TV shows that nearly made the cut

by Anna Cain; illustrations by Walker Walls-Tarver

For every show that ends up on television, dozens get dropped somewhere along the way. Sometimes a network will order a few episodes, but then decide that a show doesn’t tonally match the rest of their season lineup. Sometimes a show has the perfect cast, but can’t live down a sub-par pilot episode. Sometimes a stellar pitch never even gets out of the boardroom. So in honor of the “Almost” issue, look back at some of the best, worst and weirdest TV shows that almost got made. Consider yourself warned.

The Good:

“The Farm” (2013, NBC)

Tucked away near the end of season nine of “The Office” is an episode called “The Farm.” In it, Dwight Schrute leaves the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company to attend the funeral of his Aunt Shirley. There, Dwight learns that Aunt Shirley has left the family farm to the wayward Schrute brothers, on the condition that they move home and run the farm together. The episode was forgettable and not particularly funny. And that is a minor tragedy. By season nine, the end of “The Office” was in sight, and there was talk of continuing the series through a spinoff, Scranton’s equivalent of “Frasier.” The Farm wasn’t just a stand-alone episode; it was secretly a pilot for Dwight Schrute’s own show. But when the episode was critically panned, plans for the spinoff were discarded.

“The Corrections” (2011, HBO)

Jonathan Franzen’s “The Corrections,” I’ll begin by saying, is a fantastic novel. It jumps back and forth in time to chart the emotional ups and downs of the mildly dysfunctional Lambert family. It won the 2001 National Book Award, and it almost won itself an HBO adaption. The potential mini-series was packed with famous actors: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, maybe even Anthony Hopkins. But, perhaps because the novel was too complex to translate to the screen, HBO pulled the plug after shooting only a pilot.

“The Jake Effect” (2002, NBC)

In 2002, NBC filmed seven episodes of a sitcom starring a then-unknown Jason Bateman as a disaffected lawyer who has a mid-life crisis after helping a client get away with polluting a river. The show was cancelled before airing, but the episodes were released four years later as part of a self-explanatory Bravo segment called “Brilliant But Cancelled.” “The Jake Effect” probably would have been funny, but had Jason Bateman been attached to it, he likely wouldn’t have appeared in a little something called “Arrested Development” the next year. So the universe achieves balance after all.

“Locke & Key” (FOX, 2011)

Even the name “Steven Spielberg” is not enough to guarantee a show will be greenlighted. Spielberg worked as the executive producer for “Locke and Key,” a horror show based on a popular comic books series. The story follows three children who become caretakers of a haunted mansion in New England. The pilot impressed critics with its tone and strong acting performances, but FOX still decided to pass.

“How I Met Your Dad” (2013, CBS)

Rather like “The Farm,” this was a network attempt to reincarnate a popular sitcom. As the title implies, this is a female-oriented spinoff to “How I Met Your Mother.” The plot is a little hazy, but we know the show would have followed a recently-divorced woman named Sally and her quirky New York friends as they tried to find Sally’s (second) dream husband. None of the cast from “Mother” would appear in the spinoff, but the new characters in “Dad” would be in the finale of the original show, as a symbolic torch-passing. The death of “How I Met Your Dad” has less to do with quality than obstinacy. The network refused to guarantee the show would be aired unless the creators did reshoots of the pilot. The creators refused to reshoot the pilot unless the network guaranteed the show would air. An intractable dilemma.

“Utopia” (HBO, 2015)

“Utopia” is a British Channel4 conspiracy theory show about a Nostradamus-type graphic novel that predicts coming wars and disasters. HBO hoped to produce an American remake, and brought in a star lineup. The show was directed by David Fincher, starred Rooney Mara, and was written by Gillian Flynn. However, that star lineup also meant a high price tag, and “Utopia” eventually fell apart over budget issues. HBO still owns the rights, so they may try again someday with a different director.

“The Dictator” (CBS, 1988)

Starring the iconic Christopher Lloyd (Doc Brown in the “Back to the Future” movies), “The Dictator” follows a deposed, well, dictator who is forced to flee to New York after a coup. Biding his time until he can regain power, he opens a neighborhood laundromat. The show could have been brilliant, but during filming of the third episode, the 1988 Writers Strike broke out. When the Writers Guild of America returned to work 155 days later, “The Dictator” had already fallen apart. No one has seen any footage from the show. In fact, it’s become a kind of treasure hunt for TV buffs and Christopher Lloyd fans. To date, all they’ve uncovered is a few still images and one magazine advertisement.

“The Vatican” (Showtime, 2013)

Think of shows like “Game of Thrones” and “The West Wing”—dramas packed with backstabbing, intrigue and political machination. Now imagine that–but with a Pope. This was the concept for “The Vatican,” a political thriller with a Catholic bent. The show was directed by Ridley Scott, and despite the clergy’s vows of celibacy and moderation, we’d still get a copious dose of sex/drugs/money. Unfortunately, the pilot episode was disappointing. “The Vatican” may have improved with time, but Showtime didn’t invest in further episodes.