A Question for the Class

[kungfuwaynewho]

I'm fixing to start a new writing project - a pilot.  I should write one every year, and I think I'm going to use the idea I came up with for tvrealm's Create a Show challenge for this year.

So here's my question: what do you look for in a pilot?  What are the things that get you to sit down a try out a new show?  What has to go right for you to tune in the next week?  What goes wrong that makes you decide to spend your time on something else?  What are your favorite pilots, and what did you love about them?  Conversely, what are your least favorite pilots, and what turned you off?

Comments

[hollywobbles.livejournal.com]

I need a character I can identify with and I need to find myself getting caught up emotionally -- basically I need to find myself caring. This spans genres. I was never a scifi person, then I fell in love with Picard, Crusher, and Data almost against my will (actually the Naked Now was the first ep I saw, and they were adorbs); I fell in love with Roslin, Adama, and got caught up in their situation and fell in love with Adama's speech... then with The West Wing, my head was spinning there was so much going on, but they managed to give me reasons to care about or identify with a number of the characters very quickly, then Jed Bartlett came in with this huge entrance, set everyone straight saying a bunch of things that really endeared him to me, and bam, I was a fan. Sometimes I'll watch an episode of a show, pilot or otherwise, and I can tell it's a high quality show, but it doesn't give me anything I connect with emotionally -- no character I identify with or bigger ideas I care about -- and I never end up getting hooked.