From the mysterious Twin Peaks pilot to the thrilling Breaking Bad pilot, there are certain classic pilot episodes that everyone needs to watch. A great pilot episode can get an audience hooked on a TV show right out of the gate. The Arrested Development pilot is jam-packed with jokes, and The Sopranos pilot introduces us to a mob boss who loves ducks.
The best pilots have a hook that makes viewers want to come back and see what happens next, like the opening doppelgänger death in Orphan Black’s pilot episode, or the murder of an Internal Affairs officer by a corrupt cop in The Shield’s pilot episode. Everyone should watch these pilots at least once to decide whether they’ll watch the rest of the series.
Frasier
Frasier hit the ground running with its pilot episode. This pilot has the witty, sophisticated sense of humor that made Frasier feel so refreshing, but it also sets up the relationship that would become the heart of the series: pompous intellectual Frasier reluctantly reconnecting with his aging blue-collar dad, Marty. The episode has a lot of laughs, but it’s also deeply touching.
The Leftovers
Damon Lindelof’s The Leftovers is more about the post-apocalyptic mindset than the spectacle of the apocalypse. The pilot episode opens with the Sudden Departure and perfectly captures the fear and confusion surrounding this strange, rapture-like event that can’t be explained by science or religion. The pilot creates the right eerie atmosphere to set up this thoughtful sci-fi story.
The Shield
Inspired by the L.A.P.D.’s Rampart scandal, The Shield abandoned the black-and-white morality of traditional cop shows and explored the gray area of corruption. The pilot episode sees an Internal Affairs officer going undercover with the crooked unit, seemingly setting him up as the protagonist, only for him to be murdered by our real protagonist in the final scene. Talk about a memorable series opener.
Fargo
When FX announced a TV adaptation of Fargo, it seemed entirely unnecessary. But against all odds, Noah Hawley managed to successfully recapture the tone and feel of the Coen brothers’ classic while telling a homespun murder story of his own. The first episode nailed the darkly comedic Midwestern vibes of Fargo right out of the gate.
Game Of Thrones
The original Game of Thrones pilot wasn’t working, so HBO reshot it and retooled it with a new director. It ended up being worth the extra effort, because this retooled pilot led to one of the biggest TV hits of all time. It perfectly established the setting and the key characters while also giving us a glimpse at the blockbuster spectacle we could expect from the show.
Derry Girls
Lisa McGee’s Derry Girls is both a hilarious coming-of-age sitcom and a snapshot of Northern Ireland during the final years of the Troubles. The pilot episode sets up this premise perfectly. It introduces all the lovable characters and their relatable teenage shenanigans, but there are always soldiers and bomb threats permeating in the background as a stark reminder of the world these kids have grown up in.
Mad Men
The pilot episode of Mad Men instantly immerses you in the gorgeous 1960s production design — the period costumes, the old-timey sets, the retro color palette — but it also tells us who Don Draper is. We see that he has a family at home in the suburbs, but he also has a girlfriend in the city. A new iconic TV antihero was born.
Cheers
Cheers is the ultimate ensemble sitcom. Every character has a distinctive personality, and those personalities all bounce off each other hilariously in the cozy, familiar setting of a bar where everybody knows your name. This was all set up beautifully in the pilot episode. Everyone trying to write a sitcom pilot needs to watch the first episode of Cheers to see how it’s done.
Freaks & Geeks
Teen dramas tend to focus on the coolest kids in school, but Freaks and Geeks shed a light on the outcasts and the weirdos who don’t usually get to be the stars. Freaks and Geeks captured the high school experience much more accurately than something like Dawson’s Creek, and its first episode nailed it right off the bat.
The Sopranos
The first episode of The Sopranos has a quirkier sense of humor than the much darker, more grounded series that would follow. But it’s the perfect introduction to Tony Soprano as a character. He’s a formidable mob boss who thinks nothing of hurting people, but he also has a shrink, mommy issues, and a soft spot for the family of ducks living in his pool.
