These successful shows that almost never came to light

Did you know that no TV channel initially wanted Desperate Housewives? Or that the Covid-19 pandemic almost prevented the series Ici tout commence from seeing the light of day? And that's not all…

1. " Buffy " was a flop at the cinema before being adapted into a series

Before being a series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a film. We are in 1992 when Buffy, the vampire slayer, is released, a feature film with a screenplay by Joss Whedon and featuring Kristy Swanson in the role of the heroine. But the film was a commercial and critical failure.

So Buffy's story could have ended there. It was without counting on Gail Berman, producer, who saw in the script of the film a certain potential for a TV series. She then contacted Joss Whedon and together they discovered that they had similar ideas for the project.

Little by little, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series took shape. It was first offered to American television channels Fox and NBC, which both declined the offer. And it was finally on the WB, a small channel created in 1995, that one of the most cult series in history landed in 1997.

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer series is available in full on Amazon Prime Video, Salto, and Star on Disney+.

2. No TV channel wanted " Desperate Housewives "

It may seem surprising, considering the international success of Desperate Housewives, but initially, no American TV channel was interested in Marc Cherry's series. Interviewed by Variety magazine in June 2019, actress Eva Longoria confided in the difficulties of Desperate Housewives to see the light of day.

"ABC was in last position, and all the other networks had rejected Desperate Housewives, says the interpreter of Gabrielle Solis. ABC said to itself, 'what do we have to lose?' "If many cult series flop at their launch, this was not the case with Desperate Housewives, which was an immediate success.

The Desperate Housewives series is available in full on Salto and in Star on Disney+.

3. Channel bosses criticized "Stranger Things" for featuring children

Launched in July 2016 on Netflix, Stranger Things quickly became one of the most popular series on the streaming platform. Its success can be explained, among other things, by its star quartet made up of children. And yet, it is this same criterion that cooled the television channels when the project was proposed to them.

During an interview for the American magazine Rolling Stone in August 2016, Matt and Ross Duffer, the creators of Stranger Things, say that the series was rejected "between 15 and 20 times" by various channels before arriving on Netflix. Several executives did not like the idea that the plot featured four children without being a series of children.

"Either you make it a children's series, or you make it a series about Hopper who investigates paranormal activity around town," a channel boss reportedly told them. In the end, the creators of Stranger Things kept their original idea and it worked, even though they were accused of plagiarism.

Stranger Things is streaming on Netflix.

4. The surreal anecdote behind the creation of "A Nanny from Hell"

The life of Fran Drescher, co-creator and main actress of A Nanny from Hell, changed during a trip by plane. Indeed, it was during a transatlantic flight that the young woman met the president of the American channel CBS. Fran Drescher found herself sitting next to him, in first class, she who had obtained a last-minute upgrade.

" I started talking to him and he listened to me carefully, because he had nowhere to go, except perhaps in economy class," says Fran Drescher in an interview for Studio 10 in June 2017. Nine and a half hour flight later, the CBS boss was convinced. " I didn't have the idea (for Une Nanny d'enfer, N.D.L.R) on the plane, but I immediately called Peter Marc Jacobson and then I went on vacation. »

And it was precisely during her holidays in the south of France that Fran Drescher, who spent a lot of time with the daughter of a friend of hers, had the idea for the series Une Nanny d'enfer . The rest, you know it. And if you miss the adventures of Fran Fine, here are ten series to watch urgently.

The Nanny series is available in full on Salto and on Amazon Prime Video.

5. "Here it all begins" almost did not see the light of day because of the health crisis

It is not uncommon for successful series to give birth to derivative series, also called spin-offs. This is the case of Tomorrow belongs to us which, on the strength of its success since its launch in July 2017 on TF1, has seen its universe expand with the arrival of Here it all begins on November 2, 2020. Now an appointment flagship of the channel, the series almost never aired.

Launched in the first quarter of 2019, the Here it all begins project was on the brink of being stopped due to the health crisis linked to Covid-19. "We hesitated to cancel it given the economic situation. Finally, not only are we maintaining it, but we are also going to speed it up by putting it on the air this fall when it was scheduled for January 2021," said Ara Aprikian, general manager in charge of content for the TF1 group, in the pages of Figaro in June 2020.

And to add: "We wanted to maintain this soap opera despite the health crisis, both to send a strong signal to professionals and the public. »

The series Here it all begins is broadcast Monday to Friday at 6:35 p.m. on TF1.

6. The cult series " Breaking Bad " was on the verge of not existing

The Breaking Bad series left its mark on the history of television. She even gave ideas to some, like these two chemistry teachers who were arrested for producing "meth". However, it could not have existed if we are to believe its creator Vince Gilligan.

The latter indeed remembers that, when he presented the concept of the series to a cable channel president, he discovered the existence of a series with a more or less similar synopsis: Weeds. It tells the story of a housewife who, to supplement her income following the death of her husband, starts selling cannabis.

"It wasn't my happiest moment in the industry. All these weeks of hard work for nothing! Or at least that's what I thought," wrote Vince Gilligan in a column for the American magazine Newsweek. In the end, that didn't stop Breaking Bad from debuting on AMC in 2008, three years after Weeds debuted on Showtime.

Nevertheless, Vince Gilligan says he is "eternally grateful" that he had not been made aware of Weeds' existence earlier, in which case he would never have presented Breaking Bad to the television networks. " I would have said to myself (and I said it a lot), 'Damn, all the good ideas are already taken!' he concludes.

The Breaking Bad series is available in full on Netflix.

7. The first episode of " Friends " was poorly received before it aired

It is impossible to imagine a world in which the series Friends would not exist. Because, if certain scenes of the program have aged badly, the adventures of Rachel, Ross and the whole gang remain legendary for several generations of viewers. And yet, before its first broadcast in September 1994 on the American channel NBC, the series did not have the expected success.

Before airing, pilot episodes of sitcoms are usually tested in front of an audience to see if any edits are needed. Thus, as former vice-president of programming at NBC Preston Beckman reminds Vanity Fair, " the Friends pilot was not very well received ".

The series was deemed " not entertaining, intelligent or original enough ", which could have buried it before it even aired. Fortunately, the channel and especially the creators of Friends continued to believe in it. And thus one of the most cult programs in the history of television was born.

The Friends series is available in full on Netflix.