I was introducing one of my friends to The Shield on dvd and afterwards we were talking about just how good the first episode of that show was. So we got to thinking, which shows have had really good first episodes?

Just off the top of my head:

The Shield
Sports Night
The Sopranos
The West Wing
Six Feet Under
Oz
Futurama
Sex and the City
Murder One
Twin Peaks
American Gothic

Lots of HBO shows listed here. Hmm...

X-Files and NYPD Blue also come to mind.

This is a very good question.

I do recall that NYPD Blue's opener was very good. The Sopranos and Oz openers were very good of course.

Friends had a strong opener.

24.

OH! And Samurai Jack.

Freaks and Geeks
Undeclared
Alias

Yup, some good shows listed here that I forgot about. Also wanted to ad:

Smallville
Family Guy

NYPD Blue (an alcoholic Sipowicz gets gunned down while in bed with a hooker)
Twin Peaks
Murder One
Brooklyn South (AMAZING shoot-out to open the ep)
Hill Street Blues (when I saw the premiere ep 20+ years ago, I thought it was possibly the best show I had ever seen on TV)


Strange, I can't think of any sitcoms for the list. Guess they take longer to find themselves......

Chappelle's Show.

The Bigsby skit might not ever be matched by ANY skit show in our life times, unless Chappelle outdoes himself

There was this one called "Jerry" that I thought had potential. Two guys get into a car accident, and the judge sentences the guy at fault to become the other guy's butler! Sadly, it never became a series, as there was a management shakeup at NBC.

Seriously though, I think that's a good rule of thumb for sitcoms. I'm way into "Seinfeld" and "The Simpsons," but I often find the *very* earliest episodes are.........not that funny.

I don't like the early episodes of the Simpsons. They are too awkward and almost seem to be aimed directly at kids, instead of a more general audience.

I thought "Gilmore Girls" had a very strong series premiere. I also loved "Sex and the City" from the begining, but I only got to see on DVD. "Buffy" was another good first episode, and "Cheers" as well.

I agree with Smallville & Oz, both of those hooked you with the 1st ep.

Another one for me, though I'm starting to go away from it, was John Doe.

Third Rock from the Sun.

And Quantum Leap was da bomb!

Smallville, OZ and John Doe here also!

I will also thrown out Sportscenter!

Sopranos

The Shield was by far the best.

Sopranos was good. I also liked Smallville.

Angel's first episode was great to me, but then it may not count, being a Buffy spin-off.

I thought Scrubs had a strong first episode, for a comedy.

ed.

I loved the pilot of Remington Steele, and Moonlighting for that matter. And Alias grabbed you from the get-go and refused to let you go.

the ones that immediately hit me:
sports night
west wing
undeclared
ed
and 24

The first episode of Dallas may not be the best, but it's an eyepopper. A surreal 60 minutes of everyone drinking hard liquor to get over their problems and an outdoor party with black stereotypes serving the Ewings and their guests. The show began taking a different feel the very next episode, which is a good thing because it wouldn't have lasted 2 months otherwise.

Homicide: Life on the Street

that was the first show I thought of. I'll never forget the image of the officers being gunned down. In a lot of ways, it changed TV forever.
Also, Homicide: Life on the Street, which I think is the best cop show in the history of TV and if FOX had shown it in its original production order, Firefly.

Another cartoon: Invader Zim. Gir and the Tallests still make me laugh every time.

Despite the lack of Joe Rogan and not seeing the character of Catherine, I still think the pilot of News Radio was great.

Sopranos
Sienfeld
Futurama

and I only watched the first three or so seasons but the first episode of E.R. was great (kinda suprised no one mentioned it yet)