Welcome to another Top 10 Tuesday! Last week, I looked at the first episodes of comedy series. Today is the Top 10 First Episodes of Dramas!
Close Calls:
American Dreams "Pilot"
House of Cards "Chapter 1"
Party of Five "Pilot"
The first episode of Revenge started with an interesting flash forward and then did a tremendous job of world building. The lavish Hamptons setting and the very intriguing revenge plot in the pilot probably would have ranked higher if it had been able to stick the landing.
9. Damages "Get Me a Lawyer" (July 24, 2007)
This was also a pilot with a flash forward that actually managed to stick the landing. So often flash forwards can end up disappointing but Damages kept things interesting and introduced us to a marvelous Glenn Close performance.
8. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip "Pilot" (September 18, 2006)
A brilliant pilot followed by a mess of a series, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip showed so much promise in its first go-round with intriguing characters and a unique setting. All the things that eventually became annoying about the show struck just the right tone in the pilot.
7. The Americans "Pilot" (January 30, 2013)
Another pilot that did a tremendous job at world building, The Americans captured its eerie and unsettling feeling from the start and included a storyline that didn't really resolve until the series finale years later.
We famously didn't even meet Martin Sheen's President Bartlet until the end of the pilot of The West Wing. By the time he came into the room with tremendous gravitas, we were already fully invested in the cast of characters around him.
5. Mad Men "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" (July 19, 2007)
It might seem easy now to anticipate that Don Draper was living a double life considering how much we learned about him over the years but the pilot provided a surprising ending after a beautifully meticulous pilot that thrust us into the early 60s advertising world.
4. This is Us "Pilot" (September 20, 2016)
You can knock This is Us for how often they pull a bait and switch on the audience. But it deserves credit for throwing a thriller-style twist into a family drama and doing it in a way that only made the series more interesting. It might have seemed like a gimmick but it most certainly wasn't.
3. 24 "12:00am-1:00am" (November 6, 2001)
A heart pounding thriller with a twist ending, 24 told a story in real time in a way that TV had not done before. It is one of those TV pilots (like Lost, which I'm sure would be on this list if I ever watched the show) that really changed the course of the genre.
2. Hill Street Blues "Hill Street Station" (January 15, 1981)
This show was probably the grandfather of pilots that changed the genre. Hill Street Blues looked a lot more like the gritty dramas of today than the safer dramas that preceded it in the 50s, 60s and 70s. It was an entirely new police drama that was more character driven and it famously launched the idea of the twist ending.
No pilot has ever done "world building" better than Friday Night Lights. There was no exposition in the traditional sense. It just felt like we were dropped into the world of a small Texas town that loved high school football more than anything. Coach Taylor's speech just solidified as the best drama pilot of all time.
Tomorrow: A One Season Wonder Look at The New Andy Griffith Show!
Next Tuesday: Top 10 TV Teachers/Coaches!
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