The Upside Down Show (lost unaired pilot of Noggin comedy series; 2004)
The Upside Down Show was an Australian-American live-action children's comedy series produced by Blink Films and Sesame Workshop. It ran for 13 episodes in the mid-2000's and was created by the Australian comedy duo known as "The Umbilical Brothers", Shane Dundas and David Collins, who also starred in the program as fictionalized versions of themselves. Made for the now-defunct TV channel Noggin, the show was made with the intention of appealing to both children and their parents with its surrealist humor.
Pilot Episode
In 2004, Nickelodeon and Sesame Workshop commissioned a pilot episode of the show. It was in production from December 2004 to March 2005. One month later, the pilot was first screened by Nickelodeon at the MIPTV event.[1]
It was shown again at the 2006 MIPTV screening in preparation for the main show, which debuted later in the year.[1]
Facts
For the pilot, the show's art department glued the entire living room set to the ceiling to give the appearance of an "upside down" room. By contrast, in the final series, the camera is simply turned around at various points to create the upside-down illusion.[1]
Puppet had a different design. David Collins said in 2019 that the crew all disliked Puppet's first design, thought it looked unoriginal, and were glad that it was changed.[1]
David and Shane also wore different costumes: simple T-shirts with swirl designs on them. Shane's was teal and David's was brown. They were also barefoot instead of wearing their usual sneakers.[1]
The story of the pilot episode revolved around David and Shane searching for the beach, with early versions of characters familiar to fans of the show, such as the Schmuzzies, Mrs. Foil, and the aforementioned Puppet.[1]
Later on, this story was rewritten and adapted into the main series episode entitled simply "Beach."[1]
However, it should be noted that "Movie Theater" was the first episode made after the pilot, not "Beach" (the beach episode was actually the eighth episode made).[1]
Availability
As of writing this article, there has currently been no attempt to find the pilot. It is unknown where it's location is or if the Umbilical Brothers themselves have a hold of it.
Gallery
Scene from the main series episode "Beach", which is said to have been loosely based on the
lost pilot.