The Pilot Show

Country: United Kingdom
Elsewhere: IMDb

The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this series is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

It is a comedy series that tricks celebrities and regular people into thinking they are auditioning for real TV shows. The hidden joke is that the shows are fake, and the participants are the punchline.

comedicmischievouslightheartedwryplayfulsatiricalsurprisingirreverent

What happens

The Pilot Show is a British TV comedy show written and created by Paul Garner. Commissioned by E4 and subsequently airing on Channel 4 in 2004, the show duped celebrities and members of the public into appearing on what they believed were pilots for real TV shows. Over 30,000 British men applied to be on a new reality show called 'Lapdance Island' only to discover that it was in fact a hoax for The Pilot Show. The show featured Paul Garner, Sharon Horgan, Marc Wootton, Robin Ince, Rob Rouse and Steve Oram. It was produced by Damon Beesley and made for E4 by Ealing Studios. The Pilot Show went on to be remade for American television. VH1 in New York commissioned a 16-part series that first aired in May 2005. The show, renamed BSTV, was exec produced by Garner alongside Rob Moore from Ealing Studios and Jim Biederman for VH1. Garner and Marc Wootton were the only British cast members to feature in the U.S. remake. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.