Best Pilot You've Seen?
 

I was going through my TV-on-DVDs today and I was looking through all the series and I started to think about the first episodes of the series. Some shows have truly amazing pilots, while others had rather horrible ones and it took several episodes to get the show going. And I was just wondering what pilots people find truly amazing and what pilots people find a little lackluster...


Amazing Pilots - "Everwood" (I can watch the pilot a hundred times and it still gets to me and gives me goose bumps), "Roswell" (another series where the pilot got everything from the acting, script, music completely right), and "Alias"

Lackluster - "Six Feet Under" (Many might disagree, but I personally find the pilot boring and without much pizzaz, or maybe it just doesn't hold up to repeated viewings), "The X-Files," and "Gilmore girls"

Gordo Cooper!



Oh, wait. Nevermind.

Everwood as well. The scene with Ephram and Andy on the front lawn is classic.

Lost. One of TV's finest premieres. I was at the edge of my seat and completely immersed in the story.

Dawson's Creek is a bit of a guilty pleasure, but the first episode has become an iconic image of teen angst.

Smallville premiere was one of a very few cinematic shows and it captured the story with both excitement and genuine respect.

The Shield. I still remember how shocked I was with the final minute of that show.

I also mentioned "Dawson's Creek" as well. I watched the show from pilot to series finale and loved every single moment of it. But I was very very young, too young, when the show premiered (I was 10) and a lot of the show went over my head. When the DVDs came out (starting when I was 15) I was able to watch the series finally through the eyes of a teenager and it continuously hit home. Watching the pilot durring the WBs final broadcast night (In my college dorm) it struck me just how perfect the pilot (and first two seasons) really was.

I'm not sure if you'll count this but the first episode of Dead Like Me from Showtime.

West Wing

Looking over my collection I'd say Sports Night, Titus, Nowhere Man and Brisco County Jr. all had pretty strong pilots.

Edited to add: The pilot of Boomtown was very good too, probably my favorite episode of the series.

The O.C.

Bought it on DVD, watched the pilot...and then watched the other 24 or so episode straight. I literally stayed awake 24 hours and watched the entire first season.

top five best:

#1 - Firefly (once it finally aired!)

The Shield
Twin Peaks
Veronica Mars

does the Battlestar Galactica miniseries count as a pilot? (it's kinda presented like that now on the DVD box set)

Most of the other shows I like only started out okay, but got much better as they went along.

Not a big fan of the 'Gilmore Girls' pilot. And 'The Wire' takes a while before its greatness becomes apparant.

I remember the pilot for ER was on opposite Monday Night Football in 1993. The Cowboys were playing and I love the Cowboys. But I kept forgetting to go back to ABC for the game as I was just enthralled with ER.

I felt the same way about Lost a few years ago too.

I agree completely about "Boomtown" and "West Wing."

I also thought "Freaks and Geeks" had a great pilot.

Lost, by a tropical island and more.

I agree with the inclusion of the Veronica Mars pilot. It just packed so much information into one episode.

And while I'm not sure if one would call it a pilot, the first episode of The Prisoner is, to me, one of the finest episodes of television ever.

And the other one I would mention is Arrested Development. Not only did it perfectly set up the premise of the show, but it was so funny to boot, but the kind of funny where you must watch it many times to pick up on all the jokes.

everwood, the shield

Wonderfalls

Friday Night Lights
Studio 60
Murder One

X-files, Sopranos, Oz, Roswell, Battlestar Gallactica, 24, Farscape and Stargate all got me on day one.

I'll have to go with LOST. It definitely got me hooked in the first 2 min.

Yup :up:

freaks and geeks
dawsons creek
the shield
24

I can't agree with Everwood and Roswell enough. All of the reasons for Everwood have already been expressed, but I'll reiterate the lawn scene. Speaking of which, where are my S2-4 dvds. :(

Another vote for Roswell. I was HOOKED from the teaser part prior to credits rolling.

I'm glad the OC sucked somebody else in. :) I thought it was dumb and then gave it a chance after my co-worked wouldn't shut up about it. However, as much as I enjoyed it, I wouldn't put it up there with Everwood and Roswell.

I'll have to rewatch Smallville. Given the inconsistency of the show though I have a feeling it will be a strech for me to put it in this category.

Desperate Housewives. It only took that first episode, and I was hooked.

Same thing with Six Feet Under. I absolutely couldn't stop thinking about it, until the next episode. It was unlike anything I'd seen on television.

Twin Peaks.

Lost - but what was weird about it, at least for me, was that I didn't know WTF the show was even about when it started, and obviously didn't know a whole lot after the pilot - but it definitely sucked me in more than any show has before or since.

LOST best pilot I ever seen

The one who crashed the plane and then was eaten? :hscratch:

Oh, good call with DH. Forgot about that one. That was an excellent pilot, and while I do still watch the show, I don't think it has ever reached the high level of the pilot again.

I thought of another of my all-time favorite pilots: Spaced.

E.R.
NYPD Blue

<i>Twin Peaks</i> is the only pilot I know of that could stand up as a great feature film. It should have been entered at Cannes.

Lost
Sopranos
Dead Like Me
Moonlighting, Miami Vice, Huff, Dexter, Oz and Prison Break are very good as well.

I don't know about that. The majority of Season 1 was great. Season 2 wasn't as great, but, certainly not as bad as many people think it was. I would say that "Bang", from Season 3, was up there with the pilot. That was just great television!

I'm not saying season 1 wasn't great. I thought it very much was, but I don't think any of those individual eps were as good as the pilot. Just my opinion.

I would say Lost or Carnivale

That's cool. I'm just trying to stimulate conversation. What about "Bang", from season three?

Haha, it's funny you should mention that episode. "Bang" was actually the episode where after watching I decided to drop the series altogether.

That's too bad. Not only was "Bang" an excellent episode, but, Season 3 was just an amazing season, overall. It may not have reached the complete excellence of Season 1, but, it was a major improvement over Season 2.

At any rate, I'm very excited about Season 4. I have a feeling that it's going to be one hell of a season!

Dawsons Creek is a terrible show.. I remember I was actually a fan when it first premiered until my cable provider stopped getting WB. So I decided to check it out all these years later and its really dull. The characters dont actually belong to this universe, Dawson is rather lame(all are outside of pacey) and is only interesting when he finally is allowed to follow his dream. It has that self-indulgant writing that is supposed to be so insightful but comes off as completely forced and unrealstic.

Everwood did Dawsons Creek much better.

Back on topic : Best Pilot would probably be The Shield off the top of my head. I never did watch all of LOST first episode so who knows.

Twin Peaks

Lost. I watched it at least 10-15 times before the show even premiered on TV.