The Best TV Pilots of All Time

The long-running Netflix series about a scheming congressman and his equally conniving wife bent on exacting revenge from those who betrayed him ran from 2013 to 2018. The well-received pilot set the tone for the series. Over the course of its run, “House of Cards” won seven Emmys.

“The Punisher,” a revenge-themed series, was about a Marine veteran turned vigilante seeking to avenge the murder of his family. The Netflix series had 26 episodes over its run from 2017 to 2019.

“The Mandalorian,” an offshoot of the Star Wars franchise, is about the lonely travels of a bounty hunter in space. The Disney+ series began its run in 2019 and has already won 14 Emmys, seven in each season.

“Dexter,” a Showtime series about a serial killer who helps solve crimes by day and commits them at night, ran from 2006 to 2013 and had 96 episodes. The crime drama won four Emmys.

When superheroes abuse their powers, it’s up to vigilantes to take them on. The Amazon series premiered in 2019 and its third season is scheduled to begin on June 3.

This black comedy on HBO about a dysfunctional family running a funeral home in Los Angeles aired from 2001 to 2005. Over its run, “Six Feet Under” won nine Emmy Awards, including one for Alan Ball for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for the pilot.

Ivan and Sam Raimi developed the action/comedy that aired on Starz from 2015 to 2018. The series was about a slacker who inadvertently awakens the evil dead and becomes humankind’s last hope for survival.

The original “Narcos,” a no-holds-barred chronicle of the grip Pablo Escobar and drug lords held over Colombia, ran on Netflix from 2015 through 2017. (There was a subsequent series dealing with the drug trade in Mexico.)

Set in the near future, “Westworld” is about people indulging in their wildest fantasies, believing that they will have no consequences. The HBO series has run since 2016 and won seven Emmy Awards.

In “Suits,” a high-powered lawyer hires a streetsmart law school dropout pretending to be an attorney. The show ran from 2011 to 2019 on USA Network. Among its cast members was Meghan Markle, the future wife of Prince Harry.

“The Outsider,” about a child murder that grips a Georgia community and puzzles investigators, is one of the more recent series on the list, having premiered on HBO in January 2020. The series was based on a novel by Stephen King.

Fox’s “Prison Break” was one of the longer-running series on the list, running from 2005 to 2017, 90 episodes altogether. The story was about an innocent man put on death row and his brother who intentionally gets himself imprisoned to free his brother.

Mark Frost and David Lynch were the showrunners for this series about an eccentric FBI agent sent to an even quirkier town to investigate the death of a young woman who’s found wrapped in plastic. The series, which ran from 1990 to 1991, it won its two Emmys for the pilot.

The anthology crime series that ran from 2014 to 2019 on HBO Max, with a fourth season reportedly in development, had plenty of star power over its first three seasons, including Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Vince Vaughn, Mahershala Ali, Colin Farrell, and Rachel McAdams. The series won five Emmy Awards.

Aaron Sorkin (“The West Wing”) created this HBO series about the disruption of a newsroom by a new team. The show ran from 2012 to 2014 and Jeff Daniels won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

Benedict Cumberbatch’s sometimes unnerving interpretation of the sleuth solving crimes in modern times ran on the Public Broadcasting Service from 2010 to 2017. Cumberbatch and co-star Martin Freeman won two of the show’s nine Emmys.

Few people could have predicted that the pilot for “Breaking Bad” – about a high school chemistry teacher turned meth dealer – would lead to the series being hailed as among the greatest ever. In the pilot, Bryan Cranston’s character Walter White established his extremely desperate situation. The AMC series ran from 2008 to 2013 and won 16 Emmy Awards, with four of them going to Cranston for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

The pilot of the action/fantasy series on HBO established the story arcs of the characters struggling for power. It ran from 2011 to 2019 and hauled in a record 59 Emmy Awards.

“This Is Us” is a drama/romance centered on the life experiences of a set of triplets and the parents who raised them. From the start, the show succeeded in emotionally connecting viewers with its characters. It ran from 2016 to 2022 and won four Emmy Awards, two of them to Ron Cephas Jones for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.

“The Night Of” ran for just eight episodes in 2016. The crime series was about a man who picks up a girl at a party and wakes up to find her dead and is charged with the murder. The series, created by Richard Price and Oscar-winning Steve Zaillian, starred Riz Ahmed and John Turturro. It won five Emmy Awards, including one for Ahmed for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.

The ABC series, about survivors of a plane crash stuck on what appears to be a deserted island, was created by J.J. Abrams, Jeffrey Lieber, and Damon Lindelof. The two-part pilot’s use of flashbacks introduced viewers to the stranded survivors The series ran from 2004 to 2010 and won 10 Emmy Awards.

Rami Malek played a cyber-security engineer and vigilante hacker who tries to take down the corrupt corporation that employs him. “Mr. Robot” appeared on USA Network from 2015 to 2019. Malek won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, one of three garnered by the show.

The Walking Dead pilot “Days Gone Bye” launched the list’s longest-running series, starting in 2010. The zombie apocalypse series, whose pilot was created by Frank Darabont (“The Shawshank Redemption”), has won two Emmy Awards, both for Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie or a Special, and one of those was for the pilot.

The FX series based on the movie of the same name, about interconnecting stories of murder and greed that lead to the North Dakota city, began its run in 2014. The first season boasted a cast that included Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton. The series has won six Emmy Awards.

Chernobyl, a five-episode series on HBO about the explosion at a nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union in 1986, tops the list of best TV pilots in history. The series won 10 Emmy Awards and was nominated for nine others.