10 Failed TV Pilots We Wish We Could See

2. 17th Precinct

17th PrecinctNetwork/Season: NBC/2011 Starring: Jamie Bamber, Tricia Helfer, James Callis, and Esai Morales Description: A police procedural with a twist...that twist being that it takes place in a city where Magic exists and Fossil Fuels don't. The men and women of the 17th Precinct have particular magical skills, and in using those skills solve crimes that mere mortals would use things like Science to investigate. Why We Didn't See It: Because Ronald D. Moore refuses to start making more Battlestar Galactica, despite having most of his BSG cast present in this pilot. It seems like Moore is constantly punished for not repeating his Space Opera success, which shows in the failure of not only this pilot, but also his pilot for Virtuality over at Fox. The only difference is, Fox at the very least ran his 2 hour pilot as a movie event, in the hopes it would generate interest with audiences. Though in their critique for the pilot, iO9 made a good point...NBC might have passed because their Wonder Woman pilot wasn't as awesome as they had hoped, which would have effectively put them off genre television for a spell. (Witch humor!) Why We Wished We Could See It: It's a shame this hadn't come along just a little later, as Grimm has struck moderate success with its "procedural meets the fantastical" approach on the same network. Also, having the same BSG group back together, just in different roles, would have been a treat to see. Not to mention the whole concept sounds like Grimm meets a permutation of Revolution, and it might have worked out even better considering how much people love to hate the latter. Life After Death?: The pilot was on the Internet. Was. Removed, undoubtedly because of copyright issues, the 17th Precinct has vanished once more into thin air.
 
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Mike Reyes may or may not be a Time Lord, but he's definitely the Doctor Who editor here at What Culture. In addition to his work at What Culture, Mr. Reyes writes for Cocktails and Movies, as well as his own personal blogs Mr. Controversy and The Bookish Kind. On top of that, he's also got a couple Short Stories and Novels in various states of completion, like any good writer worth their salt. He resides in New Jersey, and compiles his work from all publications on his Facebook page.