The Best TV Shows That Never Were by Lee Goldberg is a 2015 Adventures in Television publication. I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was originally published in the 1990's , but has been released in digital format with some tweaks here and there.

Even the very casual TV viewer is aware of what a TV pilot is- but just to give you some more details – A TV pilot is basically the first episode of a proposed series. It is a stand alone in most cases, but can be a disguised within a popular long running series to give it an extra boost or lead in.

The point of this exercise is to test the reception of the viewing public to see if the show is worth continuing. Pilots can be expensive to produce and if the show doesn't generate enough interest from the networks or from advertisers it will never see the light of day.

This book organizes those pilots that never got a chance to entertain us, into groups – such as a 'concept' or 'high concept' shows.

What is a concept show?

Think “The Flying Nun” or may “Quantum Leap” , just to give you an example. Often these shows appeal to a select audience.

Some of the pilots filmed or pitched up until the early nineties- the time frame the book is mainly covering, were laugh out loud funny at times- “Mr. and Mrs. Dracula- (2 pilots), and at others times, I thought some of these pilots would have been successful if they had been given half a chance, such as “The World Beyond” from 1977 which reminded me of “The Ghost Whisperer” , which aired for five seasons- so go figure.

My favorite part of the book showcases the many pilots based on movies. The movie turned TV show, more often than not was a huge flop, with a few notable exceptions, such as M*A*S*H, which was a smash hit on both the big and small screen. Despite the very low success rate, it didn't stop anyone from continuing to make pilots based on films.

According the author, networks have always been suckers for the myth of the “pre-sold” idea, concepts that have a built-in audience and a minimum of risk. Nothing satisfies the desire for “pre-sold” ideas better than a movie.

Some worth noting are:

“The Bates Motel” - NBC – 1987- an anthology series.

Interestingly enough, in 2014 a new series aired on A&E, entitled “The Bates Motel” but is a prequel to Psycho.

“The Goodbye Girl” ( Goodbye Doesn't Mean Forever) – based on the 1977 movie- “The Goodbye Girl” - The pilot starred seventies perennials Karen Valentine and Michael Lembeck. ( 2 pilots- Jo Beth Williams starring in the second)

Then we have the pilots made for “The Name” such as “The Mary Tyler Moore”Show, as an example. These shows are built up around a well known, popular actor or actress at the time. There were some popular names the networks thought of capitalizing on- one notable example was “The Oprah Winfrey show” ( aka Natalie) This pilot was supposed to be sitcom based on Oprah's own life. Oprah herself called it horrible and chose to focus on her movie career.

The last part of the book provides a wonderful introduction to “Television Fast Forward” another book about television I enjoyed by this author, which is all about television remakes, reboots, and revivals.

The only thing this book is lacking in, is a few up to date examples of pilots that were unsold, or were passed on, as most of the examples here are from several decades ago and the modern television buff may wish to see a few mentions from the Millennial generation. I think the book would appeal to a wider audience if some newer material was added.

One small critque would be to add more up to date commentary because the material here is older, and is presented in a way that could be considered bland by some, so without a present day voice behind it, it seems truly dated and could do with a bit of freshening up.

Other than that, it's very interesting to see how far television as come over the years.

When this book was first published, the networks were feeling the pinch from the cable industry. Today, the competition is far greater with Netflix and You Tube to contend with, as well as changing viewing habits. But, the pilot is still a very valuable tool and Amazon Prime members have been given free access to the first episode of several series in order to entice them to purchase more episodes.

Overall, this was an interesting look into the television industry from the fifties through the early nineties, and the author is obviously a student of the business, is a big TV fan, and has a lot of insider experience, information, and insights.

This book would make a solid reference guide for the hardcore television buff, and for those who enjoy nostalgia or trivia.

I believe I have a better understanding now of how the networks think, why some pilots are sold, and others are not. Television is evolving rapidly and the way we watch is changing so quickly, I think it would be interesting to explore how networks decide what stays and what goes now, or if passed over pilots ever make it as original programming on cable networks like FX or TNT. How does Netflix and Amazon handle original programming and pilots? Lots of new territory to explore out there, but before we can understand the present or future we must first visit the past. This book would be good place to start.

Recommended to those who enjoy pop culture, list style books, television nostalgia, history, and trivia. ( )