Hollywood Dictionary: Volume 23

And now, a couple more entries into the Hollywood Dictionary. If there are terms you want defined, please send them along to TempX@tempdiaries.com...

My eyes are up here.

A-Story: If you're anything like me, when you got to the end of watching Transformers 2, you said to yourself, "What the hell was that?"  The reason you said this is the movie had no "A-story" or primary plot.  Sure it had Megan Fox running around in outfits that covered some, but not all, of her bodacious backside.  But it didn't have an A-story.  Of course it also didn't have a B-story (a secondary plot, usually a love story) or a C-story (you get the point).  No wonder Michael Bay called the film "Crap."  But I'm sure Transformers 3 will be a remarkable piece of cinematic art on par with Citizen Kane.

This is highly irregular Dave

Backdoor Pilot: Knowing the trouble Tracy Morgan recently got himself in, I'm not able to make the joke you're expecting.  So let's think if I can make a different funny out of this term ... Well ... Errr ... Oh, I know. How about? .... Wait, that's the same joke ... As you can see, there's really only one comedic opportunity here, so I might as well just answer the question.  A backdoor pilot is a Made-for-TV movie designed to test the market on a concept.  If the film does well in the ratings, the network might turn it into a series.  Because network execs are brilliant, the logic of the Backdoor Pilot always works as seen with the 2008 Knight Rider TV movie which was picked up to series (and then canceled after 17 episodes).