I didn't want to turn this into a "Top 5" or anything, but I was just watching the Twin Peaks pilot for the millionth time and I'm amazed how good it still is. Other favorites over the years include the pilots of Millennium, 24 and The Simpsons (the Christmas episode, not the Tracy Ullman stuff).

What are your favorite TV pilots? Not just the first episodes of your favorite shows, but ones that really did their jobs well: introducing new characters and environments, establishing a mood, and of course keeping you glued to your seat.

Twin Peaks
Keen Eddie

The Shield

Nip/tuck
Rescue Me
Coupling-UK (one of the few comedy pilots that was strong)
NYPD Blue
Gilmore Girls
Lost
Desparate Housewives

i know it's recent, but the LOST 2-hour pilot was great. and definitely kept me glued to my seat.

From a "known" show: Six Feet Under

From a "not-so-known show" : G vs. E (I want my dvd treatment dammit!)

24 Season 1

Wow! Just..... wow!

I think the pilots to The Shield and Alias ("Truth be Told") are two of the best in recent memory. "Hill Street Station" also stands out, as does "Where is Everybody?"

das

The Office & Arrested Development

Gotta go with Alias, the Shield, and NYPD Blue as pilots that were jaw dropping.

"She's dead. Wrapped in plastic."
I've gotta second the Twin Peaks mention.

Also, the Freaks and Geeks pilot episode was great. I can't hear "Come Sail Away" now without thinking of that episode.

Another for Arrested Development

The Shield - being it sort of starts off as another ho hum cop show but ramps up really quickly and ends with a shock that shows this cop show is going to be very different..

most pilots end with a like or dislike of a show, even if that's not fair to the show to base it off one ep.. The Shield was on the the few shows were I felt I HAD to see more eps.. that's really the goal of a show pilot ep in the first place IMO.. To "hook ya"

Recently, i'd have to go with Alias and 24..

Amen! I feel the same way.

I also liked the pilot episode of "The Wonder Years".

Alias, Rescue Me, and Keen Eddie.

Hill Street Blues
Lost
M*A*S*H
L. A. Law - "If he's really dead, dibs on the office." - Arnie Becker
The Prisoner

Another vote for Alias..........Watched it again recently and even though I've now seen it probably 10 times, it is still thrilling...........

Oh, though of another - Lookwell. Just saw it recently, great stuff. Would've worked really well as a movie

Nowhere Man - Good enough to be a movie, too bad the rest of the series never lived up to it.

Gargoyles

FRASIER had a kick-ass pilot.

The audience clapped a lot out of sustained laughter, and it certainly quelled any fears that it wouldn't be as good as CHEERS.

Another vote here for The Shield...definately established the mood for the show, and i was hooked from the beginning.

Aside from the others mentioned (Alias, The Shield), the pilot episode of Boomtown was pretty good:

"Not quite the Ganges, is it? Not really a river any more. Used to flood like a son of a bitch back when I was a boy. They paved it all over in the 50's. London's got the Thames, Paris' got the Seine, Vienna's got the Blue Danube. LA's got a concrete drainage ditch. That's all we got - it'll have to do."

Maybe because it is pretty recent and it sticks out in my mind, but the first thing I thought of was Veronica Mars. By the end of that first hour I was hooked, and hooked good.

The ACTUAL pilot for Firefly (Serenity) was really good too.

Good call. Still haven't cracked open that DVD set.