10 TV Shows Where The First Episode Was The Best
2. Lost
Lost was one of the last true "water cooler" TV shows before the streaming era took hold, and its long-term popularity can be traced back to that mesmerising two-part pilot.
This feature-length opener not only dramatised the brutal immediate aftermath of the focal plane crash, but succinctly introduced us to a massive ensemble cast in a manner that felt totally organic.
With an eye-watering $14 million budget, it was the most expensive TV pilot ever produced at the time, but with good reason, given the top-notch production values and incredible roster of actors involved.
Years before Game of Thrones normalised the notion of genre TV shows looking as good as any movie equivalent, Lost gave audiences a truly cinematic experience on the small screen.
It's a pilot that did everything possible to immediately sink its hooks in viewers, and basically serves as the blueprint for how a high-concept TV show should kick off.
But Lost certainly had many ups and downs across its six-season run, and never again quite recaptured the enervating, anxious energy of that jaw-dropping 83-minute pilot episode.