10 Best TV Pilots Ever

6. Mad Men - Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Mad Men Don Draper
AMC

Pilots are, effectively, an advertisement to sell you on watching the rest of a TV show, so it should come as no surprise that one of the very best is from a show about the people who adverts.

Although a very subtle hour of television, everything in Smoke Gets In Your Eyes is selling us on Matthew Weiner's product. There's a basic setup, complete with gorgeous period detail, smoky rooms, and sharp suits. Then comes the main premise of Don Draper, ad-man extraordinaire with something troubling behind him. And there's the final hook, which shows us - in a frame that looks like it's ripped from an advert - this businessman-cum-lothario is, actually, a family man as well.

His new secretary, played by Elisabeth Moss, allows for some exposition to ease us into the world, and the very deliberate pacing is mixed with the thrill of watching Don do his thing in the pitch meeting.

Consider us sold.

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Contributor
Contributor

NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.