Backdoor Pilot
A sneaky way to introduce a new spinoff by making the pilot an episode of the original show.
Diff'rent Strokes
Appearances
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show: Season 2, episode 24, "His Two Right Arms" (1973). Failed backdoor pilot for a show about a bumbling politician and his longsuffering staff.
- Welcome Back, Kotter: Season 2, episode 19, "There Goes Number 5" (1977). Failed backdoor pilot for a spinoff centering on Horshack and his family.
- Diff'rent Strokes: Season 1, episode 22, "The Girls School" (1979). Mrs. Garrett visits Kimberly's all-girls school in a sneaky backdoor pilot for The Facts of Life.
- Diff'rent Strokes: Season 2, episodes 7-8, "The Adoption" (1979). What was supposed to be a backdoor pilot for a vehicle to bring Redd Foxx back to TV was re-cast at the last minute with Whitman Mayo when Foxx declined.
- Too Close for Comfort: Season 3, episode 22, "Family Business" (1983). Backdoor pilot for a show about the Garibaldi family contracting company with a loose connection to a story about Iris moving in with the Rushes.
- The Golden Girls: Season 2, episode 26, "Empty Nests" (1987). A backdoor pilot for Empty Nest that bears no resemblance to what the show became when it was picked up.
- The Nanny: Season 2, episode 25, "The Chatterbox" (1995). Failed backdoor pilot for a spinoff that followed the staff and customers at a whacky beauty salon.