"It's been eight years since 9/11 and we've moved on. But this pilot brings back the most painful memories few viewers could manage to watch week after week."

That's the problem, isn't it? I think this could have been a really good series in and of itself. If it stirred up some memories, even better. Why should we gloss over those memories and move on when the issues of 9/11 are still very important today. The only thing we get from moving on in such a way is that we don't learn from those memories. After 9/11, everyone said "We will never forget" The problem is that people are already starting to. Or at the very least, they're starting to lose the sting of that day. That's both wrong and dangerous.

Interesting premises.

Maybe Syfy can see about green-lighting some of them into movies or mini-series?

These look more promising than the Ogre's, Griffins and other genres that fared poorly.

Drew I agree and I would have watched this each week

I really wish the show with Skeet Ulrich would have made it. I very much enjoyed his work on the ill fated JERICHO. Hey, does anybody happen to know if rumors of a JERICO motion picture are true?

Thanks muchly!

P.S. CAPTCHA STINKS!!!!!!

Where do you get this info, SciFiWire? Just curious, because I would LOVE to see synopses of ALL the pilots that fail to get picked up! (I'm a TV nerd like that.)

Ooh, I don't know. I might have watched No Heroics a few times and maybe the Star Trek knockoff, but none of these shows really hook me just from their premise. The 9/11 show does sound like it would be awful tough to watch, and it sounds similar to the 4400.

I think out of all these shows, from what it sounds, Boldly Going Nowhere appeared to hold the greatest promise, although it sounded like an American knock-off of Red Dwarf.

Of the four listed here, "Back" sounded the most promising. Exploring what happened and where he went over 8 years could make some good TV.

"Boldly Going Nowhere" also sounds amusing, but I think that the premise would get old quick and they'd have a hard time keeping it interesting.

Great post. I had never heard of "Back," but it sounds great. Sort of like 4400 but with an edge to it. I think audiences are definitely ready for a show like this - tragic that CBS didn't.

"Or at the very least, they're starting to lose the sting of that day. That's both wrong and dangerous."

No, Drew, it's healthy. It's what happens when you deal with grief and shock. Staying at a heightened level of emotion for eight years is unhealthy.

Having said that, "Back" sounds awfully depressing. I like the time-travel twist, and the mystery behind it, but it has the slight tinge of standard television drama, which I don't care for. Ditch the family and kids angle and I might have tuned in.

"Back" could've utilized a fictional (and less severe) disaster, ie: tornado, flood, building fire; etc.

Love the idea behind "Back," especially the chance to see a Jericho alum in another sci-fi-ish drama. Maybe as a mini-series or film it would have worked. I have to agree, it does sound like it would have been cringing to see this show weekly delving into 9/11 and the heartbreak it causes for the characters in the show. Interesting, yes; depressing, well, it just sounds like it.

There is learning to deal with traumatic events. There is moving forward with our lives. There is coping and healing. However, none of that involves what I've been seeing a lot of lately, which is glossing over or trying to forget. Absorbing the information and making ourselves better for it as we move on is progress, trying to live as though it never happened is not.

The terrorists that attacked us on 9/11 are still out there. They still want us dead. It is still a very real thing that we are going through. When someone is actively trying to do harm to you, sometimes it's not the healthiest thing in the world to just move back to life as normal.

The emotions tied to 9/11 are not some distant memory that we should try our best to move on from. 9/11 drives a good chunk of who we are today. Healing doesn't involve repressing the sad thoughts.

I'm not talking about heightened emotions. Nobody is going to be watching this series on TV with the same daze that we had on 9/11. But normal emotions are still there. Sadness. Anger. Loss. These are not unhealthy feelings.
Using such a huge event in our history isn't in and of itself a bad thing. Focusing on a family who was touched by that huge event and using science fiction/ fantasy to give a victim a way of interacting with their families after that event is not in and of itself a bad idea. If it were to be presented in a disrespectful or insulting way, that would be another story.

"Back" sounds like it would have been a great show.

I disagree with your assessment about 9/11. It's over. Most of us were not traumatized permanently by 9/11 any more so than survivors of WW2 or Vietnam or the Civil Rights Era. Films about great tragedies were created right after they occurred.

Fox's "24" has taken 9/11 and commercialized it.
The extremely corrupt Rudy Giuliano made a mockery of it with his sickening use of 9/11 as his fallback throughout his pathetic campaign for president. Thank God, we don't have a President Rudy to compare the Great Recession to 9/11 or H1N1 to 9/11 or this or that.

Probably the worst recent example of making a commercial film from a great tragedy was that film about survivors of the Tsumani that killed 1000s. The film focused on the deaths of Westerners and their lost lives, with no coverage of the suffering of the brown folks who died in massive numbers.

Moreover, if the pilot worked so successfully, why not just retool it and take the focus off 9/11? Have Ulrich's character have supposedly died in airplane crash, etc.

If the latest season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is an indication, Boldly Going Nowhere would have been awful.

I hope this season of Sunny is only as painfully unfunny as it is because they were busy with BGN, and that things are back on track next year.

I wish they would release failed pilots on DVD

I have to agree with Rick on this one, if the 9/11 plot was a problem for getting it on the air, why not just rewrite the series and have him supposedly die some other way?

Also in regards to 9/11 itself, between two made for TV movies, a theatrical movie, and various New York centered television shows from NYPD Blue to Rescue Me, it seems to me the subject matter has been covered pretty well already by Hollywood without being offensive or over the top, and in no way have the events been glossed over or forgotten by anyone. "Back" would have been no different.

Boldly Going Nowhere = Quark
No Heroics = Mystery Men

I would have watched Back and the premise sounds similar to Flash Forward which is very popular right now. I hope CBS picks it up for a mid-season replacement. If it is done with tact and care, it can be cathartic for some people. What is more atrocious ... the premise for this show, or all the useless 'Reality' crap that has people selling their souls, swapping their wives, pimping out their kids on tv for $$$$$ ? People should be complaining far more about that then a fictional show. Anyone who spends 10 minutes watching reality crap tv has no right to complain about a fictional show. Just don't tune in if it upsets you....that is why I will NEVER watch Jon & Kate Plus Eight or any show that prostitutes out kids to make $$$$. Appalling. Only in the U.S.

I can't wait for Gatestar to come out. It is a mix between Star Trek and Star Gate. It is about how our solar system gets trapped into a worm hole and finds itself in another galaxy. Eons later, we set up star gates in which our solar system must enter to find its way back (it is the future where we have the techno to move our solar system). Each time our solar system arrives through a gate, Earth's inhabitants (primarily) have to do battle with aliens that try to keep them from making the next jump. Think of Doctor Who's Journey's End when the Doctor moved Earth through space, except, this time, our whole solar system will move through space and star gates! Think of the complications too! Pluto might get left behind, so they have to go back for it, and reconnect it to the solar system! Great series if it is ever made!

P.S. For those of you wanting to know how this fictional show ends, I'll tell you how. When the solar system finally makes it back, we find out that another solar system full of life has taken its place. The solar system must move on to find a new home, and must wait for another set of gates to be built.

I forgot about the disclaimer. I made Gatestar up. It is not an actual planned series.

EASTWICK AND DOLLHOUSE SCIENCE FICTION?!?!?!?!!? No wonder you fools can't get things right! You don't even know what the definition of SCIENCE FICTION is!!

When I read the synopsis for "Back," I immediately thought of "Life on Mars." It's pretty much the same thing, only he goes forward in time instead of backward.

The reason Till Death is still on the air isn't because Fox is stupid, or thinks there is actually an audience for it, it's a contractual obligation to Sony who wants 100 episodes to sell into syndication. As soon as they have their 100 episodes, expect this show to be canceled abruptly.

Any chance SCI-FI could just show the more SF ones. We used to get to see unsold pilots as summer filler on network TV.

A friend of mine was in a unsold Henson project which made the pilot appointment television.

I wonder if any of these unsold pilots will get a second look now that the dead wood is falling off the networks' schedules? I think it would be a shame at least not to air the pilot of Back and see how the numbers come in. I know a lot of former Jericho viewers, myself included, would tune in just to support Skeet, and if the show is as good as you say, it might just garner an audience.

One of the definitions of 'science fiction' offered by Wikipedia is

"Stories that involve discovery or application of new scientific principles."

Dollhouse not science fiction? I beg to differ.

I have followed No Heroics since it was shot and was really hoping for the pick up. I'm a fan of the guy playing Nigel and know he would have killed as Brainstorm. Any chance you can throw Tom Riley fans a bone and give us at least a sceencap with him in it?

Is there any way we'd ever get to see these pilots?

I have seen the entire UK version of No Heroics.

I enjoyed the Brit version, but it wasn't great

It could never been done on US TV short of pay cable. The first episode has a superhero groupie who asks the Hotness (a flame thrower) to ejaculate on her (you can see where that goes) and co dependent Amazon, "She Force". and retired Spanish precog gay assassin "Mindbomb"

I've seen a couple of episodes of No Heroics and it didn't really grow on me enough to keep watching, but the premise was fun and I would have tuned in for the U.S. version. to see where they went with it.

Not sure how I feel about the 9/11 theme in Back, but would happily watch Skeet & Sherry in anything, any day of the week.

Whoever said Dollhouse wasn't science fiction... Dollhouse is one of the few shows still on the air that actually bother to intelligently explore the premise they had set up. The rest of what passes for genre television these days - Fringe, Lost, FlashForward, Heroes, Stargate Universe - either can't be bothered to reveal the premise or can't decide how to use it or is just plain ineffective in building a decent world and compelling characters around it.

The networks should show these pilots on there own websites or to go as far as show all the pilots before they make a decision on what they are going to go with. It just goes to show you how out of touch some of the network exc. are. with the age of computer now what wrong with showing them to the public now after they made their decision. Alot of work goes into making them I am sure the producers want people to see them, hell put up a website just to show pilots, I would love to pilots from years ago too.

Why does Fox even bother with science fiction? They always treat it (and their viewers) like crap!

"One of the finest pieces of drama we've seen in a long time, from the amazing script to the beautiful direction to the wonderful acting" - but the network muckity-mucks decide the audience can't handle it.

This underestimating the viewers has been rampant for decades and is typical of why the industry is in the sorry shape it is.

Why cant the Sysy channel pick up some Science Fiction? Oh, I forgot, they are out of the business.