Dirty Sexy Blog: Original "Dirty Sexy" Pilot

ABC has scheduled rerun of the "Dirty Sexy Money" pilot for December 12. Have you ever wondered what the original pilot of the show looked like? Although I have never seen it, I was able to collect some information about it, so here's what I know.

As I have mentioned in an earlier the pilot was shot in the second half of March at the Institute of Fine Arts in New York, the former James B. Duke House in Manhattan. "Dirty Sexy Money" is now filmed on sets built for the series in Los Angeles, so some of the scenes in the pilot had to be reshot.

The pilots are usually shot on location because the networks decide whether to pick up the pilot to series and invest into building of sets only after they see the finished pilot. Once the production begins, it is of course cheaper to build sets and film there, than to rent an expensive location.

Some of the scenes shot in or around this building remained in the aired pilot: the one where little Brian tells little Nick he hates him; the one where Nick attacks Brian and pulls his ear; or perhaps the one where the Darlings are gathered around an unconscious Juliet who tried to commit suicide.

The Darling lobby and Juliet's bedroom, where these scenes take place, look much different in later episodes.

The family feud scene at the beginning of the episode in which Tish breaks a vase, the scene where Letitia comforts a sobbing Juliet and Tripp and Tish's anniversary party were reshot because the new and colorful sets oozing classic elegance combined with modern comfort looked radically different from the traditional sets of the original pilot.

The characters were also portrayed somewhat differently. In the original pilot, after she had broken a vase, Letitia walks out with vodka in her hand and says: "Sometimes you children...make...me...sick." In the new pilot she tells the children a decision (about hiring Nick) has been made and that's that.

I would assume the writers decided to portray Letitia as a more caring and in control mother than the boozy and distant socialite that she was originally. You can however still see a glimpse of that personality in the scene from the original pilot where everyone rushes to save a suicidal Juliet and Tish stays behind with vodka in her hand and says "Here we go."

I also mentioned in an earlier post there were two characters in the original pilot who ended up being entirely scrapped.

Nick had a partner in his law firm (The Unit's Las Alonzo) and there was also an editor-in-chief of a Vanity Fair-style magazine (Day Break's Victoria Pratt) who was interviewing Nick about his work with the Darlings throughout the episode and may have had an ulterior motive to write her article.

As you can see from these opening minutes of the original pilot, Nick's mother committed suicide. You also get to see the in his law firm. Speaking of which, his office looked much more spacious and expensive (the scene where Karen tells Freddy Nick deflowered her which takes place in that office however remained in the aired pilot).

I also gather Nick was a somewhat less likable character who didn't smile too much. Instead of laughing about Jeremy's phone call (asking what to do with the yacht he won in a poker game) at 1:00 a.m., in the original pilot Nick is not too happy to be woken up by Jeremy at 4:00 a.m.

The original pilot was much darker and heavier in tone with overwhelming drab colors of the old-fashioned and more traditional-looking sets. The new pilot is taking itself less seriously and it is bursting with fun, colors and energy. Or as TV Guide eloquently put it: it's "Brothers & Sisters" on crack.

Since "Dirty Sexy Money" was given a full-season pick up and will hopefully end up on DVD next year, we may get to see some of the scrapped scenes. In the meantime, if you haven't recorded the pilot episode, you can enjoy it all over again on Wednesday, December 12 in the show's regular timeslot at 10/9c.