When a TV show becomes a big hit, the creators will be allowed to keep it going for as long as it maintains its popularity, which will often go beyond the point when the actors and writers want to keep working on it.
The writers of a TV show will have to go through a pitching process in order for an episode to be made. The pitching method differs from show to show, but it boils down to giving an outline for an episode idea, along with a few key scenes detailed in order to make it sound appealing.
There are some amazing episode ideas for TV shows that never left the writers room. The reasons for this vary - the other writers may shoot the idea down because they don't think it will work, the producers or representatives of the network may pull rank and cancel the episode idea before it goes too far, or a cast member might use their influence to nix an idea if they think it may make them (or their character) look bad.
The Internet has given the chance for a lot of disgruntled writers to talk about the great ideas that almost came to pass.
We are here today to reveal which famous TV shows had incredible episodes that were nixed at various stage of development - from the episode of The X-Files that would introduce a conspiracy theory about zombies to the time when the worlds of Doctor Who and Harry Potter almost joined together.
Here are the 20 Cut TV Show Episodes That Were Way Better Than What We Got!
Friends - Chandler & The Male Establishment
It didn't take long for Friends to become a huge hit with audiences, which elevated its six main actors to stardom. The Friends cast received outrageous paychecks for appearing in the show, with some of them being able to leverage roles on the production side of things, like when David Schwimmer was able to direct ten episodes of the show.The Friends cast had enough pull that they could nix storylines during the pre-production stage if they didn't like them.
Matthew Perry has admitted to doing this when he was given a script for an episode where Chandler starts hanging out at a male establishment because he liked the sandwiches that were served there.
It's a shame that Matthew Perry managed to shut down this idea, as it sounds like a funny premise for an episode.
The Walking Dead - "Miles Behind Us"
The original intention for the season two premiere was that it would consist of two episodes, with the first part being called "Miles Behind Us". The story was going to involve Shane being cut off from the rest of the group when one of the tire's on his jeep blows out on the road, forcing him to flee from a horde of walkers. Rick would lead the group to the nursing home from the first season in order to seek shelter with Guillermo's gang. When they arrived there, they would discover that all of the residents had been executed by humans, rather than walkers.
"Miles Behind Us" was retooled into "What Lies Ahead", which focused more on Sophia disappearing and concluded with Carl accidentally being hit with a bullet. The fate of the people living in the nursing home has yet to be addressed, but some of the footage that was shot appears on the home releases. The scene with Rick discovering that the nursing home was overrun was turned into a deleted scene.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Musical Episode
There have been times when a network or a creator of a TV show will want to do something a bit different in order to drum up interest, which will take the form of a musical episode that features the regular cast members singing popular songs.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine almost had a musical episode during its run. Ronald D. Moore pushed hard for an episode where the crew of the station was infected with a virus that forced them to communicate in song. Ronald D. Moore had also wanted to use the same premise on Star Trek: The Next Generation, but he was unable to garner enough support in order to make either episode happen.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars - "Son Of Dathomir"
Star Wars: The Clone Wars was canceled at the end of its fifth season, with several episodes of the canned sixth season already in production. The creative team behind the show already had several different story ideas in place for the sixth season, one of which involved Darth Maul.
The Son of Dathomir storyline would have involved Darth Maul being abducted by Darth Sidious in an attempt to lure out the leader of the Nightsisters.
Darth Maul would eventually form his own faction in an attempt to overthrow Sidious and have revenge against his enemies in the both Jedi order and the Separatists. The Son of Dathomir storyline was turned into a comic book miniseries called Star Wars: Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir, which tells the events of the scrapped episodes. The fact that the Son of Dathomir storyline was already told in comic book form means that we likely won't see it adapted in the revived Star Wars: The Clone Wars series.
The X-Files - Night Of The Living Dead
It's hard for those who weren't around at the time to appreciate just how huge The X-Files was. It took the Twin Peaks formula but managed to maintain interest in the story for years, making it one of the biggest TV shows of the '90s.
The X-Files was so huge that Stephen King and George Romero were going to team up to create an episode that was based on Romero's classic movie Night of the Living Dead. The staff of The X-Files met with both King and Romero, who were both enthusiastic about the project. The zombie episode of The X-Files never came to pass. The idea of using zombies was then passed over to the episode that crossed over with Millennium, which was another show penned by Chris Carter.
The Simpsons - The Prince Episode
One of the best episodes of The Simpsons involved a cameo from Michael Jackson, who was easily the biggest celebrity on the planet at the time. "Stark Raving Dad" involved Michael Jackson playing Leon Kompowsky - a man in a mental institution who believed that he was the real Michael Jackson, who goes on to befriend Homer.
The writers of The Simpsons wanted to bring Leon Kompowsky back for a sequel episode, except that Leon now believed that he was Prince. The episode was written and sent to Prince, who returned it with notes that corresponded to a totally different episode that had been written by Prince's chauffeur. Prince had hated the original script and wanted to use the new one, which the writer's refused to go with. When Prince passed away in 2016, Al Jean uploaded a few pages of the script to Twitter.
Star Trek: The Original Series - The Father
The idea of a time traveler using their technology to dispose of a former ruler is a popular one and has appeared in many different science fiction stories. Star Trek: The Original Series was going to tackle this subject with an episode pitch that was called "Hitler's Father." The episode would have involved a scientist aboard the Enterprise accidentally summoning Alois Schicklgruber to the ship. Alois would later change his surname.
The crew of the Enterprise is left with a dilemma: should they sterilize Alois before sending him back to the past in order to prevent him from siring the former leader?
Alois passed away when his son was still young, so the crew was effectively passing judgment on a man for the crimes that his son would later commit. The fact that Alois was a nice person who espoused the beliefs of the crew would have made their decision all the more difficult.
Batman - The Two-Face Episode
The Batman TV show featured comedic takes on most of Batman's most iconic villains. A few of Batman's most popular foes never appeared on the show, most notably Two-Face. The famous science fiction writer Harlan Ellison once wrote a story that would have introduced Two-Face to the Batman TV show, with the intention that Clint Eastwood would play the role of Harvey Dent.
The Batman TV show was canceled before Ellison's script could be made, which meant that Two-Face would never appear on the show. In 2014, Ellison's unused idea was turned into a story in the Batman '66 comic book series. In 2017, an animated movie called Batman vs. Two-Face was released, with Adam West and Burt Ward providing the voices of Batman and Robin, while William Shatner played Two-Face. This movie used an original script, but it offers a glimpse at what Two-Face would have looked like in the old Batman TV show.
Red Dwarf - "Identity Within"
One of the enduring mysteries of Red Dwarf is the fate of the members of Cat's race (Felis sapiens) who departed from the ship in search of Fuchal. Cat has never seemed interested in looking for any surviving members of his species, while the rest of the crew have made returning to Earth their main priority.
There was a scrapped episode of the seventh season of Red Dwarf called "Identity Within" that would have focused on Cat and answered some of the questions about his race. The story would have involved Cat needing to breed with a member of his species, as his race has a built-in measure that forced them to mate. If he doesn't, then he will perish. The crew of Red Dwarf would have found an enslaved female in the hands of a GELF tribe, prompting a rescue mission. "Identity Within" was written but was scrapped early on, as the producers felt it would be too expensive to film. An animated storyboard of the episode (narrated by Chris Barrie) can be found on the Series VII DVD set.
Batman: The Animated Series - The Sandman Episode
Batman: The Animated Series was able to get away with a lot of dark content, considering that it was intended for a young audience. The show did have a few rules regarding content and the network had limits that the producers couldn't cross, but Batman was still able to maintain its dark atmosphere. One intriguing episode idea for Batman: The Animated series involved using characters from The Sandman, which was one of the most adult comics ever released by DC.
The idea for the episode involving Batman being trapped in Limbo, where he would have encountered Morpheus and Death from The Sandman.
Neil Gaiman approved the use of The Sandman characters in the show, but it was nixed by one of the producers who felt that the story would have been too metaphysical for the show.
Seinfeld - "The Bet"
Seinfeld ran into controversy several times over the course of the show's run, but there was one episode that was canned during the early stages of production in order to avert a potential controversy. The canceled episode was called "The Bet" and would have involved Elaine buying a gun for personal protection, with Jerry betting her that she would back out of owning one. Kramer also claimed that he joined the mile-high club with a flight attendant and George betted him that he couldn't prove it.
It was the plot involving Elaine purchasing a gun that caused several members of the cast to voice their concerns over "The Bet", most notably over a scene where Elaine would threaten Jerry by pointing the gun at the various places where Presidents of the United States of America were hit when they were assassinated. Production had already started on "The Bet" when it was canned, forcing Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David to write "The Phone Message" in order to replace it.
Firefly - The Dog Planet
Firefly was canceled after running for a single season, which meant that many great ideas had to be shelved before they were given a chance to become episodes. Nathan Fillion revealed one of the unused ideas for a Firefly episode during a panel at New York Comic Con. A writer named Alan Tudyk pitched an idea about a planet that was always day on one side and always night on the other. The dark side of the planet was home to some massive feral dogs and the crew was tasked with capturing some of them by a criminal dogfighting ring.
The dogs would be successfully captured, but River Tam would have domesticated them by the time they were brought back to the criminals, making them too nice to fight each other.
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Q Loses His Mind
The first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced the enigmatic Q to the series. Q became a popular character and he appeared in several episodes of the show. The fifth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation was notable in that Q never showed up in any of the episodes, much to the disappointment of the fans.
One of the proposed ideas for a Q episode in the fifth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation involved Q losing his mind, which causes the universe itself to rapture.
Captain Picard would have appeared in present-day New York, with anachronisms appearing all over the place, such as medieval knights roaming the streets and Klingons driving taxi cabs. Q would have appeared as a homeless man who would rant about how he was once an all-powerful being, with no one believing him. The episode idea was popular among the writers, but it was nixed by the producers.
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero - "The Most Dangerous Man In The World"
The earlier episodes of G. I. Joe: A Real America Hero made it clear that Cobra Commander was in charge of the Cobra organization. Cobra Commander was later ousted by Serpentor, who was a clone made from the combined DNA of several prominent figures in human history. Serpentor was a late addition to the series and his introduction derailed one of the most interesting story ideas ever thought up for G. I. Joe.
There was going be an episode of G. I. Joe called "The Most Dangerous Man In The World", which involved all of Cobra's international operations being stopped so that they could focus on a manhunt. It turns out that Cobra had been keeping a philosophy professor locked up, as he had discovered a weakness within their political philosophy that proved that their motivations were incorrect. The introduction of Serpentor screwed up the plans for "The Most Dangerous Man In The World" but the guy who wrote the episode would turn it into a novel.
Wonder Woman - "The Velvet Touch"
An actor may choose to back out of a role if they feel that it will conflict with any real-life business deals or endorsements that they may have. One example of this involves George Takei backing out of the legendary monorail episode of The Simpsons, as he was sat on the board of the Southern California Rapid Transit District and didn't want to appear in an episode that made public transportation look bad.
Lynda Carter's real-life endorsement deal with Maybelline resulted in an episode of Wonder Woman being canned before it entered production. The episode was called "The Velvet Touch" and would have involved a villain distributing poisonous makeup products.
Angel - "Corrupt"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel would sometimes deal with controversial subject matters and dark themes, which brought them under fire from critics who felt that the content was too adult for their intended teenage audiences. Angel ran afoul of network censorship as early as two episodes in, as the planned second episode of the show was canned shortly before it was to enter production.
"Corrupt" was going to be the second episode of Angel and it would have dealt with a cult of demon worshiping substance-addicted night workers, as well as an undercover cop who becomes a night worker in order to feed her habit.
The executives felt that "Corrupt" was far too dark in tone and "Lonely Hearts" was written to replace it.
The Angry Beavers - "Bye Bye Beavers"
It's common for kids shows that consist mainly of sketches to never receive a proper final episode, as there isn't any long-running story that needs a conclusion. The planned final episode of The Angry Beavers was canned during production due to the fact that it broke several Nickelodeon rules, one of which was referring to the fact that an episode was the final one.
The "Bye Bye Beavers" segment of the final episode was going to involve a lot of fourth-wall breaking gags and would have involved criticism of creators not receiving residuals from reruns. The final episode of The Angry Beavers was never shown, but the audio has since found its way online without any corresponding footage.
South Park - "The Very First Gentleman"
It takes a long time to create an animated show, which means that cartoons are rarely able to tackle topical humor. The exception to this is South Park, which has a basic style that allows the producers to create an episode over the course of a week. The producers of South Park are fortunate that the show has such a short turnaround, otherwise, they would have been doomed when they made an episode that involved previous candidates becoming the leader of the United States.
The episode that was supposed to run was called "The Very First Gentleman" and would have involved a former president visiting South Park Elementary after his wife had won the election. However, history made fools of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, with another person winning the election and forcing them to quickly create a new episode in its place.
Dungeons & Dragons - "Requiem"
The Dungeons & Dragons cartoon ended with a regular episode that didn't conclude the story. The fact that Dungeons & Dragons was such a controversial show (due to its violence) led to a persistent urban legend that the final episode was written, but never produced, due to the fact that it revealed that the cast had perished on the amusement park ride and was trapped in purgatory.
A final episode of Dungeons & Dragons was written, but it didn't have some dark story about zombie children.
The episode was called "Requiem" and it would have involved the cast discovering that Venger was the son of Dungeon Master. The episode ended with the cast being offered the choice to either return home or stay and fight the evil that still remained in the world.
Doctor Who - The Harry Potter Episode
In 2005, J. K. Rowling was asked to write an episode of the revived version of Doctor Who. She refused the offer, as she was busy writing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at the time. The worlds of Doctor Who and Harry Potter almost collided once more in 2008, as the writers wanted include J. K. Rowling in an episode where her imagination was brought to life.
The episode was planned to be a Christmas Special during David Tennant's time as the Doctor. The story would have involved J. K. Rowling being infected with a mysterious space virus that would have altered reality and combined the magical world with our world. Tennant was the one who nixed the idea, though this was probably for the best, as the episode would have been a nightmare to attempt from a legal standpoint. It's still a shame, though, as it would have made for an epic episode of Doctor Who.
---
Can you think of any other interesting episodes ofTV shows that were cut? Let us know in the comments!