A truly remarkable television pilot is a hard thing to come by.
In the case of most TV shows, audiences tend to pay far closer attention to whether a show sticks the landing with its series finale, typically regarding a show’s earlier seasons with a far more lax sense of scrutiny. While it’s impossible to overstate the importance of a series’ finale, it’s also worth discussing just how critical a decent TV pilot is in determining a show’s success. In the most extreme cases, these pilots can become viral sensations that take the entire pop culture fandom by storm, encouraging us to tune in on a weekly basis to see which direction the narrative might turn in each new episode.
Say what you will about its later seasons, but when The Walking Dead first aired in the fall of 2010, nobody had seen anything like it. In the previous decades, the shambling hordes of the undead were mostly confined to the big screen, terrorizing hapless human survivors in movies like Dawn of the Dead, Shaun of the Dead, or 28 Days Later. With “Days Gone By,” zombies officially spilled over into mainstream television, capturing our attention just as they had in mainstream cinema in Night of the Living Dead 42 years prior.
Having built his reputation off the strength of his surreal early work, visionary director David Lynch made the daring leap to television with his 1990 mystery series, Twin Peaks. Transposing his idiosyncratic creativity to mainstream TV, Twin Peaks’ “Pilot” showed that Lynch’s series was going to be like any other show of its day and age. Blending horror, humor, and surrealism into one unforgettable combination, Twin Peaks’ inaugural episode posed all the right questions regarding the series’ main storyline – namely, who killed Laura Palmer, and what secrets did she leave behind in her enigmatic hometown?
Whereas most hour-long dramas might spend the first half hour focusing on plot and exposition, Lost’s “Pilot” immediately thrusts viewers into the midst of the action. Within its opening moments, audiences witness the series’ various main characters stumble their way through a mass plane crash, narrowly escaping explosions, hazardous propeller turbines, and near-fatal injuries. From the moment we see Jack’s eyes blink open and hear the shrill cries of his fellow passengers, we’re instantly aware this is not your usual ABC drama.
When FX first announced they were making a full-fledged spin-off series of the Oscar-winning Fargo, most viewers raised their eyebrows in baffled skepticism. When it came time for the pilot to officially air in 2014, however, it became clear that everyone’s concerns were completely unfounded. Introducing a dramatic new storyline that somehow retained the humor and tone of its predecessor, Fargo’s “The Crocodile’s Dilemma” is nothing short of a Coen Brothers-esque dark comedy masterpiece.
Like several other series on this list, True Detective’s later continuations never matched the acclaim of its first season. As it is, though, even the most derisive critics of True Detective can look back fondly on an episode like “The Long Bright Dark.” Utilizing a Southern Gothic atmosphere straight out of a Faulkner novel, True Detective’s pilot episode displayed the series’ hopelessly bleak tone from the very get-go.
In theory, you’d expect a fictional universe as expansive as Game of Thrones’ Westeros to seem a bit intimidating on paper. Amazingly, however, “Winter Is Coming” offers a comprehensive first glimpse into George R.R. Martin’s sprawling fantasy world. Taking the time to introduce a basic semblance of setting, character, and the tumultuous political relationships that make up the Seven Kingdoms, “Winter Is Coming” provides the ideal first chapter to Game of Thrones’ initial season.
To this day, the image of a disheveled Bryan Cranston standing in the middle of the New Mexico desert in his underwear remains synonymous with AMC’s legendary drama series, Breaking Bad. Setting the tone for the entire series that followed, Breaking Bad’s “Pilot” doesn’t waste any time in grabbing the attention of every viewer in the audience. Because let’s face it, what better way is there to gauge our curiosity than having an RV crash into a massive ditch? (And yes, Walter White being in a pair of whitey tighties throughout is just icing on the cake.)
