10 TV Shows With Great First Episodes

In many ways, sitcoms are under even more pressure to engage their audiences early. Without intricate plots, big mysteries, and exciting cliffhangers, they have to rely on their characters and their humour to win their viewers over. No sitcom in history has done this as successfully as Mitchell Hurwitz's brilliant Arrested Development.

The pilot episode introduces the dysfunctional Bluth family, with middle son Michael expecting to finally be made a partner in his father's company. Instead, Michael's mother Lucille is made CEO, shortly before Michael's father George Sr. is arrested for fraud, theft and, it later turns out, some light treason. The whole debacle plays out brilliantly, with perfect pacing and the sharp, hilarious dialogue that Arrested Development would become known for.

A lot of characters are brought in in rapid succession, but they are all so wonderful and played so brilliantly by their actors that it never feels like too much. Arrested Development could sometimes verge on cartoonish, and by painting the Bluth family in broad strokes in its first episode, it let its audience know who they were and what they were about without overloading them with information.

By the end of the first episode, we know all the major players, their relationships with one another, and what issues the rest of the season will be tackling. For a 20-minute sitcom pilot, that's a hell of an achievement.