Worst pilot episode of a critically-acclaimed series?

#1

Ray Donovan’s got to be up there, surely?

A season’s worth of storylines in one episode, no subtlety whatsoever, every cliché in the book.

#2

Idk if friends is critically acclaimed but the whole first series sucks
Edit: big fan of about halfway through to the end

#3

thought the firefly pilot sucked on first watch, too long and found it a bit boring. liked it a lot more second time round though as I was by then invested in the characters I guess

#4

Air Crash Investigation

#5

Bojack Horseman’s first episode wasn’t particularly good. Or rather, it didn’t really indicate just how amazing it was going to be.

(not sure if it’s really a pilot though)

#6

The first episode of Freaks and Geeks is a bit shakey.

#7

Twin P-

#8

The pilot of twin peaks is such a barrier for me doing a proper rewatch, just seems so dull

#9

Buffy, has a different willow

#10

Whole first season of Parks and Rec sucked until they stopped trying to replicate The Office

#11

Okay now I’ve been forced to clarify I was not being serious. The TP pilot is one of the best episodes of TV ever.

#12

Pilot Seinfeld was bad

#13

US Office pilot was a bit of a car crash. Show is great though

#14

first episode of Arrested Development is fairly crap, all about setting up the characters and plot but feels very stilted and very few funny bits. then the second episode is one of the absolute best. strange.

#15

Probably just my short attention span, it’s basically a film

#16

Rick and Morty

#17

Remember always really wanting to see the first episode of quantum leap because there had always only been glimpses of the future, finally got it on vhs and it was a bit rubbish, guess it’s always the way mystery is always better than whatever origin story they come up with

#18

didn’t realise we were including shows where every subsequent episode is also bad

#19

Wheeey

#20

Simpsons