Pop Culture from an Alternate Dimension

  In 1980, the ABC network aired a made-for-tv spy movie called Once Upon a Spy. It starred Ted Danson (a couple of years before he was Sam Malone on Cheers) , Mary Louise Weller (a couple of years after National Lampoon's Animal House ), Eleanor Parker (who I loved in 1946's Never Say Goodbye  with Errol Flynn) and Christopher Lee as the archvillain (as he had done the year before in a Captain America tv movie). It was a pilot for a series that never happened. Above is how I see the DVD release would look if it became a series, with some possible ideas for episodes mentioned on the back. The full movie has been uploaded many times on YouTube, if you want to view it.

       In the late 1980's NBC aired two Hulk tv movies with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno that were meant to be backdoor pilots for new superhero shows. The Trial of the Incredible Hulk  introduced The Daredevil. Instead of Foggy Nelson and Karen Page being in it, they created two new characters; Christa Klein was essentially Karen but was a partner in the firm with Matt Murdock. The character was played by Nancy Everhard, she was also in the Dolph Lundgren Punisher  movie the same year. In an interview, Rex Smith said that he and John Rhys-Davies were excited about it becoming a series. Sadly, it did not, so above you can see the "what-if" DVD cover.

      I have been doing a lot of DC comic characters so here's one for the Marvel fans. In 1977 CBS aired a pilot movie of Spider-Man that turned into a series that lasted two seasons. They aired two pilot movies of the Incredible Hulk that became a series lasting five seasons. They tried again in 1979 with Captain America. Two pilot movies were made with Reb Brown as the titular character, but it was not picked up as a series. Here is the DVD cover of the series that could have been.

       Archie has been in comics since 1941. The character was popular enough to get a radio show starting in 1943. Cartoons of Archie and the gang ran from 1968-1978. There have been a few live-action pilots that went nowhere. Then in 1997 the CW network had a grim take with their series Riverdale that lasted seven seasons. In 1976, however, ABC put on a "special" of Archie . It featured short sketches and musical interludes. It wasn't picked up as a series but two years they tried again with The Archie Situation Comedy Musical Variety Show . It had the same cast and again did not make it to series.       Dennis Bowen, who played the title character, was also a student at Buchanan High in five episodes of Welcome Back Kotter . Deryl Maury (Jughead) was part of The Massacre at Central High . Hilarie Thompson was on the tv series of Operation Petticoat  after she was Veronica. Audrey Landers, who was Betty Cooper, had better success on the series D...

  In July of 1987 ABC aired a movie based on Will Eisner's comic The Spirit. It starred Sam J. Jones as the title character and Nana Visitor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) as love interest Ellen Dolan. Trivia: 28 years later the two actors appeared in Seth MacFarlane's  Ted 2 . The sidekick in the comics was a racial stereotype called Ebony, in this production he was renamed Eubie and played by Bumper Robinson. The movie leaned more towards camp, as was the way comic productions were handled then. It was meant to be a pilot, with more episodes already written, but was never picked up. Who knows, if the series was picked up it might have been a more accurate representation of Eisner's work than the Frank Miller movie. Preview Clip | The Spirit | Warner Archive

       In 1974 ABC Television aired a tv movie of Wonder Woman starring Cathy Lee Crosby. A year and a half later ABC tried again with Lynda Carter. This version was more like the comics and took place during WWII. It was picked up as a series and ran on ABC from April 1976 to February 1977. Then CBS picked it up for two more seasons, made it modern and now she worked for an intelligence agency like the 1974 pilot.       I have wondered what the series would have been like if they stuck with Crosby version. I imagine the rogue Paradise Island friend of Diana's would come back having been experimented on with Cheetah blood and become a powerful nemesis. As the show went on, they would probably incorporate more from the comics.       Above is sleeve for the DVD case and the outer slip sleeve case for this imagined series.       There was another proposed Wonder Woman series in 1967. Whenever you pick on an adaptati...

  Despite being one of the great superhero teams the Justice League has not fared well in live action. In 1979 there were two tv "specials" of Legends of the Superheroes that saw the return of Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman and Robin surrounded by other great DC heroes. The less said about that the better. In 1997 CBS made a pilot for a Justice League show. I have heard that it didn't air and it aired once in 1997. I don't know which is right. CBS had done a series of The Flash in 1990 which only lasted one season but still has a following. The Flash in this pilot is quite different however. He can't keep a job and his roommate kicks him out. The Green Lantern is Guy Gardner but looks like Hal Jordan in Guy's costume wih Kyle Rayner's logo. The creators of the pilot might have been trying to capture the humor of Giffen/DeMatties run of the Justice League but it doesn't come off the same. Who knows, if it made it to series maybe they could have fixed...