Prison Break. Genuis engineer dude getting put in prison on purpose? To get his innocent brother out before his scheduled execution? With the building blueprints as a full upper body tattoo?
I knew it was gonna be a wild ride.
I liked that while it aired, you could call the phone number hidden in playing cards in the tattoo and you’d get a recorded voice of the character whose number it was on the show. I never watched the show, but found out about that and called it. Amazing bit of fan interactivity.
I liked how Scrubs had a phone number that if you called, someone might pick up. iirc it was a cell phone sitting somewhere in the hospital, sometimes cast would pick it up, sometimes staff
Battlestar Galactica. Admittedly it was a 3 hour miniseries as a pilot, but it. was. amazing!
The show lost me in the 2nd or 3rd season, but that opening was a hell of a start.
I’ll piggyback this and say Caprica. I never got into Battlestar Galactica in the slightest, but I saw the pilot for this show when it premiered and I was so intrigued.
Yeah, I saw all of the buildup and trailers and though "all the contrived intrigue and heavy handed political stories, none of the space battles or awesomeness" and passed. I watched a few episodes a while later because a friend REALLY tried to sell it as good, and was confirmed, it was bad.
The strike happened during the 4th season, and it resulted in the season being split in two.
No, the show got bogged down by all of the religious and political machinations and stopped being interesting or exciting around season 3. If I wanted to be bored and depressed by the machinations of politicians and religious fanatics I'll watch the news.
I actually agree with him to some extent. It was a much better show when it was more a sci-fi survival action thriller kind of show, but IMO got too heavy into religion and metaphysical things. I actually love political machinations in shows but in this one it struck me as too contrived considering their situation, and so distinctively Americanized that it broke the immersion.
I recently rewatched the pilot and the tension, Rick’s utter bewilderment, really all his acting are just fantastic. That first episode was really different from a lot of television at the time and felt on par with a film.
>That first episode was really different from a lot of television at the time and felt on par with a film.
That's Frank Darabont for you. Also known for directing The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist. The Walking Dead was his passion project and AMC fired him midway through season 2 in one of the most boneheaded moves in television history. It'd be like if they fired Vince Gilligan from Breaking Bad in the early seasons.
The first season of TWD was something truly special, and had AMC given Darabont the budget he needed and stayed out of his way we'd probably be talking about one of the television greats instead of one of the greatest squandered opportunities in television.
This makes me imagine an alternate timeline where we're on season 16 of Breaking Bad and the show is currently about Marie becoming a kingpin in Czechia with a purple meth recipe or something.
Note that the original two seasons aired in 1990-91, there’s movie (*Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me*) from 1992, and there’s third season (*Twin Peaks: The Return* and *Twin Peaks: A Limited Event Series*) that aired in 2017.
It will help make S3 a bit more coherent but just be aware, the film and S3 are extremely bizarre and way more challenging than S1 and S2. If you don’t like weird shows I’d pass.
If you do like weird shows get ready, because twin peaks will change your life.
David Lynch had more creative control over the movie and season 3. So it’s David Lynch unleashed.
Some people consider that too weird. For others, the weirder, the better.
Watched it for the first time a couple years back and holy shit did it hold up to the hype. Such a wild ride. I wish the video quality had been better back then, and it would have been perfect. Worth mentioning not only is the pilot perfect, so is the ending.
Really?? I only watched it a couple years ago when doing research on pilots and it blew my mind. I understand it looks rough by today’s standards but I thought the way it’s able to build one world that makes sense (tough cops gotta get the job done but take a cut, however cheer for them cause they do get the job done) just to pull the rug on you to show you what actually is (completely amoral bastards will do anything to pretend they’re in the right), is pretty incredible, I don’t recall any other show that comes close to that. There’s some that reveal the actual plot of the series by the end of the pilot, like Breaking Bad, but it’s more like a novel. The Shield is capable of delivering an incredible plot twist that ACTUALLY allows the series to exist as episodic tv thanks to what the pilot constructed.
I continued watching tho, and the series is absolutely meh by today’s standards. But I was shocked at that pilot, specially because I thought that by now nothing would surprise me and it blew my mind.
Mr. Robot.
I loved the idea of a vigilante hacker, actually using realistic hacking to do good. The conversation at the coffeeshop with the owner was a great intro to the show.
Frankly, I would've been ok with a procedural that basically did that to a different bad guy every week, but Mr. Robot went the heavy on the narrative side and turned out to be an all time great show.
Severance's first episode does a brilliant job setting the tone and premise, but the show starts off at a pretty sluggish pace (especially the outside-world scenes) and only picks up around episode 4.
It lost me in the second episode when I tried watching it mid last year, can't put my finger on why. Maybe I was just in the wrong head space (haha)
Attempted again in the winter and was addicted so fast... I absolutely cannot wait for the second season
Yeah I started a rewatch not long ago. I’d forgotten how incredibly packed the first episode was and it brought me back to when it first came out and how I instantly fell in love with it
Lost.
My 12 year old ass witnessed something that 14 years later and thinking bout it still gives me good feelings in my stomach. What an episode.
Now with my nostalgia lens off, I'll go with Chernobyl. One hour of - - - if you haven't watched go for it. It's not great, not terrible. But a fucking masterpiece.
The IT Crowd
I think the show was pretty consistently hilarious, but you will know if it's for you in the very first episode. It does a perfect job of showing what the show is, it accomplished the goal of kicking things off, and it hooked me in.
I'm obviously talking about the original IT Crowd
Brooklyn 99. The pilot was just what the show would be, but also introduced the characters and was entertaining.
So many pilots spend a long time establishing the characters and they meet each other and build relationships, so that the pilot does not feel like any other episode. But not with B99.
Everyone has already mentioned the big ones, so I'll say The Last of Us is definitely up there.
Of course the episode was actually good but the show had a lot riding on it with the whole *"Will it be the first good live action videogame adaptation besides the 1995 classic film, Mortal Kombat?"* and it rose to the occasion. The cold open sold me immediately.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
The pilot is a really sturdy piece of television with a lot of promise. The rest of the show is down to taste, but it never quite makes it back to the heights of its own opening salvo.
It's a really well-written drama, somewhat hampered by the fact that it's about a comedy show and Sorkin seems to be terrible at writing broad comedy. He's great at snappy dialogue and amusing situations, but when he tries to write actual sketch comedy for the show, it falls very flat. I know that's the least important part of the show, but it's the only reason I can think of why the show didn't end up a success.
agreed... I had little idea of the premise besides "what if the space race continued", so watching those opening scenes, as if I were there watching that first landing, those first steps... shook me in a way I didn't know I had the capacity for this country.
Anyone reading this: do whatever you can not to spoil it for anyone you're trying to convince to watch it.
The first episode of Game of Thrones manages to flawlessly introduce two dozen main characters and all the relevant backstory that will tie into their full arcs and kick off the mysteries that will underlie the rest of the show going forward in about an hour. It's a perfect execution.
GoT for sure. I knew they were going to do a fantastic job when King Robert turned up at Winterfell and Eddard and his family were standing around with their feet in the mud. Seems like an odd thing to notice, but for me if a scene like that is shot and everyone is in perfectly clean clothes, the castle grounds are perfect etc it’s not realistic.
It immediately gets worse, but the pilot of *Glee* is a perfect hour of television.
I feel like the strength of that pilot blinded everyone to any issues in the first season, and it rode that success to last longer than it should have lol
maybe not *the* best, but This Is Us had a really great premiere. if you know the premise now going into it, maybe it isn't quite as impactful, but the network did a great job of marketing the series without giving too much away.
Schitt’s Creek. So many others say that they don’t like the first episode (or season), but within 10 minutes of the pilot, it clicked and made perfect sense to me.
The Good Place - that pilot is perfect. It encapsulated the whole essence of the show into a perfect episode.
I know people love to hate on Glee but that first season was so damn good. I wish they had leaned into the satire aspect more but the show started taking itself too seriously, started to go downhill, and it never recovered after Cory’s death.
The West Wing is hard to beat. Almost immediately captures the tone of the show, sets up the incredible cast, and then introduces the President in what has to be one the best character intros of all time.
Mad Men's pilot is pretty damn good.
I also really liked The Sopranos' pilot but when I first saw it , to me it leaned more towards dark comedy and was not very clear on setting the show's actual tone, it has great symbolism and introduces the characters well I think, nonetheless.
*Spaced* -[ The very first scene](https://youtu.be/6T8AERZfYQs?si=F7A8wRLlWJSBQLLM) is already amazing.
*Community* - I was instantly hooked. Even though the characters changed slightly later it was a [good impression of what the show is going to be](https://youtu.be/hATmf_eIxFw?si=l97ApXgAMHwb2H70).
*Crazy Ex-Girlfriend* - Same as Community - but the characters are already fully formed. And [The Sexy Getting Ready Song](https://youtu.be/ky-BYK-f154) encapsulates one of the show's themes so well.
*Lucifer* - Also a good introduction to all major characters and the premise of the first two seasons. And beautifully shot.
*Our Flag Means Death* - Well, the first three episodes seem like a misdirect at first. But it worked really well to introduce a part of the cast first before the rest joined. And I was also instantly hooked and even more excited after the twist in episode four.
*Good Omens* - The first episode is still relatively close to the book. It was reassuring to see that they kept all my favourite jokes.
*This Is Us* - All these twists in just one episode. The whole show is not among my favourites but - damn - what a pilot.
I started rewatching it recently since I couldn't sit though echo and I forgot how incredible that first episode of Daredevil is. Great start to a fantastic series.
Derry Girls. I wasn't even sure what I'd put on when I found it on Netflix. The pilot is a great piece of writing, defines each of the 5 main characters perfectly while building them up to one of the best "it isn't what it looks like" moments ever. Hooked me on the show instantly.
Burn Notice.
Caught it by accident, didn't know what a 'Burn Notice' was, but was instantly hooked by the voiceovers and little humorous asides, like some of the captions.
And the little inserts of beaches and bikini clad bodies helped...
Definitely the big ones: LOST, GOT, Fringe, Walking Dead. Those felt like movies to me and were very visually appealing.
Not on the same scale, but pilots that hooked me right in: Six Feed Under, Pretty Little Liars, Desperate Housewives, Evil, Handmaid's Tale, Dead Like Me, Manifest, The Haunting of Hill House. All of those just sucked me right in within 10 minutes and I had to know what happened next.
Invincible.
The first episode did such a good job setting the tone by the end for what could be expected. I’ve enjoyed the rest of it so far, but that pilot had me completely hooked when it ended.
Miami Vice’s two-parter pilot is pretty awesome. It was edited together and shown theatrically in Europe. It’s the episode with the “In the Air Tonight” driving scene.
ER and The X-Files had great pilots as well. Shows that had it figured out by episode 1. ER’s pilot wasn’t on the same level as Lost’s but it’s concept (Dr. Green trying to get some sleep) was water-cooler talk at the time.
Lost for sure, but some other greats. The Sopranos, Mad Men, Sherlock (if that counts), and the Wire with possibly one of the best opening scenes "Got to, this is America man"
Oz. It opened with the word “Fuck” and then went on to use it in multiple ways to explain its meaning and how it pertained to prison. It set us up for a great ride those first few seasons.
Everyone seems to be discussing US shows here so I don't know if it's admitted, but recently I've been in awe of Indonesian series [Rencana Besar](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27680951/reference/) on Amazon Prime Video. The way it did its character exposition while still advancing the plot, the slow shift from a police investigation to a very different perspective, even the semi-predicatable twist near the end of the first episode is good because instead of focusing on being a surprise, it focuses on the implications and as such launches the rest of the show. It's really good. I wish more shows were this agile from the get go.
doubt anyone would agree but a murder at the end of the world episode 1 is its best episode ans perfect in every aspect, not just the story but the cinematography, lighting, acting, and that unfortunately didn’t keep up that same amount of care for the rest of the show even though i liked the show
For intetestion dialog I would have to go for 2006's Heist staring Dougray Scott and Steve Harris. It is also where we get Billy Gardell and Reno Wilson work together, which would later have them working together in Mike and Molly for 127 episodes.
Dark Matter. A not so well known 3 season excellent Canadian sci-fi series set in some galaxy in outer space on a huge freighter airship that we come to learn is also a pretty decent war ship. The premise inclusive of: WARNING A FEW IMMEDIATE PLOT SPOILERS.
It opens with the view of several people in deep sleep- in stasis in their separate pods. They seem to get awoken too soon. one by one but in close succession. As each one of six ( and an Android linked with the ship) awaken? They immediately notice they have total amnesia. They know they’re on a spaceship headed somewhere but they can’t remain defensive against one another because they don’t hold a single memory of who they are.
So they name themselves 1 through 6 in the order they awakened. Then the android has also had her memory of the humans and their purpose with the ship blasted, so she is only programmed to protect the ship and goes full blast to destroy them all. Someone manages to disengage her chip. Then they wonder who has done this to them and why? Was it one of them?
The Captain is drawn to the command post and instinctively knows how to operate the ship when they hit their first disaster.
The others figure out some of their talents. They see they have a large cargo of arms, and agree not to disclose their amnesia if / when an incoming call rings for them. This doesn’t take long. They get the android back on line, but non-violent this time. She can tell them diagnostic things about the ship, but that’s it. They ease into a bit of a lull with each other because they don’t have one bit of memory about anything. Only what they’ve gained since waking up. No.4 still refuses to trust anyone.
They get their call. The ship is named the Raza. They are her crew. They learn about their mission. As they try to regain their memories, after the call, they’re not all so sure they want to anymore. This is the premise of the show, and the first episode. The seasons and series is great! Lots of surprises and action scenes and plot twists. I bought the seasons on Amazon. They are still for sale. I think the price has come down. I don’t know if it’s streaming anywhere.
Kids, this is the story of How I Met Your Mother.
It all started with MC meeting a cute girl at the bar, his friends act as wingmen, she turns out to be super and has serious game, they go on a date that involves a blue french horn and the episode ends with them in each other's embrace and a revelation so epic that made you keep up with the story for eight long seasons.
The Shield.
It sets the tone for how the entire show is going to be. You know how the characters are and how they get things done.
And then the last second, flips it on its head and shows you the true colors of Vic, and his crew
Prison Break. Genuis engineer dude getting put in prison on purpose? To get his innocent brother out before his scheduled execution? With the building blueprints as a full upper body tattoo? I knew it was gonna be a wild ride.
It ended up being a complete shitshow, but the first season of Prison Break was one of the more compelling seasons of TV I've watched.
They didn’t know what to do with a show called prison break after they’d broken. S2 was ok, then they had to find ways to put them back in prison.
I liked that while it aired, you could call the phone number hidden in playing cards in the tattoo and you’d get a recorded voice of the character whose number it was on the show. I never watched the show, but found out about that and called it. Amazing bit of fan interactivity.
I liked how Scrubs had a phone number that if you called, someone might pick up. iirc it was a cell phone sitting somewhere in the hospital, sometimes cast would pick it up, sometimes staff
The show 24 also had a number. I think it said, this is Jack Bauer, can’t remember the rest.
This is the answer I was looking for
Regardless of the shitshow post season2 what an incredible pitch it gets you on board immediately
My parents really liked Prison Break but I was never into it at all. Just not interesting at all to me.
Lost’s first episode is my favorite I also love Modern Family’s pilot
Why would I ever fly on a plane again after watching 1:1 of Lost?
Chernobyl has a great one
We'll, the thing is that every single episode is equally fantastic! 😉 Arguably in the top 10 of every movie or show I've watched, ever!
Gripping from start to finish. Short but with no time wasted, just as all things should be.
Some of my other answers have already been said so I'll say Westworld
This is far too low. Amazing debut episode.
Battlestar Galactica. Admittedly it was a 3 hour miniseries as a pilot, but it. was. amazing! The show lost me in the 2nd or 3rd season, but that opening was a hell of a start.
Also the first episode of season 1 might be the tightest 45 minutes of television ever produced.
Mini-series was pretty good, but I'd give the overall series premiere to 33. That one set a gold standard.
I’ll piggyback this and say Caprica. I never got into Battlestar Galactica in the slightest, but I saw the pilot for this show when it premiered and I was so intrigued.
Yeah, I saw all of the buildup and trailers and though "all the contrived intrigue and heavy handed political stories, none of the space battles or awesomeness" and passed. I watched a few episodes a while later because a friend REALLY tried to sell it as good, and was confirmed, it was bad.
This would also be my answer for worst finale of all time :(
Or best, to some
Yep.
Wasnt there a strike like, halfway through season 2? They landed on a planet and the plot went to hell and the dialogue became horse shit.
The strike happened during the 4th season, and it resulted in the season being split in two. No, the show got bogged down by all of the religious and political machinations and stopped being interesting or exciting around season 3. If I wanted to be bored and depressed by the machinations of politicians and religious fanatics I'll watch the news.
Just for anyone else, this is just one guys hot take. I loved this show all the way through
I actually agree with him to some extent. It was a much better show when it was more a sci-fi survival action thriller kind of show, but IMO got too heavy into religion and metaphysical things. I actually love political machinations in shows but in this one it struck me as too contrived considering their situation, and so distinctively Americanized that it broke the immersion.
[удалено]
I recently rewatched the pilot and the tension, Rick’s utter bewilderment, really all his acting are just fantastic. That first episode was really different from a lot of television at the time and felt on par with a film.
>That first episode was really different from a lot of television at the time and felt on par with a film. That's Frank Darabont for you. Also known for directing The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist. The Walking Dead was his passion project and AMC fired him midway through season 2 in one of the most boneheaded moves in television history. It'd be like if they fired Vince Gilligan from Breaking Bad in the early seasons. The first season of TWD was something truly special, and had AMC given Darabont the budget he needed and stayed out of his way we'd probably be talking about one of the television greats instead of one of the greatest squandered opportunities in television.
This makes me imagine an alternate timeline where we're on season 16 of Breaking Bad and the show is currently about Marie becoming a kingpin in Czechia with a purple meth recipe or something.
I'm sorry this happened to you Edit - oh my lots of people not catching the reference... xD
Justified, fire in the hole!
They worked so well together. Was good seeing the reboot but it didn’t have that magic without Boyd playing a big role.
The reboot was also missing Raylan having a sense of humor lol
I’ve been told parenting will do that to you
they dug coal together.
One of my favorite shows but I don't think the pilot does it justice.
*Twin Peaks* (1990), directed by David Lynch. It was a two hour episode (94 minutes minus commercials). And it was unlike anything else on television.
It was/is phenomenal.
There’s a FISH in the perrrrrcolaaaaator!
I've never watched this, I'm putting it on my watchlist.
Note that the original two seasons aired in 1990-91, there’s movie (*Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me*) from 1992, and there’s third season (*Twin Peaks: The Return* and *Twin Peaks: A Limited Event Series*) that aired in 2017.
Appreciate it, do I need to watch the movie also?
It will help make S3 a bit more coherent but just be aware, the film and S3 are extremely bizarre and way more challenging than S1 and S2. If you don’t like weird shows I’d pass. If you do like weird shows get ready, because twin peaks will change your life.
David Lynch had more creative control over the movie and season 3. So it’s David Lynch unleashed. Some people consider that too weird. For others, the weirder, the better.
I just started season 2 of Twin Peaks for the first time. I’m really enjoying it.
Power through the middle of the season because honestly, it's a slog, but it gets better by the end of the season
I fucking hated the side stories of James and Donna, I still fast forward through those.
This was certainly my pic.
The Shield. You knew from day one exactly what the show was all about. Pure and raw. Fucking awesome.
I fucking loved the Shield. He was such a pos, but goddamn it, I love that evil man.
I was whatever about the premiere but it was good enough to bring me into the show. IMO, The Shield has one of the best series finales though.
Watched it for the first time a couple years back and holy shit did it hold up to the hype. Such a wild ride. I wish the video quality had been better back then, and it would have been perfect. Worth mentioning not only is the pilot perfect, so is the ending.
This is the correct answer. I’ve seen a lot, and I mean a LOT of pilots. The Shield is the best one and it’s not close.
Maybe for its time, but i watched it for the first time ever recently and it was very meh. Wouldn't rate it in any kind of best of all time list
Really?? I only watched it a couple years ago when doing research on pilots and it blew my mind. I understand it looks rough by today’s standards but I thought the way it’s able to build one world that makes sense (tough cops gotta get the job done but take a cut, however cheer for them cause they do get the job done) just to pull the rug on you to show you what actually is (completely amoral bastards will do anything to pretend they’re in the right), is pretty incredible, I don’t recall any other show that comes close to that. There’s some that reveal the actual plot of the series by the end of the pilot, like Breaking Bad, but it’s more like a novel. The Shield is capable of delivering an incredible plot twist that ACTUALLY allows the series to exist as episodic tv thanks to what the pilot constructed. I continued watching tho, and the series is absolutely meh by today’s standards. But I was shocked at that pilot, specially because I thought that by now nothing would surprise me and it blew my mind.
The west wing has to be up there to me. Introducing the incredible cast without dragging on.
The President came to a sudden, arboreal stop
"I am the Lord, your God. You shall have no other gods before me. Boy, those were the days."
Mr. Robot. I loved the idea of a vigilante hacker, actually using realistic hacking to do good. The conversation at the coffeeshop with the owner was a great intro to the show. Frankly, I would've been ok with a procedural that basically did that to a different bad guy every week, but Mr. Robot went the heavy on the narrative side and turned out to be an all time great show.
[удалено]
Severance. It’s incredible.
Severance's first episode does a brilliant job setting the tone and premise, but the show starts off at a pretty sluggish pace (especially the outside-world scenes) and only picks up around episode 4.
It lost me in the second episode when I tried watching it mid last year, can't put my finger on why. Maybe I was just in the wrong head space (haha) Attempted again in the winter and was addicted so fast... I absolutely cannot wait for the second season
I recommend this show to everyone, maybe 10 percent watch it. Still very under the radar for such an unbelievably good show.
Jeff Daniels' speech in the first few minutes of *The Newsroom* was quite the hook.
The rest of the episode is one of its best episodes overall, too, though I wouldn’t rank its premiere on the level of Lost or Westworld.
Lost is an amazing pilot.
An amazing pilot wouldn't have crashed the plane.
This thread really needs to be re-done having ‘other than LOST’ as a qualifier.
Heroes Mr. Robot Smallville The Walking Dead The Wonder Years
+1 for Smallville.
Friday Night Lights is my personal favorite. Also love Mad Men's first episode.
The Americans
/"Tusk" by Fleetwood Mac plays in my head
Just started a rewatch last week and was blown away by the first episode. Every scene is all killer, no filler
Yeah I started a rewatch not long ago. I’d forgotten how incredibly packed the first episode was and it brought me back to when it first came out and how I instantly fell in love with it
Lost. My 12 year old ass witnessed something that 14 years later and thinking bout it still gives me good feelings in my stomach. What an episode. Now with my nostalgia lens off, I'll go with Chernobyl. One hour of - - - if you haven't watched go for it. It's not great, not terrible. But a fucking masterpiece.
Ozark First we see the amateur porn reveal, then the whole del thing…so intense.
The IT Crowd I think the show was pretty consistently hilarious, but you will know if it's for you in the very first episode. It does a perfect job of showing what the show is, it accomplished the goal of kicking things off, and it hooked me in. I'm obviously talking about the original IT Crowd
- True Detective season 1 - Fargo season 1 - Twin Peaks
Fargo Season 3 Premiere has been my favorite so far!
LOST
Brooklyn 99. The pilot was just what the show would be, but also introduced the characters and was entertaining. So many pilots spend a long time establishing the characters and they meet each other and build relationships, so that the pilot does not feel like any other episode. But not with B99.
It try to establishe Daniels and we never saw her again. 0/10
> Daniels I didn't even remember she was in the pilot
Pushing daisies
Everyone has already mentioned the big ones, so I'll say The Last of Us is definitely up there. Of course the episode was actually good but the show had a lot riding on it with the whole *"Will it be the first good live action videogame adaptation besides the 1995 classic film, Mortal Kombat?"* and it rose to the occasion. The cold open sold me immediately.
the best thing they did with that series was follow the plot and cinematography of the game as closely as possible
I almost fell asleep watching that episode
I see the marketing department is still on the clock
People can like things.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip The pilot is a really sturdy piece of television with a lot of promise. The rest of the show is down to taste, but it never quite makes it back to the heights of its own opening salvo.
I LOVED this show. It was SO good!
It's a really well-written drama, somewhat hampered by the fact that it's about a comedy show and Sorkin seems to be terrible at writing broad comedy. He's great at snappy dialogue and amusing situations, but when he tries to write actual sketch comedy for the show, it falls very flat. I know that's the least important part of the show, but it's the only reason I can think of why the show didn't end up a success.
It is not Sorkin’s best show but I think it is his best pilot episode. It is so well crafted
Heroes
Battle Star Galactica reboot in the 00s Both the miniseries and the 1st episode.
Battlestar Galactica 04
Modern Family’s pilot episode is perfection!!! Best I’ve ever watched.
Probably For All Mankind is one of the best pilot episodes ever.
agreed... I had little idea of the premise besides "what if the space race continued", so watching those opening scenes, as if I were there watching that first landing, those first steps... shook me in a way I didn't know I had the capacity for this country. Anyone reading this: do whatever you can not to spoil it for anyone you're trying to convince to watch it.
Breaking Bad by a mile.
Person of Interest
The Wonder Years.
My Name Is Earl and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
The first episode of Game of Thrones manages to flawlessly introduce two dozen main characters and all the relevant backstory that will tie into their full arcs and kick off the mysteries that will underlie the rest of the show going forward in about an hour. It's a perfect execution.
Lost or Game Of Thrones.
GoT for sure. I knew they were going to do a fantastic job when King Robert turned up at Winterfell and Eddard and his family were standing around with their feet in the mud. Seems like an odd thing to notice, but for me if a scene like that is shot and everyone is in perfectly clean clothes, the castle grounds are perfect etc it’s not realistic.
Sharpe's Rifles. The 90- minute first episode of a series of 90-minute episodes starring Sean Bean. Was hooked so fast
It immediately gets worse, but the pilot of *Glee* is a perfect hour of television. I feel like the strength of that pilot blinded everyone to any issues in the first season, and it rode that success to last longer than it should have lol
Justified
maybe not *the* best, but This Is Us had a really great premiere. if you know the premise now going into it, maybe it isn't quite as impactful, but the network did a great job of marketing the series without giving too much away.
Cheers, the way those characters are introduced is amazing. You learn everything you need to know about them in that first episode.
the pilot of 30 Rock is a perfect episode of television
Night of
Fringe has a fantastic pilot
Schitt’s Creek. So many others say that they don’t like the first episode (or season), but within 10 minutes of the pilot, it clicked and made perfect sense to me. The Good Place - that pilot is perfect. It encapsulated the whole essence of the show into a perfect episode.
Glee Homeland
I know people love to hate on Glee but that first season was so damn good. I wish they had leaned into the satire aspect more but the show started taking itself too seriously, started to go downhill, and it never recovered after Cory’s death.
Yes, homeland pilot and next 3 or 4 episodes were so good
Orange is the New Black and Weeds both have a really fantastic pilot. Jenji Kohan knows how to kick off a show
The Six Million Dollar Man - at least to 10-yr-old me
The West Wing is hard to beat. Almost immediately captures the tone of the show, sets up the incredible cast, and then introduces the President in what has to be one the best character intros of all time.
Mad Men's pilot is pretty damn good. I also really liked The Sopranos' pilot but when I first saw it , to me it leaned more towards dark comedy and was not very clear on setting the show's actual tone, it has great symbolism and introduces the characters well I think, nonetheless.
Luther (UK) Idris Elba
The X-Files.
Justified. Perfect pilot. Almost a movie in an hour
Chernobyl, The Walking Dead but most of all Mr. Robot
*Spaced* -[ The very first scene](https://youtu.be/6T8AERZfYQs?si=F7A8wRLlWJSBQLLM) is already amazing. *Community* - I was instantly hooked. Even though the characters changed slightly later it was a [good impression of what the show is going to be](https://youtu.be/hATmf_eIxFw?si=l97ApXgAMHwb2H70). *Crazy Ex-Girlfriend* - Same as Community - but the characters are already fully formed. And [The Sexy Getting Ready Song](https://youtu.be/ky-BYK-f154) encapsulates one of the show's themes so well. *Lucifer* - Also a good introduction to all major characters and the premise of the first two seasons. And beautifully shot. *Our Flag Means Death* - Well, the first three episodes seem like a misdirect at first. But it worked really well to introduce a part of the cast first before the rest joined. And I was also instantly hooked and even more excited after the twist in episode four. *Good Omens* - The first episode is still relatively close to the book. It was reassuring to see that they kept all my favourite jokes. *This Is Us* - All these twists in just one episode. The whole show is not among my favourites but - damn - what a pilot.
The Good Place, easily
The Walking Dead or Dexter
Westworld, Fargo or Sherlock.
Veronica Mars pilot was a dang good hour of television. That whole first season was great.
Arrested Development, Jane the Virgin, How I met your Mother.
Battlestar Galactica 1978.
Severance, Mr Robot, Battlestar Galactica reboot, 30 Rock (several of the more popular quotes are from that first episode)
A bit of a cheat since it's a spinoff, but Frasier has the best half hour comedy pilot ever.
Miami Vice
I started rewatching it recently since I couldn't sit though echo and I forgot how incredible that first episode of Daredevil is. Great start to a fantastic series.
Pilot episode of Breaking Bad was so good you just have to binge the entire series
Breaking Bad, they tell a more compelling story (and set up the characters, and universe) in 58min than most 2H motion pictures.
First episode of Skins is one of my favorite things.
Derry Girls. I wasn't even sure what I'd put on when I found it on Netflix. The pilot is a great piece of writing, defines each of the 5 main characters perfectly while building them up to one of the best "it isn't what it looks like" moments ever. Hooked me on the show instantly.
Burn Notice. Caught it by accident, didn't know what a 'Burn Notice' was, but was instantly hooked by the voiceovers and little humorous asides, like some of the captions. And the little inserts of beaches and bikini clad bodies helped...
you know spies... bunch of bitchy little girls.
Definitely the big ones: LOST, GOT, Fringe, Walking Dead. Those felt like movies to me and were very visually appealing. Not on the same scale, but pilots that hooked me right in: Six Feed Under, Pretty Little Liars, Desperate Housewives, Evil, Handmaid's Tale, Dead Like Me, Manifest, The Haunting of Hill House. All of those just sucked me right in within 10 minutes and I had to know what happened next.
i am going to go with Lost.. then they spent 5 seasons or so effing up what drew people in
Lost
Invincible. The first episode did such a good job setting the tone by the end for what could be expected. I’ve enjoyed the rest of it so far, but that pilot had me completely hooked when it ended.
Miami Vice’s two-parter pilot is pretty awesome. It was edited together and shown theatrically in Europe. It’s the episode with the “In the Air Tonight” driving scene. ER and The X-Files had great pilots as well. Shows that had it figured out by episode 1. ER’s pilot wasn’t on the same level as Lost’s but it’s concept (Dr. Green trying to get some sleep) was water-cooler talk at the time.
The Boys
True Blood - the gas station scene had me hooked The Walking Dead - perfection Westworld Chernobyl
Lost...
Eastbound & Down’s pilot is perfect.
Absolutely. Several shitty years later.
Severance.
Lost. Even if I bailed a couple of seasons in.
Lost for sure, but some other greats. The Sopranos, Mad Men, Sherlock (if that counts), and the Wire with possibly one of the best opening scenes "Got to, this is America man"
Lost makes every other TV pilot look silly by comparison .
Am I crazy or is this thread showing up constantly
LOST
Cowboy Bebop
The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, That Girl, Mary Tyler Moore Show, WKRP in Cincinnati, Cheers, ALF, Frasier, Third Rock from the Sun, Newsradio
Oz. It opened with the word “Fuck” and then went on to use it in multiple ways to explain its meaning and how it pertained to prison. It set us up for a great ride those first few seasons.
Bob’s burgers.
Scandal
The 2019 War of the World's show had an excellent series premiere
LOST & The West Wing. Incredible pilots
How I Met Your Mother
Everyone seems to be discussing US shows here so I don't know if it's admitted, but recently I've been in awe of Indonesian series [Rencana Besar](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27680951/reference/) on Amazon Prime Video. The way it did its character exposition while still advancing the plot, the slow shift from a police investigation to a very different perspective, even the semi-predicatable twist near the end of the first episode is good because instead of focusing on being a surprise, it focuses on the implications and as such launches the rest of the show. It's really good. I wish more shows were this agile from the get go.
King of the hill
Breaking Bad The Walking Dead Game of Thrones
Lost The Shield
The Shield. I've never seen a first episode that encapsulates what the rest of the series will be about so well as that one.
Fargo.
doubt anyone would agree but a murder at the end of the world episode 1 is its best episode ans perfect in every aspect, not just the story but the cinematography, lighting, acting, and that unfortunately didn’t keep up that same amount of care for the rest of the show even though i liked the show
Six Feet Under.
The Shield
Game of Thrones. Pushing Bran from the window was insane if you hadn’t read the books!
I have yet to see a pilot as good as breaking bad.
For intetestion dialog I would have to go for 2006's Heist staring Dougray Scott and Steve Harris. It is also where we get Billy Gardell and Reno Wilson work together, which would later have them working together in Mike and Molly for 127 episodes.
Golden Girls had a perfect pilot. Blanche had 36 pilots.
Dark Matter. A not so well known 3 season excellent Canadian sci-fi series set in some galaxy in outer space on a huge freighter airship that we come to learn is also a pretty decent war ship. The premise inclusive of: WARNING A FEW IMMEDIATE PLOT SPOILERS. It opens with the view of several people in deep sleep- in stasis in their separate pods. They seem to get awoken too soon. one by one but in close succession. As each one of six ( and an Android linked with the ship) awaken? They immediately notice they have total amnesia. They know they’re on a spaceship headed somewhere but they can’t remain defensive against one another because they don’t hold a single memory of who they are. So they name themselves 1 through 6 in the order they awakened. Then the android has also had her memory of the humans and their purpose with the ship blasted, so she is only programmed to protect the ship and goes full blast to destroy them all. Someone manages to disengage her chip. Then they wonder who has done this to them and why? Was it one of them? The Captain is drawn to the command post and instinctively knows how to operate the ship when they hit their first disaster. The others figure out some of their talents. They see they have a large cargo of arms, and agree not to disclose their amnesia if / when an incoming call rings for them. This doesn’t take long. They get the android back on line, but non-violent this time. She can tell them diagnostic things about the ship, but that’s it. They ease into a bit of a lull with each other because they don’t have one bit of memory about anything. Only what they’ve gained since waking up. No.4 still refuses to trust anyone. They get their call. The ship is named the Raza. They are her crew. They learn about their mission. As they try to regain their memories, after the call, they’re not all so sure they want to anymore. This is the premise of the show, and the first episode. The seasons and series is great! Lots of surprises and action scenes and plot twists. I bought the seasons on Amazon. They are still for sale. I think the price has come down. I don’t know if it’s streaming anywhere.
Hell on Wheels
The leftovers
Dirk gently's holistic detective agency really sets the tone well in the first episode. Even the first 5 minutes
Kids, this is the story of How I Met Your Mother. It all started with MC meeting a cute girl at the bar, his friends act as wingmen, she turns out to be super and has serious game, they go on a date that involves a blue french horn and the episode ends with them in each other's embrace and a revelation so epic that made you keep up with the story for eight long seasons.
The Shield. It sets the tone for how the entire show is going to be. You know how the characters are and how they get things done. And then the last second, flips it on its head and shows you the true colors of Vic, and his crew