Piracy Or Promotion? Five Pilots Leaked

When the Fall TV season launches, every network jostles to have its pilots seen by audiences and hopefully hook them into the action. Last year saw the first time the networks used the Internet as a platform for trying to reach an audience with various shows making their pilots available to watch or download online not just after their premiere, but in one or two cases before.

Now in a move that one isn’t sure whether to call clever ground roots promotion or a security leak, five of the Fall season’s big pilots have landed online across various torrenting networks – “The Class”, “Shark” and “Jericho” from CBS, and “The Nine” and “Traveler” from ABC. The shows in question are also said to be DVD quality full screen versions, indicating these are likely DVD preview screeners that have ended up online.

“The Class” is a new sitcom from “Friends” creator David Crane follows a group of twenty-somethings who were third-grade classmates and are reunited at a surprise party 20 years later.

“Shark” follows James Woods as a highly successful Los Angeles defense lawyer who ends up working for the district attorney’s office where he teaches a bunch of new recruits his effective but ethically questionable methods to win at all costs.