Join Scott and Tom as they break down this week's pilot: Kolchak: The Night Stalker! Kolchak: The Night Stalker is an American television series that aired on ABC during the 1974–1975 season. It featured a fictional Chicago newspaper reporter—Carl Kolchak, played by Darren McGavin—who investigated mysterious crimes with unlikely causes, particularl…

Join Scott and Tom as they break down this week's pilot: TJ Hooker! T. J. Hooker is an American police drama television program starring William Shatner in the title role as a 15-year veteran police sergeant. The series premiered as a mid-season replacement on March 13, 1982, on ABC and ran on the network until May 4, 1985. The show was then picked…

By Scott Johnson & Tom Merritt

Autopilot S3E09 - Space 1999 The crew of Moonbase Alpha must struggle to survive when a massive explosion throws the Moon from orbit into deep space.By Scott Johnson & Tom Merritt

Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network.By Scott Johnson & Tom Merritt

The series depicted Logan and Jessica -- pursued by Francis (Randolph Powell) -- traveling in a futuristic hovercraft-like vehicle on a cross-country trek to Sanctuary in a post-apocalyptic America. The domed city was seen only in the pilot and two other episodes, using recycled footage from the film. In a change from the book and film, the televis…

Knight Rider is an American television series that originally ran from September 26, 1982, to August 8, 1986. The series was broadcast on NBC and stars David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight, a high-tech modern crime fighter assisted by an advanced, artificially intelligent and nearly indestructible car. Conceived and produced by Glen A. Larson, the sh…

Jason of Star Command is a live action television series by Filmation which ran between 1978 and 1981. The show revolved around the exploits of space adventurer Jason (Craig Littler) and his colleagues, including Professor E.J. Parsafoot (Charlie Dell) and the pocket robot "Wiki" (formally W1K1). The show also starred Sid Haig as the evil Dragos, a…

Join Scott and Tom as they break down this week's pilot: Highlander! Highlander: The Series is a fantasy science fiction action-adventure television series featuring Duncan MacLeod (Adrian Paul) of the Scottish Clan MacLeod, as the Highlander. It was an offshoot and another alternate sequel of the 1986 feature film with a twist: Connor MacLeod did …

Autopilot - Buffy The Vampire Slayer The non-broadcast pilot episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was produced by 20th Century Fox in 1996 to pitch a series to networks. The twenty-five-and-a-half-minute production was written and directed by Buffy creator Joss Whedon, and was expanded upon and re-shot for the first episode of the series. It is nota…

Join Scott and Tom as they break down this week's pilot: The unaired MST3K pilot! Mystery Science Theater 3000, often abbreviated MST3K, is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc. The show premiered on KTMA in Minneapolis, Minnesota on November 24, 1988. It later aired on The Comedy Channe…

Wonder Woman's first broadcast appearance in live-action television was a television movie made in 1974 for ABC. Written by John D. F. Black, the TV movie resembles the Wonder Woman of the "I Ching" period. Wonder Woman (Cathy Lee Crosby) did not wear the comic-book uniform, demonstrated no apparent super-human powers, had a "secret identity" of Di…

Nerdtacular 2013 Media Panel (Film and TV)By Scott Johnson & Tom Merritt

The talking bulldog at a policeman's feet turns out to be his late partner.By Scott Johnson & Tom Merritt

Dragnet is a radio and television crime drama about the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners. The show takes its name from an actual police term, a "dragnet", meaning a system of coordinated measures for apprehending criminals or suspects.By Scott Johnson & Tom Merritt

Max Headroom is a British-produced American satirical science fiction television series by Chrysalis Visual Programming and Lakeside Productions for Lorimar-Telepictures that aired in the United States on ABC from March 1987 to May 1988. The series was based on the Channel 4 British TV pilot produced by Chrysalis, Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the …

Firefly is an American space western drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon, under his Mutant Enemy Productions label. Whedon served as an executive producer, along with Tim Minear. The series is set in the year 2517, after the arrival of humans in a new star system, and follows the adventures of the renegade crew of Ser…

CHiPs is an American television drama series produced by MGM Studios (now owned by Turner Entertainment) that originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to July 17, 1983. CHiPs followed the lives of two motorcycle police officers of the California Highway Patrol. The series ran for 139 episodes over six seasons.…

The Newsroom is an American drama television series created and principally written by Aaron Sorkin that premiered on HBO on June 24, 2012. The series chronicles the behind-the-scenes events at the fictional Atlantis Cable News (ACN) channel. It features an ensemble cast including Jeff Daniels as anchor Will McAvoy, who, together with his staff set…

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a Time Lord—a time travelling, humanoid alien known as the Doctor. He explores the universe in his 'TARDIS', a sentient, telepathic time-and-space-travel machine that flies through the time vortex.…

Twin Peaks is an American television serial drama created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. The series follows an investigation, headed by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan), into the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). Its pilot episode was first broadcast on April 8, 1990 on ABC. Seven more episodes were produced, and …

The Dead Zone, aka Stephen King's Dead Zone (in USA) was an American-Canadian science fiction/suspense series starring Anthony Michael Hall as Johnny Smith, who discovers he has developed psychic abilities after a coma. The show, credited as "based on characters" from Stephen King's 1979 novel of the same name, first aired in 2002, and was produced…

Misfits is a British science fiction comedy-drama television show about a group of young offenders sentenced to work in a community service programme, where they obtain supernatural powers after a strange electrical storm. The first series started broadcasting on 12 November 2009 on E4, and was produced by Clerkenwell Films. The show aired in Austr…

Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late-20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J. Fry, who, after being unwittingly cryogenically frozen for one thousand years, finds empl…

Airwolf is an American television series that ran from 1984 until 1987. The program centers on a high-tech military helicopter, code named Airwolf, and its crew as they undertake various missions, many involving espionage, with a Cold War theme. The show was created by Donald P. Bellisario. The first three seasons star Jan-Michael Vincent, Ernest B…

Autopilot S2 E1 - Babylon 5 Set between the years 2258 and 2262, Babylon 5 depicts a future where Earth has sovereign states, and a unifying Earthgov. Colonies within the solar system, and beyond, make up the Earth Alliance, and contact has been made with other spacefaring races. The ensemble cast portray alien ambassadorial staff and humans assign…

Autopilot - QUICK CHECK IN!By Scott Johnson & Tom Merritt

Autopilot 12 - Lost Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a sci-fi/drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island somewhere in the South P…

Autopilot 11 - Roswell Roswell is an American science fiction television series developed, produced, and co-written by Jason Katims.[1] The series debuted on October 6, 1999 on The WB and moved to UPN for the third season. The last episode aired May 14, 2002. In the United Kingdom, the TV series aired as both Roswell High[2] and Roswell. The series…

Autopilot 10 - Life on Mars (US) Life on Mars is a science fiction crime drama television series which originally aired on ABC from October 9, 2008 to April 1, 2009. It is an adaptation of the BAFTA-winning original UK series of the same name produced by the BBC. The series was co-produced by Kudos Film & Television, 20th Century Fox Television and…

Autopilot 09 - seaQuest DSV seaQuest DSV is an American science fiction television series created by Rockne S. O'Bannon. It originally aired on NBC between 1993 and 1996. In its final season, it was renamed seaQuest 2032. Set in "the near future", seaQuest mixes high drama with realistic scientific fiction.[4] It stars Roy Scheider as Nathan Bridge…

Autopilot 08 - Buck Rogers Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is an American science fiction adventure television series produced by Universal Studios. The series ran for two seasons between 1979–1981, and the feature-length pilot episode for the series was released as a theatrical film several months before the series aired. The film and series were …

Autopilot 07 - Emergency! Emergency! is an American television series that combines the medical drama and action-adventure genres. It was produced by Mark VII Limited (Jack Webb’s company) and distributed by Universal Studios. It debuted as a midseason replacement on January 15, 1972, on NBC, replacing the short-lived series The Good Life, and ran …

Autopilot 06 - The A-TEAM The A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel who work as soldiers of fortune, while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit". The A-Team was created by writers and producers Frank …

Autopilot 05 - Mission Impossible Mission: Impossible is a U.S television series that was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicles the missions of a team of secret government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force (IMF). In the first season, the team is led by Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill; Jim Phelps, played by Pete…

Autopilot 04 - Quantum Leap Quantum Leap is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from March 26, 1989 to May 5, 1993, for a total of five seasons. The series was created by Donald Bellisario, and starred Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett, a physicist from six years in the future (during the series' original run) who becomes lost in …

Autopilot 03 - Stargate: SG1By Scott Johnson & Tom Merritt

Autopilot 02 - Battlestar Galactica (1978) Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the original television series in 1978, and was followed by a brief sequel TV series in 1980, a line of book adaptations, original novels, comic books, a board game, and video games.…

Autopilot 01 - Star Trek: The Cage "The Cage" is the first pilot episode of the Star Trek: The Original Series science fiction series. It was completed in early 1965 (with a copyright date of 1964), but not broadcast on television in its complete form until the autumn of 1988. The episode was written by Gene Roddenberry and directed by Robert Butle…

Autopilot 00 - It starts hereBy Scott Johnson & Tom Merritt