Pilot Program

One of the most celebrated TV shows of all time (as well as one of the most divisive), Lost represented a real shift in network television. While there had certainly been serialized shows in the past, none required the careful viewing and encouraged the immense theorycrafting that Lost did during its six-season run. We explore the show's first episode (the most expensive pilot of its day) and reme...

We're moving on up for this episode of Pilot Program as we cover the classic 1975 sitcom, The Jeffersons. A spin-off of Norman Lear's seminal work of All In The Family, The Jeffersons sees George and Louise, an upwardly mobile black couple move to "a deluxe apartment in the sky" of Manhattan, and how they they react to their newfound wealth. We have a great discussion about smart casting decisions...

Pierce and Chase explore the world of Fallout on this episode of Pilot Program. And we've tapped two veterans of the wasteland to join us for this one: Bobby Pease of The Casual Hour, and Hard Drive writer Johnny Amizich. From the vaults to the Brotherhood of Steel, we talk about it all. But is this video game adaptation closer to the acclaimed Last of Us show or to the awful Doom movie? Let's fin...

We welcome our first guest to Pilot Program, our friend Steve, as we dive into a classic show from the late '90s -- Paul Feig and Judd Apatow's Freaks And Geeks. With a loaded cast and a unique approach to television production, Freaks And Geeks was ahead of its time (which is why NBC canceled it after only 12 episodes). From it's hugely influential legacy to the pilot episode's willingness to tac...

We declare a new tradition on Pilot Program - every 10 episodes is anime. So, for episode 20, we decided to watch a high profile anime neither of us had seen, 2015's One-Punch Man. Adapted from a webcomic by author One, One-Punch Man sees Saitama as the most powerful superhero in the world (and maybe beyond). But without anything to provide him a challenge, Saitama has become bored and existential...

On this episode of Pilot Program, Chase and Pierce unearth a time capsule from 2016 in the form of the first episode of Desus & Mero on Viceland (also known as Vice TV). Pre-COVID, Pre-Trump presidency, but still right in the middle of the Black Lives Matter movement, this clip show/talk show often played for laughs, even when touching on serious news topics of the day. With two young, black,...

Content Warning - In this episode, we discuss some very violent scenes and themes, including ritualistic suicide. Based on the 1975 James Clavell novel, Shogun is a piece of historical fiction, mirroring the events of Japan in the early 1600s. It's a time of transition in Japanese history, moving from the bloody Sengoku period into the Edo period, but there's a question of who will take power in t...

On this episode of Pilot Program, Pierce and Chase test out a true classic of the '80s, NBC's The A-Team. A surprise hit of the era, the show would solidify the stardom of Mr. T, spawn a number of memorable catchphrases and become a target for anti-violence media watchdogs despite its tame nature compared to today's crop of shows. But are slow-motion car crashes and one-liners enough to win over o...

On this episode of Pilot Program, we cover an excellent comedy from across the pond. Derry Girls is set in Northern Ireland during the mid-'90s, a time of conflict referred to as The Troubles. But while the setting may be bleak, creator Lisa McGee pulls out some sharp and funny dialogue for a unique coming of age story for our five young leads. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more infor...

Pilot Program is officially back from our hiatus. With the writers strike is over and our schedules aligned, Pierce and Chase can start recording our show semi-regularly again. And we return with our oldest topic program yet, 1959's seminal work of science fiction, The Twilight Zone. Listen as we talk about isolation, the space race, the pronunciation of the word "robot," and Instant Sanca. Hosted...

We're visiting The Windy City on this new episode of Pilot Program as Chase and Pierce watch the critically-acclaimed Hulu series, The Bear. Listen as Chase butchers the names of pretty much everyone, as Pierce complains about dream sequences and as we both are impressed with the level of detail in a fake arcade game. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our venture into reality television continues with another mega-popular show still airing today -- RuPaul's Drag Race. Chase and Pierce discuss how the show elevated drag culture to something more mainstream, how RuPaul has built an empire and why Pierce decided to get a Grim Reaper tattoo (unrelated to the show). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We dip our toes into the reality television waters for the first time on Pilot Program as we look at the 2005 American adaptation of Hell's Kitchen starring Gordon Ramsay. Listen in as Chase teaches you a little trick to pronouncing French words, how the original UK version of the show has a much different feel and why you can still enjoy reality TV even when you know how contrived and manufacture...

FX is a channel known today for its creative and acclaimed original programming like Atlanta, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia and Reservation Dogs. But that wasn't always the case. From 1994 to 2001, FX was mostly populated by reruns of The X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as the occasional movie. But that all changed in 2002 as, hot off the signing of the Patriot Act, FX found an o...

Pilot Program has gone full anime as Chase and Pierce watch the 1992 shōjo magical girl show, Sailor Moon. We've watched the original Japanese release, the 1995 DIC dub that made some heavy changes and the more faithful 2014 Viz Media re-dub, and we cover them all, as well as a whole host of other topics, including The Cube movies, H.W. Bush, Haruki Murakami, Scooby Doo and even Steve Urkel. Hoste...

With the news that Good Burger 2 has officially been greenlit, Chase and Pierce dip into a favorite from our childhoods - 1996's Kenan & Kel. The first spinoff from Nickelodeon's kid sketch comedy show All That, Kenan & Kel brings together two charismatic black teens with unlimited chemistry for a show that is often uneven, but always fun. Aw, here it goes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/p...

Chase and Pierce trade planes for horses on this wild west episode of Pilot Program as we watch the HBO classic Deadwood. We talk about the show's interesting time mechanics, how the conversation about it's swearing is a little overblown and how great shows don't necessarily need great pilots. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fresh off the Adult Swim classic Frisky Dingo, Adam Reed created a new show bringing in the same high-frequency, reference-laden, caustic comedy writing, but in an all new secret agent setting. What resulted was Archer, a show that would consume Reed's next 13 years (and counting) of life. Chase and Pierce take a look back at a show we both remember fondly and see if its first episode still holds...

Japan, 1980. It's an era where the fashion and culture of young people are in full bloom. And Moyuru Hono is entering his first year at the Osaka University of Arts. Blue Blazes is a 2014 Japanese live-action comedy based on the manga by Kazuhiko Shimamoto about his time at college, and the friendships and rivalries he developed on his path to becoming a mangaka. Despite being live action, Blue Bl...

In 1990, Keenen Ivory Wayans brought a new style of black-led comedy (and a young Jim Carrey) to broadcast television in the form of In Living Color, a variety show in the format of Saturday Night Live, but with a tone uniquely its own. Chase and Pierce talk about the absolute fire crowd in this pilot episode, why Fly Girls are way better than musical guests and how shows like this always seem to...

Following a popular 1968 book and 1970 movie, 1972's M*A*S*H is a cornerstone of the TV sitcom. Each of its 253 episodes were watched by tens of millions of people, but we're only here to talk about its first episode. Hear hosts Chase and Pierce explore what made M*A*S*H such a popular show and why its characters are so well remembered. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1993's Monday Night Raw, was not the beginning of pro wrestling, far from it. But it was the first episode in a seminal show that would forever change the industry, a show that today has run for over 1500 episodes and counting. Listen in as Chase gives Pierce a crash course in what Raw is, who some of these larger than life personalities are and recounts the sometimes tragic stories of where many...

For our second episode, Chase and Pierce decided to watch the pilot of a show we hadn't seen before, but had been highly recommended to us by multiple friends: Amazon Prime Video's The Boys. Will the subversive superhero show charm us, or are we too super fatigued by costumed crime fighters of all stripes? And what is the point of a pilot in an age of binge-watching? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com...

Welcome to the first episode of Pilot Program, a podcast where Chase Koeneke and Pierce Courchaine watch the first episodes of every TV show ever made (eventually...probably). For our debut episode, we've selected one of our favorite shows, Seinfeld, which ran from 1989 to 1998. While the "show about nothing" went on to become one of the most successful and popular programs of all time, it's pilot...