Pilot
Modern to Contemporary.
Television’s “Pilot Season” starts in January each year and ends in time for the NFL Draft at the end of April. About a month later, networks host their annual upfronts in New York City, where they decide which pilot episodes are series worthy and where they want to place them in their fall or midseason lineup (in addition to the fate or renewing returning TV series). This requires a strong series setup for the networks, so that they have faith when investing (“ordering” in TV show terminology), and hopefully a few lovable characters for audiences to root for from the very beginning. Regardless of the series’ success, or lack thereof, these pilots have been, arguably, the best premiere episodes on television, for both dramas and comedies.
Despite only lasting for two seasons, Twin Peaks (April 8, 1990) was an early example of excellent pilot writing. This genre-bending, ninety-three minute first episode was the beginning of what many consider to be the Golden Age of Television. From the instantly lovable characters (kind Sheriff Harry Truman, optimistic Agent Dale Cooper, simple Deputy Andy Brennan, sweet Lucy Moran) to the chilling final moments of the episode, it had all of the makings for an epic TV show.
Another precedent setting drama for procedurals, The X-Files (September 10, 1993) pilot is a beloved cult classic. Laughing in the rain, viewers can see the exact moment that Mulder and Scully decide this partnership is worth a shot. They coined the “monster of the week” idea, infusing character driven mythology with episodic cases, and ultimately created one of the most beloved television programs, all within the first forty-eight minute episode.
Even sixteen years later, Agent Sydney Bristow is still a fan favorite. Alias (September 9, 2001)was one of the first C.I.A. thrillers of the decade, setting up an interesting-enough spy drama, only to turn it on its head with a incredibly dark murdered-fiancé scene, where Sydney finds out she hasn’t really been working for the C.I.A. at all. The final moment of the pilot, when a battered and read-headed Sydney Bristow sits across from actual C.I.A. agent Michael Vaughn, is the beginning of one of the greatest “ships” in television history.
Just a few years following the Alias pilot, J.J. Abrams created another hit, with an iconic, often cited two-parter pilot. Although the show kind of spiraled out of control after the fourth season, the Lost (September 22, 2004) pilot is an epic example in original, enticing TV writing. It set up a really dynamic ensemble cast in a complex, action-packed situation, while still throwing in an unexpected, mystical, and, ultimately, supernatural, theme.
While people are pretty split about the ending of the series, How I Met Your Mother (September 19, 2005) created one of the best setups for a comedy show. It had the anticipation and heart of a drama, but kept things on the lighter side, and all within twenty-two minutes. What seemed like a strange incarnation of Friends at first, ultimately paved its own path, hooking audiences from the start, with the catchy theme song and the unforgettable characters.
Always a classic, Friday Night Lights (October 3, 2006) isn’t just a TV show, but “a lifestyle… a religion,” according to Gilmore Girls. Although the sleepy, small-town morning montage of all of the players on the Dillon Panthers football team was brilliant, what truly placed Friday Night Lights on this list, is Coach’s monologue at the end of the episode, as he makes his way to the hospital bed of his now-paralyzed quarterback, Jason Street.
The Breaking Bad (January 20, 2008) pilot is iconic, and a requisite for any directing or screenwriting class. They mastered the “teaser,” opening with Walter White standing in his underwear in the middle of the desert, waiting to be arrested, before cutting to his “old life,” filled with time with his son and wife, his two jobs as a high school chemistry teacher, before escalating to being fired by a gas station and diagnosed with cancer. The pilot is also the set-up for one of the greatest TV/film depictions of Moby Dick. This is classically thought of as Hank Schrader as Ahab and Walter White as the almost mythical white whale, Moby Dick, but it’s also noted that Walt is a bit of an Ahab himself, in his endless pursuit to be a kingpin in the drug world as he faces death by cancer.
One of the few pilot episodes not titled “Pilot,” Castle’s “Flowers For Your Grave” (March 9, 2009) is an emblem for character-based procedural television shows. Reading the script is like reading a brilliant piece of prose, with the opening scene (written by the series creator, Andrew W. Marlowe) reflecting the beauty of the entire episode, beginning with: “A landscape. Sand colored, stretching to a horizon of black. Very serene. And then we see a bead of red, rolling like a teardrop, and we realize this is no landscape. It’s a body.”
The countdown style of the How To Get Away With Murder (September 25, 2014) series is one thing that makes it so original and exciting, flashing between an interesting, relatively innocent cast of characters at the beginning of their law career, before showing the group attempting to get rid of a body. Peter Nowalk, the head creator of the series and writer of the pilot, masters the art of the cliffhanger, when, in the final minutes of the episode, viewers learn that the body four law students are trying to dispose of is, in fact, that of the husband of their professor.
The Blindspot (September 21, 2015) pilot lived up to the anticipation of its premiere, a true feat, following all of the “cop show” hallmarks, but still holding its own. The creators of the show set up a nice case of the week format, which is pretty much infinite, considering that each tattoo on Jane Doe’s body is a clue (or more) to some form of government corruption, terrorist activity, etc. The show that can pull off a naked, tattooed woman showing up with no memory in a bag in Times Square is a program that’s truly destined for success.
Honorable mention for epic pilots goes to The Killing (April 3, 2011), The Walking Dead (October 21, 2010), and Boardwalk Empire (September 19, 2010), all great first episodes and setups for solid television programs (whether they turned out that way or not). It’s these pilot episodes, cornerstones of television, that help define and articulate contemporary culture.
