pilot

Finale time is rapidly approaching.  I've already had to say goodbye to one of my favorite shows ever, One Tree Hill and in two weeks I will also being saying goodbye to another show as well, Desperate Housewives.  Last night I decided to watch the pilot episode in order to prepare myself to say goodbye to Wisteria Lane and all of my favorite housewives.  While I was watching this pilot, which I haven't watched in years, I starting thinking about all of the pilots of my favorite shows.

The pilot episode of a television show is extremely important.  First off, the creators and producers use to pilot to gain interest in the show from networks as well as audiences.  Once a pilot is picked up it goes through a rigorous process of finding actors/actresses to form the perfect cast and tweaking the script in order to find success in test markets.  There are so many pilots that aren't successful, therefore the pilot and first season of a show can make or break it.

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The goal of a pilot episode is first and foremost to introduce the characters.  Secondary to the characters is their relationships, stories, and plot line.  A show cannot succeed without interesting, compelling, and relatable characters.  The characters of the show are what give audiences something or someone to believe in.  This is why finding the right cast is so essential to the success of a pilot.  I recently read an article about the beginnings of the show FRIENDS and it gave great insight into how the chemistry of the cast can be the foundation of the show.  Once characters and actors are nailed down it is time to develop their stories.  Not only do characters have to be relatable but plots and story lines do as well.  Audiences have to believe in the stories.  You can't start out the pilot with an outrageous plot because that can be overwhelming to audiences.  It needs to be a story that intrigues the audiences and sets something up for future seasons.  For instance, Desperate Housewives opens up with the suicide of fellow housewife, Mary Alice Young.  The episode goes on the introduce each of her four best friends and their lives.  In addition, they also address the relationship that they had with Mary Alice.  This episode sets the tone for the next 9 seasons, which is friendships, family, and life in suburbia.  It is important that the pilot sets a tone so audiences get an overall feel for what the show is all about.

I have discussed many different and ambitious goals that I have for myself post graduation which is about a week away.  If none of my big dreams of moving to NYC or LA and being a part of the entertainment industry work out, I would love to watch TV pilots for a living.  I think I could be an excellent judge of whether the show could be a hit or not.  Or maybe I would just love to watch TV shows for a living.

game changers

The first couple seasons for a show are critical.  You are constantly wondering if they will get picked up for a second or third season.  There is something that I like to call the “game changer” that solidifies a show as one that will be around for the long haul.  These so called game changers are those shocking, dramatic and downright fantastic episodes that leave viewers with their jaw dropped.  Although some of these shows are full of game changing moments and plot lines, these game changers were the episodes and moments that I go back and re-watch.  I can remember exactly where I was when I watched the episode and that was when they went from being just a show I watched to being a show that I couldn’t stop watching.

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One Tree Hill is one of the few shows that I started watching from the very beginning.  It started when I was in high school so there was an obvious connection to this teen drama.  Although I didn’t go to a school like Tree Hill or have those kinds of high school experiences the characters were very relatable and I was hooked from the start.  The show was full of ups and downs with friends, lovers, school, sports and families.  For me the game changing episode for this series was called, “"With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept" and it was in season 3.  For fans of the show this is the school shooting episode.  Not only was this episode emotionally driven as our favorite characters were either being held up with a gun or bleeding out in the library, but that episode ended with a bang. Literally. The last moments of this episode turned tree hill upside down and changed the whole series forever. The episode ends with Dan picking up Jimmy Edward’s gun and shooting his brother Keith square in the chest.  Tree hill was never the same and the show wasn’t either.



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Grey’s Anatomy has always been one of my favorite shows.  I used to watch ER with my mom growing up so Grey’s became my doctor show.  Grey’s has had a lot of game changing moments starting right from the start.  Season one, which was only 9 episodes, ended with the reveal of Addison Montgomery, “And you must be the woman that is screwing my husband”.  After that cliffhanger, audiences were bound to tune back in for season 2. Now for those of you who haven’t watched from the beginning Grey’s Anatomy originally aired on Sunday nights with desperate housewives. Shocking, I know, that there was a time when Grey’s didn’t consume your whole Thursday night.  The game changing episode that I am talking about is the bomb episode.  It was a two hour special episode that came on after the super bowl.  It was the highest rated episode of season two.  The two part episode started with a man coming in with an un-exploded bomb in his chest on being held together by a timid paramedic. Code Black.  The hospital is put on lock down as most everyone does the best to stay away from the bomb, including the paramedic, Hannah, who does not want to die.  The first part ends with Hannah running away and Meredith replacing her by putting her hand on the bomb. Along with being two hours of constant suspense and emotion, this episode was a turning point in the MerDer relationship. This episode highlighted the incredible writing skills and mind of creator Shonda Rimes and really showed audiences what a medical drama could be.  If this captivating episode was foreshadowing for seasons to come, I know why I kept watching.

Every show has game changing moments that keep audiences watching and those were just some of my personal favorites, comment below and let me know some of yours!