Reviews of the 1st edition: “Recommended”—<i>Choice</i>
“Terrace is arguably the most prolific developer of television reference material, with more than 30 books to his credit”—<i>ARBA</i>
“A fun, speculative time if you’re someone who loves television and relishes the curious failures as much as the crazy successes.”—<i>Forces of Geek</i>; “a comprehensive encyclopedia of aired and unaired TV pilots from 1937 to 2012”—<i>Reference & Research Book News</i>.
On November 27, 1937, NBC presented TV's first pilot film, Sherlock Holmes (then called an "experiment"). Thousands of pilot films (both unaired and televised) have been produced since. This updated and restyled book contains 2,470 alphabetically arranged pilot films broadcast from 1937 to 2019. Entries contain the concept, cast and character information, credits (producer, writer, director), dates, genre and network or cable affiliation. In addition to a complete performer's index, two appendices have been included: one detailing the pilot films that led to a series and a second that lists the programs that were spun off from one series into another. Never telecast pilot films can be found in the companion volume, The Encyclopedia of Unaired Television Pilots, 1945-2018. Both volumes are the most complete and detailed sources for such information, a great deal of which is based on viewing the actual programs.
Preface
The Pilots
Appendix I: Series Pilot Films
Appendix 2: Series Spin-Offs
Performers Index