Some pilot episodes simply set up the main plot and characters that will form the base of the series; others create a fascinating world that leaves the viewer desperate for the next instalment while also creating a succinct short story that stands tall as a single episode. The following eight are some of the most successful of these:
- Lost
From the moment Jack Shepherd opens his eyes on The Island and takes in the chaos around him, the viewer knows they’re in for an exhilarating watch. Little do they know, however, the mystery and intrigue that will follow, leaving them equally astonished and frustrated. While the overlapping timelines and plot-lines of LOST maybe eventually cause some viewers to throw in the towel, few can deny the incredible world that is created in the pilot episode, and the first season in its entirety. - Veronica Mars
Easily the sharpest teen drama of all time, junior noir Veronica Mars gets off to a strong start with its exposition-filled first ep, with delivers shock after shock in its 45 minute outing, as we discover our heroine is a teen queen-turned-outcast, who alternates between investigating her best friend’s death, mother’s disappearance and her own rape. - Grey’s Anatomy
As the medical drama continue to trudge through its 19th?/20th? season, it’s easy to forget just how charming and gripping the first season was, as viewers followed five fresh-faced surgical interns struggling to juggle their turbulent love-lives and genuinely interesting medical mysteries. The pilot episode, which observes the interns’ first shift at Seattle Grace Hospital – most notably the sharp-tongued Cristina Yang, who is easily one of the best tv characters of the 21st century – engages the viewer from its first second to its last and is re-watchable time and time again. - The Sopranos
Not those fucking ducks again, eh? The arguably perfect pilot episode of the crime drama could be successful as a short film in itself as it beautifully encapsulates the life of anti-hero Tony Soprano as he attempts to balance the needs of his crime family, his nuclear family and his mental health. However, as we all know, HBO went on to deliver six award-winning, consistently entertaining seasons. - The Good Place
Kristen Bell’s second appearance on this list is from her lead role in the after-life based comedy The Good Place, which delighted viewers from the first ep with its throughly original depiction of the ‘The Good Place’ we all go to when we die – or as it turns out to be, ‘The Bad Place’ – and its residents. - Twin Peaks
The surrealist drama opens to a strong start as an FBI Agent travels to the strange town of Twin Peaks to investigate the murder of a teenage girl. To keep things original, director David Lynch utilised his famous bizarre filming elements, as well as incorporating real on-set mistakes into the episode, such as a set decorator becoming stuck in the murder victim’s room set, which led to the decorator being cast in the series. - Desperate Housewives
One of many of the series on this list that opens with a head-scratching mystery that dominates not only its first episode but its entire first season. Why did seemingly happy suburban housewife Mary Alice Young commit suicide? In the pilot, we discover the ins-and-outs of her equally seemingly happy suburban housewife neighbours’ lives, as they struggle with divorce, unhappy marriages and the stresses of motherhood, while the former question gets partially answered when the housewives find a blackmail note in Mary Alice’s belongings. - Game of Thrones
Admittedly, I wasn’t initially drawn in by the introductory episode of the hugely successful fantasy drama – until its final scene, in which the youngest child of lead character and Hand of the King, Ned Stark, is thrown from a window ledge, presumably to his death, when he discovers the Queen and her twin brother having sex. The line uttered by Queen Cersei’s twin, Jaime: “The things we do for love” is probably what most devoted GOT fans said after forcing their way through the series’ underwhelming last season.
anna writes about films 