buckeyes8604

Alias, no question. The best pilot I've seen.

TGM

While I LOVE The Shield, I found the first episode to be pretty routine and boring, except for that huge WTF moment in the final minute.

Shannon Nutt

But the problem is that many in the industry and MOST in the media still refer to a first episode as the "pilot episode". Just like most still refer to movies shot digitally as "film", I suppose.

Traxan

"ER" was out of the starting gate in a big way.

RichC2

I actually didn't really like the pilot for LOST. It wasn't bad, just kind of boring - enjoy the overall series though. Also didn't care for the 24 pilot all that much, it was decent but the acting was really pretty horrible in it which constantly took me out of it and sort of brought it to b-grade Straight-to-video action movie territory. Took a few episodes to settle into the groove of it.

Fargo had an excellent pilot. Really enjoyed Breaking Bad's as well.

yoshimi

David Lynch's two hour Twin Peaks pilot is still better than most movies.

BearFan

Lost and Mad Men

Tom Creo

The Shield and Big Love.

van der graaf

The Shield.

joltman

I don't know if it's the best, but my first thought for a good one was Modern Family. Too bad the show isn't as good as it used to be.

Quatermass

It's been a long time since I saw it, but I remember Millennium had a good first episode.

Dan

All of these!

YES! And especially for the reason mentioned. In the later seasons, I think the willingness to do this was practically gone until the last season, when it just became a free-for-all, and less compelling as a result.

I'll add:
Wonderfalls
HIMYM
Firefly

and so many more I can't think of.

funkyryno

The first episode of Alias hooked me.

van der graaf

Which one?

EDIT: Everyone not mentioning the Shield must not have seen it.

MrSmearkase

I thought that said Arliss for a minute

Rockmjd23

Conversely, what good shows had lousy pilots?

Hiro11

First one that came to mind is Battlestar Galactica reboot. That's an outrageously good pilot. "33" is the first episode and might be my favorite TV episode of all time, but it's not a pilot.

Freaks and Geeks is my personal favorite, probably. The first few shots alone (Freaks under the stands, Geeks getting tormented) perfectly establish what the show is about, the tone of the show and what kind of people the show will follow.

One from left field: Profit, a very obscure early ninties show, had one of the best pilots I can remember.

Hiro11

The entire first season of "Seinfeld" was pretty dire overall. Also, the first episode of "Band of Brothers" is easily my least favorite episode. It's not terrible, but it almost stopped me from watching the rest of the show...

Dan

Are there multiple versions? I'm admittedly ignorant here. I assumed the first episode, as it appears on Netflix, is the pilot.

I'll also submit Earth 2. The rest of the season may have ended up kind of terrible, but I remember loving the very first episode.

Oh, and the alternate pilot of Archer is... special.

Maxflier

Lost

Rockmjd23

Yeah, and Kramer was Kessler

OldBoy

man, i have to see The Shield first ep again as soon as possible!

OldBoy

I've always thought of Seinfeld as fairly dark in the beginning. Jerry getting shot by Feds in dream sequence for illegally installing cable. and more that escapes me right now...

Jadzia

Updated thread title as per OP request.

OldBoy