What’s the status of Sneak Preview, an NBC summer replacement series from 1956? The series featured unsold pilot episodes and was only on the air for seven weeks. Nelson Case served as host. I’ve yet to find any trace of the pilots that made up the series. I’ve searched the UCLA Film & Television Archive, The Paley Center for Media, The Museum of Broadcast Communications, The Library of Congress, the Peabody Awards Collection, and Archival Television Audio.
I haven’t given up, though. These were filmed pilot episodes, so prints could still be floating around. Considering some of the big names involved in these pilots–like Zsa Zsa Gabor, Celeste Holm, and Ann Sheridan–there’s a good chance at least a few of the pilots still exist. “Merry-Go-Round” may be of particular interest because it was based on a 1948 short story (“The Black Ferris”) by Ray Bradbury.
Read more about Sneak Preview in my article Unsold Pilots on Television, 1956-1966.
| # | Title | Airdate | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Just Plain Folks” | 07/03/1956 | |
| With Zsa Zsa Gabor and Cy Howard. | |||
| 2 | “Merry-Go-Round” | 07/10/1956 | |
| With Barry Frohner. Written by Mel Dinelli, based on a story by Ray Bradbury. | |||
| 3 | “One Minute from Broadway” | 07/17/1956 | |
| With Brian Aherne and John Carradine. | |||
| 4 | “Real George” | 07/24/1956 | |
| With George O’Hanlon, Ray Collins. | |||
| 5 | “The Way Back” | 07/31/1956 | |
| With Pat O’Brien. | |||
| 6 | “Carolyn” | 08/07/1956 | |
| With Celeste Holm. | |||
| 7 | “Calling Terry Conway” | 08/14/1956 | |
| With Ann Sheridan. | |||
It’s possible that some or all of these pilots were later repackaged into various anthology TV shows that aired locally or regionally across the country.
Revised June 1st, 2016
