This one wins.Mad Men. First episode you see Don Draper Killing it at work and getting tons of pussy and just generally being The Man while living the bachelor life. Then at the very end he goes home to his wife and kids and you're like WTF.
I don't think Breaking Bad's pilot was all that great. It sets up the show well, but it's far from being considered a "best" first episode.Honestly, all the great classic TV of the last decade had amazing pilot episodes. I can't think of a single show that had a terrible pilot and ended up among the greats.
That would beSpartacus. All of those first 4 or 5 episodes were one step above pure dog shit, yet they some how turned it around into one hell of a season finale. Even the 2nd season (the prequel) was damn good tv. To this day I have never seen a show turn the ship around like they did.I can't think of a single show that had a terrible pilot and ended up among the greats.
AhemGame of Thrones hasn't been mentioned yet...
Granted it is abbreviated and probably easy to miss.-BSG (blew me the fuck away with how interested I got into that world so quickly)
-LOST (even the fucking trailer for the first episode peeked the hell out of my interests)
-Deadwood (obviously)
-GoT (I was so relieved after the first episode, I knew it was going to be in great hands)
-ROME (as others have said, covered so much ground, was great)
Seinfeld's pilot really wasn't very good. Although "The Pilot" was a great episode.This one wins.
Honestly, all the great classic TV of the last decade had amazing pilot episodes. I can't think of a single show that had a terrible pilot and ended up among the greats.
This.Lost's first episode was pretty spectacular, in my opinion. Too bad it went to such shit.
I think they were trying to make a soft core gayporn show at first, and then they looked at their secret spy numbers and realized that they could go full goreporn with it.That would beSpartacus. All of those first 4 or 5 episodes were one step above pure dog shit, yet they some how turned it around into one hell of a season finale. Even the 2nd season (the prequel) was damn good tv. To this day I have never seen a show turn the ship around like they did.
I wouldn't go that far... But yes, Spartacus was my first thought too. First season of that show was the best season of television I've ever seen. First episode was so bad... But every single episode was exponentially better than the last. No idea how they pulled that offThat would beSpartacus. All of those first 4 or 5 episodes were one step above pure dog shit, yet they some how turned it around into one hell of a season finale. Even the 2nd season (the prequel) was damn good tv. To this day I have never seen a show turn the ship around like they did.