6. L.A. Confidential
Network/Season: HBO - Fox/1999
Starring: Kiefer Sutherland, Eric Roberts, and Melissa George
Description: Based on the best selling novel (and Academy Award Nominated film), L.A. Confidential followed three police officers through their personal and professional lives as they made their way through the Noir-ish 1950's California. Detective Edmund "Ed" Exley (The Brains), Detective Bud White (The Brawn), and Sergeant Jack Vincennes (The Talk) are these three officers. Under the watchful eye of Captain Dudley Smith, these men will encounter the seediest depths in the City of Angels.
Why We Probably Didn't See It: This Pilot seems to be suffering from what I like to call "The Casablanca Syndrome", meaning they tried to take a popular/iconic film that was a hit with audiences and judges alike and turn it into a small screen success on a weekly scale. The fact that HBO out of all networks passed on this project in its original Miniseries format doesn't bode well for starters. Add to that the fact that Fox passed on the fully produced Pilot, and it seems more apparent that no one wanted to be the party responsible for attempting to cash in on what is one of the finest modern Noir pictures of our time.
Why We Wished We Could See It: Pre 24, Kiefer Sutherland was almost unwittingly looking for that comeback project. In fact, if it wasn't for his role as Jack Bauer, he'd have probably gone back to the Rodeo circuit. Now imagine how much different things would have been if he'd stayed in the role of Jack Vincennes, a role that made so much publicity for Kevin Spacey as he was beginning to take off. While Sutherland's Jackie V might have been more of a hardcase than a pretty boy, he'd have still been able to turn on the charm in spades. This Pilot stands as a rather intriguing "what if", not only for that but also for the novelty of turning the source material novel into a more episodic storyline.
Life After Death?: Here's where we run into a minor success story, and one of the few reasons that it's good for a Hollywood studio to release a DVD Double Dip. After being aired on the (since 2006) defunct Trio network's "Brilliant but Cancelled" series in 2003, L.A. Confidential was still sitting in limbo. It was clear that with the disconnect between the Academy Award nominated film and the Television tie-in would render this project a stalemate before it even made a move. (Also, by 2003, Sutherland was gainfully employed by the United States Government's Counter Terrorist Unit). The fabled Pilot finally landed at its final home in 2008, as a Special Feature on Warner Brother's home video re-release of L.A. Confidential.