TV shows usually don’t find their footing for a few episodes — or even a few seasons — but some shows have come right out of the gate with a perfect pilot episode. Some of the greatest TV shows ever made, from Seinfeld to Buffy, got off to a rough start with their first episode. But there have been plenty of great pilots.
10
The Sopranos
The pilot episode of The Sopranos doesn’t quite mesh tonally with the series that would follow — it plays more like a quirky dark comedy than a surreal drama with darkly comedic elements — but it did make an impression with its first episode. David Chase instantly established his own idiosyncratic take on the gangster genre when he sent his mob boss to a psychiatrist.
With Tony Soprano’s first visit to Dr. Melfi, it was clear that this would be much more introspective than the average gangster show — and one of television’s most iconic character dynamics arrived fully formed. The scene with the ducks in the pool is still remembered today; it set Tony apart from stoic characters like Vito Corleone and Paul Cicero.
9
The X-Files
Chris Carter came up with a juicy premise for The X-Files: a case-of-the-week buddy-cop series about a pair of FBI agents who investigate paranormal activity and UFO sightings. It was a perfect sci-fi twist on the standard crime procedural. But premises are easy; the success of a TV pilot lies in the execution, and Carter nailed the execution.
He deftly set up the premise with brief but informative exposition and quickly got into the real key to The X-Files’ success: Mulder and Scully’s dynamic. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson had fizzling on-screen chemistry right off the bat, and their characters are polar opposites — Mulder is a believer, while Scully is a skeptic — which made their relationship compelling from the outset.
8
The West Wing
The West Wing gave us a peek behind the curtain as the U.S. president and his staff, and the pilot episode was the perfect introduction to the show’s high-stakes Washington drama. The damage control around reports that President Bartlet rode his bicycle into a tree demonstrates just how much scrutiny this guy is under.
Like all great pilots, The West Wing’s first episode tells a gripping self-contained story while seamlessly weaving in worldbuilding and character development for the larger series it’s building. But the true M.V.P. of this pilot — and the show that followed — is Aaron Sorkin’s sumptuous, razor-sharp dialogue.
7
Orphan Black
Very few TV pilots have gripped audiences quite as quickly as Orphan Black. Within the first few minutes, a woman witnesses her own doppelgänger jumping in front of a train and decides to steal her identity. This opening instantly leaves you with so many questions. Who was this doppelgänger? Why did she take her own life? Will the identity theft scheme work out?
From there, the episode keeps begging more and more questions. More doppelgängers show up, and someone is trying to kill them. The stakes keep getting raised, the questions keep getting asked, and the puzzles keep getting deeper. This is mystery-box storytelling at its finest, and it hooked viewers from the outset.
6
The Walking Dead
The pilot episode of The Walking Dead, “Days Gone Bye,” feels like a movie. It follows Rick Grimes as he awakens from a coma in an empty hospital and slowly comes to the horrifying realization that the world has ended. Frank Darabont directed the episode as a blockbuster spectacle worthy of the big screen, but never lost sight of the emotional core.
There’s a lot of gruesome fun to be had in watching Rick traverse a zombie-infested city and narrowly avoid scrapes with the undead. But it’s not just mindless action; Rick forges a strong friendship with Morgan Jones, and he remains committed to finding his wife and son, however unlikely it is that they’re still alive.
5
Arrested Development
Arrested Development had a lot to set up in its first episode: a faux-documentary format, an over-the-top satire of celebrity real estate developers and fraudulent business practices, and just shy of a dozen major characters. And Mitch Hurwitz’s Emmy-winning script effortlessly introduces all these elements to the audience without having it feel like homework.
Despite the mountain of exposition that Hurwitz has to get through, he still manages to cram in as many jokes as he can on every page. Arrested Development has one of the highest gag rates of any TV comedy ever made — it rivals the golden age of The Simpsons — and the pilot episode introduced that joke quotient from the get-go.
4
Lost
Throughout Lost’s six seasons, it would make a few missteps in its enigmatic storytelling and ultimately divide its fan base with a confounding series finale. But everyone can agree that the show got off to a stellar start with a mind-blowing pilot episode. Lost’s pilot jumps right into the action with Jack Shephard stumbling through the wreckage of the plane crash.
The pilot has stunning visuals, plenty of blockbuster action spectacle, and it begs a lot of intriguing questions about the island with the first appearances of the polar bears and the smoke monster. But above all, it’s a pitch-perfect introduction to all these great characters — not just Jack, but also Kate, Sawyer, Charlie, Hurley, and the rest of the ensemble.
3
Breaking Bad
Vince Gilligan didn’t waste any time setting up the unique premise of Breaking Bad. By the end of the pilot episode, mild-mannered high school teacher and family man Walter White has been diagnosed with lung cancer, resolved to cook meth to pay his medical bills, established his partnership with former student Jesse Pinkman, and even committed his first murder.
This episode perfectly set up the wild, unpredictable ride that Breaking Bad would be. It set Walt on the path from Mr. Chips to Scarface, it introduced us to his precarious double life (the dramatic backbone of the series), and it demonstrated that Bryan Cranston’s dramatic range went far beyond what he’d shown us in Malcolm in the Middle.
2
The Last Of Us
The first episode of The Last of Us, “When You’re Lost in the Darkness,” set up everything that needed to be set up, and did so succinctly while letting the dramatic beats breathe. We’re introduced to the fungal pandemic, the zombie-infested world it created, and most importantly, the central bond between Joel and Ellie.
The pilot recaptures everything that made the video game so special: cinematic visuals, an eerie atmosphere, and powerful performances grounding this post-apocalyptic saga in an emotional reality. And since it wasn’t beholden to action and gameplay, it was able to lean more on the drama with additional scenes developing Sarah’s character and a haunting cold open introducing the grave threat of warm fungi.
1
Twin Peaks
David Lynch and Mark Frost brought a supernatural twist to the soap opera with their visionary series Twin Peaks. It’s dressed up as a typical small-town soap with a sprawling ensemble of colorful characters and a sleepy rural setting, but it has a lot more paranormal activity and interdimensional apparitions than the average soap.
The first few minutes of the series set the tone perfectly. The opening shows the peace and tranquility of this quaint little town, then the appearance of Laura Palmer’s plastic-wrapped corpse immediately hints at its hidden dark side. Twin Peaks’ feature-length pilot episode is one of Lynch’s best movies (even though it’s technically not a movie).
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