I saw a couple of episodes of Freedom and I think that Lance Henriksen (you might remember him as Bishop in Aliens) was in it but he is not among the cast on IMDB. Also I think I saw an earlier pilot were Vincent Spano was the lead actor instead of Holt McCallany.
shareSounds like the unaired pilot to me.
shareLance Henriksen, yes. Vincent Spano, no. And what you saw was indeed the "first" pilot, I've seen it.
shareLance Henriksen was a recurring character while Vincent Spano must've been dropped after the original pilot I guess. Or am I getting Spano confused with someone else? Who played Holt McCallany's role before he did? The unaired pilot had basically the same story as the one that was later shown.
shareI think you're confusing Vincent Spano with someone else, because he was definitely not in "Freedom". I mean, he's old, he would have stood out.
I have no idea who played the lead in the unaired pilot, (and I'm too lazy to go check my tape) but he was a dark-haired pretty-boy who didn't look half as tough as Holt McCallany.
So I guess it was a good thing that they did a new pilot. Not that I'm exactly a huge "Freedom"-fan, but it has its moments. (Read: James Morrison) :-)
"Who is the man behind the bat? Maybe he can help me find the woman behind the cat.."
From the website, Television Obscurities about the TV-series Freedom:
"The original, unaired pilot episode for Freedom, one that starred Vincent Spano and Lance Henrikson. Midway through 2000 UPN began airing short promotional spots for Freedom. These promo spots, some were only six seconds in length, contained scenes from the original pilot episode."
I was pretty sure it was Vincent Spano when I first saw the unaired pilot but because nothing was listed about it I couldn't be sure but I guess that this settles it until I can find something that would point out the contrary.
So Vincent Spano did actually play in the unaired pilot according to this.
"The character of Owen Decker (played by Holt McCallany), was absent from the original pilot. Instead, a similar character by the name of Colonel Cally Beach was portrayed by actor Vincent Spano. Also missing was Georg Stanford Brown and his character of General Walker Young. Lance Henrikson played a Mister Young, who fulfilled the same role as General Walker Young, more or less."
Interesting how Spano played a similar leading role but not the exact same character to the one that Holt McCallany would later play throughout the rest of the series. (I never watched more than a few episodes.)
"According to Hans Tobeason, the creator of Freedom UPN executives were not happy with the name Cally Beach and they did not believe that Vincent Spano could pull in the coveted young demographic. So the role was recast."
That last bit kind of supported your perception of Spano as being too old.
"Why was it decided that Holt McCallany would play the lead, Owen Decker, instead of Vincent Spano as Cally Beach?
Hans: This was a case of the classic network request - "We LOVE the show, but don't think that Vince plays young enough for our audience." Then they decided that they didn't like the name "Cally Beach". Then they decided they didn't really like the whole damn script. So we recast, and I rewrote."
Wow, chapter and verse! Maybe it's me who's confusing Vincent Spano with someone else. This is intriguing, I have to go re-watch the original pilot. I still say it isn't Vincent Spano, maybe there's two of them? (Heaven forbid...)
"Who is the man behind the bat? Maybe he can help me find the woman behind the cat.."
"I still say it isn't Vincent Spano, maybe there's two of them?"
Good one!
I think you might actually convince yourself of that sooner or later so keep trying.
It just caught my eye, that's all, the first time I saw Freedom and seeing the guy that played the lead and getting that feeling, "isn't that him" and then I had to find out if it was. I have no idea why, oh yeah, the unaired pilot and that they remade it without mentioning who the actor was.
It does look like him but what I am really wondering now is why would I even remember Vincent Spano? Do you know why?
Just kidding.
Was it Alive in 92?
Did you see that? A football team gets trapped in the mountains of the Andes, when their plane has crashed and they have to eat the bodies of their dead friends to survive.
Tasty!
Or did you ever see The Simpsons and the episode when Marge has a fear of air-travel and Homer rents the film mentioned above?
First we hear them shout "we are ALIVE!" from the TV and then they're munching away whispering, "pass another piece of co-pilot".
Its starting to get weird, I think I would rather forget about him.
Let's say he never existed, 'kay?
Deal!
"Who is the man behind the bat? Maybe he can help me find the woman behind the cat.."
You know what?
I really shouldn't throw my opinion around when I don't know what the hell I'm talking about. You were absolutely right, and I was confusing Vincent Spano with Joe Spano. Sorry, my bad.
But hey, I got to wath the first pilot again. And I can understand why they did a second one...
"Who is the man behind the bat? Maybe he can help me find the woman behind the cat.."
I guess this might be like a conversation so I'll respond to it in that way, if that's okay (but if it's not then sorry).
"I really shouldn't throw my opinion around when I don't know what the hell I'm talking about."
No problemo! I think you can trow it around because this is an internet board and sometimes it is refered to as a trash-can (not that you're the one talking... ehm, writing trash) and anyone can pretty much write whatever they want.
You could've been right and I could have been wrong but I found that article which settled it and that was all I wanted to find out.
"You were absolutely right, and I was confusing Vincent Spano with Joe Spano."
I didn't recall who Joe Spano was but I checked his page and he does look familiar and if you thought I was asking if that Spano played the lead in the unaired pilot it makes sense that you called him too old.
"But hey, I got to wath the first pilot again. And I can understand why they did a second one..."
Was it that obvious?
I do recall that it was an intriguing idea and had some entertaining set-pieces but the lead (he who shall not be mentioned again) looked sulky and I think they ditched the matrix-like wire-fights in the later episodes, am I right?
Oh yes, who could forget the matrix-fights... Terrible.
No, they didn't ditch them. It became more subtle in the later episodes, but it was still pretty obvious that the actors weren't jumping like that on their own.
I do think the first pilot has an intriguing concept, but it's a bit flat. And, like I said, Holt McCallany was twice as tough as the first guy (whose name shall not be mentioned):-)
"Who is the man behind the bat? Maybe he can help me find the woman behind the cat.."
So beyond the pilot there was no more Lance Henriksen (Millenium's Frank Black) playing golf?
They supposedly couldn't afford him throughout the rest of the series.
When they've escaped from jail, they go to the nearest golfrange for their big brifieng.
Nope, no more Lance Henriksen. (Thank God...)
As much as I like "Millennium", him being in the pilot was just weird. He wasn't even in the second pilot, they must've run out of money really fast.
"Who is the man behind the bat? Maybe he can help me find the woman behind the cat.."