TMC
03-19-2024, 03:31 AM
https://willharris.substack.com/p/pilot-error-revisited-nathans-choice
Created with an eye on the 2001-2002 fall schedule, Nathan’s Choice (https://jacksonupperco.com/2024/03/13/sliding-lorres-read-a-sitcom-curio/), written by Lorre and his recurring collaborator Michael Roberts, was to have starred J.D. Walsh as Nathan, a guy whose life was to be placed in the hands of the viewers. Yes, that’s ultimately the case with the characters in every series when it comes to ratings—if there are no viewers, then soon there is no show—but in this case, it would’ve been a bit more literal: at the midway point of each episode, the folks at home would’ve been given the opportunity to vote on which way the storyline would proceed after the messages from the very important sponsors.
You’re probably wondering the same thing everyone else has asked me when I’ve mentioned this pilot to them: “Wouldn’t filming two different second halves of every episode be a pretty expensive proposition?” Why, yes. Yes, it would. And yet they’d figured out a way to make it a bit more cost-viable…but we’ll get to that, because now you’re wondering, “Okay, so if that wasn’t why the series didn’t get picked up, what was?”
Well, to answer that, I’ll hand you off to Lorre, who I ran into at a CBS party during this summer’s Television Critics Association press tour, and Walsh, who was kind enough to hop on the phone with me earlier this week and help me fill in a few more blanks. Their answers as to why Nathan’s Choice (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283204/) wasn’t picked up may not be wholly satisfying—they rarely are with these things—but in discussing the concept, they’ll certainly make you wonder why, more than a decade later, no one’s tried taking another shot at an interactive sitcom.
Created with an eye on the 2001-2002 fall schedule, Nathan’s Choice (https://jacksonupperco.com/2024/03/13/sliding-lorres-read-a-sitcom-curio/), written by Lorre and his recurring collaborator Michael Roberts, was to have starred J.D. Walsh as Nathan, a guy whose life was to be placed in the hands of the viewers. Yes, that’s ultimately the case with the characters in every series when it comes to ratings—if there are no viewers, then soon there is no show—but in this case, it would’ve been a bit more literal: at the midway point of each episode, the folks at home would’ve been given the opportunity to vote on which way the storyline would proceed after the messages from the very important sponsors.
You’re probably wondering the same thing everyone else has asked me when I’ve mentioned this pilot to them: “Wouldn’t filming two different second halves of every episode be a pretty expensive proposition?” Why, yes. Yes, it would. And yet they’d figured out a way to make it a bit more cost-viable…but we’ll get to that, because now you’re wondering, “Okay, so if that wasn’t why the series didn’t get picked up, what was?”
Well, to answer that, I’ll hand you off to Lorre, who I ran into at a CBS party during this summer’s Television Critics Association press tour, and Walsh, who was kind enough to hop on the phone with me earlier this week and help me fill in a few more blanks. Their answers as to why Nathan’s Choice (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283204/) wasn’t picked up may not be wholly satisfying—they rarely are with these things—but in discussing the concept, they’ll certainly make you wonder why, more than a decade later, no one’s tried taking another shot at an interactive sitcom.