Breaking Bad and 9 Other TV Shows That Were Hits From the Pilot

TV’s decades of existence and the ever-growing places to watch it have paved the way for hundreds of hit shows to come and go over the years. A hit show fires on all cylinders, featuring intriguing characters and a gripping storyline. But with so much content available to watch, it can be hard to filter what is worth watching and what can be skipped over.

A show’s pilot episode can be crucial to its success, with the likes of Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead hooking audiences in from the offset. Below is a list of arguably the ten greatest debut episodes of shows that would claim their place in the pantheon of TV history.

10 The X-Files Made Sci-Fi History

Pilot IMDb rating: 8.2

When network TV was still at the top of its game, Fox and series creator Chris Carter teamed up to create the sci-fi procedural The X-Files, which saw FBI Agents Mulder and Scully team up to solve crimes that often had paranormal, extraterrestrial, or pseudo-science phenomena surrounding them. As they journeyed deeper into these mysteries, they began to unravel a much deeper government conspiracy to cover up the existence of extraterrestrials on Earth.

The pilot episode of The X-Files established the chemistry between Mulder and Scully that would keep even the show’s weakest episodes worth watching. It also demonstrated how “out there” the show was going to be by focusing on a case in which teenagers were going missing in Oregon, with Mulder believing that aliens were to be blamed for the kidnappings. By leaning into the hard sci-fi aspects of the show in its very first episode, Carter let audiences know exactly what they could expect going forward, which led to the show being a smash hit.

Pilot IMDb rating: 8.1

Michael Hurwitz’s topical and against-type sitcom Arrested Development emerged on Fox during the transition period between ’90s sitcoms like Seinfeld and Friends to the Chuck Lorre sitcoms of the early 2000s, like Two and a Half Men. Focusing on the wealthy Bluth family going bankrupt against the backdrop of the American geopolitical landscape, the show tackled and parodied real-life issues. Most other network sitcoms steered clear of these topics for fear of not appealing to the widest audience. Arrested Development wasn’t afraid to take risks and exemplified how sitcoms can cross the political commentary threshold.

The pilot episode introduced the entire sizable cast of the Bluth family, established the dysfunctionality between each member, and made sure audiences were aware of the sharp, quick-witted dialogue that came to be the show’s trademark. The pilot was so well received that series creator Michael Hurwitz won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, and Avengers directors Anthony and Joe Russo won an Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series.

8 Lost Popularized Mystery Box Storytelling

Pilot IMDb rating: 9.2

J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof changed TV storytelling forever when they created ABC’s Lost, which premiered in 2006. The show followed a group of plane crash survivors as they attempted to escape a remote and dangerous tropical island. From the first episode, the show began setting up what are now referred to as “mystery box” storylines.

Lost’s mystery box storylines introduced an unknown concept or threat and teased out the mystery’s reveal throughout a range of episodes. The mysteries included the backstories of a large cast of characters and the island itself, like an invisible monster that can be heard deep in the jungle. Lindelof and Abrams hooked viewers straight from the get-go and had them latched on tight for six seasons.

7 Heroes Beat Marvel & DC to the TV Punch

Pilot IMDb rating: 8.1

“Save the cheerleader, save the world.” That quote should be recognizable to the many fans who have watched NBC’s Heroes, which had its series premiere in 2006. A completely original superhero story, the show follows characters all over the world as they each realize they possess superhuman abilities. Unfortunately, the series was short-lived, but it did manage to attain a cult-classic status among TV fans.

The pilot introduced a variety of super-powered individuals whose captivating storylines eventually collided into a sweeping superhero epic that preceded the boom of DC and Marvel shows. In just 40 minutes, series creator Tim Kring used his pilot episode to introduce a sprawling world and a colorful cast of characters for a show that would become a cult classic. Heroes had a character that every audience member could gleam onto, which helped launch it into the stratosphere of TV popularity.

6 Breaking Bad Became an Instant Classic

Pilot IMDb rating: 9.0

As AMC worked to tap into the same markets that HBO and Showtime were, they ordered Vince Gilligan’s pilot for Breaking Bad, utterly unaware that they were about to air what would become one of the most highly regarded television shows of “Peak TV.”

The pilot featured Malcolm in the Middle star Bryan Cranston turning away from sitcoms and moving into hardboiled dramas, a hook that immediately invested audiences. The gritty realism and personal story of a chemistry teacher with cancer turning to a life of crime connected with audiences in a way few shows have, and its cultural relevance 15 years later goes to show just how much of a smash hit Breaking Bad was from the start.

5 The Walking Dead Brought Movie-Level Production to TV

Pilot IMDb rating: 9.2

Frank Darabont, an auteur best known for adapting The Shawshank Redemption, spent years shopping around an adaptation of Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard’s beloved comic book series The Walking Dead. When the pilot eventually landed at AMC, a premium cable network best known for Mad Men and Breaking Bad, sci-fi and fantasy shows were arguably not as widespread as they are today. AMC took a big swing with Darabont’s adaptation, and it was a home run from the start.

“Days Gone Bye” is a movie-quality pilot that follows Sheriff’s Deputy Rick Grimes on his journey through the post-apocalyptic wasteland of America without losing any vital character work and drama that other cable shows at the time had. While still maintaining its sci-fi roots, the episode was a landmark achievement in television. It proved audiences could take those kinds of stories seriously on TV and that not every prestige drama needed to be a grounded crime story like The Wire or The Shield.

4 Game of Thrones Changed the Game for HBO

Pilot IMDb rating: 8.9

The crowning jewel of HBO’s decades-long slate is undoubtedly their adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice & Fire, titled after the first book, Game of Thrones. Combining high fantasy with prestige TV was risky for the cable network, having hedged all their previous bets on full-fledged crime dramas like The Wire and The Sopranos.

The pilot episode, “Winter is Coming,” focused on the Stark clan of the North and used a smaller locale to ease audiences into the broader story of Westeros as the show progressed. The episode was chock-full of the usual HBO characteristics: violence, sex, and cursing, but it was the high fantasy angle that set it apart from any other show on TV at the time, helping make it a global phenomenon unlike any other.

3 Fargo Took FX to New Heights

Pilot IMDb rating: 9.3

Inspired by the Coen Bros. film of the same name, Noah Hawley’s Fargo moved crime dramas to rural Minnesota, an unusual setting for most shows of the same genre. That change and many others helped set it apart from the wave of prestige television airing in the mid-2010s.

Fargo‘s pilot episode, “The Crocodile’s Dilemma,” dived head first into the weird and wild world that the Coens inspired Hawley to explore. With the absurdity of the criminal situations infecting Bemidji, Minnesota, the show found an original way to gain audience interest. The episode garnered Emmy nominations for both Hawley in the Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries category and director Adam Bernstein in the Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries category.

2 WandaVision Refreshed Superhero TV

Pilot IMDb rating: 7.3

The first Marvel show with studio president Kevin Feige at the helm, WandaVision infused superheroes into the classic TV format by paying homage to decades of sitcoms. It was, in many ways, the perfect way for Feige to make a splash with his first television series, as it took a completely different approach to storytelling than any other Marvel show had in the past.

“Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience,” the series’ pilot episode, was made in the vein of 1950s sitcoms like I Love Lucy and took popular Marvel characters Scarlet Witch and Vision and put them inside an actual sitcom episode. As the title implies, it was filmed before a live studio audience, a wholly original creative choice for the well-worn superhero series format. The episode was so acclaimed that series creator Jac Schaeffer was nominated for an Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Emmy.

1 Invincible Shocked Audiences

Pilot IMDb rating: 8.9

In a continually oversaturated superhero market, Amazon had an uphill climb to make their animated adaptation of Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker’s Invincible stand out from the crowd. That was no simple task, but it had excellent source material to draw from and the involvement of Kirkman, as well as being a project shepherded by the minds behind Preacher and The Boys, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.

The pilot, “It’s About Time,” did make a splash in superhero media, not just for its colorful visuals and engaging characters, but for its shockingly gruesome violent twist ending, saving the reveal of just how nasty the show would be getting for the last few minutes of the episode, leaving the audience’s jaws on the floor. While superhero adaptations have increasingly normalized extreme violence over the years, Invincible didn’t market itself as that, lulling the audience into a false sense of security, making the ending the perfect hook for the rest of the series.