If they've never navigated a part of a river they are testing the waters. In this case testing the waters to see if anyone likes the show or not.
In case you're confused about why a captain would not be familiar about a particular spot in the river,
Unlike a car driver license, boat captains didn't always navigate an entire river. They only knew parts (or sections) of a river. They received licenses only for the parts they were familiar with.
Pilot is just TV jargon for the first in a series. It's "taking off," so to speak. There may be a neat little story associated with it, but that's what I gather it to mean, in general.
Comments
Definition of pilot:
A television program produced as a prototype of a series being considered for adoption by a network.
http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/en...
The captain of a boat is also called a "pilot".
If they've never navigated a part of a river they are testing the waters. In this case testing the waters to see if anyone likes the show or not.
In case you're confused about why a captain would not be familiar about a particular spot in the river,
Unlike a car driver license, boat captains didn't always navigate an entire river. They only knew parts (or sections) of a river. They received licenses only for the parts they were familiar with.
Pilot is just TV jargon for the first in a series. It's "taking off," so to speak. There may be a neat little story associated with it, but that's what I gather it to mean, in general.