Pilots We Wish Had Been Ordered To Series: Cruel Intentions, Christie Love, The Brides, Beverly Hills Cop And More

Oh, the hype of pilot season! As networks and stars line up their next projects, we viewers can't help but anticipate what our future TV schedules might look like. But not every pilot, as compelling as it may sound, is guaranteed to survive development hell and make it to our screens. This list celebrates the series with massive potential that never came to be, but are still living rent-free in our TV-loving minds.

Whether a cast-contingent pilot, planted spinoff or a comedy/drama presentation ordered by a network, these half-cooked ideas fell apart for various reasons, as many do each and every year. When the networks finally unveil their upcoming fall schedules at the upfronts each May, many pilots fail to land a time slot and thus fade away into nonexistence. But for the following pilots, we can't help but ask: How were these not massive hits?

Below, we mourn a few of the most intriguing pilots that never got the chance to bloom, despite wowing casts, superstar creatives and fascinating premises. From the Cruel Intentions continuation and Beverly Hills Cop reboot that never were, to productions from Shonda Rhimes and Krista Vernoff, there have been some truly promising ideas that were either left unfinished or unordered by networks. We're here to shine a well-deserved spotlight on some of the best ones we wish had seen the light of day.

NOTE: We limited our picks to pilots from the past 10 years. In addition, some of the most widely anticipated shows-to-not-be, such as The Farm and Marvel's Most Wanted, were left off this list since their praises were already well-sung in TVLine's Nixed Spinoffs We Wish We'd Seen.

View our list of pilots we wish had made it to air, then sound off in the Comments to let us know which scrubbed shows you were dying to see! 

Hand to unbeating heart, we've always found Dracula's harem more intriguing than the count himself. So it gave us goosebumps to know not only that Chilling Adventures of Sabrina boss Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa had made the vamps the focus of his contemporary take on Bram Stoker but had brilliantly filled the roles with standouts like Suits alum Gina Torres and Gotham vet Erin Richards. He'd even chosen to play the lady killer ladies' killer an actor charismatic enough to compete with them for our attention: former ER doc Goran Višnjić.

We'd all but given up on ever getting to wash out of our brains the stank of Tim Burton's abysmal big-screen reimagining (see photo above) of ABC's 1966-71 daytime soap. Then we heard about this third small-screen reboot (after NBC's, which briefly came to life in 1991, and The WB's, which was dead before arrival in 2004). And we'll be damned if the proposed modern-day update didn't get our hopes up, what with the promise of Revenge vet Mark B. Perry wielding his pen like a stake and the likelihood of getting a handsomer version of vampire Barnabas Collins than Jonathan Frid. Maybe the fourth time will someday be the charm?

We were sorry to say goodbye to Jane the Virgin when it ended its five-season run in 2019, so this spinoff would've helped ease the pain: It was to be a telenovela-inspired anthology based on the fictional novels of Gina Rodriguez's character Jane Villanueva, with Rodriguez serving as narrator. Season 1 would've followed the family drama at a Napa vineyard, with Marcia Cross, Hunter Parrish and Jane alum Ivonne Coll leading the cast. But The CW closed the book before we even had a chance to read it.

This single-cam comedy (starring Thomas Lennon, Nicole Richie and Wendie Malick) sounded like a bizarre mash-up of Death to Smoochy meets Kidding. The titular character was a disgruntled author (Lennon) of a bestselling children's book series called Mr. Mouse, and while he did write stories for youngins, he pretty much hated everything about them. "After a publicity fiasco with an unexpectedly savvy 9-year-old kid goes sideways, Mr. Mouse appears in Richard's real life, forcing him into an unlikely father/son relationship," read the description at the time. It would've been a thrill watching Richie and Malick go toe-to-toe, but the real kicker? Jason Alexander was set to voice the rodent.

In False Profits, a team of down-and-out women in suburban Arizona were set to fight their way to the top of the cutthroat world of a multi-level marketing cosmetics business. Buoyed by a cast that included Bellamy Young (Scandal), Vanessa Williams (Ugly Betty), Shelley Hennig (Teen Wolf) and Kosha Patel (Girlfriends' Guide To Divorce), we would have loved to see this female wolf pack smash glass ceilings and snatch their piece of the corporate pie. Plus, Young and Williams working together? What a treat we've missed out on.

In Most Likely To, two former high school frenemies reunite 20 years later to live under the same roof as single moms and unlikely housemates. The comedy series was written by Juno scribe Diablo Cody and anchored by series leads Yvette Nicole Brown (Community), Donald Faison (Scrubs) and Lesli Margherita (Homeland). With Cody's whip-smart dialogue, and the animated antics of Brown and Faison, this one could've been something fierce. Ultimately, it became one of the least likely to make it to air that season.

Maybe it was that atrocious title that did in the proposed spinoff of The Middle that was to have taken Eden Sher's eternal optimist and her BFF, Brock Ciarlelli's Brad, from Orson to Chicago. But we were in no way, shape or form done rooting for the plucky underdogs. What's more, we have to think that if the network had known what 2020 held in store, it would've made damn sure that its future lineup included this little ray of sunshine from the original sitcom's creators, Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Heline.

Kylie Bunbury had barely doffed her Pitch cleats when she was recruited to headline a reboot of the 1970s crime drama, playing an African American CIA agent in charge of an elite special-ops unit. Adding to its cred, Power player Courtney A. Kemp was to serve as showrunner.

Yes, Casey Wilson appears on this list more than once and we regret nothing. In this failed-to-launch NBC pilot, "the Sackett family is reunited when two estranged sisters perform an act of public heroism and are forced to navigate the aftermath together." This time out, Wilson would've been joined by Busy Phillips (!) and Bradley Whitford (!!), and though we're tempted to stop right there, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention that Tina Fey and Robert Carlock were on board as executive producers. Sooo, why didn't this one grace our screens? We need answers.

Marc Cherry, the creator/writer behind Desperate Housewives, was kicking around a crime drama that would've served as a starring vehicle for country superstar-turned-comedienne Reba McEntire. According to the official description, "Ruby Adair, the sheriff of colorful small town Oxblood, Ky., finds her red state outlook challenged when a young FBI agent of Middle Eastern descent is sent to help her solve a horrific crime. Together they form an uneasy alliance as Ruby takes the agent behind the lace curtains of this southern gothic community to meet an assortment of bizarre characters, each with a secret of their own." With a supporting cast of Saamer Usmani (Reign), Jack Coleman (Heroes), Amanda Detmer (Necessary Roughness) and Ryan McPartlin (Chuck), we cannot underestimate how HERE we would've been for McEntire's full-time return to television.

Sarah Michelle Gellar was set to reprise one of her best roles ever, and NBC passed? Talk about a bittersweet symphony. The movie's writer/director Roger Kumble was also on board to tell a new story set 15 years after the film, as the cunning Kathryn Merteuil vied for control of Valmont International and the soul of Bash Casey (Sharp Objects' Taylor John Smith), the son of her late stepbrother Sebastian Valmont (played by Ryan Phillippe). Reads the official description: "Upon discovering his late father's legacy in a hidden journal, Bash is introduced to a world of sex, money, power and corruption he never could have imagined." In our TV dreams, Reese Witherspoon would've eventually guest-starred for one last juicy showdown with Kathryn. If only!

Though some mocked this edgy Nancy Drew update (which found the former teen sleuth using her uncanny observational skills as an NYPD detective), the casting of Sarah Shahi (hot off of Person of Interest) in the title role made it must-try TV. Oneday NCIS agent Vanessa Ferlito, meanwhile, was to play gal pal George. Quite egregiously, CBS reportedly passed on the project because it was, ahem, "too female" to find a place on its schedule.

Starring Casey Wilson, Retta and Jackée... do we even need to say more than that? Fine, well, this comedy castoff had a great premise, too: Wilson played a small-town mayor who's dodging the mob as her town teeters on the brink of bankruptcy. So she fakes a miracle to turn things around. Honestly, we'd pretty much watch anything Wilson is in, but that kooky premise and the added bonus of Retta and Jackée make this unanswered prayer particularly tough to take.

Before Florence Pugh broke out on the big screen with Little Women and Midsommar, Fox had a chance to lock down the rising star as the lead of this soapy L.A.-set drama. She would've played a young singer who moves in with her drug-dealing songwriter dad, played by Will & Grace's Eric McCormack. Created by current Grey's Anatomy boss Krista Vernoff, the series would've featured original music from American Idol alum Chris Daughtry... who would also have played a supporting role!

This tantalizing misfire had a real 9 to 5 flavor to it: Jane Krakowski starred as an overachieving employee who's forced to prove she's innocent when her misogynistic boss (David Cross) ends up murdered. Needing help, she turns to her trainwreck of a sister, played by Amy Sedaris, with Rachel Dratch and Cedric Yarborough leading the supporting cast. It sounded like Search Party meets Kimmy Schmidt, and we're all the way there for that.

Well before her Russian Doll days (pictured above), Natasha Lyonne was set to star in this story about a young woman trying to find herself while working as the aide to a group of opinionated elderly people. Not only would Lyonne's supporting cast have undeniably wowed us — the series was set to co-star Ellen Burstyn, Rita Moreno and Fred Willard — but executive producer Amy Poehler and director David Wain would've sealed this one up as one helluva comedic powerhouse. Sadly, the Peacock network pulled the plug.

Never one to let grass grow under his feet, Rob Lowe went straight from his Parks and Recreation run to booking this single-camera comedy about a former doubles champion now toiling as a country club's tennis pro. With Pete Huyck and Alex Gregory (The Larry Sanders Show, Frasier) as writers and sitcom vet Todd Holland (Go On, Malcolm in the Middle) directing, The Pro seemed aces to us! Literally.

This updated take on Eddie Murphy's beloved comedy franchise had all the right ingredients and would've humorously followed Axel Foley's son Aaron as a 90210 cop. In addition to having Murphy as an EP, Shawn Ryan (The Shield) signed on to executive-produce the dramatic comedy and Barry Sonnenfeld (Pushing Daisies, Men in Black) directed the pilot. While a lot of Community fans stumped for Donald Glover to play Axel's progeny, Murphy handpicked Brandon T. Jackson (Tropic Thunder) for the job. And the pilot tested well, but ultimately died on the vine because Murphy (per a 2019 interview with our sister site IndieWire) refused to make recurring appearances on the show.

This modern-day Gothic soap promised to weave together the mythologies of Dracula, Jekyll and Hyde, Frankenstein and Dorian Gray. If that wasn't tantalizing enough, what if we told you TV's oneday Lucifer, Tom Ellis, was set to scrub in as the enigmatic Dr. Frankenstein?

This failed adaptation of the UK comedy assembled a dream trio of funny women: June Diane Raphael, Jenny Slate and Kristen Schaal were set to play three friends in their 30s "living their lives the way they want, even if society tells them they should have it all figured out by this point." The UK version (led by future Catastrophe star Sharon Horgan) was plenty good already, but this had a chance to be even better. Alas.

OK, so there was an awfully familiar ring to the premise of this would've-been series, which was based on leading lady Judy Greer's real life: City slicker becomes a fish out of bottled water when she moves to the burbs with her stepfamily. But its cast included crowd-pleasers Ken Marino and Mimi Kennedy, and we've wanted to see the perennial second banana front and center on the regular ever since her appealing but short-lived Miss Guided in 2008.

Perhaps we would have avoided the implosion of Roseanne had NBC greenlit this other working-class sitcom. Roseanne Barr would have portrayed the proprietor of a trailer park and surrogate mother to all of the unique people who lived there amid a challenging economy. John Goodman, meanwhile, would have played a man who worked at the park and had a "buddy relationship" with Barr's character.

A frothy period drama, featuring an "epic love story," from Shonda Rhimes' Shondaland? Just imagine! Now add John Barrowman, Blythe Danner, Matt Lauria and Sarah Bolger, and we reckon that even Lady Whistledown wouldst find a local inventor to jerry-rig for her a TV set and tuneth in.