Pilot.
There was a girl on my university course (which focuses on screen/scriptwriting and journalism) who wanted to write a series pilot for some competition or other.

She asked us ' So what should I write about?' and when we answered 'Well...anything' She said 'Oh, but, it's got to be about pilots right?'

I told her that, yes, it could potentially be about pilots, and planes and airports, but it really didn't have to be.

'So why's it called a pilot then?'
Ugh. Should have just let her get on with it.
(Lalalalou, Fri 19 Mar 2010, 12:13, 3 replies)

Please enlighten us,
why IS it called a pilot?
(The Boy Monders I have ginger bits in my beard., Fri 19 Mar 2010, 13:35, closed)

Well,
Pilot is one of those words with lots of meanings.
So you also get 'pilot lights' (little teensy lights that were used to ignite other things) and other things like that. It just means 'a little/practice thing'

I'd have liked it better if there was some story about how a famous pilot made lots of tv shows or series but they were all crap so they never got made.
(Lalalalou, Fri 19 Mar 2010, 14:13, closed)

Pilot
For a long time, the pilot was someone who worked in a harbour who'd come onto your ship and steer it safely to moorings within the docks. He'd know the waters a lot better than your helmsman would, in the days before detailed marine charts, anyway. He leads your ship, but isn't part of the crew.

For bigger ships he (it usually was a he) might be on a tugboat towing you, rather than on your ship. He literally leads your ship into port. This sense of "pilot" is why pilot whales are so called - they swim in front of ships at sea and look like they are leading them somewhere or other.

So a pilot for a TV show is something that leads the series itself, temporally-speaking (i.e. it comes before the main series), but is not part of it, and may not ever really come to anything.

From that sense, I've now heard pilot used in IT circles to refer to a prelaunch trial that may or may not lead to a later roll-out.

Isn't the English language brilliant?
( shinyshinyscalp less a man, more a way of life, Mon 22 Mar 2010, 18:21, closed)