What are some shows that immediately hooked you with their pilot episode?

My list,

X-Files
Babylon 5 (2 hour tv movie)
Battlestar Galactica (technically not a pilot but a miniseries but close enough)
Game of Thrones
Caprica
Star Trek: TOS
Fringe
Rome
Twin Peaks
Space Above & Beyond
Firefly

Sopranos
Deadwood
Mythbusters

Space: 1999
Star Trek
Battlestar Galactica
The Six Million Dollar Man
Sanford and Son

Battlestar Galactica (Ron Moore version)
Rome
24
Californication
X-Files
Space Above and Beyond
The Big Bang Theory (loved it until it stopped being funny, after season 5 or so)
The Unit
Miami Vice

So in other words like 5 seasons ago?

Supergirl.... j/k didn't even watch it for free when CBS still streamed free stuff.

ok..one show really sucked me in maybe.....Victory at Sea

I don't know if any show ever did that for me. Of course, many series I didn't see the pilot episode first, I came in after they'd been airing awhile. A few of those did hook me on the first one.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 I believe I first caught one towards the end of their 4th season. Watched all of them after that and own them all on DVD.

South Park I believe it was episode 6 I caught first, with Stan's dog Sparky. After that, have never missed an episode and own them all on DVD.

I liked GoT's pilot, but it took a few shows before I decided I would stick with it.

BSG I thought the miniseries was promising, but it took the airing of the series itself to cement it.

All the Star Trek series took time for me.



As a qualifier, unlike many people I tend to give a show time. I will watch 5-7-10 hours sometimes before I decide if I really like the show or not.
There are very few shows I've abandoned after less than 2-3 hours. It's just not enough time to make a decision, frankly. On average, I would say it takes me 6 episodes to decide I'm not going to carry on. A few times, I've gone back later and found they improved by the end of the year. Doctor Who (Eccleston's run) and Firefly both were that way. I find it puzzling when people tell me they can be so certain with just 40 mins down

Actually, not puzzling, disturbing. I cannot understand the mentality that can be so certain about something with so little evidence to go on. Anyone ever said they knew they liked or hated Dark Side of the Moon after hearing the first 30 seconds? That's too fast, isn't it? It's a 45 min album, of course 30 seconds is too little.
I mean obviously there are shows you can decide about before you even watch it because you know it's not a genre you care about. Yet if you like SF and it's an SF show, how can you decide without seeing it or based on just the pilot?

For a TV series meant to air for dozens of hours or longer, you need at least a few down, especially given how many series have frankly poor pilots. ST: TNG's pilot? Frankly, it sucked. I'd say almost every episode from season 4 onwards was far better than the pilot, and people who gave up on the series before making it to season 3 missed out.

It takes time for the writers, actors, and producers to find the groove for a series most of the time. If you can't bear to invest the time to discover if they figured it out, you probably shouldn't watch TV at all and stick to films where everything must be presented to you in under 2 hours and no investment of time is needed. By the time it's over it's obvious whether it was worth it or not. A TV pilot? Even a 90 minute one is usually not enough.




The Jedi Master

In the case of all the tv shows that I listed, their pilot episodes made an immediate emotional connection with me and I could immediately see that there was that intangible chemistry between most or at least some of the main characters. It's just something that I've always picked up on pretty quickly.

In other words, to date there has never been a tv show that hooked me with its pilot and then I abandoned it later because I no longer liked it anymore.

I'm with Jedi on South Park and most animation, from Beavis and Butthead to Archer, almost all of Adult Swim.

What killed ST:TNG right off the bat for me was the butt-ugly Enterprise. Oh man, I remember seeing the first ST movie in a theater, those first impressive shots of the remodeled Enterprise, holy crap it looked good!

ST:TNG had a bad looking Enterprise (it took them awhile to figure out the best angles to shoot it from, and then they never deviated), bad uniforms until S3 I think, and the pilot had that miserable score.

Really? Playing the opening theme while undocking the saucer section?? DOES NOT WORK!

That was a hook that got used like 3 times in 7 years (twice in S1 I think) and then not again until Generations when they finally (mercifully) trashed the D.

As the show was episodic for the most part, I'd almost say watching TNG before S3 is a waste of time for all but diehard fans. It will bore you and beat you down. DS9 and Voyager, using the same teams and lessons from TNG, found their groove much faster.

Of course, like I said, I don't think I can say I was ever hooked by a pilot. I'd say 90% of the time good or bad I still watched the next several episodes before I made up my mind to like it or not. I just don't make decisions that fast.

Oh, and then there are the "fait acompli" shows I stop watching because, although I like them, I know they're going to be canceled and I see no reason to bother when the show will get no resolution. Second Chance last season on Fox was one of those. Old cop brought back to life as a young one via science, ratings were awful. Surprisingly they aired the whole season (thought it would get yanked mid-year) but I quit watching after 3 or 4.

Minority Report was borderline so I kept watching it, but it got canned too after airing just as much as Second Chance. However, they did end that season in a logical way that made it ok, like it was a year-long sequel to the film that was now over.



The Jedi Master

To be honest,if I had watched The Big Bang Theory's first pilot,with Amanda Walsh* as Penny,I might not have got hooked. I first saw a later episode at my brothers and thought it looked ok so started at Season 1. I then binge watched the hell out of all seasons many times over.I still find the later seasons entertaining enough.Penny stays quite hot throughout.

I will add a few I can remember...

Ash vs Evil Dead
Stranger Things
Archer (hadn't laughed so much for ages)
Red Dwarf (Just started the new Season XI)
Black Books

* I'm not sure this was ever released for TV? *edit It was unaired*

I had no idea that it was another actress who played Penny originally. How long did she last? Just the pilot?

The Honeymooners

Just the pilot.It's out there somewhere,might find it on YT.

A taster...

Was it actually aired or was it one of those pilots that was shown only to network executives and then they decided to make the casting change?

I edited my original post.It was unaired.

Oh ok, thanks! Actually, that has happened quite often with tv show pilots in the past where one or more actors get replaced.

From British TV:
'The Prisoner' (McGoohan original)
'Wings'
'Piece of Cake'
'Fast Show'
'Inbetweeners'
'IT Crowd'
'Bluestone 42' Maybe not familiar to USA bods. Series about EODs in 'the Ghan'. Chaps I know who have served there say the humour and banter is spot on.

From US
'Band of Brothers' to my mind the best TV series ever produced.

If the opening scene of Archer doesn't make you start immediately binge watching it, nothing will....

House of Cards (Netflix, not the British original)
Stranger Things
Game of Thrones
*Breaking Bad
The Sopranos
Rome
American Horror Story
Orange is the New Black
Dexter (until the final season).
Battlestar Galactica
Rick and Morty
The Six Million Dollar Man

* = Added later