Inside O.U.T. (1971) was one of three comedy pilots that NBC ran in prime time as a 90-minute special on March 22, 1971, each of which had some association with
I Dream of Jeannie (1965) which ended its run on the network the preceding season. In this one,
Bill Daily (who had played "Jeannie's" Major Roger Healy) is teamed with
Farrah Fawcett who had appeared with him in two "Jeannie" episodes (
See You in C-U-B-A (1969) and
My Sister, the Home Wrecker (1969)); Perhaps it was for the best that this pilot didn't sell, as both stars went on to more memorable series roles: Daily as Howard Borden on
The Bob Newhart Show (1972), and Fawcett as Jill Munroe on
Charlie's Angels (1976). Another of the pilots, also unsold, was
Is There a Doctor in the House (1971) which was helmed by "Jeannie" director
E.W. Swackhamer and shot by the original "Jeannie" cinematographer
Fred Jackman Jr., and starred
William Windom,
Rosemary Forsyth and
Margaret Hamilton. The third pilot was the only one that secured a short run starting the following September, for half a season, but did have a long enough success to make the cover of TV Guide:
The Good Life (1971) came from "Jeannie" producer (as well as its most prolific director)
Claudio Guzmán, and starred Major Nelson himself,
Larry Hagman, and
Donna Mills. Hagman would of course go on to become J.R. Ewing on
Dallas (1978), with Mills starring in its spin-off
Knots Landing (1979) as Abby Cunningham (later Ewing and afterward Sumner), and Hagman would make a few appearances on that show working again with Mills, usually in cahoots against the other characters. "The Good Life" would also star
Hermione Baddeley,
Danny Goldman and
David Wayne (the last of whom would also later work with Hagman on "Dallas" as Willard "Digger" Barnes), and the entire "Good Life" cast did come together to promote the show on
The Virginia Graham Show (1970) (
Episode dated 6 December 1971 (1971)) before its cancellation. One other interesting association: The latter two pilots both were done by the art director of the entire "Jeannie" series,
Ross Bellah, including his having done the classic "Jeannie" episode
The Solid Gold Jeannie (1970), which likely got its title from an earlier film Mr. Bellah had also shot,
The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956). Still, with the three pilots advertised as though they were a single show, many "Jeannie" fans were disappointed not to see Major Nelson and Major Healy actually working together again.
