of the project. Surprisingly, sometimes the original draft turned out to be a real failure, and the writers had to move mountains to turn the rejected material into a masterpiece.

The pilot, test episode is filmed in order to draw attention to the project, and it helps TV companies assess viewers' interest in the plot and the feasibility of launching a new show. In the American television industry, only a quarter of the pilot episodes turn into the beginning of the series - the rest are recognized as hopeless. Often, the first, test episode becomes a way for producers to better understand the characters and the idea of the project and to shoot the revised version in a more perfect form, add a twist that will make the series famous.

1. "X-Files"

Chris Carter, the author and creator of the series, set out to scare the viewer, and the story of two FBI agents investigating the paranormal did a great job. The male character, who believes in the supernatural, and the female character, categorized as skeptics, violated the established stereotype. The leading roles were approved by David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, however, the latter had to be defended by Carter himself, who assured that she approached the study of the script with the same seriousness that was assumed by the main feature of Scully. As for William Davis, who played the Smoker, he was originally cast as Senior FBI Agent Blevins.

In the pilot episode, doctor and FBI agent Dana Scully is sent by the chief to investigate the mysterious death of a teenage girl Karen Swensen in the forest. Scully's partner is Agent Fox Mulder, who is in charge of X-Files (X-Files). The pilot budget was $ 2 million and was filmed in Vancouver. The screening took place in front of the broadcaster staff, with the final cut being completed three hours before the episode was shown. As a result, several scenes were excluded from it, including those related to the relationship between Dana Scully and her boyfriend Ethan - this was supposed to emphasize the platonic nature of the relationship between the agents throughout the investigation.

2. "Twin Peaks"

David Lynch and Mark Frost proposed the concept for the series to ABC in a face-to-face meeting. At first, the idea boiled down to a story about a police investigation in a small town setting, a cross between a soap opera and a detective story. The plot was built around the murder of schoolgirl Laura Palmer, which is being investigated by FBI agent Dale Cooper and Sheriff Harry Truman.

The final version of the pilot met with different assessments of the TV company - a disorienting, ambiguous episode seemed to a number of experts doomed to failure due to the inconsistency with the format familiar to viewers. Others predicted unprecedented fame for the project, which would "change television forever."The first episode, shown on April 8, 1990, was watched by a record number of viewers - more than 34 million, and the series itself, despite the fact that initially consisted of only two seasons, became a cult.

3. "Alf"

The adventures of an alien from the planet Melmack saw the light of day thanks to the author of the idea and screenwriter Paul Fusco, who approached producer Bernie Brillstein with a proposal to launch the project. At first, he was skeptical, but after looking at Fusco's work on managing the Alpha doll, he suggested writing a script.

The pilot episode began almost unchanged in the first season, with only a few drawn-out scenes rewritten, and a different actor played the alien service. The series was released on screens from 1986 to 1990 and was shown in eighty countries around the world. Nevertheless, the actors involved in the project admitted that the shooting was technically difficult and very stressful, one half-hour episode required 20-25 hours of work, and the doll was set in motion by three - Paul Fusco himself, who controlled the "mouth" and "right hand" of Alpha, Lisa Buckley, in charge of the "left hand" and the third assistant - Bob Fappiano, whose duties included providing facial expressions - the movement of eyebrows and ears. The placement of the puppeteers, the installation of a microphone for Paul Fusco, who voiced the alien, the coordinated work of all members of the film crew were not an easy task, constantly requiring adjustments and corrections.

According to Anne Schedin, who played the role of Kate in the series, the atmosphere on the set was so tense that after filming the last scene of the series, actor Max Wright (Willie) silently packed his bag of things and disappeared.

4. "Friends"

David Crane and Martha Kauffman, trying to create a successful promising script for a new series, tried different ideas, including "Cafe" Insomnia, "about a place where single friends meet to discuss their personal lives. The pilot was given the green light by NBC, and work began on writing and repeatedly revising the script, reviewing thousands of cast entries, conducting castings and revising their results.

David Schwimmer was approved as the first of the six for the role of Ross Geller, but Nancy McKeon was first considered for the role of Monica, who was supposed to play a love affair with Joe. Phoebe could have been played by Katie Griffin, but preference was given to Lisa Kudrow, who performed well in the sitcom Crazy About You as the waitress Ursula Buffet.

The show took place on September 22, 1994 and attracted 22 million viewers, immediately gaining public recognition. True, a number of experts criticized Monica's "licentiousness" and Chandler's primitive jokes, and Joe's character was accused of being unoriginal and exploiting a long-boring image.

5. "Desperate Housewives"

Before writing the script for the series, Mark Cherry was in a rather difficult financial situation, but the idea of creating a television project about the life of the inhabitants of a rich suburb turned out to be in demand and was put into operation.

The plot of how a housewife, leading a well-to-do prosperous life, takes her own life, and then comments on the events around the families of her friends as a voiceover, was well received by viewers and critics. The shooting was carried out on the famous Colonial Street of Hollywood, and the role of the same the ill-fated Mary Alice Young was originally planned to be given to Cheryl Lee - the one who had already played Laura Palmer from Twin Peaks, who was once killed in the first episode.

The roles of the main characters of the series were not immediately distributed - except, perhaps, Gabriel Solis, whom Cherry gave to Eva Longoria - after learning from her that she had not read the script - only her part. It fit perfectly into the image of the frivolous Gabrielle.

6. "Stay Alive"

Filming for the two-part pilot broke budget records, mainly due to the purchase and transportation of a decommissioned Lockheed 1011 aircraft, which provided the backdrop for the crash of Flight 815. It was filmed on the island of Oahu in Hawaii.

ABC TV originally commissioned screenwriters Damon Lindelof and Jeffrey Lieber to be “a cross between Lord of the Flies, Rogue, Gilligan's Island, and The Survivor. As the script was written and the actors were selected, changes were made to the plot - it was decided to "keep alive" Jack, who had originally died in the first episode, and in relation to Kate they refused the story about her husband, who went to the toilet just before the crash and disappeared (this the line will then be embodied by another character).

Kim Yun-Jin auditioned for the role of the main character, who later played the Korean girl Sun, and Sawyer could be played by Matthew Fox or Dominic Monaghan. All rearrangements and changes to the script were made before filming and the release of the pilot episode, which later became part of the series.

7. "Doctor House"

Idea creator and screenwriter David Shore was inspired to create the series by his own memories of the hospital patient's experience. In addition, in the main character, he wanted to embody the features of Sherlock Holmes - the same addiction to drugs, indifference to the client and a keen interest in his business. It was planned to add some physical feature to House from the very beginning - at first it was supposed to put him in a wheelchair, then "decorate" with a scar across his face, but in the end the author settled on a cane.

Interestingly, the producers planned an American for the role of the lame doctor, and the Englishman Hugh Laurie managed to unwittingly mislead them with his impeccable American accent. The main character turned out to be rude and politically incorrect, but despite this turned out to be attractive, the secondary roles were initially scolded for stereotype. Their performers Omar Epps and Jennifer Morrison, even at the stage of the pilot episode, foreshadowed the project either a failure or a particular success. The show on television took place on November 16, 2004 and attracted 7 million viewers from the screens.

8. "Sherlock"

The pilot for the series was a 60-minute episode, which cost £ 800,000 to shoot and was released on July 25, 2010. Sherlock creators Mark Gatiss and Stephen Moffat reported that the BBC executives liked the episode so much that they were commissioned to shoot the full 1.5-hour version, as well as two other episodes. According to another version, the release of the pilot series was considered unsuccessful, and therefore they decided not to leave it in this form. In the revised version of the first episode of the series, the pace and sound have changed, the plot has become more intense and confusing, the camera work was organized somewhat differently. In the later version, the famous flurry of messages appeared, which the detective sends out at the very beginning of the story.

In general, according to critics, the success of the series was primarily associated with the charisma and charm of the protagonist, and therefore did not hide the pilot episode - it was included in the DVD collection, including the first season of "Sherlock".

9. "The Big Bang Theory"

After the release of the pilot episode of this comedy series about a group of physicists, the scriptwriters had to work a lot, and the first episode of "Theory" was already greatly changed. At first, Chuck Lorry and Bill Prady did not include either Raj or Howard in the characters, but the pilot episode introduced viewers to the girls Katie and Gilda, and with the latter, the main character Sheldon Cooper was in a love affair.

The assessments of the focus group, and then of the critics, varied - some of the viewers accused the characters, and with them the creators of The Big Bang Theory, of snobbery. Nevertheless, the project not only won the love of viewers, but also passed the test of time, being released over twelve seasons and a total of 276 episodes.

10. "Game of Thrones"

The fate of perhaps the most popular TV series of our time was practically in the balance when the pilot episode was released. The screening was private - writers David Benioff and Dan Weiss called in several colleagues, including Ocean's Eleven writer Ted Griffin. The reaction was devastating - "You guys are in serious trouble." Almost everything had to be changed to make the show come to life - and that was eventually done.

For the filming of the second version of the pilot, in particular, instead of Thomas McCarthy, director Timothy Van Patten was invited, changes were made in the cast - Michelle Fairley played instead of Jennifer Eli, and Emilia Clarke played Daenerys (the role was originally given to Tamzin Merchant).

The eighth season of "Game of Thrones" - among the most anticipated premieres of 2019.