In 1988, "Driving Miss Daisy" was a huge hit on Broadway...so much so that it was made into a top film the following year. Oddly, the networks considered making a weekly series out of it...three years later. I am not sure why there was such a gap, but after seeing this failed pilot, I can see why it failed. Imagine watching "Driving Miss Daisy"...only to have a laugh track and guffaws!! It seemed very out of place and it never was originally a comedy....and after seeing the pilot, it was a comedy in name only. The show just wasn't written as a comedy...yet they stuck a laugh track on it!!
It's really a shame, as Robert Guillaume, Joan Plowright and Saul Rubinek are ALL talented folks and played their parts well. Sure, it wasn't Morgan Freeman, Jessica Tandy nor Dan Aykroyd...but the three TV pilot actors were most accomplished and up to the task...providing the writing and laugh track were reconsidered.
It's really a shame, as Robert Guillaume, Joan Plowright and Saul Rubinek are ALL talented folks and played their parts well. Sure, it wasn't Morgan Freeman, Jessica Tandy nor Dan Aykroyd...but the three TV pilot actors were most accomplished and up to the task...providing the writing and laugh track were reconsidered.