Western-themed sitcoms do not have long shelf lives. There was a 1980’s sitcom, Best of the West, that came and went without a trace. And the satirical The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. was fun to watch … for the one season it actually existed.
That being said, I’m bringing you two failed TV pilots that maybe deserved a chance for long television runs. Maybe.
The first is called Black Bart, and it has a WEIRD backstory. See, Black Bart and the resulting characters in the sitcom were all part of the original 1970’s classic motion picture Blazing Saddles. After the success of Blazing Saddles, Warner Bros. wanted Mel Brooks to make a sequel. Mel said no, and had his lawyers put a rider in the contract that any sequels would have to be made within six months of the original film’s initial release (a near impossibility) or a television series for the early prime time “family hour” (which, because of the profanity and vulgarity in the original movie, was also impossible).
That didn’t stop Warner Bros., however. They made a pilot with Louis Gossett Jr. replacing Cleavon Little as Sheriff Bart, and trimmed out all the barnyard humor to create a family-friendly sitcom. Then they buried the pilot until it was time to convince Mel Brooks that Warner Bros. held up their end of the contract, and that they expected a second Blazing Saddles movie.
So here’s Black Bart. You are warned.
Okay. We’re now going to 1996, and John Swartwelder, one of the greatest Simpsons episode writers, wants to put together his own pilot for a live-action TV series. He creates Pistol Pete, a show about a bumbling gunman who protects probably the dumbest town in the West.
I mean, the show was definitely ahead of its time … but I have absolutely no idea how they could have even considered 13 weeks of this. It probably would have languished in Fox’s Friday Night Death Slot and then given the Ole Yeller retirement plan.
Chuck The Writer 
Interesting – Pistol Pete mounts his horse from the right side.
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