DeTour (found unaired TV pilot based on Weezer frontman; 2015)
Promotinal image for DeTour featuring Ben Aldridge.
Status: Found
Date found: 25 Jun 2023
Found by: Media Garage
DeTour is a 2015 TV pilot created by Psych creator, Steve Franks, that was loosely based on Rivers Cuomo's time taking a break from Weezer to return to college. Despite Fox ordering a pilot and it being filmed it was never aired and released.
Background
In 2004, during the turbulent development of Weezer's fifth studio album, Make Believe, the band's frontman, Rivers Cuomo, started to feel isolated by the rock star lifestyle so he decided to sell most of his positions and finally graduate from Harvard, living like an average college student. Years later after the hit show Psych had ended its run the show's creator, Steve Franks, decided to team up with Cuomo and make a comedy show based around this time in his life as well as other aspects of it. In addition to being executive producer Franks would also write the pilot. The series was picked up by Fox for a put pilot commitment,[1] which means they will fund the pilot as well air it instead of ordering a full first season. After the pilot was filmed however, Fox decided they'd much rather not air it and pay the fine for doing so than go through with their commitment.[2]
Cast & Characters
- Ben Aldridge as Michael Sturges:[3] A 32-year-old, charming, funny, and perpetually optimistic Rockstar who is the frontman of the band Crimson Dukes who lost his creative edge and hopes going back to college can fix that.[4] Michael's band was originally named Modern Dukes after the Weezer song of the same name but was changed due to a copyright dispute.[5]
- Peter Gallagher as Professor August Zaring:[3] Tate University's most respected and feared teacher whose also the author of the book "The Balance of Language" which Michael is a big fan of and why he chose the collage specifically.[4]
- Olivia Thirlby as Gabrielle De La Cruz:[3] Professor Zaring's overworked no-nonsense attractive teacher assistant who catches the eye of Michael.[4]
- Michael Reep as Jonah: An average jock who threatens Michael after he mistakes Jonah's bike for his.[4]
- Affion Crockett as Dominic: Crimson Duke's 32-year-old, African-American, serious, and perpetually panicked manger.[4]
- Alice Lee as Annika Plum: Michael's East Asian, 19-year-old, Resident Assistant whose a sunny but driven ball of energy.[4]
- Joey Morgan as Walter: A sweet-natured, brilliant, and not bad-looking genius.[4]
- Rivers Cuomo as Professor Kitts:[5] While nothing is known about the character their name is a reference to Rivers' brief name change to Peter Kitts when he was in high school.
Availability
While no party involved has ever released the unaired pilot its script can be readily found online and gives a good idea of what the filmed pilot could have been like.
On June 25th, 2023, YouTuber Media Garage acquired a DVD from Fox and shared the full pilot onto YouTube.
Gallery
References
- ↑ Psych’ Creator Steve Franks Teaming With Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo for Fox Comedy by Lesley Goldberg from The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 Jan '23.
- ↑ Fox Axes Rivers Cuomo’s TV Show ‘DeTour’: Pros & Cons of Its Abandoned Pilot by Joe Lynch from Billboard. Retrieved 23 Jan '23.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo confirms comedy loosely based on his life will not make it to TV by David Renshaw for NME. Retrieved 23 Jan '23.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 DeTour "Pilot" script. Retrieved 23 Jan '23.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 DeTour article on Riverpedia. Retrieved 23 Jan '23.