The 42 Best TV Pilot Episodes of All Time

A first episode has to sell an entire world in under an hour, and only a handful did it perfectly. Prestige dramas, cult mysteries and a few comedies made the cut.

1. 1
   The Sopranos (Pilot)

   1999 HBO pilot in which mob boss Tony Soprano begins seeing a psychiatrist after suffering panic attacks.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Breaking Bad (Pilot)

   2008 AMC pilot in which terminally ill chemistry teacher Walter White starts cooking methamphetamine.
   836pts
3. 3
   True Detective: The Long Bright Dark

   2014 HBO premiere in which detectives Rust Cohle and Marty Hart recount a 1995 ritualistic murder case in Louisiana.
   782pts
4. 4
   Stranger Things: The Vanishing of Will Byers

   2016 Netflix series premiere in which a boy disappears in Hawkins, Indiana, and a mysterious girl appears.
   745pts
5. 5
   Fargo: The Crocodile's Dilemma

   2014 FX premiere in which hitman Lorne Malvo's arrival in Bemidji, Minnesota, upends the life of insurance salesman Lester Nygaard.
   716pts
6. 6
   24: 12:00 a.m. – 1:00 a.m.

   2001 Fox premiere told in real time as counter-terrorist agent Jack Bauer races to stop a plot against a presidential candidate.
   586pts
7. 7
   The Shield (Pilot)

   2002 FX pilot introducing corrupt LAPD detective Vic Mackey, ending with one of TV's most shocking final scenes.
   532pts
8. 8
   Succession: Celebration

   2018 HBO pilot in which media mogul Logan Roy's 80th birthday sparks a fight over who will succeed him.
   532pts
9. 9
   The West Wing (Pilot)

   1999 NBC pilot by Aaron Sorkin following President Bartlet's senior staff, ending with the president's famous entrance.
   532pts
10. 10
    The Last of Us: When You're Lost in the Darkness

    2023 HBO premiere in which smuggler Joel is tasked with escorting Ellie across a post-pandemic America.
    532pts
11. 11
    The Wire: The Target

    2002 HBO series premiere in which Baltimore detective Jimmy McNulty pushes for an investigation into the Barksdale drug crew.
    469pts
12. 12
    The X-Files (Pilot)

    1993 Fox pilot pairing skeptic Dana Scully with believer Fox Mulder to investigate mysterious deaths in Oregon.
    469pts
13. 13
    Desperate Housewives (Pilot)

    2004 ABC pilot narrated by Mary Alice Young, whose suicide exposes the secrets of her neighbors on Wisteria Lane.
    469pts
14. 14
    Freaks and Geeks (Pilot)

    1999 NBC pilot following Lindsay Weir as she drifts from the mathletes toward the burnouts at a Michigan high school in 1980.
    469pts
15. 15
    Homeland (Pilot)

    2011 Showtime pilot in which CIA officer Carrie Mathison suspects a rescued Marine POW has been turned by al-Qaeda.
    469pts
16. 16
    Arrested Development (Pilot)

    2003 Fox pilot in which Michael Bluth is forced to hold his dysfunctional family together after his father is arrested.
    469pts
17. 17
    Better Call Saul: Uno

    2015 AMC premiere showing struggling lawyer Jimmy McGill years before he becomes Saul Goodman.
    469pts
18. 18
    The Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye

    2010 AMC pilot directed by Frank Darabont in which sheriff's deputy Rick Grimes wakes from a coma into a zombie apocalypse.
    469pts
19. 19
    Gilmore Girls (Pilot)

    2000 WB pilot in which Lorelai Gilmore asks her estranged parents for money to send her daughter Rory to a private school.
    469pts
20. 20
    House (Pilot)

    2004 Fox pilot introducing misanthropic diagnostician Dr. Gregory House as his team investigates a collapsing kindergarten teacher.
    397pts
21. 21
    Pushing Daisies: Pie-lette

    2007 ABC pilot about a pie maker who can bring the dead back to life with a touch, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld.
    397pts
22. 22
    The Bear: System

    2022 FX pilot in which fine-dining chef Carmy Berzatto returns to Chicago to run his late brother's sandwich shop.
    397pts
23. 23
    Cheers: Give Me a Ring Sometime

    1982 NBC pilot in which graduate student Diane Chambers is stranded at Sam Malone's Boston bar.
    397pts
24. 24
    Boardwalk Empire (Pilot)

    2010 HBO pilot directed by Martin Scorsese, set in Atlantic City as Prohibition begins under treasurer Nucky Thompson.
    397pts
25. 25
    Veronica Mars (Pilot)

    2004 UPN pilot introducing teenage private investigator Veronica Mars in the divided town of Neptune, California.
    397pts
26. 26
    ER: 24 Hours

    1994 NBC pilot written by Michael Crichton depicting one chaotic day in the emergency room of Chicago's County General Hospital.
    397pts
27. 27
    Watchmen: It's Summer and We're Running Out of Ice

    2019 HBO premiere that opens with the 1921 Tulsa race massacre before following masked police in present-day Tulsa.
    397pts
28. 28
    Westworld: The Original

    2016 HBO premiere set in a Western theme park where android hosts begin to show signs of awareness.
    397pts
29. 29
    The O.C. (Pilot)

    2003 Fox pilot in which troubled teen Ryan Atwood is taken in by a wealthy Newport Beach family.
    397pts
30. 30
    Six Feet Under (Pilot)

    2001 HBO pilot by Alan Ball in which the Fisher family's patriarch dies, leaving his sons to run the family funeral home.
    313pts
31. 31
    Twin Peaks (Pilot)

    1990 ABC pilot directed by David Lynch in which FBI agent Dale Cooper arrives to investigate the murder of Laura Palmer.
    313pts
32. 32
    Mad Men: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

    2007 AMC pilot introducing 1960s Madison Avenue ad man Don Draper as he struggles with a cigarette campaign.
    313pts
33. 33
    Hill Street Blues: Hill Street Station

    1981 NBC pilot that introduced the ensemble police drama's handheld style and overlapping storylines.
    313pts
34. 34
    Mr. Robot: eps1.0_hellofriend.mov

    2015 USA Network pilot in which anxious hacker Elliot Alderson is recruited by an anarchist group called fsociety.
    313pts
35. 35
    Alias: Truth Be Told

    2001 ABC pilot by J. J. Abrams in which Sydney Bristow learns the spy agency she works for is not part of the CIA.
    313pts
36. 36
    Severance: Good News About Hell

    2022 Apple TV+ premiere introducing Lumon Industries, where employees surgically split their work and personal memories.
    313pts
37. 37
    Community (Pilot)

    2009 NBC pilot in which disbarred lawyer Jeff Winger forms a fake Spanish study group at Greendale Community College.
    213pts
38. 38
    Friday Night Lights (Pilot)

    2006 NBC pilot set in Dillon, Texas, where a new high school football coach faces a season-defining injury to his star quarterback.
    213pts
39. 39
    Game of Thrones: Winter Is Coming

    2011 HBO series premiere in which Ned Stark is summoned south to serve King Robert Baratheon.
    213pts
40. 40
    Dexter (Pilot)

    2006 Showtime pilot introducing Miami blood-spatter analyst Dexter Morgan, who secretly kills other killers.
    213pts
41. 41
    Sherlock: A Study in Pink

    2010 BBC premiere in which Sherlock Holmes and John Watson meet in modern-day London and investigate a series of apparent suicides.
    0pts
42. 42
    Lost (Pilot)

    2004 ABC two-part pilot, one of the most expensive pilots of its time, following survivors of a plane crash on a mysterious island.
    0pts

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