Best Pilot Episodes Ever

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I agree. I really wasn't all that impressed with the B5 pilot movie (i.e., The Gathering). It was interesting, but it didn't grab me like some other shows. It's one of my all-time favorite Sci-Fi TV shows. I always liked it way better than Star Trek. B5 had one of the best series finales of any show, IMHO. I loved the way that every episode had an impact on the overall storyline, even though it may not have been evident at the time.

BTW, there's some interesting posts in the resurrected B5 thread you might want to check out.

I liked the Battlestar Galactica reboot much better than the original campy mess, but the pilot didn't grab me either. However, the quick zoom photography used in the space shots got old real quick and got to be downright annoying after a while. The shots of the spacecraft ended up having somewhat of a Space 1999 feel.

 

Have you seen the pilot?

Doesn't the idea of making a comedy out of Stalag 17 seem absurd?

Yes, I loved them both too.

 

Hellcats. And the season delivered everything the pilot promised.

Oh, and the first Batman: the Animated Series hooked me too - and delivered.

 

Heroes
American Crime
Dexter
American Horror Story
From Dusk Till Dawn
Quantum Leap

 

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I'll disagree on BB. For me, a "best pilot" episode means it instantly hooks you. No matter whether it ultimately satisfies you or not, you were hooked from day one. BB I think I actually started twice and gave up. Only a couple years later did I stick with it for a couple episodes, and finally get hooked.

Heroes as I recall had a great pilot. Instantly hooked. And stayed hooked until Tim Kring turned wussy in the first season finale.

LOST was another great pilot.

 

That's right, I had forgotten how good the pilot of Quantum Leap was.

 

Brooklyn South, with the shoot-out outside the police precinct.

 

Yep. The pilot was it for me. Instantly hooked.

 

I like most of these shows listed....even love a lot of these shows listed.

I have never, however, been as blown away by a pilot as I was from 'Lost'.

I burned it to DVDs (haha - nostalgia) and passed it out to my friends so they could experience it.

BB is one of my favorite shows ever...I liked it more than lost - but it took a couple tries and 5 episodes or so, to hook me.

 

Totally agree, Lost had a legendary pilot, probably one of the best I've ever seen, now of course I loved all the rest of it but the pilot raised the bar for what a pilot could be and I'm not sure there have been any heirs to the throne.

 

Lost had the added advantage of being one of the first in the HD age, so not only had we never seen anything like it, we never COULD have seen anything like it. Which added to its considerable impact (assuming you first saw it in HD, of course!).

Kind of like seeing the starship zoom overhead at the beginning of Star Wars, only for two hours.

 

I might have to rewatch the pilot for Lost. I don't recall being blown away by it. I certainly enjoyed it and really enjoyed the show in general.

ETA: The app Can I Stream It let me down. It says that Lost is not available on Netflix, but it is. The TiVo app found it there for me.

 

Very true, although I didn't have HD at the time of the Pilot, the visuals were really great. Plus it had the advantage of being two hours so that it could really lay out the characters and the plot. Some pilots feel rushed because they are trying to introduce too many characters or too much plot. OTOH, some seem to be missing something because they just don't have the time to properly introduce key pieces. Lost was just perfect in that respect.

 

I was years away from having HD at that point, IIRC

I had a 27" tube tv and a dish mounted to a 2X6 that was wedged in my apartment's bathroom window because they wouldn't let me install it properly. ...ah the good ole days

 

Space: Above and Beyond - such great potential

Profit (with Adrian Passdar - edgy & excellent, killed quickly!)

American Gothic (... someone's at the door!)

 

Question: Do 'pilot's really get made any more? Aren't most of what we're talking about here "first episodes" where most of the first season is already in the bag and going to be aired?

 

A lot of times the 1st episode is simply titled "Pilot" for many new series. Pilots are usually done to show to the networks as an audition. If they like what they see then they'll order more episodes. Sometimes pilots are remade and the original is never aired.

 

Loved that series and own the DVDs but the series seemed to lose focus the deeper into the show they got.

Lost would probably be my choice.
Firefly was the best premiere that did not air as the premiere.

 

That used to be the case much of the time, but nowadays they tend to just air the pilot as shot and make adjustments starting in the second episode (unless the changes are drastic, like recasting...but even then, e.g. see Constantine). Cheaper that way.

 

Favorite pilot is M*A*S*H.

Fun plot and good character intro. But you kinda needed to see the movie to figure out what was going on.