I totally agree. I have only watched the pilot and I'm waiting for my dad to get back in town in 2 weeks so we can watch the rest of the episodes and I can't wait.
@reaver1414 a couple times u will think "hmm I wish the show explained that abit better" but other than that the show is fantastic and so far the years best show so enjoy
I came here to mention it! It's fantastic & refreshing to see a comic-book show on this level of pedigree & right from the get-go too. And I agree it's only gotten better imo.
I think the current streaming model of 'bingewatching' has more or less stifled the concept of pilot episodes. Pilot episodes usually are just singular episodes meant to hook the audience and pitch the show's idea to garner attention and financial support. Nowadays, a whole season is just released at the same time and show writers have to worry more on making the entire season consistently good instead of putting it all into the very first episode. Netflix cancelling shows after the reception of a first season, no matter how good the first episode may be, is also another reason.
I would even add to this and say that it seems like we are instead getting "pilot seasons" now. With the unfortunate downside being cliffhangers that never get resolved due to early cancellation.
The best example of this IMO is the walking dead, quality of show aside it came out before streaming services, and very clearly switched to the "every episode is a cliff hanger until the season finale" model of story telling. I say this because as a TWD fan and someone who still watched week to week until the end, it nearly feels like a different (better) show binged in the later seasons, while watching the episodes on their week to week release was PAINFUL
"Rose" from the 2005 reboot of Doctor Who is one of my all-time favourite pilot episodes. It introduced the viewer well to who the Doctor is and what they do and does it all from the companion's perspective. It's honestly really well done. It's also a great show, so if aliens, history and time travel are your kinda thing, give it a shot!
Can't wait for the second season of Severance. I still remember the day I watched the first episode when it came out. At first I kept my expectations low but after the first few minutes I was hooked.
I was so disappointed by that show! the first episode was gorgeous and intriguing, but imo it gave way to a lot of bloat and distended plot points going nowhere any time soon. I find the core concepts really interesting and I really wanted to love it :(
@@KC-2049 A lot of the plot points were set up for season 2. I think the show would be much better for you if you wait until it finished all seasons first and then you watch it, you'll end up appreciating the setup and foreshadowing at the start of the show
I’ve convinced multiple people of watching invincible by just showing them the first episode. Most captivating first episode I think I’ve seen along with breaking bad
I was going in completely blind, and the first 3/4 were...fine. Then the title card came and I thought "yeah, it's not groundbreaking, but I could watch some more episodes". And then... I was completely shocked, speechless and left with my mouth open. I don't think I'll ever experience something like this again.
"Into the Ring" is the perfect pilot to the show Daredevil. Just the first episode shows how well it balances everything, Matt Murdock as a character and his faith, his job as a lawyer, and his persona as a masked vigilante. All while also showing at least a little bit how his powers work. I would say some other shows that are super good, like 24, Better Call Saul, or the Clone Wars, but the pilot's arent as good as some of the later episodes.
i think dexter should've made the list it was the best pilot i watched in a while it got me hooked to the series.(and if sitcoms could've made the list brooklyn nine-nine would be the best pick, it had the best pilot episode in all of the sitcoms i've watched)
THANK YOU. All 6 seasons of Lost are AMAZING, even when I first watched/rewatched it I found it very hard to even rank the seasons cause they werw all so closely great.
I've seen 60+ TV shows in my time and I would say my absolute favorite Pilot episode would be for the show Silo on Apple TV. It plays almost like a short film and sets up an amazing mystery and twists, along with introducing the fascinating setting for the story. Cannot recommend it enough!
X-Files. Excellent pilot episode, sets up the characters, dynamics, tone and intent very clearly. Also, seeing The Cigarette Smoking man in an background role with no dialogue is pretty astonishing! Very, very strong first season as well; confidently plotted, doesn't drag, isn't rushed and it's smart, well-made and distinctive right off the bat.
Same can be said for the first 3 seasons, really! It felt like they kinda ran outta steam after the first movie, and the following seasons had too much fluff, but I felt like they hit their stride again in the last season, unfortunately. Doggett was done dirty as a character by the network, as they were doing some excellent character development with him right at the end. Damn, just typing out that little bit got me hankering. Whelp, seems like it's time for another rewatch of the show!
LOST still to this day, has the greatest pilot episode ever. There really isn't a series that comes close. It's kinda irritating that people have either forgotten about it, or never seen it, considering it was THE series back when it was released. Before GoT and Breaking Bad, LOST dominated everything.
I feel like the Sci-Fi series Eureka had a pretty good pilot, myself. The show as a whole gets rightfully clowned on a lot, as the whole show is basically "Jump the Shark: The Series", but that pilot was a ton of fun and a great setup! Also, I might be biased as I loved watching it as it released as a kid, but I feel like Psych had a pretty strong pilot and first season. They did a hella good job setting up up all the main characters' motivations and backstories, and had a lot of fun doing it!
Wayward Pines, and Eureka had great pilots from what i remember, as well as Fringe, but LOST is definitely my favourite, and one of the earliest serialised drama's i remember watching growing up.
This was so cool!!! I'm glad Heroes got on the list! I would potentially add Supernatural to that list of pilots, although maybe not as gripping as newer media...it definitely holds up from the Kripke Era.
To me, The Shield is the best pilot episode. You see Vic going around, thinking typical rulebending cop and he and Reed Diamond a battle of wits...and then the final shot (literally) changes everything and makes you realize this is not a typical cop show.
The shield is absolutely legendary no episodes wasted at all. The first episode is important to the last episode. It’s one of the ten best shows I’ve ever watched.
I think Lost has the greatest Pilot episode of all time. I would also mention The Americans pilot episode. Not enough people talk about that show anymore, it’s truly one of the goats.
i absolutely agree severance is the best thing since lost. i hope we get 4 or 5 seasons of this...hopefully the third season comes quicker this time since they had a writers strike after season 1 aired.
I’m still binging through your vids, so I don’t know if you’ve covered it yet, but “argue with a wall” or however you said it, made me lol for real. Also, if you haven’t, I’d love a season by season series on Lost from you! I have a feeling you actually understand the ending (they weren’t always dead!). It drives me insane as how many don’t get it.
I don't think the pilot episode is a completely lost art, even with the "bingewatching" model. There are still shows made that while, yes, they focus on the overall quality of the season (which isn't a bad thing), they still realize that the first episode has to, at least, get the viewer interested enough in coming back. The first season of Daredevil was a good example of this. If the first episode failed, imo, the first season would've been the only one. Another good example would be the current series, "Silo." The first episode had enough mystery and creativity that I wanted to keep going. I'm glad I ended up doing so, cause I'm now looking forward to season 2.
It’s not super well known, but Pushing Daises has a great pilot episode - titled “Pie-lette” - that really sets up the tone of the show; introduces the characters and how they relate and interact with each other; some of the over arching themes and obstacles the will occur throughout the show; and leaves you wanting more. Right from the get go you know Ned the Pie Maker can bring dead things back to life and the series deals with death in a bright humorous way.
I always love when Heroes gets talked about, it was such a good show (in the beginning at least) and it most definitely has one of the best single seasons in tv history. "Save the cheerleader, save the world". Another show that I think meets the criteria for having a pretty good pilot episode is How to Get Away with Murder. Before it got all repetitive, that first season and specifically that first episode really hooks you in by flipping back and forth between the future and the present so you meet all characters and are shown the problem the season is trying to tackle of who killed so-and-so character.
Mine definitely are as followed (not in any order): Hannibal, Supernatural, Walking Dead, Gravity Falls, Phineas & Ferb, Wizards of Waverly Place, Yellowstone, and Breaking Bad (with Better Call Saul as well). With Breaking Bad, Hannibal, and Gravity Falls objectively being the best pilots out of my list.
I came here to say The Penguin's recent pilot is fantastic. Within Oz's second scene, we get a whole idea of his behavior, insecurities, goals & how he'll get there. Then, starting immediately after, we see how that manifests for the remainder of the hour.
It really amazes me how many new shows now don't seem to put any effort into making their first episodes exciting to grab the audience. Same with comic books actually. It's like they can't be bothered.
An absolutely AMAZING show with an equally AMAZING pilot is Patriot on Amazon Prime. Criminally under the radar show that deserved so much more fanfare imo
The X-Files has the best pilot episode of the 90's. Spooky cold open. Introduces the world and concepts through the eyes of a newcomer. Tells an emotionally satisfying complete story. Leaves a bit of mystery at the end (who is the smoking man and what is the big storage facility under the pentagon?) Perfectly calibrated pilot episde.
Heroes had the potential to be the best TV SHOW about superheroes and villains. It could've be like a combination betwen classic heroes and parodies like the boys
Pilot episodes are still a thing and still pretty damn good on certain shows. But the way pilots worked back then were far different than now in this age of streaming on apps that are guaranteed to give you a full season or signed on for multiple. pilot episodes used to be a coin toss for a lot of shows that were unsure of being fully made i think the “lost art” is kind of a myth rather it has just been shifted into a different meta of filmmaking
Like LOST. They made the pilot episodes and then had to scramble to finish the season after the audience reception to them. The network was VERY unsure of how the show might do, so that was a true pilot through and through.
Pilots that reveal a concept that blows your mind: Futurama! (wow!! probably the best pilot and concept ever); and the lesser known Manifest (a airplane flight that disappeared 5 years ago, all the passengers presumed dead, lands at the airport not knowing 5 years have passed for everyone else in the world.
Entire show is a masterpiece. Start to finish there’s not many shows that did it better. Especially the ending of season 2 into season 3, I love how the show morphs and becomes a different beast every season
yeah that was the whole point of a pilot, to hook you in by giving you an explanation of what it is about and a preview of more excitement to come. Now is all so rushed because they want to condense series in so few episodes that it feels like it needs more and you don't really get to know the characters closely.
This is going to sound silly because its such a junk food show, but the first Bridgerton episode sets everything up pretty perfectly imo. We're introduced to the two main families, the society theyre in, the expectation on Daphne's shoulders, Lady Whistledown and her nagging influence on the queen, and Simon and Daphne strike their deal. If i had to wait a week between episodes like classic tv, I would've been just as fascinated for it.
What you said about being the age of pilots and shows being canceled is totally true. Right after lost ended, many of the main characters got their own shows and almost every one of them didn't make it past the first season. And really made me wary about getting into new shows because I like so many of them and they all got canceled. The two best examples would be Sawyer and colony which made it to the third season and never got a final season and Juliet and v, which I believe got two seasons and never got an ending, both of which were amazing shows
The first episode of Fargo (Season 1) is, to me, pitch perfect writing. It introduces the main character Lester with a lot of humanity, setting him up as this loser that gets beating down by life - but it also knows how to interlink different sub-plots. The antagonist is introduced in the first scene, perfectly summing up what to expect thorough the story: it's surreal, brutal, but oddly funny.
The Pilot episode of Life on Mars (2006) was very well done indroducing the main character and the mystery, it is a great show overall. The sequel series Ashes to Ashes is also very good though not as much as the original.
Heroes! the first season of that show went absolutely crazy. so good and yes so underrated. also as someone who didn't end up liking Severance, I agree that the pilot was incredible. I wish the middle 3-4 episodes of the show had maintained the narrative intrigue the pilot establishes, it kind of lost me around episode 4.
You should check out the show From, it’s Lost meets early Walking Dead, lots of mystery and horror, it can get a little too similar to Lost but it’s pretty damn good so far
Daredevil pilot is one of my fav pilot its super underrated makes flashback fight scenes and introduces character in a smooth way without having problems with the time in just ep 1
Lost and Twin Peaks are definitively the best pilots in my opinion. Most of the themes are discussed, most characters are introduced, and there are questions that are intriguing and forshadow the rest of the series.
I’ve always considered Cobra Kai the gold standard for TV Pilots. It tells an extremely well-paced and coherent story with the singular goal of establishing the main character’s motivation.
Two more great pilots, but for different reasons. "Pushing Daisies" because it hit every point a pilot needs to do. "This Is Us" because it was basically a complete short film, and the rest of the show was just a sequel you watched because you liked the characters.
I loved Heros and wish more people would talk about it - it had such an intriguing world and despite some of the seasons being better than others and some characters that never got enough screen time, i think more people should give it a chance haha
Lost made big budget Pilots what they are today. Before lost most shows were filmed much cheaper compared to movies. Lost however popular rises big budget episodes which had loads of effort put into camera work and cinematography, making every episode look like a big budget blockbuster.
I know most people probably dislike this show or just maybe dont know about it. But the Hazbin Hotel pilot was very influential here on youtube. When it came out It was so successful racking up 100 milljon view a of now. The speculation it created and public reaction really put indie animation on the map here on youtube. It became so popular and successful it became a show on Amazon. So i think thats something impressive.
