10 Greatest TV Pilot Episodes of All Time

By Daniel Bowen /

It is funny the power a TV pilot can have on the audience. I have watched many shows all the way through to the end based on the strength of a pilot alone. In fact, when researching for this list, it surprised me to find that most of my favorite all time television series' pilots were actually not all that wonderful. To any one out there who has read any of my other posts, my love of Whedon and Buffy the Vampire Slayer is quite apparent, and one of these days I will try to stop talking about it, but even I was surprised to find that Buffy doesn't make it onto this list. In fact, though I loved all of Whedon's shows, only one makes it here. Some amazing shows have pretty weak pilot episodes. Joss Whedon's Dollhouse wasn't all that terrific, I wasn't completely hooked at first even with shows such as Homeland, Dexter, The Walking Dead and The Newsroom... these pilots were alright, but it took me at least a couple more episodes until I got more into the groove of the shows. The following pilots hooked me pretty much immediately, and though with a couple of these examples the shows didn't turn out to be all that great, the pilots will at least live on in our memories forever, especially considering the lack of any amazing new show pilot from this years new fall shows... Click "next" below to start the list...