Pilot Wings/Buy the DVD: L.A. Confidential (1999)

 A while ago, I found a cheap copy of a great Film on Blu-Ray.  You can probably guess which one it was.

One of the reasons that intrigued me about it- besides the Movie being great- is that it had the TV Pilot for the Show on it.

There was a TV Pilot?!?
How did I not hear about this?

Oh, nobody bought it...and it was only first available on the Blu-Ray in 2003.
That makes sense.

Let's see what we missed out on with...

So you remember the Film right?

If you were in charge of picking up the Pilot or not, you'd better- it was only 2 years earlier!

*I apologize in advance for no Screen Caps.  It's only on my Blu-Ray and I can't Screen Cap from it ATM*

A Cop- Kiefer Sutherland- is involved in a Drug Sting Operation and accidentally shoots an innocent man, making him end up doing any job he can to repay the family in secret.

Who shot him?  Well, that mystery isn't addressed in the Pilot, so...

This hour long- with the commercials included- Pilot sets up alot of Story for you to follow...

A strict Cop comes in and wants to clean things up.
A Tabloid sleaze is investigating everything around him.

Kiefer is back on the case of investigating Chinese Heroin coming into L.A.

A would-be Actress- Melissa George- shows up and gets involved with some people.

In a curious bit of ironic Casting (in hindsight), Kiefer gets info from a young Actress who's hooked on the new Heroin that he's trying to track down the source of.

That Actress- Anna Gunn.

So, in 1999, she's a lady hooked on drugs, while in 2008 she's a Wife trying (eventually) to stop her Husband from creating/dealing drugs.

We also get the Hero Cop story from the Film- to be fair, they are both adapting the Book- and it sadly doesn't get too far in this format.

He meets Melissa after his big moment and...no more story after that.

We also set up the Villain of the Show in the form of Eric Roberts in a tense meeting between him and Kiefer.

Of course, again, no pick-up for said Pilot, so enjoy this tease of something you'll never see.

A woman's body is found with the Heroin on her and 'To Be Continued.'
Awkward.

This, oddly enough, gets a bad rap from many people.  Some say that it is just a rehash of the Film.

I mean, again, they are both based on a Book.  So, you're either damned if you go too far from the Book or you're damned if you stick to the Book.  Dealer's Choice, I guess.

That said, I'm not going to entirely dismiss the point.  If you adapt a Film into a Show, people want something more than just the same thing in long form. 
The Handmaid's Tale- as depressing as it was- expanded alot more of the Story than in the 90-minute Film.  That's a good example.  That's especially true as I watched Season 1 of the Show before seeing the Film- the opposite of this.

I can see the complaints to some degree with Officer Exley, as he has to start the same way as in the Film.  With no more than the Pilot, of course, his whole Arc- and a Subplot involving Marilyn Monroe- can't go too far.  

That's kind of my only *real* complaint here- they don't do a single Episode Story.  I get setting up the long-term stuff- that's fine.

They just needed one Story to resolve here to give a little bit of closure and then just tease- to I guess the Studio Executives- with more to come.

Without that, you get an hour of good story and setup for...nothing.

At least they tried again 20 years later and... nope, not picked up again!

Like I said, it's a good Pilot that sadly has no closure in any regard.  I still recommend getting the Film- and this Pilot by default- on Blu-Ray, since, you know, both are quite good.