I'm sorry, but while I think that everyone is entitled to their opinion about "best this" and "best that" (not to be confused with "favorite this" and "favorite that"), sometimes such a list has some entries that just make you scratch your head so much that you have to throw the whole list away and start over. Case in point, this list of the 10 Best TV Pilots from the new issue of TV Guide.
While I'm not going to sit here and argue about shows on the list like Lost, The Sopranos, and Alias, I am going to take issue with the inclusion of Desperate Housewives, The Shield, and Football Wives. Honestly, are these true representatives of the best first episodes of TV shows? Forget about what the shows became (great shows can often have so-so early episodes), just the first episodes themselves. Was there truly anything special about Desperate Housewives that would place it ahead of...oh, I don't know, 400 other shows in the history of television?
And speaking of that, this list seems awfully...current? The oldest show on the list is Saturday Night Live, and even that one is still on the air. They choose 30 Rock, and while it's one of my favorite comedies of all-time, it's not one where I think "hey, that show had one of the best first episodes I've ever seen!" This is one of those lists that's notable for what it doesn't include more than what it does include. For current shows, how about Mad Men? For past shows, how about Friends, The West Wing, The Twilight Zone, or (as James Poniewozik says at Time) Arrested Development? That's just off the top of my head; I'm sure you can name more in the comments below.
Way too often magazines like TV Guide try to be not only "balanced" (which makes the list off-balanced) or they try to find this shaky mixture of the hip and the current and the classic, not because of quality but to be well-rounded and (because they have to stay current) tie it into something that's happening now. Which is probably why a show like The Shield is on the list, because it starts its final season soon.
The TV Squad Podcast: Vik Sahay of Chuck, Oprah talk, brutal timeslots, and more!
TV Squad Ten: Top Ten ESPN shows from worst to first
Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
9-05-2008 @ 2:14PM
Adam said...
You've got to be kidding me. Did you see the first episode of The Shield? It was one of the pioneering shows that pushed the boundaries of what can be said and shown on cable. Furthermore, I don't ever remember seeing one cop shoot another cop in the head at the very beginning of a series. The Shield should be at the top of the list because of how jarring the show was from the very beginning.
Reply
9-06-2008 @ 5:08AM
lyndal said...
Right on Adam. When the hero shot another cop in the head I knew that this wasn't just another cop show.
9-07-2008 @ 1:23AM
Travis Bell said...
Fu**'in eh man. The Shield's pilot episode was an amazing... AMAZING, episode of television.
9-05-2008 @ 2:14PM
Steve Flack said...
The Cosby Show.
The pilot is the best episode of the entire series, and contains the classtic Theo/Cliff discussion on his future using Monopoly money, and the classic "normal people" speech.
-Steve!
Reply
9-05-2008 @ 4:08PM
khamel said...
best speech ever!
"Son..THAT'S THE DUMBEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE, NO WONDER YOU GET Ds IN EVERYTHING!"
9-05-2008 @ 3:00PM
chadwick said...
30 Rock is funny. However the pilot was very average. Lost, sure. Shield, okay. Saturday Night Live, heck that should be top three. I can toss in Wings or Frasier in there but they are also some of my favorite shows of all time. Cheers? I will say Seinfeld had one of the worst pilots and it became one of the best shows ever.
Reply
9-05-2008 @ 3:03PM
Jimmy said...
Two comments:
1. The Shield most definitely belongs!
2. I love the revisionist history associated with 30 Rock. I was on board from the start, but it didn't become a critical favorite until halfway through the first season, at the earliest. It really hit its stride in Season Two.
Reply
9-05-2008 @ 3:03PM
mosbutnotall said...
30 Rock is a great show, but the pilot is perhaps one of the weakest episodes they've done. Not that this should stop it from being one of the best first episodes, and whilst it does improve with repeat viewing, it just isn't one of the best ever.
When I saw the first episode of ER I got chills, I had never seen anything like it, it just nailed it and I could not wait to see more. 30 Rock most certainly didn't - luckily I did come back.
Due to me being 28 and not from America, my experience is kind of limited to the last couple of decades but even I know this list is limited and also plain wrong even within those limits.
Reply
9-05-2008 @ 3:12PM
Drew said...
If anything, The Shield needs to be number 1.
Reply
9-05-2008 @ 3:21PM
stewartwallace said...
Actually, I watched the pilot of Desperate Housewives again earlier this week, and I was struck by what a great first episode it was.
As much as I favor 30 Rock over Desperate Housewives now, the pilot of 30 Rock was not all that good.
Reply
9-05-2008 @ 3:52PM
Leah said...
Definitely Freaks and Geeks. I've seen that episode at least 20 times and I love it more every time I see it.
Reply
9-05-2008 @ 3:52PM
Nacho said...
"Which is probably why a show like The Shield is on the list, because it starts its final season soon."
No, The Shield is on the list because it deserves to be. The first episode of The Shield grabs you by the balls and sets the tone for the entire series. You are left wondering (for quite some time) if Vic is a good guy or a bad guy.
I am going to take issue with someone getting paid to write on a TV Blog and not being able to recognize superior television.
Reply
9-05-2008 @ 4:31PM
Dave said...
Hey, you're just lucky that he didn't mention Studio 60 again.
9-05-2008 @ 4:30PM
sean tubbs said...
I don't understand the SNL inclusion. The show that aired that night in 1975 bore little resemblance to what we have on the air now. It had Muppets. It had multiple monologues from George Carlin. It had a short film by Albert Brooks. Sure, it established the show's foothold as a live television program where none had gone before, but was it one of the best show's ever?
And, the Shield is one of the best pilots ever, in terms of setting the tone as Nacho has said. In that last minute, what could have become just another cop show turns around and becomes something very, very different.
Reply
9-05-2008 @ 4:38PM
JJ said...
I agree with many commenters that the pilot for The Shield was great. It still ranks as one of the best episodes of a very good show.
Reply
9-05-2008 @ 4:43PM
laura said...
Buffy the vampire slayer!
Little House on the Prairie
Reply
9-05-2008 @ 4:59PM
nattyff said...
how about the fiste episode of dexter??? or the 4.400???
Reply
9-05-2008 @ 5:02PM
nattyff said...
How about the first episode of Dexter??? or the 4400???
Reply
9-05-2008 @ 5:17PM
mjp said...
One of the pilots that always stuck with me was Oz. They focus on a guy like he's going to be the star of the show and then unceremoniously burn him alive at the end (at least if memory serves).
Reply
9-05-2008 @ 5:56PM
metz said...
Twin Peaks..easily one of the best pilots of all time. There was never anything on TV that aired in the manner it did.
Reply