Entertainment
Kids Today Don't Have To Put Up With Backdoor Pilots
By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
One good thing about the rise of streaming is that studios have given up on backdoor pilots. Low-episode-count streaming shows don’t leave a lot of room for a random episode about two college radio DJs, a New York hair salon, the family farm, or a time-traveler, all of which were among the many, many attempts by producers and studios to keep a franchise running. Back in the day, an episode that barely featured the main characters and followed a side character, or even entirely new characters, meant that someone was testing the waters to see how the new series would work with existing fans. Sometimes it failed; The Nanny’s hair salon is an infamous example, and sometimes it worked, such as a little show called NCIS coming out of JAG.
Backdoor Pilots In Space
One of the most notable early examples of a backdoor pilot comes from Star Trek: The Original Series and the time-traveling alien, Gary Seven. Played by Robert Lansing, the time-traveling Gary Seven went back to 1968 in order to prevent World War III, but he runs into the crew of the Enterprise, who happened to go back in time to conduct research. It was a repurposed pilot, intended to become a series if Star Trek: The Original Series was canceled after its second season, which explains why Kirk and Spock play second fiddle to Gary Seven and Roberta (Terri Garr’s first major TV role).
Star Trek: The Original Series isn’t the only show with a backdoor pilot that was intended to take the place of a fan favorite show. Highlander’s final season is filled with female Immortals being tested to see which one the audience would gravitate towards, eventually ending in the short-lived Highlander: Raven, featuring the character Amanda. Supernatural introduced the Wayward Sisters in Season 13, an obvious attempt to recreate the magic of Sam and Dean with sisters this time, and in retrospect, a huge missed opportunity. Imagine if the Duffer brothers decided to spin off Stranger Things following the Season 2 introduction of Kali? That’s the closest kids today will get to experiencing what executives used to do to highly successful genre shows all the time.
Audiences Hate Backdoor Pilots
It was always jarring as a viewer when all of a sudden, a brand new location and a brand new cast turned out to be the focus of an episode. That was the case when Married with Children aired “Radio Free Trumaine” as part of Season 9. There’s no Al, no Peg, and the entire episode focuses on a pair of college radio DJs, Mark (Andrew Kavovolt) and Oliver (Eric Dane), who go up against the college’s new Dean of Students, the Bundy’s neighbor Steve Rhoades (David Garrison). Bud gets involved when his attempt to win over April (Keri Russell) gets recorded and played on air, but that’s it for the regular cast. It’s one of the most blatant backdoor pilots in history, and as with so many of them, it led nowhere.
Looking back, a college sitcom starring Eric Dane and Keri Russell should have been a hit. Fan reaction to the episode was immediate and visceral. In 1995, fans on the internet raging against a show was brand new. Once America Online lit up, producers pulled the plug on plans for a spin-off. “Radio Free Trumaine” is still one of the most blatant backdoor pilots in history. Over a decade later, another sitcom tried the same thing, and the reception may have been better, but the result was the same.
Keeping A Show Going Past The Expiration Date
Rainn Wilson’s Dwight Schrute was one of the breakout characters from The Office. Everyone’s worked with a Dwight. The Assistant to the Regional Manager could have been an annoying foil, the show’s version of Gary Cole’s middle manager from Office Space, except he became beloved and the natural choice for a spin-off. Airing in 2013, the Season 9 episode “The Farm” introduced viewers to Dwight’s crazy family. They inherited his great-aunt’s farm, under the condition that they all work together to run it. It’s a premise that might as well have on-screen text in neon saying “This is a backdoor pilot.”
The Farm never happened, though NBC hemmed and hawed for so long that fans were convinced it was coming following the end of The Office. Instead, it’s one of the most recent failed backdoor pilots. Not all of them fail, and sometimes, you can argue the spin-off is better than the original.
Backdoor Pilots Didn’t Make It To Streaming
That was the case when JAG introduced Mark Harmon as Leeroy Jethro Gibbs and the team at NCIS, and again when The Vampire Diaries gave way to The Originals. The latter is an interesting case, as the family of vampire progenitors was the antagonists of Season 2, but everyone loved them, especially Joseph Morgan’s portrayal of Klaus, turning The Originals into a five-season hit on its own. It was so successful that it spun off Legacies, which also ran for four seasons. Not bad for a vampire teen drama.
Prior generations were used to the backdoor pilot. By the time a show started to approach Season 7, it was expected that there was going to be an attempt at a spin-off. Today, most shows don’t go past five seasons, and even then, they’re lucky to get that far. The Rookie, FBI, Fire Country, all of those are the last ones holding out on the concept of backdoor pilots, but let’s be honest, the generation watching those is the same that had to live through “Radio Free Trumaine.”
Entertainment
I tested the best dating apps for women: Find a real connection
Read our full review of Tinder Platinum.
While some women have found relationships on Tinder, that’s usually not why I recommend it. Even as Tinder tries to shed its hookup app reputation, it’s still my go-to choice for casual dating. It has a massive user base, especially among younger people — the SSRS survey found that 73 percent of online daters aged 18-29 have used Tinder.
It’s the app I suggest having in your back pocket if you’re looking for anything more casual than a serious relationship, whether that’s a one-night stand or just an impromptu date while traveling. Just be prepared to do some digging and wade through a ton of fish pictures, especially since the app is currently skewed heavily male (men make up around 75 percent of the user base).
I picked Tinder because, love it or hate it, the instant gratification of the swipe is undeniable, and its expansive user pool means you’ll find active users almost anywhere. Based on numbers alone — over 75 billion total matches made in the app’s history and 4.2 million GIFs sent between matches per week — Tinder’s ability to put you in touch with a massive pool of people is hard to top. But the platform is also actively trying to make a cultural and financial comeback; its Q1 2026 earnings report revealed that new user registrations have finally returned to year-over-year growth. Match Group and Tinder CEO Spencer Rascoff recently stated that “winning women is critical” to this continued growth, and that the platform must do a better job of driving positive outcomes for female daters.
In 2026, Tinder is evolving far beyond the simple swipe and giving users more control to find what they’re looking for. On the Explore page, you can now filter for specific relationship goals, from “Short-Term Fun” to a “Long-Term Partner” or even “Non-Monogamy.” The company has also been testing a paid height preference, so you might be able to get your 6-6-6 after all.
Tinder is also changing how people connect. Instead of one endless feed, you can now switch into specific modes like “Double Date Mode” (for a low-pressure group hang) or “College Mode.” According to Tinder, this is all part of an effort to give Gen Z “easier, low-pressure ways to connect” and, more importantly, to help you find “better matches, not just more of them.” Other new features include an AI matchmaking service called Chemistry, as well as Astrology and Music Modes.
Most importantly, safety has gotten a serious upgrade at Tinder. The app previously rolled out mandatory “Face Check” verification for all U.S. users, which requires a facial scan to verify you’re real before you can even start swiping. However, after a viral video demonstrated how romance scammers were tricking the system by hiding a digitally altered image at the end of their profiles, Tinder strengthened its photo verification logic by requiring “greater consistency” across every single photo on a user’s profile. This, combined with the “Share My Date” feature (which lets you send a link with your date’s location and photo to friends), shows that Tinder is finally taking user safety as seriously as its match count.
Entertainment
I tested the best MacBook alternatives and found 7 worthy rivals
The 2025 Acer Aspire 16 AI is a stellar pick for casual users with limited budgets and simple workloads, particularly those who like a larger screen. (Younger students would make great use of it.) It’s portable for its size and long-lasting, so big ups if you frequently work on the go. We can’t say that it’s better than the Neo, but we can say it’s the best MacBook Neo alternative right now.
The Aspire 16 AI is my reigning favorite cheap Windows laptop. It offers great multi-core performance for the money, a healthy amount of RAM and storage, plus a smooth display and all the ports you could need. You mainly feel its “budget-ness” in its build quality.
Performance: The Aspire 16 AI’s Qualcomm Snapdragon X chip is about 40 percent slower than the Neo’s A18 Pro chip in single-core scenarios, so it doesn’t feel as responsive when you’re surfing the web or working in Word docs. That said, it’s just as good as running multi-core tasks like light video editing. (Our benchmarking showed that it’s 12 percent faster than the Neo in that regard. It’s a trivial bump, but it’s something.) At the time of writing, the Aspire 16 AI was the fastest sub-$900 laptop we’ve tested for multi-core workloads.
Note that the Snapdragon X CPU is a Windows on ARM chip, so it’s not compatible with as many games or specialty apps as Intel or AMD chips (which have x86 architecture — see above, in the Zenbook A14’s section). But a budget laptop isn’t really made for that kind of usage, anyway, so that’s not a huge concern here. I’d be more worried about it not working with an older scanner or printer.
Battery life: The Aspire 16 AI plowed past the Neo in our battery life benchmark, a video rundown test, lasting 17 hours and 22 minutes to Apple’s 14 hours and 50 minutes. Stamina-wise, it’s more on par with the M5 MacBook Air, which lasted 17 hours and 40 minutes. You can easily squeeze two full workdays out of this thing without needing to charge it in between.
Design: The Aspire 16 AI is pretty trim for a 16-incher. At 3.42 pounds, it’s only a little bit heavier than a 15-inch MacBook Air. (There are even slimmer, lighter 16-inch options — see the Asus Zenbook A16, below — but they’re way more expensive.) Its display is a bit dim and not as crisp as the Neo’s, but I appreciated its buttery 120Hz refresh rate and touchscreen capabilities. Its port setup is also great: While the Neo has just two USB-C ports and a headphone jack, this laptop tacks on two extra USB-A ports, an HDMI port, and a microSD card slot. That’s some MacBook Pro-level connectivity.
Value: For the same price as a 512GB Neo, the Aspire 16 AI offers double the RAM, better multi-core performance, more ports, a 120Hz touchscreen, and a backlit keyboard. But it’s not as well-made as the MacBook Neo; it lacks a fingerprint login feature, and it doesn’t feel as fast in everyday productivity scenarios. It also comes in one boring color. Still, it feels very fairly priced in an era when decent, cheap Windows laptops are getting scarce.
FYI: Acer also makes a 14-inch version of this laptop (the Aspire 14 AI), which comes with an Intel processor that alleviates the Windows on ARM compatibility issues. It offers double the storage, slightly better battery life, and slightly better single-core performance for only $500 to $700, depending on the retailer. I haven’t tried it, so I can’t speak for it personally, but our friends at CNET really liked it. You probably can’t go wrong with either size.
Entertainment
Tech keeps getting more expensive. Thats why these 4 cheap laptops are so special.
The elegant and long-lasting Asus Zenbook A14 from 2025 is my favorite laptop for most people with a budget cap of $1,000. Its ultralight yet rigid build makes it especially great for frequent travelers and remote workers. I’ll also note that it’s the only laptop on this list with an OLED display, if that’s a spec high on your wishlist.
Look for the ZenBook A14 on sale at Best Buy, where it’s dipped down to as low as $550 before (a steal). It starts with 512GB of storage and 16GB of RAM.
I’ve been hyping this 14-inch laptop since I first saw it at CES 2025. It’s an amazing Windows ultraportable and an awesome value.
Performance: The Zenbook A14 is a solid performer for the money. The MacBook Neo still beats it in single-core workloads (by about 31 percent), but it’s 28 percent faster in multi-core scenarios. In fact, it doesn’t have any multi-core competition among other laptops under $1,000. Compared to the $699.99 Acer Aspire 16 AI (above), which has a lesser Snapdragon X chip, this one’s Snapdragon X Plus chip offers 14 percent better single-core performance and 15 percent better multi-core performance. If you need a cheap-ish laptop that can do some heavier lifting, this one’s up to the task.
As with the Aspire 16 AI, be mindful of ARM-related software compatibility issues here if you’re buying a laptop for college or gaming.
Battery life: The Zenbook A14 ran for 21 hours and 47 minutes in our video rundown test before dying, making it the eighth-longest-lasting laptop we’ve ever reviewed. Our longest-lasting MacBook died exactly 30 minutes sooner.
Design: Picking up the Zenbook A14 for the first time usually elicits a gasp from people. Asus built its chassis out of a lightweight magnesium-aluminum alloy called “Ceraluminum” that’s scratch-, smudge- and shock-resistant. The base configuration is only 2.4 pounds, or 0.3 pounds less than the MacBook Neo, yet it doesn’t feel frail. The Ceraluminum makes it super durable without weighing it down. It’s slightly thicker than the Neo, but that’s so it can squeeze in an HDMI port and a USB-A port.
In a market saturated with boring silver laptops, I think the Zenbook A14’s modern-organic look is refreshing. It has a tan “Zabrinskie Beige” finish with a matte, almost ceramic-like texture, and it’s accented with gold reflective logos. It’s different without being too obnoxious for an office. Top that off with a bright, vivid OLED display, and this laptop is quite the looker.
Value: I’d have no qualms about paying full price for the Zenbook A14 — it’s a really solid value (but all the better if you can find it on sale). Raising your budget to the upper end of the “cheap” spectrum eliminates any build quality concerns and nets you a great blend of power and stamina for everyday productivity, even some light creative work. Plus: OLED!
Note that Asus released an updated Zenbook A14 with the Snapdragon X2 Elite chip for 2026. It has much better performance and an even longer battery life than the original model, but it starts at $1,349.99. It might go on sale for under $1,000 eventually, though it only just launched in April, so don’t hold your breath.
I tested the best dating apps for women: Find a real connection
I tested the best MacBook alternatives and found 7 worthy rivals
