Tag Archives: best pilots

Best Pilots of All Time

Posted on by meekthegeek
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Having been writing this blog for more than two years now, and in the year-end tradition of “best of” lists, I thought it time to look at the best pilots of all time.

Now, I consider myself far from qualified to determine what are the best pilots of all time because 1. Of all the pilots ever made, I have seen only a small fraction of them, and 2. All time is long a time, and implies that it encompasses the future, too, and I haven’t figured out time travel yet. (Where are you, Dr. Tom?) I previously made a list of My Five Favorite Pilots of All Time, which is probably due for an update, but for a broader view, I decided to comb the interwebs.

The following is a list of links to various sources, written over the past few years, listing the best of the best in pilots. Continue reading →

Best Pilots of 2011?

Posted on by meekthegeek
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It seems when making “best pilots” lists, lots of writers like to make predictions. Many lists were made chronicling what could be the best pilots hitting TV in 2011. I cannot find a list describing how those predictions played out. What do you think were the best pilots of the year?

I am guessing many, many people would include Game of Thrones. The pilot effectively introduced a whole world and a slew of characters while keeping viewers on the edges of their seats right up to the final moment. I’d also like to suggest Wilfred, just for sheer originality, and Locke & Key, if we can count that even though it never aired. American Horror Story was way up there, again for the originality and hook of the pilot, even though the season may not have lived up to expectations.

Here is a list of the best new shows of 2011 from HitFix – a related subject, but not quite the same.

So, what were the best pilots of 2011? Please comment!

Best Pilots of 2010?

Posted on by meekthegeek
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I would love to make a list of the Best Pilots of 2010, but I didn’t really see enough of them to make a comprehensive analysis. Two definite contenders that I did see would be Raising Hope (pictured at right) and The Walking Dead. One that would definitely not make the cut is Hellcats. (How is that still on the air?)

What did YOU think were the best pilots of 2010? Let me know in the comments!

My Five Favorite Pilots of All Time (So Far)

Posted on by meekthegeek
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This is no attempt to list the “best five pilots of all time,” as there are many thousands of pilots I have not seen (yet!) but I felt like a list was called for. Perhaps it will change in time… who knows.

In no particular order, these are my five favorite pilots.

1. The Simpsons

The pilot was also a Christmas special. What’s not to love? Having never seen the Tracy Ullman Show, I at this point only knew the yellow-skinned quintet as “the Butterfinger family.” Their commercials were funny, so why not check out their holiday antics? Over 20 years later, the pilot, “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire,” still holds up. There was something a little looser, a little wackier about the Simpsons in those days, in the animation, the voices, and the story lines. You can make a drinking game out of the continuity problems. But what better setting in which to teach us all we need to know about a TV family than their Christmas holidays, split between a school recital, a shopping mall, and a dog track? Priceless.

Memorable line: “If TV has taught me anything, it’s that miracles always happen to poor kids at Christmas. It happened to Tiny Tim, it happened to Charlie Brown, it happened to the Smurfs, and it’s gonna happen to us!” (Quoted that from memory, thank you very much.)

2. Heroes

This was show that you HAD to keep watching. Not so much these days, but that pilot was so, just, wow. Peter was immediately endearing, and you’re thinking he might just not be crazy in wondering if he can fly. And Claire throws herself off that railroad trellis. And Hiro is so darned determined to be a super hero. Oh, and I guess the Jessica/Niki eye candy didn’t hurt either if you happened to be male. You were like “where is this thing going?” We had seen super hero shows before, but not like this. On a side note, the actual pilot, which was screened at ComicCon and is availble on DVD, is not as good. Ted was a terrorist. Much too low-hanging fruit for such a creative show.

3. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

See my previous entry on why this rocks.

4. King of the Hill

Okay, I know you’re like, “really?” The show, despite running for 10 years, went steadily downhill, either on its own or by comparison to other emerging animated entertainment that has raised the bar considerably. But it was fresh and unique. I can remember sitting around at school the day after the pilot aired and talking about it, so it obviously made an impression on people. It wasn’t the Simpsons, and it certainly wasn’t Beavis and Butthead, Mike Judge’s previous show. It walked a line between edgy and family friendly. That moment when Joseph appears on screen and you see he looks nothing like his white father and a lot like his mother’s Native American “friend” is ROTFL-funny.

5. Glee

I laughed. I cried. It was better than Cats—way better; Cats is lame. This is musical theatre for the 21st century. While I can just picture the starry-eyed teenagers at home shrieking over Finn, or wanting to sing just like Rachel, for us grown-ups, there’s the Emma-Will-Terri love triangle. (And isn’t it weird how there are three former Heroes cast members in this completely different show?) The pilot did a great job of capturing the whole mood of this show and now, having seen the five additional episodes to have aired, it was right on track. It had the snark of Veronica Mars, the pathos of My So-Called Life, and the embarrassing-to-watch moments of The Office. It’s a feel-good show, but it’s not sappy. Okay, it’s sappy. But not in a Cats way. More in a Wicked way.