9 TV Pilots That Were Direct Hits And 8 That Just Missed The Mark

[theemii]

You already know that Lost is on this list. https://t.co/oI8DNeHk1K
- BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) December 12, 2020

- Direct Hit: Lost
"You know I couldn't make this list without including the Lost pilot. It has the strongest opening of all time, really pulling you in immediately and portraying how horrifying and chaotic things are while introducing our

Comments

[missjersey]

The first episode of Black Mirror fucked me up for DAYS.

Also agree about Parks and Rec. The first season is worth watching once just to get the intros to everyone (esp Leslie and Ann's meeting for the first time) but I don't ever revisit it on rewatches.

[la_loony]

The first episode of Black Mirror fucked me up for DAYS.

It certainly prepares you to be fucked up after potentially every episode. Though I totally get when people noped out of the show after it, I almost did myself.

[missjersey]

Oh I love the show, I was horrified but intrigued lol. "White Bear" and "Shut Up and Dance" are my favorites and they're both horrifying

[la_loony]

I remember texting a friend who had seen the first 2 or 3 seasons already when I was watching "Shut up and dance". She said it was really hard to say nothing when I started out feeling sorry for Kevin (or Kenny?) and then went all capslock when the reveal came alongXD
I don't think I could rewatch it anytime soon, but "Metalhead" had me so tense! I was rather disappointed with the latest season though, it was lacking.

[imnotasquirrel]

the pilot ep for nikita on the cw got me hooked w/ the twist... nobody remembers nikita now :(

[crimps4]

Awww, I liked Nikita a lot!

[arellaj]

It's a damn shame.

[ashtrayrock]

Agreed. Such a good pilot and did a great job of keeping just enough from the original series while adding in new elements. That show was so criminally underrated.

[bsfan]

Buffy's Pilot is fine. Hush!

Agree on a lot of these. Especially Once Upon a Time. I was going to name a certain show that has the best pilot ever, but other people did so I won't. I have a theory that if a show has a great pilot, it'll end up being an awful. If a show as an OK pilot, it'll be great. A bad pilot is a bad show flat out.

Orange is the New Black has a pretty great pilot too.

[vibeology_e]

I agree about Buffy. It isn't a perfect pilot but I know who Buffy as a person is and the rest of the world will fall into place over the course of the season.

[caitiecait]

I also think it’s fine! I think people are too hard on the first season of Buffy

[bsfan]

People are too hard on all the seasons of Buffy. A lot of the "worst season" are usually because the person didn't like a storyline. Each season is good and bad for different reasons, but all are very good tv.

I don't like watching Season 6 because it's depressing af, but that's exactly what it needed to be for that time in Buffy's life.

[dorawa]

Tbh the Psych pilot is one of my least favorite episodes and I usually never watch. But from Ep. 2 on, it's hilarious and now I'm going to go binge again.

[t_snake]

Psych is such a good show!

[kairoso]

Yeahh good thing they replaced the female lead character in psych after the pilot

[xorogueox]

Yeah I don’t rewatch it often at all. It felt very much like they were finding their footing. The pilot had a somewhat serious element to it as well-the first season overall does.

[t_snake]

Once upon a time was a pretty good tv show until they decided hook was to be Prince charming.

[ginainabottle]

I remember loving the first two seasons of OUAT, the special effects were AWFUL but the show had this energy that I only remembered feeling when watching movies, never tv shows. It was so fun.

[t_snake]

I loved the crappy effects! It gave it its own quirky essence if it makes any sense. It really was a lot of fun! If it lasted 3-4 season it would have been such a great show in general

[mhfromnh]

they had pretty good costuming in that first season.