That’s correct. The pilot was flat and unimpressive. The final cast really hit paydirt. Just melded together like a well-oiled machine. But it shouldn’t be a surprise, these were some actors that had the chops.
One thing I wish would ‘officially’ come out on dvd would be Alan Hale Jr.’s early-1950s series, “Biff Baker, USA.” It was like an espionage-version of “Mr. and Mrs. North.” Being public-domain, a number of episodes circulate on cheap dvd labels, but I’d love for the whole (albeit short) run to be made available.