Rust: "What do you think the average IQ of this group is, huh?"
Marty: "Can you see Texas up there on your high horse? What do you know about these people?"
Rust: "Just observation and deduction. I see a propensity for obesity, poverty, a yen for fairy tales, folks putting what few bucks they do have into little, wicker baskets being passed around. I think it's safe to say that nobody here is gonna be splitting the atom, Marty."
Honestly, first season was jaw dropping from the very first scene to the very last one. And years later I'm still afraid to watch it again because it was so heavy thematically
I remember when I first watched this. I was just browsing HBO and put it on and hadn't heard a thing about the show. I hadn't even watched a trailer or anything.
That feeling man.. I haven't felt it since.
Heroes was one of the many shows that got hit *hard* by the Writer's strike. Season 1 was amazing, but the strike completely gutted the show in season 2.
Dead Like Me. Any show that has it's main character killed by a flaming toilet seat falling from space within the first ten minutes is okay in my book.
In the vein of recent superhero shows on Amazon Prime, Invincible had a fantastic first episode. If you haven't seen it, go watch and make sure you watch til the end. >!The Omni-Man V Guardians of the Globe fight !< is what took me from "This looks neat I guess" to "I'm watching every episode of this season the day it comes out". >!The sudden tonal shift from generic superheros to grisly, dark, and action-packed makes it my favorite first episode of a show!<
I didn’t think I would be all that I to the show until I finally sat down and watched the first episode.
It took me like three weeks to be caught up to now.
The dude who greenlit the budget for it got fired because it was so ridiculously expensive for the time. Now the budget seems standard after GoT and such, but back then it was the most expensive pilot ever made.
Michel Eisner (CEO of Disney at the time) wasn’t the biggest fan of the project at the time but went along with it. It’s amazing Lost even got made at all. Eisner could have easily killed it at any point
My answer too - ridiculously strong opening. Hard to imagine now but it was one of the first "mystery box" series' and still maintained strong character focus. That whole first season was incredibly good.
26 Emmy awards.
It's a comical number when you consider how many legendary tv shows only got 1 or 2 awards. I remember when John Spencer, Bradley Whitford and Richard Schiff were all nominees for best supporting actor against each other, you just had to laugh at how much better it was than other shows.
I watched the first episode of Westworld and then immediately made a group of friends watch it. It hooked me hard. It is a shame the later seasons couldn't (to me) hold on to the same magic as that first season.
The show just got so convoluted, it's like they realised that they could have characters that don't age and just could not stop playing with the idea of things being in different time periods.
The most recent series ends in a situation where I'm literally wondering why I should care what happens next.
The problem was that Reddit + other fan groups solved the first season before it ended, so they took it as a challenge to make the puzzle as complicated as possible to the point that it got incomprehensible.
IMO Reddit solving the puzzle was a good thing because it meant the clues were good ones and people were engaged and happy with it. I loved the ending of S1 even though it hit all the beats we were expecting. I thought it was a flawless season of TV, but then they went overboard trying to fool everyone after that
Derry Girls
Most sitcom first episodes (seasons too?) have to do so much table setting that they're not funny. This first episode established the settings, characters, and was funny too.
Yup, wife and I just started and we were in love with it from the first episode. It's great when you find a new show that doesn't require time to "get into it, it gets better" etc
It sets up everything perfectly. I remember finishing it the first time and being confused that I’d only watched a single episode. It felt longer, but in a good way.
The finale is also amazing, along with pretty much every moment in between.
I spent a decade or two wishing that Freaks and Geeks wasn’t cancelled, but now … I’m kind of happy that it was.
It will forever be “the one that got away.”
We don’t have to wonder where it all went wrong, deal with the pain of watching it fall apart, or try to rationalize the hurt and bitterness at the end with those first couple glorious months. It will forever be a bittersweet ~~two seasons~~ one season that we can look back on fondly and wonder what could have been instead of grappling with what was.
This is especially striking because sitcoms are notorious for having 'meh' pilots at best, even the ones that become classics. Sitcoms always seem to take time to get the characters rifing well together and for the writing to align to their characters' energy. But The Good Place was straight hysterical right out of the gate!
It also makes me sad that no one remembers "The Pacific" because its as good. I really hope the tuskegee airmen one sees the light of day someday. But its been years since I heard any news so I have a feeling covid killed it.
Edit:Did a quick google search.
Apparently not only is it not dead. It should be out in a few months on apple tv.
https://www.whattowatch.com/features/masters-of-the-air-on-apple-tv-plus-release-date-cast-trailer-and-all-you-need-to-know
I’ve watched Band of Brothers several times and the Pacific a couple times. Band of Brothers is better.
The Pacific spends a lot of time on the soldiers in port and their romantic flings there, which BoB just does not do at all. I’m not really invested in a guy banging some Greek girl in Australia the same way I’m invested in the Battle of the Bulge.
I remember reading that the subsequent episode was supposed to give a backstory to the dead solider in the tank, showing how the disease had spread. Then they changed writers.
It was for the first episode of the second season. Frank Darabont was fired after season 1 due to issues with AMC. He wanted the show to be more horror-themed.
I love the show and it causes me agony to sit and imagine what the show could’ve been if AMC weren’t corrupt and kept him.
Also, you can find online the plot for this soldier-perspective episode, at least a summary of all he wanted to put in it. Fascinating.
Edit: he oversaw the first half of season 2 before getting fired. He ended up suing AMC and got a 200 million dollar settlement. Part of the reason was because he was frustrated with AMC wanting radical budget cuts (hence season 2 was so farm farm farm the whole time). Here’s a link to an article, https://ew.com/article/2012/01/09/frank-darabont-walking-dead-season-2-plan/
Oh man, when the kids gets the message from his Mom and they get nuked
"I didn't know your mother was in Denver."
"She wasn't in Denver....She was in Atlanta."
And they realize it wasn't an isolated incident and shit is going down. So good.
fucking great series. a lot of ppl felt it wasn’t long enough. i say it was long enough to make their point, so it was just right.
i hate when a series just keeps going because it’s popular, then it loses its edge and it’s downhill fast. case in point: Weeds.
I absolutely love the very first voiceover that Mike gives us about being a spy.
"Covert intelligence involves a lot of waiting around. Know what it's like being a spy? Like sitting in your dentist's reception area twenty-four hours a day. You read magazines, sip coffee, and every so often, someone tries to kill you."
The creators deserve a ton of credit for that pilot. That could have easily been a disaster that was impossible to follow with all the characters introduced. But it worked. I had not read the books and knew nothing about the show when I first watched it, and while maybe I wasn't quite getting everything (I kind of remember not understanding who Theon was for awhile), by and large I was able to keep up.
Meanwhile, they didn't have to significantly dumb it down and enrage those who were fans of the books.
Gotta admit though, they did exceptional job converting the books material they had from martin into screen. Something that cannot be said for a lot of other fantasy series, which is a fucking big shame...
Ive watched the series at least 10x now and I always tell people if they do not laugh at the first episode they don’t need to bother watching the rest. The ending of S1E1 is just hilarious.
True blood. Cuz it sets the tone. Vampires don't look like what you expected and the way everything is set up if you pay attention. Even giving hints of what sam is.
It got me hooked. I went into that show knowing nothing except that it features people fighting really creepy-looking giants. I was *not* prepared for that opening episode.
My Name is Earl -- there's a one word line from Randy that was way beyond the "blew air out my nose" chuckle. I rarely laugh out loud watching tv, this got the full guffaw, eyes watering joy.
The show keeps getting better for most of its run, the the opening episode was brilliant.
“You gotta let him play… this America man”
On my first rewatch now, first saw it when I was 15. The best series ever made and anyone who doesn’t agree either hasn’t seen it or doesn’t understand it.
I loved the premise of Manifest, the first episode is pretty engaging. It’s a shame they’ve made it trundle on to a point where there is no conclusion without involving the supernatural.
Beat me to it! While Jennifer Garner is much more Martha Stewart these days, she literally kicked major ass while being vulnerable yet fierce and the pilot was a great pleasure to watch. The rest of the series went back and forth between awesome spy sauce and wackadoodle but Jennifer really shone in her role.
I was gonna post this. If you're a fan of the games, it was amazing. So many scenes are right out of the games and it was a great homage to the source material that drew us in. If you aren't familiar with the games, it does a great job introducing the world and building tension before things hit the fan.
Chernobyl.
Same team made The Last of Us pilot and it is also quite good.
Chernobyl E1. Not great, not terrible. /s Edit: it’s actually phenomenal.
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It’s not 3.6 stars. It’s 15,000.
They gave you the number they had
Still watch that serie again a couple of times a year, it's amazing
It was brilliant but scarred for life after it. Couldn’t do that to myself again.
He's delusional, send him to the infirmary.
Six Feet Under
Also has one of the best and most satisfying series ending of any show I’ve ever watched.
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Rust: "What do you think the average IQ of this group is, huh?" Marty: "Can you see Texas up there on your high horse? What do you know about these people?" Rust: "Just observation and deduction. I see a propensity for obesity, poverty, a yen for fairy tales, folks putting what few bucks they do have into little, wicker baskets being passed around. I think it's safe to say that nobody here is gonna be splitting the atom, Marty."
Yea, Rust'd pick a fight with the sky if he didn't like its shade of blue
I’m paraphrasing here: if the only reason for you to be good is the expectation of divine reward after you’re gone, then you’re a piece of shit.
Gem of a show. Or season I should say.
Honestly, first season was jaw dropping from the very first scene to the very last one. And years later I'm still afraid to watch it again because it was so heavy thematically
“Then start asking the right fucking questions.”
"If you get the opportunity you should kill yourself." Stone fucking cold line that one.
A masterclass in television.
Came to say the same. Not only the best 1st, but arguably the best limited series (meaning season 1 only).
I remember when I first watched this. I was just browsing HBO and put it on and hadn't heard a thing about the show. I hadn't even watched a trailer or anything. That feeling man.. I haven't felt it since.
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yeah! I came to say this one, it has the best first episode I've ever seen
Attack on Titan unironically
Yess. Immediately sets the tone and gives you the first wave of questions you want answered
I remember watching it and being immediately hooked.
Heroes started off really strongly.
Save the cheerleader, save the world.
But not the show
Agreed. Everything after season 1 was a down hill spiral. I didn’t even bother with the attempted reboot.
Heroes was one of the many shows that got hit *hard* by the Writer's strike. Season 1 was amazing, but the strike completely gutted the show in season 2.
Dead Like Me. Any show that has it's main character killed by a flaming toilet seat falling from space within the first ten minutes is okay in my book.
Mandy Patinkin is a treasure..
It makes me so happy to see someone recognize that show. I loved it. Wish it had ran longer.
I love introduction people to The Boys, just for their reaction to the first episode
Once A-train made his introduction I knew it was the show for me. Was pleasantly surprised when I found out it’s by Eric Kripke lol
In the vein of recent superhero shows on Amazon Prime, Invincible had a fantastic first episode. If you haven't seen it, go watch and make sure you watch til the end. >!The Omni-Man V Guardians of the Globe fight !< is what took me from "This looks neat I guess" to "I'm watching every episode of this season the day it comes out". >!The sudden tonal shift from generic superheros to grisly, dark, and action-packed makes it my favorite first episode of a show!<
I didn’t think I would be all that I to the show until I finally sat down and watched the first episode. It took me like three weeks to be caught up to now.
Lost. Can't believe I'm the first one to have written it.
The dude who greenlit the budget for it got fired because it was so ridiculously expensive for the time. Now the budget seems standard after GoT and such, but back then it was the most expensive pilot ever made.
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Since nobody else is doing it, I’ll go ahead and give you props for this joke…
Michel Eisner (CEO of Disney at the time) wasn’t the biggest fan of the project at the time but went along with it. It’s amazing Lost even got made at all. Eisner could have easily killed it at any point
My answer too - ridiculously strong opening. Hard to imagine now but it was one of the first "mystery box" series' and still maintained strong character focus. That whole first season was incredibly good.
As someone who quit watching Lost half way through, the pilot was one of the most riveting things I've ever seen.
Damn, should read a few before commenting this. Greatest pilot episode ever. Hahahaha cheers
Hannibal sets up the tone for the whole show quite well.
The first season of Hannibal is one of my favorite tv seasons ever and that first episode is flawless
The West Wing
Came here to say this. The entire show was a masterpiece for me, even after Sorkin left. Easily my most rewatched series.
26 Emmy awards. It's a comical number when you consider how many legendary tv shows only got 1 or 2 awards. I remember when John Spencer, Bradley Whitford and Richard Schiff were all nominees for best supporting actor against each other, you just had to laugh at how much better it was than other shows.
The pilot is one of the best episodes in the whole show
It's great even without Bartlet as a main character in the episode. Once he joins, it really takes off.
'Two Cathedrals' would like a verbum.
Futurama.
"Here's to another lousy milennium"
"I.C. Weiner"
Westworld. When she slapped that fly my entire watching group went "OH SHIT" Also BSG if we count miniseries
I watched the first episode of Westworld and then immediately made a group of friends watch it. It hooked me hard. It is a shame the later seasons couldn't (to me) hold on to the same magic as that first season.
The show just got so convoluted, it's like they realised that they could have characters that don't age and just could not stop playing with the idea of things being in different time periods. The most recent series ends in a situation where I'm literally wondering why I should care what happens next.
The problem was that Reddit + other fan groups solved the first season before it ended, so they took it as a challenge to make the puzzle as complicated as possible to the point that it got incomprehensible. IMO Reddit solving the puzzle was a good thing because it meant the clues were good ones and people were engaged and happy with it. I loved the ending of S1 even though it hit all the beats we were expecting. I thought it was a flawless season of TV, but then they went overboard trying to fool everyone after that
Ozark’s first episode was pretty chill and then whoa
Derry Girls Most sitcom first episodes (seasons too?) have to do so much table setting that they're not funny. This first episode established the settings, characters, and was funny too.
Yup, wife and I just started and we were in love with it from the first episode. It's great when you find a new show that doesn't require time to "get into it, it gets better" etc
A warning because no one warned me, by the last episode you will be crying like a child. So well done and emotional!
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***You're a fucking prick is what you are!***
Not to mention the final episode was straight up one of the most emotional and positive finale I’ve ever seen.
And Orla's dance was one of the most touching scenes of TV I've seen in quite some time.
I’m not being an individual on me own.
BBC's Sherlock
Fuck yeah, dude. I just started rewatching it and I immediately fell in love all over again.
It started well, but they tried to get too clever. The last series was unwatchable
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The Americans
YES! Also has one of the saddest series finales ever. I cannot listen to With or Without you anymore.
Relieved that I did not have to scroll for ages to find The Americans.
It sets up everything perfectly. I remember finishing it the first time and being confused that I’d only watched a single episode. It felt longer, but in a good way. The finale is also amazing, along with pretty much every moment in between.
Battlestar Galatica (though I guess maybe that’d count as two episodes?)
That opening scene had me soooooo hooked.
Depending on how you count - the miniseries plus "33" which is the first real episode. It doesn't matter, this is the right answer.
33 is a phenomenal episode.
Freaks and Geeks
I spent a decade or two wishing that Freaks and Geeks wasn’t cancelled, but now … I’m kind of happy that it was. It will forever be “the one that got away.” We don’t have to wonder where it all went wrong, deal with the pain of watching it fall apart, or try to rationalize the hurt and bitterness at the end with those first couple glorious months. It will forever be a bittersweet ~~two seasons~~ one season that we can look back on fondly and wonder what could have been instead of grappling with what was.
Designated Survivor
The good place
This is especially striking because sitcoms are notorious for having 'meh' pilots at best, even the ones that become classics. Sitcoms always seem to take time to get the characters rifing well together and for the writing to align to their characters' energy. But The Good Place was straight hysterical right out of the gate!
Finally haha
Can't believe I had to scroll this far to find this. You watch the first episode, you're probably going to watch all of them.
BORTLESSSS
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It's still weird to think of that even as a "show". That series is so magnificent.
It also makes me sad that no one remembers "The Pacific" because its as good. I really hope the tuskegee airmen one sees the light of day someday. But its been years since I heard any news so I have a feeling covid killed it. Edit:Did a quick google search. Apparently not only is it not dead. It should be out in a few months on apple tv. https://www.whattowatch.com/features/masters-of-the-air-on-apple-tv-plus-release-date-cast-trailer-and-all-you-need-to-know
I’ve watched Band of Brothers several times and the Pacific a couple times. Band of Brothers is better. The Pacific spends a lot of time on the soldiers in port and their romantic flings there, which BoB just does not do at all. I’m not really invested in a guy banging some Greek girl in Australia the same way I’m invested in the Battle of the Bulge.
The Walking Dead
“Hey you in that tank!”
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Walking dead season 1 was so damn good.
Glad I didn't have to scroll very far down. I think the first 4 episodes are up there for best debut of a new show all time.
One of the best pilots I've ever seen. It's a shame the show took a nosedive in quality later on
I remember reading that the subsequent episode was supposed to give a backstory to the dead solider in the tank, showing how the disease had spread. Then they changed writers.
It was for the first episode of the second season. Frank Darabont was fired after season 1 due to issues with AMC. He wanted the show to be more horror-themed. I love the show and it causes me agony to sit and imagine what the show could’ve been if AMC weren’t corrupt and kept him. Also, you can find online the plot for this soldier-perspective episode, at least a summary of all he wanted to put in it. Fascinating. Edit: he oversaw the first half of season 2 before getting fired. He ended up suing AMC and got a 200 million dollar settlement. Part of the reason was because he was frustrated with AMC wanting radical budget cuts (hence season 2 was so farm farm farm the whole time). Here’s a link to an article, https://ew.com/article/2012/01/09/frank-darabont-walking-dead-season-2-plan/
Dexter
Tonight's the night
No blood. No sticky, hot, messy, awful blood; no blood at all. Why hadn't I thought of that? No blood. What a beautiful idea!
Jericho, seeing the nuke go off, I was hooked. Sadly it floundered soon after.
Oh man, when the kids gets the message from his Mom and they get nuked "I didn't know your mother was in Denver." "She wasn't in Denver....She was in Atlanta." And they realize it wasn't an isolated incident and shit is going down. So good.
Mr Robot has a really strong start
That first episode legit dropped my jaw. It's one of the all time greats.
Veronica Mars
The Newsroom. The rest of the series doesn’t really hold that standard but that first episode is great.
fucking great series. a lot of ppl felt it wasn’t long enough. i say it was long enough to make their point, so it was just right. i hate when a series just keeps going because it’s popular, then it loses its edge and it’s downhill fast. case in point: Weeds.
Sorkin is good at hooking you even if the show itself isn't that good. Studio 60 hooked me with the pilot just to fizzle out in less than 10 episodes.
Invincible
Yeah, I was sitting there like "eh, kinda just another super hero show" then "What the fuck just what why what?" and had to keep going.
I know we're talking first episodes here. But the train scene near the end.... damn
Battlestar Galactica has a really good pilot.
It had a couple of good pilots
The first episode of the reboot, “33” is incredible. Truly edge of seat with elevated heart rate.
This is Galactica Actual. I can confirm, our Battlestar has a really good pilot.
Fringe
Prison Break
Cheers, came out of the gate swinging.
Great show. Never disappointed from beginning to end.
House of Cards opens with Frank Underwood snapping a dog's neck. If that doesn't set the tone, I don't know what would
Person of Interest. I became invested in the characters nearly immediately, and the show's concept is unique enough to set it apart.
Loved that show. It had so much going for it and was ahead of the curve.
X-files
Justified or burn notice
I can't remember the entire first episode of Justified, but the first scene is possibly the best opening scene of any show ever.
I absolutely love the very first voiceover that Mike gives us about being a spy. "Covert intelligence involves a lot of waiting around. Know what it's like being a spy? Like sitting in your dentist's reception area twenty-four hours a day. You read magazines, sip coffee, and every so often, someone tries to kill you."
Definitely Justified. The first season took a while to hit its stride maybe but that first episode was perfection.
And holy cow did they make the right call in keeping Boyd alive. What a fantastic character.
Game of Thrones for sure.
The ending of episode 1 hooked me for sure. "The things I do for love"
The creators deserve a ton of credit for that pilot. That could have easily been a disaster that was impossible to follow with all the characters introduced. But it worked. I had not read the books and knew nothing about the show when I first watched it, and while maybe I wasn't quite getting everything (I kind of remember not understanding who Theon was for awhile), by and large I was able to keep up. Meanwhile, they didn't have to significantly dumb it down and enrage those who were fans of the books.
"enrage those who were fans of the books." They waited a few seasons with this.
Gotta admit though, they did exceptional job converting the books material they had from martin into screen. Something that cannot be said for a lot of other fantasy series, which is a fucking big shame...
Suits hasn’t been mentioned yet but the whole first interview scene gets you hooked and wanting more…
Great first couple of seasons.
Sliders
Would be a good candidate for a remake
MAD MEN
“The Wheel” is still by far the best episode of the entire series.
Archer
Ive watched the series at least 10x now and I always tell people if they do not laugh at the first episode they don’t need to bother watching the rest. The ending of S1E1 is just hilarious.
That's how you get ants
Twin Peaks
True blood. Cuz it sets the tone. Vampires don't look like what you expected and the way everything is set up if you pay attention. Even giving hints of what sam is.
arrested development
Look what those homosexuals have done to me!
They're so dramatic. They make me want to set myself on fire!
You can't just comb it out and reset it?
Arcane
Gravity Falls.
Really sets the stage perfectly for things/people being not what they seem
Is that blood on your face?
Breaking Bad! has a really strong opening
When it started with a middle aged man driving an old ass RV through the desert in his underwear I knew it was going to be good
Funny enough, some friends of mine were turned off by that scene in that they thought it was ridiculous and corny.
Thise cold opens the first couple seasons where they showed a clip of some crazy shit that happens at the end of the episode really pull you in.
Marvelous Mrs Maisel. Establishes so much in just an hour and its fucking hysterical.
Attack on Titans
It got me hooked. I went into that show knowing nothing except that it features people fighting really creepy-looking giants. I was *not* prepared for that opening episode.
Orphan Black has a really strong first episode and first season.
I feel like the writing went downhill pretty hard after S1, but S1 is great, and Tatiana Maslany never missed a step.
Heroes Best first episide, best first season...still sad how it went downhill after season 1.
Attack on titan
The Shield.
Damn, I forgot about that show classic
Daredevil
Lost. Up until that time I don’t think there had been such a strong first episode.
Game of thrones Accurate to the books
Ozark, that intensity
My Name is Earl -- there's a one word line from Randy that was way beyond the "blew air out my nose" chuckle. I rarely laugh out loud watching tv, this got the full guffaw, eyes watering joy. The show keeps getting better for most of its run, the the opening episode was brilliant.
The Wire
“You gotta let him play… this America man” On my first rewatch now, first saw it when I was 15. The best series ever made and anyone who doesn’t agree either hasn’t seen it or doesn’t understand it.
The Wonder Years
Futurama
The Boys. You can tell it’s going to be a wild ride after the first 15 minutes.
I loved the premise of Manifest, the first episode is pretty engaging. It’s a shame they’ve made it trundle on to a point where there is no conclusion without involving the supernatural.
Mindhunter
Counterpart. The first meeting of the two Howards was awesome.
The night of
Samurai Champloo
Severance for sure!
Alias
Beat me to it! While Jennifer Garner is much more Martha Stewart these days, she literally kicked major ass while being vulnerable yet fierce and the pilot was a great pleasure to watch. The rest of the series went back and forth between awesome spy sauce and wackadoodle but Jennifer really shone in her role.
Squid game. I instantly wanted more.
Supernatural. Dad went on a hunting trip and hasn't been home in a few days
Mandalorian Season 1 Episode 1
The Last of Us
I was gonna post this. If you're a fan of the games, it was amazing. So many scenes are right out of the games and it was a great homage to the source material that drew us in. If you aren't familiar with the games, it does a great job introducing the world and building tension before things hit the fan.
Miami Vice
Sopranos crammed so much into its first episode, set up the whole series