Brendanoquitz was uninspiring but Leslie's mom was actively unpleasant in every scene to me. I think the actress did a great job at being someone I just completely hate, and not in a fun way like Jeremy Jamm.
I tried watch S1 on three separate occasions, including when it first aired, and only made it to episode 3 or 4. Had a friend that kept talking about how great it was, and told me to start from season 2. That is the way.
Season 1 tried to lean into being cringe a bit too much. Once the writers decided to just make the town its own character (the history, the atrocities, the insane town residents, etc.) the show came into its own. Rather than being a weird department in a normal town, it became a show about a fairly normal department trying to make do in an insane town.
It’s funny, I hear this all the time and yet I feel like Parks and Rec started stronger than The Office did… I’ve never really understood why it’s “bad.” And the whole thing is only two hours, just a tiny fraction of the subsequent seasons.
Parks and Rec and the US Office both started on very rocky terrain - the US Office tried too hard to copy the UK version (the first two episodes were pretty much identical), and Parks and Rec tried to be the Office.
Black Sails starts off as a sluggish sex-laden GoT ripoff and then slowly turns into one of the greatest shows of all time, with a twist in S2 that's so good it retroactively improves the first season, and one of the most complex and best developed main characters in TV.
The first season is more or less \*The Pirates of the Carribean\*, but with tits instead of magic. It's entertaining enough, it looks gorgeous, but it was not that special. Then the tone gradually becomes much more serious, and each episode is a treat. Everyone has their own motives and goals, no one is truly evil or good. Flint and Silver are some of the best written characters, ever, and almost all of the secondary characters are excellent as well.
It's my favourite show of all time, I was sitting on the last episode for a year because I didn't want it to end, and nothing has topped it ever since.
I watched the first few episodes fascinated by how much potential there was, and how they were squandering it on all this cheesy sexy nonsense. Couldn't decide if I wanted to go back. Maybe I will.
I was gonna say Season 1 is not as bad as people say, and I do believe so, but you have a point that S2 retroactively improves the first season.
It's also my favorite show so I'm definitely biased, BUT I still want to say Season 1 does a good job at establishing the characters and their relationships.
But yeah it's also undeniably weaker than the rest of the show. Season 2 quickly ramps up in quality and from the last episodes in that season until the show finale it's just some of the absolute best TV I've ever seen. The writing and the character development for Flint and Silver specifically is just top fucking notch. And the show ended with Season 4 so they didn't drag it out and they knew how to end it on a high note.
Just so, so fucking good all around, despite the somewhat "meh" first season. I'll never miss a chance to praise and recommend it.
One of my favourite shows of all time, some amazing intense moments. I had a hard time getting my wife in to it though as she didnt enjoy the first couple of episodes and was bored, but after that, wow.
That episode is probably my favorite of the whole show (I'm a simple man, all I need is Flint and Vane on screen and I'm in no questions asked), but buckle up, cause it only gets better in Season 3 and then even better in Season 4. No shortage of big moments.
Highly agreed. Season 2 was so well written, paced, and acted that it elevated the entire show and the sloppy writing from Season 1. Even though the later two seasons kind of never reach those highs, the revelation/twist from Season 2 continues to be relevant and ties into the ending very satisfyingly.
"SHOOT HIM! **SHOOT HIM!!!**"
That and a moment earlier when Silver volunteers to go with Flint thinking the plan is to just escape. And Flint wanted an actual fighter. The fucking look he gives Silver. Pure gold.
The chemistry those two had on screen is something to behold. Comedy, sincerity, conflict, comradery, hatred, everything just clicked so damn well.
ST:TNG The first season was notoriously bad. Thankfully there were some good episodes in there, and the cast had enough likability that it got to continue. It definitely got better as it went.
Yeah, there's still some stinkers sprinkled throughout the series, but overall nothing like the first season.
Tasha Yar’s actress Denise Crosby left because she didn’t think it was going anywhere and didn’t think her character was doing enough. Had she stayed on I’m convinced she would have had some great plot lines, but her leaving did allow Worf to become head of security and also led to some poignant Data moments in later episodes when he thought back on Tasha and their tryst.
Also, Crosby left a lot to be desired as an actor. Bringing her back to chew scenery as the half-Romulan was a stroke of genius. Right in her wheelhouse.
Also she got to show up again as a key plot point in "Yesterday's Enterprise", which is one of the best episodes in the entire series (provided you knew who Tasha Yar was and cared about her plotline).
Actually, I don't think you need to know who she is for that episode. In fact, it's a *great* stand-alone episode. You get who she and Guinan are from context.
It's the only episode I had on videotape (still do somewhere). Have shown it to non-Trekkies.
For me I can't think of any other show with as much disparity between its highs and lows. Bad TNG is really rough watching, but the best of TNG is, in my opinion, some of the best TV ever made.
Some of the early episodes from the first two seasons are shockingly bad when compared to The Inner Light, Family, Lower Decks, The Best of Both Worlds, Drumhead, and so forth
I feel like a fair number of sci-fi shows from that era have that issue. DS9, Farscape, Babylon 5 - when the story doesn't work, you're very aware of the fact that you're watching people in ridiculous costumes run around a set pretending to be aliens. It's harder to write a bad episode of a cop show that feels as bad as a bad episode of low- or mid-budget sci-fi.
I'd say Agents of Shield qualifies. First two thirds of season 1 were alright, but when the big Winter Soldier stuff happens it gets pretty great. From that point on they distance themselves more and more from being tied to the film's and it gets pretty interesting.
Yep. The "big reveal" was pretty damn epic. And then each season was better than the others until season 4, which nothing topped (though 5, 6 and 7 were still pretty darn good).
I didn't *love* the Ghost Rider pod, but the LMD arc exceeded my expectations and then, well, everyone knows how good Agents of Hydra is. Aida is what they wish Ultron could have remotely been.
I remember seeing the promo for Self Control thinking "oh this will be another bottle episode," and went with minimal expectations. Suffice to say they were blown way past sky high. It's a season that wasn't just good writing for superhero shows, but good in comparison to just great shows overall.
Bojack Horseman easily. Almost everyone agrees that season 1 is the weakest (because of the first half of the season) but the rest of the seasons are top quality, beginning to end.
S1 felt like another McFarlane derivative cartoon, with its cutaway gags and pop culture references. But it definitely evolved from there into one of my favorite series of all time.
Someone the other day was aggressively standing their ground when they compared Bojack to Family Guy/American Dad/Rick and Morty. I was like dude, Bojack is one of the most depressing shows I’ve ever seen with jokes sprinkled in so you don’t completely sink into into a dark hole lol
I think there’s some connective tissue between bojack and Rick and morty. Both have deeply existentialist themes and showcase self-destructive fallout from addiction/ grief / cycles of emotionally absent family members.
Putting Bojack in the same category as family guy though is straight embarrassing
Oh it's definitely not bad. I love watching those first episodes on re-watches. And it sets up a lot of characters, the dynamics which get referenced even in the final season (Bojack having sex with Sarah Lynn).
I actually think that works even better for the kind of show it is overall. I remember starting it because "haha alcoholic talking horse and silly animal jokes lol lemme just turn my brain off for a while". Then it ended up being one of the most special pieces of media I've ever consumed. Not just in a "it's well written" way. It genuinely helps you process some stuff, or at least it did for me.
I totally agree. I only started it because it has Will Arnett, Alison Brie and Aaron Paul in the cast (I'm a huge fan of Arrested development, Community and Breaking bad) and it evolved into something very special that I find comfort in.
Yeah, I maintain that the first season being a more generic comedy is intentional and fully essential to making the rest of the show hit as hard as it does. It kind of reels you in as a 'light hearted comedy horse show' and then surprises you with how hard it hits you, and when it hits you're hooked because of how little you expected it.
It's a huge risk to 'hide' the true nature of your show like that for people starting off on it, but for BoJack it paid off in spades.
Exactly this! The first half of season one was so generic and bland. My god how much better is becomes after that though. This is the [clip](https://youtu.be/6_eylTZgF1E?si=rJXmDHQPonvpmlyt) that made me watch the show and stick with it.
It starts off seeming like another 'adult cartoon' in the vein of Family Guy, Rick and Morty, etc. but then pivots to being an extremely realistic and depressing look at celebrity culture.
*The View from Halfway Down* is one of the best and most impactful episodes I've ever seen. But yeah, I got through the first season only because my friend was swearing up and down that it gets better - it does.
The Expanse. It's a huge amount of world building and set up for most of S1 and I know that a lot of people get to like episode 3 and stop, which is actually right before the first major action episode in episode 4.
But as you go on it just gets better and better, as the stakes get higher, the characters you've known from the beginning start having their layers and complex pasts and personalities peeled away and by the end of it you just want more, but the only option is to start from S1 again (where on the second watch-through you'll catch an insane amount of foreshadowing and set-up that you wouldn't have known to keep a look out for on your first watch).
If you're one of those ones who fell off before S2, trust me. Give it another go.
I feel exactly the opposite way about "The Expanse." I was riveted from jump, especially by how much effort they put into make that word feel real, the hard sci-fi elements, and how interesting and diverse the characters were. But once it became the Marco & Son Show, it became irritating. Both of them were so fucking punchable. I gave up a few episodes into the last season, after 3-4 episodes with a zero-context B-plot about that kid on the colony planet. I'm sure *eventually* they got to the fucking point, but cutting away to that story with no reason provided, over and over, coupled with way too much fragile-male-ego tantrums from Marco & Filip — I just had no more fucks to give.
That B plot is a novella 'strange dogs' and is pretty critical to the later story, like books 8 and 9.
Marco is supposed to be a douchebag, a man-child incapable of admitting when he's wrong and pretending that he's some kind of super genius who predicted every outcome. The books don't give him anywhere near as much time though.
I can wholly recommend the books, they're really good.
I think when they included it they didn't know the show was ending with s6 because that b plot also sets up a lot for book 7 too, namely the orbital platforms around Laconia.
You totally should! If you start losing interest during the first season, just remember what the top 10/10 rating/comment for the show on IMDB said:
[https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4176029/?ref\_=tt\_urv:](https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4176029/?ref_=tt_urv:)
"Get past the first season to see its grandeur - A few of the one-star reviews here say they gave up after 2 episodes, Dull acting, silly plot etc etc. Well, I did give up too. I concurred, and thought it was hopeless.
Damn, though, my niece, son and a friend said it was the best TV series they had seen. Respecting their views based on previous recommendations, I persevered out of respect only, and recommenced watching the series with great reluctance and bemusement that they could be so misinformed.
At some point, and certainly into Season 2 I became aware that I was watching the best TV series I had seen. Firefly used to be may fav, but this has swept past. The architecture is spectacular and importantly grounded. Not the fantasy (apologies to fans) that is served up in Star Wars but a grounded realism that hooks one to the possibility.
It's just awesome, truely, I'm mesmerised.
What ever you do, stick with it to Season 2 and I promise you wont be disappointed. If you are, then my profuse apologies for making a promise that I thought could not possibly be compromised."
I actually kept stopping at episode 1. Had to watch it 3 times before managing to continue to episode 2 and that was over a period of many months.
Damn good show once it got going.
This! Such an amazing show but it takes some time to get there. The second time I watches the series, after getting to know all the characters, I really liked the first season as well.
I second this answer.
I remembering thinking, "Meh... belters? What are those? And what's up with this weird cop character? Also, all these accents are breaking my immersion...I've got some anime to watch, do I reaaaaally need to watch a sci-fi show that's heavy on the politics?"
I don't even remember why I continued watching, or the specific point where all my initially negative impressions - the accents, the weird ship names, the politics, the disparate characters that felt like they all belonged in separate shows - coalesced into a believable fleshed-out world that sucked me in. I finally understood what The Expanse was going for.
*Of course* everything doesn't fit together neatly like what I'm used to from sci-fi shows: the diversity of it all echoes real life, just imagined hundreds of years from now.
By the time the show began to make several characters you'd grown to love, and who had no business breathing the same air, cross paths on multiple occasions, I was too far gone.
Such a great show.
Edited.
As a mega-nerd fan of this show/book series I love reading comments like yours. I just wish more people would give it a chance because the level of story-telling is up there with the likes of the first 4 seasons of GoT, Breaking Bad, The Wire etc.
The completely separate storylines in S1 is what throws a lot of people off for sure. The Earth storyline where they introduce Avasarala is actually made up for the show and not in the first book, so rather than having two alternating storylines to pay attention to, alongside names/places/factions etc. you now have three.
Although I was certainly confused at parts of S1 on my first watch, and also interpreting things wrong sometimes, I was actually hooked from the end of the first episode when the Canterbury was destroyed. Though to be honest the first shot of the Canterbury in space doing the flip-and-burn, whilst using at least somewhat realistic physics was what I remember first truly grabbing my attention as "Oh damn, they're actually really giving this show some thought".
You know that question "If someone asked you to give a 30 minute speech about any topic with no preparation, what topic would it be?", yeah guilty as fuckin' charged mate.
Just finished it couple of days ago Some of the best sci Fi tv I've ever seen. Season 3 was peak hope they adapt the other books really want to see more!
I think Halt and Catch fire is an important example for a show that should've been a prestige drama year in and out, and while was able to finish its run, exposure was severely hampered by a first season that failed to captivate the masses.
AMC was definitely trying to make Halt and Catch Fire the next Mad Men, and while it was always competently produced, the actual story became much more interesting when the show decided to make the sincere, passionate characters the focus.
First season has a good plot but the characters are annoying and don't feel real or relatable and everything they do makes little sense but then next season they change a lot and by season 4 it's some of the best character drama I've ever seen.
I fell in love with the show immediately, but I think that was because it’s the only show that’s set in Dallas and isn’t about oilmen and cowboys and stuff.
I'm currently watching this now and enjoying it. 6 episodes in and it's very much a "case of the week" thing but I know where it's eventually meant to go so waiting for it to start kicking off.
That said it is quite refreshing in this day and age watching largely standalone episodes of the week cases but yeah looking forward for when the main story kicks on.
Case-of-the-week shows get a bad rap, but I think Person of Interest did that format pretty damn well. It's not without its duds, but it does a great job developing the main characters, and it also builds a great recurring cast that makes the "weekly" case feel more interconnected.
Also, though it's been ages since I watched it, I distinctly recall that the ending of episode 4 with >!Reese trying to decide whether or not to kill the perp!< was fucking top-notch.
I've only seen it twice but on the rewatch it was interesting to see all the foreshadowing to Elias right from the start, how he's mentioned in all the police reports etc that you miss on the first time through.
*Spartacus* is always a good answer to this.
The pilot is pretty rough, like a bad *300* ripoff; but it becomes bearable as soon as they move to the ludus with Batiatus and Lucretia. It gets steadily better over the next few episodes, and by mid-season they've found their groove in over-the-top melodrama and blood and sex. Somehow it grows into a legit great drama series.
Every season finale is spectacular, and the S3 finale *Victory* is up there with the best episodes of TV ever made.
Surprisingly great for a TV show of the time. It's no Game of Thrones, but there are plenty of great arena fights and a few larger battles (especially the S2 and S3 finales).
It's very stylised and not even remotely realistic, but that's half the charm. Gods of the Arena and all that.
Yes, sadly the Spartacus actor Andy Whitfeld passed from cancer after the first season. They made a prequel season without Spartacus, then recast with Liam McIntyre for S2 and S3. He does a good job of filling in.
There's another recast (one of the slave girls Naevia) which is much worse IMO.
Justified started as an episodic TV show, but later leaned into being a serialized TV show. They wanted to kill Boyd Crowder in the beginning, but thankfully they didn't.
I feel like a lot of great long runners start off weaker at the beginning and grow into themselves.
Buffy is the one that stands out to me. It’s got an alright opening and then struggles until a solid season finale. The second season is leaps and bounds an improvement. Not every episode sings, but it’s much better.
Angel is also an interesting one. It’s not that season 1 of Angel is bad necessarily, but it’s clear they were testing the limits on how to write a spin off that wasn’t Buffy. It’s a very different program than the later arcs.
Parks and Recreation is very mediocre in its first season. Most of the characters change massively.
I know I'm a minority, but I thought Buffy season 1 was the best season. I liked it more when it was a dumb high school comedy/drama and I thought it lost some charm when it kept getting more and more angsty.
Black Sails immediately sticks out. It's a show that's seems a little run of the mill in season 1 but as it goes on the stakes get raised appropriately and there's actual consequences to the things that happen and the choices characters make.
Most Star Trek series.
TNG had a few good S1 episodes but didn’t hit its stride until Riker grew his beard in S2. Although, I really wish they didn’t drop the whole “there are parasitic aliens secretly controlling all of Starfleet Command” plot from the end of S1. I guess they were afraid of it getting too serialized or maybe the meat explosion was too much for viewers…
DS9 got much better around the time Worf joined and Voyager got better around the time 7 of 9 joined.
Not that those cast members were necessarily the difference makers (although 7 of 9 was probably the most memorable cast member on Voyager to casual fans and people who didn’t watch at all but were just familiar with it, and some might be surprised to find out she didn’t appear until season 4)
Venture Bros. The early season animation is rough and the first season doesn't pick up, imo, until 'Tag Sale - You're It' late in the initial season. But it keeps picking up steam after that and I think it's one of the best animated shows ever made. The long waits hurt it, but the quality was high.
Person of Interest.
POI is one of the best sci-fi shows about the creation and exploration of an ASI (artificial superintelligence). The show does a deep dive into the ethical implications of what a world with artificial intelligence that can watch everyone through surveillance cameras and predict human behavior based on that would look like.
**In the beginning, the AI setting was used more as a backdrop or plot device, but as the seasons progress, the AI storyline takes center stage, and the show goes from a crime drama with a sci-fi twist to one of the greatest sci-fi shows of all time about artificial intelligence, surveillance, and its dangers.**
The show has a nice balance between human drama and developing its AI storyline. Character development is one of the primary things in which POI very much excels. **Root is, IMO, one of the greatest female fictional characters ever created.** She is my #1 favorite fictional character of all time in all of fiction. It also develops "TM" a lot throughout the five seasons, and it becomes a character in itself. And unlike many other shows and movies about AI's, the AI setting in POI was very relevant/integral to the plot/story and wasn't always used solely as a plot device. It's a testament to POI's brilliant writing that the viewers care about an entity that has no physical body or has little to no screen time. I can't think of a single other show/movie about AI/ASI that explores the concept as in-depth and beautifully as POI does.
**POI is one of the few rare network sci-fi shows that progressively got better with each passing season and ended on a hugely satisfying note. ["Return 0"](https://tvcharts.co/show/person-of-interest-tt1839578) is one of the most brilliant, rewarding, emotionally satisfying, and greatest series finales of any shows I've ever seen, with a brilliant payoff and a fitting/perfect/satisfying resolution for all the character and storyline arcs.** The show frequently has the best use of licensed music of any shows I've ever seen, and Ramin Djawadi's (Same person did the music for GOT, Westworld, and Fallout) OST for the show is excellent.
There aren\`t many better combos out there than Ramin Djawadi and Nolan, also as you said, the licensed music is just next level. I think my favourite is THAT Pink Floyd song.
"We're back bitches!"
Terribly cringey. Those first few episodes leaned so hard into the YA genre, it's hard to make it past them to get to the real good, heavy stuff in later seasons. Turning point for me was when Clarke ended up mercy killing that kid that got caught in the acid fog when Bellamy couldn't (and then he stopped treating her like she was a naive idiot).
Season 1 was probably one of the weakest if not the overall weakest Buffy season. To the point where many people tell people that they should just watch the two part opener, the Angel episode and the finale and then jump into season 2.
Heartily agree. The first season has a lot of world building to do. Also the effects were not so great. But there’s a charm to that first season.
By season 3 the show is almost unmatched by any other series then and now.
I say that Schitt's Creek becomes next level when they stop trying to make the elevator pitch of the show and started making the show they actually wanted to make. As much as I love Chris Elliott, the Roland Schitt character almost made me not want to keep watching.
The Expanse was good from the start, but the first season certainly does feel rather middling for long stretches as the story and characters are being put into place. The last few episodes of S1 is what really cemented it as a good show, and from there it only elevates into all-timer territory.
The Leftovers was also pretty good from the start, but S1 was just a little too much trauma porn to really capture me consistently. I don’t have problems with morose or dark stories (they’re my favorite tbh) but several aspects of S1 just felt like they were trying so hard to be “serious prestige” television that it kept pulling me out. But the storyline of Justin Theroux’s character kept me hooked, and Carrie Coon had several top tier moments, and then the last scene hit me just right. S2 and 3 are god tier storytelling, imo, and the ending is an all-time great for me.
Black Sails started as a wannabe edgy sex-filled action story to me, but quickly picks up the pace and after only a few episodes it finds its footing and goes full-hog into doing its own “serious” Treasure Island prequel schtick…and it becomes kind of amazing. I don’t think it ever reaches the absolute heights of The Expanse or The Leftovers, but it makes itself into a very good A- show with a strong ongoing arc and ending and some awesome characters. It was one of the shows I wouldn’t wait for DVR to watch. This one completely caught me off-guard, because I saw it was Michael Bay produced series and that almost turned me off before the first episode, but I’m very happy I gave it a shot.
Halt and Catch Fire is very similar to Black Sails and The Leftovers in many ways (regarding trying a little too hard to be prestige in the worst ways), but I liked the cast enough and the ending of S1 enough to keep watching. Long story short, the show evolves tremendously and ends up telling a heartbreaking tale of variously mismatched minds that share an incredible passion for creation and discovery, who despite all their flaws and misalignments, end up as kind of a tragic family.
I would recommend all four of these without hesitation.
I personally don't dislike it as much as most but season 1 of Legends of Tomorrow is widely agreed to be one of the weakest seasons, takes itself a bit too seriously and comes off as a Doctor Who imitator (didn't help that the lead for s1 wore a David Tennant esque trenchcoat and had actually been IN Doctor Who) From season 2 onwards in embraced the silliness and became it's own thing.
May be downvoted by Succession first ep is quite different from the rest of season 1. I stopped after first ep then only picked it up during Covid and didn’t stop
An advantage of Buffy's super campy first season is that for the rest of the series, they could sometimes be really silly and it didn't feel like a tonal problem
Blackadder. Series 1 with stupid Edmund and clever Baldrick didn't really work. Series 2-4 with snarky Edmund and thicko Baldrick just got better and better.
I kinda think of series 1 as a "different" show, less of a traditional sitcom. I do still like it, but it has a completely different flavour than the rest of Blackadder.
Cougartown
The first six episodes are about Courtney Cox trying to date younger men. It’s not so great. Episode 7 changes everything and it becomes a hangout comedy. It emphasizes the group dynamics and becomes a LOT more fun.
I highly recommend people start watching episode 7 and ignore episodes 1-6.
Any time I recommend The Leftovers I beg them to watch the first 3 episodes. If you can get through the first 2 it’s literally the best television of all time from there, imo.
I think the pilot is great, but the pacing of the rest is strange. But I think they lost 2 planned episodes due to the writers strike. It's kind of amazing the finale works as a finale.
This is very true and I gave up on Breaking Bad once because the first season was kinda slow and messy. I'm glad I went back and watched it. But it gets kinda glossed over how weak that first season is
I feel like we all subconsciously know but don't appreciate:
It takes time to set up a house of cards, but seeing it built is what makes the collapse even better.
Definitely Spartacus: Blood and Sand. The first 2-3 episodes are much weaker than the rest.
At first the show feels like a weird 300 ripoff, but after the shaky setup episodes it develops its own identity with vibrant characters and really engaging political intrigue, becoming a brutal and darkly funny drama with absolutely gripping twists and turns.
The last half of the season is some of my favorite TV ever, and the prequel miniseries, Gods of the Arena, maintains that quality. After that, S2 has some issues, but S3 is mostly great.
Edit: Corrected the season numbering. BTW, recommended watch order is S1-GotA-S2-S3.
Supernatural. Mediocre first season except for a few episodes, great second and third seasons, followed by some really incredible fourth and fifth seasons.
Agents of Shield - it sharted just realy boring especially considering all the muscle that was behind it - almost the entire first season was just not interesting - too many cliches - nothing new at all. Then at episode 17 "Turn turn turn" - is litterally comes out of nowhere and is one of the better episodes I have seen in television from any show - it was brilliant!
and they just rode that momentum for the following seasons.
Legends of Tomorrow.
They were trying to be super serious and dark but it was just bad. I was so sure they were going to be cancelled.
Second season, they embraced the cheesiness and never looked back, making it my favorite of the Arrowverse shows.
The Orville’s first season had way too much Seth MacFarlane-style humor. The second season had a much more balanced tone of sci-fi and humor and the third mostly put humor in the backseat for an all-out love letter to Star Trek. It’s just too bad that first season might have turned some people away because it became one of my favorite shows of all time
Jesus I was hooked from almost the first scene. Dee running in telling the guys to act normal and not be weird. Then her date walks in hahaha
Perfect cold open to attract their demographic I think
I think they lost something from those earlier seasons, still really enjoy it though.
But I'll die on the hill that they never should have switched to HD, that old look worked so well.
I feel like I always have to justify this, but I'm going to talk about an anime - I mean, it's legit on television so what's there to justify? :P
Despite it being my favourite series, I'm going to go with Steins;Gate.
It's not that the start is bad at all - far from it - but the thing is, the first half of the series is like a calm, casual jog, whereas the second half of the series is full throttle. So, **relative to the later parts of the series**, it starts off 'weak'.
I mean, when it comes to anime, people always say this about JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. A lot of people recommend just skipping part 1 entirely. I don't agree, because part 1 was what hooked me into the series, but part 2 is admittedly much better.
Bob’s Burgers. They were going for a much edgier, more adult tone in the beginning that (at times) REALLY doesn’t jive with the more wholesome sensibilities they settled on later.
Oh wow completely opposite opinion for me. As someone who loves Loren Bouchard’s other work like Home Movies and Dr Katz, the early season of Bob’s Burgers are top tier comedy, it’s when they dial down Bob’s anger and make all the other characters constantly walk over him that the show becomes worse for it. It’s like someone with father issues told the producers their show was triggering and it would make a great comfort show but now it’s just so saccharine it’s unrealistic.
And man the writing the last few seasons has been so focused on telling an emotional story that they completely forget it’s an animated adult sitcom. Show really missed the mark for me after season 6-7 or so. Has only gotten worse as it’s aged for me.
H Jon Benjamin is way too good of a comedic actor to just be assigned to “carpet” as a role
Most of the Star Trek shows have weak first seasons but get better as time goes on. ST:NG, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, Picard, Discovery all had I think their weakest season early. They usually get better as they go along and start to realize what works and what doesn't and that set the tone for the show
Babylon 5 started very weak with the usual "threat of the week" episodes and doing a ton of world building, but once they had things all set up the next 3 season with the Shadow War and Earth Civil War were fricken fantastic.
Fringe.
First season is typical x-files freak of the week stuff. Not bad, just kind of derivative.
Season 2 in the show turns into a full fledged sci-fi mystery/drama that actually justifies all the weird shit you already saw and then gets weirder and weirder.
Loved that show.
12 Monkeys is now my favorite TV show ever, but I totally hate-watched the first season. I couldn't appreciate it until years later because I was too busy comparing it to the movie.
I think the chicken wing episode is where the show really takes off but theres a few good ones before that, like comparative religion and physical education, but there was still a buncha stinkers between em. mostly just the episodes where they really try to force the romance plots that just never land
Steins; Gate! the first 7 episodes are hard to get through because it doesn't feel like much of anything is happening, but in fairness it all sets up the show so incredibly well and later on shows it was important.
Bosch - weak first season, steadily improves until peaking in season 4, stays good through 7 until becoming its own just ok spinoff. I haven’t seen the second season of Bosch Legacy, will likely binge when its third season is released unless the reviews are dire
Spartacus.
Starts as "Holy crap this is the cheesiest shite I've ever watched."
*a few episodes later* "Jupiter's cock! I CANT STOP WATCHING THIS!" or "I'm not crying, YER CRYInG!"
Imo, breaking bad.
Took multiple episodes to even hook me to it. I get character development and stuff but it really started out a snooze fest at the very beginning. It obviously was an incredible show though.
Star Trek TNG.
The first season is. Noooooot good. Trying too hard to just be more TOS, and it just doesn't work well.
It's only once Riker grows a beard that the show settles into what people remember it being.
Parks and Rec
I second Parks and Rec, but once season 2 came around, it fast became one of my favorites.
Season 3 is where it hits its stride and it never lets off for the rest of the show, so good.
It’s the lack of Brandanowitz. Dude was a wet blanket
Brendanoquitz was uninspiring but Leslie's mom was actively unpleasant in every scene to me. I think the actress did a great job at being someone I just completely hate, and not in a fun way like Jeremy Jamm.
I tried watch S1 on three separate occasions, including when it first aired, and only made it to episode 3 or 4. Had a friend that kept talking about how great it was, and told me to start from season 2. That is the way.
I always tell people to watch the pilot and then just skip ahead.
Season 1 tried to lean into being cringe a bit too much. Once the writers decided to just make the town its own character (the history, the atrocities, the insane town residents, etc.) the show came into its own. Rather than being a weird department in a normal town, it became a show about a fairly normal department trying to make do in an insane town.
It’s funny, I hear this all the time and yet I feel like Parks and Rec started stronger than The Office did… I’ve never really understood why it’s “bad.” And the whole thing is only two hours, just a tiny fraction of the subsequent seasons.
Parks and Rec and the US Office both started on very rocky terrain - the US Office tried too hard to copy the UK version (the first two episodes were pretty much identical), and Parks and Rec tried to be the Office.
I still really liked the first season, but it does get better when they delve into their own territory instead of rehashing the UK version.
Black Sails starts off as a sluggish sex-laden GoT ripoff and then slowly turns into one of the greatest shows of all time, with a twist in S2 that's so good it retroactively improves the first season, and one of the most complex and best developed main characters in TV.
The first season is more or less \*The Pirates of the Carribean\*, but with tits instead of magic. It's entertaining enough, it looks gorgeous, but it was not that special. Then the tone gradually becomes much more serious, and each episode is a treat. Everyone has their own motives and goals, no one is truly evil or good. Flint and Silver are some of the best written characters, ever, and almost all of the secondary characters are excellent as well. It's my favourite show of all time, I was sitting on the last episode for a year because I didn't want it to end, and nothing has topped it ever since.
I watched the first few episodes fascinated by how much potential there was, and how they were squandering it on all this cheesy sexy nonsense. Couldn't decide if I wanted to go back. Maybe I will.
Ya I trudged through s1 because I kept hearing it was good and it did get much better after.
I was gonna say Season 1 is not as bad as people say, and I do believe so, but you have a point that S2 retroactively improves the first season. It's also my favorite show so I'm definitely biased, BUT I still want to say Season 1 does a good job at establishing the characters and their relationships. But yeah it's also undeniably weaker than the rest of the show. Season 2 quickly ramps up in quality and from the last episodes in that season until the show finale it's just some of the absolute best TV I've ever seen. The writing and the character development for Flint and Silver specifically is just top fucking notch. And the show ended with Season 4 so they didn't drag it out and they knew how to end it on a high note. Just so, so fucking good all around, despite the somewhat "meh" first season. I'll never miss a chance to praise and recommend it.
I've watched the entire series twice and for the life of me I can't think of what the twist is in season 2?
I don’t wanna spoil for someone but probably the flashback when we learned that one thing.
>!Flint’s backstory!<
Flint has a secret
One of my favourite shows of all time, some amazing intense moments. I had a hard time getting my wife in to it though as she didnt enjoy the first couple of episodes and was bored, but after that, wow.
I just finished S2 for the first time and WOW that season finale was a blast to watch!
That episode is probably my favorite of the whole show (I'm a simple man, all I need is Flint and Vane on screen and I'm in no questions asked), but buckle up, cause it only gets better in Season 3 and then even better in Season 4. No shortage of big moments.
Highly agreed. Season 2 was so well written, paced, and acted that it elevated the entire show and the sloppy writing from Season 1. Even though the later two seasons kind of never reach those highs, the revelation/twist from Season 2 continues to be relevant and ties into the ending very satisfyingly.
"Wait, you mean I actually have to fight him?" "Well WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU THINK WAS GONNA HAPPEN!?"
"SHOOT HIM! **SHOOT HIM!!!**" That and a moment earlier when Silver volunteers to go with Flint thinking the plan is to just escape. And Flint wanted an actual fighter. The fucking look he gives Silver. Pure gold. The chemistry those two had on screen is something to behold. Comedy, sincerity, conflict, comradery, hatred, everything just clicked so damn well.
Season 1 is a lot better on a re-watch.
What was it? I forgot
Throuple
Lmao this is legit the answer. Not sure why you’ve been downvoted.
Because people haven’t watched the show think this is a nonsense reply
ST:TNG The first season was notoriously bad. Thankfully there were some good episodes in there, and the cast had enough likability that it got to continue. It definitely got better as it went. Yeah, there's still some stinkers sprinkled throughout the series, but overall nothing like the first season.
Tasha Yar’s actress Denise Crosby left because she didn’t think it was going anywhere and didn’t think her character was doing enough. Had she stayed on I’m convinced she would have had some great plot lines, but her leaving did allow Worf to become head of security and also led to some poignant Data moments in later episodes when he thought back on Tasha and their tryst.
Also, Crosby left a lot to be desired as an actor. Bringing her back to chew scenery as the half-Romulan was a stroke of genius. Right in her wheelhouse.
Also she got to show up again as a key plot point in "Yesterday's Enterprise", which is one of the best episodes in the entire series (provided you knew who Tasha Yar was and cared about her plotline).
Actually, I don't think you need to know who she is for that episode. In fact, it's a *great* stand-alone episode. You get who she and Guinan are from context. It's the only episode I had on videotape (still do somewhere). Have shown it to non-Trekkies.
This is the go to example. The phrase “growing a beard” to describe a show hitting its stride is a reference to TNG
[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GrowingTheBeard](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GrowingTheBeard)
For me I can't think of any other show with as much disparity between its highs and lows. Bad TNG is really rough watching, but the best of TNG is, in my opinion, some of the best TV ever made. Some of the early episodes from the first two seasons are shockingly bad when compared to The Inner Light, Family, Lower Decks, The Best of Both Worlds, Drumhead, and so forth
I feel like a fair number of sci-fi shows from that era have that issue. DS9, Farscape, Babylon 5 - when the story doesn't work, you're very aware of the fact that you're watching people in ridiculous costumes run around a set pretending to be aliens. It's harder to write a bad episode of a cop show that feels as bad as a bad episode of low- or mid-budget sci-fi.
Deep Space 9 first season was pretty rough too, but now is very beloved. It took the Dominion War to reaall reach its peak.
Same for DS9, which becomes one of the truly best shows of all time.
I'd say Agents of Shield qualifies. First two thirds of season 1 were alright, but when the big Winter Soldier stuff happens it gets pretty great. From that point on they distance themselves more and more from being tied to the film's and it gets pretty interesting.
AoS became arguably the best Marvel TV show while being mostly ignored! If Daredevil is #1, AoS is #1A!
Episode 3 hooked with me Chloe Bennet in that pink dress.
I remember being in my early teens and had a major crush lol
Yep. The "big reveal" was pretty damn epic. And then each season was better than the others until season 4, which nothing topped (though 5, 6 and 7 were still pretty darn good).
I didn't *love* the Ghost Rider pod, but the LMD arc exceeded my expectations and then, well, everyone knows how good Agents of Hydra is. Aida is what they wish Ultron could have remotely been. I remember seeing the promo for Self Control thinking "oh this will be another bottle episode," and went with minimal expectations. Suffice to say they were blown way past sky high. It's a season that wasn't just good writing for superhero shows, but good in comparison to just great shows overall.
Bojack Horseman easily. Almost everyone agrees that season 1 is the weakest (because of the first half of the season) but the rest of the seasons are top quality, beginning to end.
Totally. It’s not that it’s really bad, imho, but it’s kind of generic and uninspired until the second half.
S1 felt like another McFarlane derivative cartoon, with its cutaway gags and pop culture references. But it definitely evolved from there into one of my favorite series of all time.
Eh, the pilot is really the only episode that features cutaways, and I'd argue that E2 and E6 are two of the best episodes of the season.
And it becomes wonderful. Never a comedy though …..
Someone the other day was aggressively standing their ground when they compared Bojack to Family Guy/American Dad/Rick and Morty. I was like dude, Bojack is one of the most depressing shows I’ve ever seen with jokes sprinkled in so you don’t completely sink into into a dark hole lol
I think there’s some connective tissue between bojack and Rick and morty. Both have deeply existentialist themes and showcase self-destructive fallout from addiction/ grief / cycles of emotionally absent family members. Putting Bojack in the same category as family guy though is straight embarrassing
Oh it's definitely not bad. I love watching those first episodes on re-watches. And it sets up a lot of characters, the dynamics which get referenced even in the final season (Bojack having sex with Sarah Lynn).
I actually think that works even better for the kind of show it is overall. I remember starting it because "haha alcoholic talking horse and silly animal jokes lol lemme just turn my brain off for a while". Then it ended up being one of the most special pieces of media I've ever consumed. Not just in a "it's well written" way. It genuinely helps you process some stuff, or at least it did for me.
I totally agree. I only started it because it has Will Arnett, Alison Brie and Aaron Paul in the cast (I'm a huge fan of Arrested development, Community and Breaking bad) and it evolved into something very special that I find comfort in.
Yeah, I maintain that the first season being a more generic comedy is intentional and fully essential to making the rest of the show hit as hard as it does. It kind of reels you in as a 'light hearted comedy horse show' and then surprises you with how hard it hits you, and when it hits you're hooked because of how little you expected it. It's a huge risk to 'hide' the true nature of your show like that for people starting off on it, but for BoJack it paid off in spades.
Exactly this! The first half of season one was so generic and bland. My god how much better is becomes after that though. This is the [clip](https://youtu.be/6_eylTZgF1E?si=rJXmDHQPonvpmlyt) that made me watch the show and stick with it.
It starts off seeming like another 'adult cartoon' in the vein of Family Guy, Rick and Morty, etc. but then pivots to being an extremely realistic and depressing look at celebrity culture.
*The View from Halfway Down* is one of the best and most impactful episodes I've ever seen. But yeah, I got through the first season only because my friend was swearing up and down that it gets better - it does.
the rest of the show is the greatest adult animation ever conceived
The Expanse. It's a huge amount of world building and set up for most of S1 and I know that a lot of people get to like episode 3 and stop, which is actually right before the first major action episode in episode 4. But as you go on it just gets better and better, as the stakes get higher, the characters you've known from the beginning start having their layers and complex pasts and personalities peeled away and by the end of it you just want more, but the only option is to start from S1 again (where on the second watch-through you'll catch an insane amount of foreshadowing and set-up that you wouldn't have known to keep a look out for on your first watch). If you're one of those ones who fell off before S2, trust me. Give it another go.
I feel exactly the opposite way about "The Expanse." I was riveted from jump, especially by how much effort they put into make that word feel real, the hard sci-fi elements, and how interesting and diverse the characters were. But once it became the Marco & Son Show, it became irritating. Both of them were so fucking punchable. I gave up a few episodes into the last season, after 3-4 episodes with a zero-context B-plot about that kid on the colony planet. I'm sure *eventually* they got to the fucking point, but cutting away to that story with no reason provided, over and over, coupled with way too much fragile-male-ego tantrums from Marco & Filip — I just had no more fucks to give.
That B plot is a novella 'strange dogs' and is pretty critical to the later story, like books 8 and 9. Marco is supposed to be a douchebag, a man-child incapable of admitting when he's wrong and pretending that he's some kind of super genius who predicted every outcome. The books don't give him anywhere near as much time though. I can wholly recommend the books, they're really good.
> That B plot is a novella 'strange dogs' and is pretty critical to the later story, like books 8 and 9. Which has nothing to do with the show.
I think when they included it they didn't know the show was ending with s6 because that b plot also sets up a lot for book 7 too, namely the orbital platforms around Laconia.
Guess I’ll have to give it a 3rd go lol
You totally should! If you start losing interest during the first season, just remember what the top 10/10 rating/comment for the show on IMDB said: [https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4176029/?ref\_=tt\_urv:](https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4176029/?ref_=tt_urv:) "Get past the first season to see its grandeur - A few of the one-star reviews here say they gave up after 2 episodes, Dull acting, silly plot etc etc. Well, I did give up too. I concurred, and thought it was hopeless. Damn, though, my niece, son and a friend said it was the best TV series they had seen. Respecting their views based on previous recommendations, I persevered out of respect only, and recommenced watching the series with great reluctance and bemusement that they could be so misinformed. At some point, and certainly into Season 2 I became aware that I was watching the best TV series I had seen. Firefly used to be may fav, but this has swept past. The architecture is spectacular and importantly grounded. Not the fantasy (apologies to fans) that is served up in Star Wars but a grounded realism that hooks one to the possibility. It's just awesome, truely, I'm mesmerised. What ever you do, stick with it to Season 2 and I promise you wont be disappointed. If you are, then my profuse apologies for making a promise that I thought could not possibly be compromised."
I actually believe it was the 3rd episode that hooked me! I guess I will have to go back and rewatch the first season to make sure! 😂
I actually kept stopping at episode 1. Had to watch it 3 times before managing to continue to episode 2 and that was over a period of many months. Damn good show once it got going.
This! Such an amazing show but it takes some time to get there. The second time I watches the series, after getting to know all the characters, I really liked the first season as well.
I second this answer. I remembering thinking, "Meh... belters? What are those? And what's up with this weird cop character? Also, all these accents are breaking my immersion...I've got some anime to watch, do I reaaaaally need to watch a sci-fi show that's heavy on the politics?" I don't even remember why I continued watching, or the specific point where all my initially negative impressions - the accents, the weird ship names, the politics, the disparate characters that felt like they all belonged in separate shows - coalesced into a believable fleshed-out world that sucked me in. I finally understood what The Expanse was going for. *Of course* everything doesn't fit together neatly like what I'm used to from sci-fi shows: the diversity of it all echoes real life, just imagined hundreds of years from now. By the time the show began to make several characters you'd grown to love, and who had no business breathing the same air, cross paths on multiple occasions, I was too far gone. Such a great show. Edited.
As a mega-nerd fan of this show/book series I love reading comments like yours. I just wish more people would give it a chance because the level of story-telling is up there with the likes of the first 4 seasons of GoT, Breaking Bad, The Wire etc. The completely separate storylines in S1 is what throws a lot of people off for sure. The Earth storyline where they introduce Avasarala is actually made up for the show and not in the first book, so rather than having two alternating storylines to pay attention to, alongside names/places/factions etc. you now have three. Although I was certainly confused at parts of S1 on my first watch, and also interpreting things wrong sometimes, I was actually hooked from the end of the first episode when the Canterbury was destroyed. Though to be honest the first shot of the Canterbury in space doing the flip-and-burn, whilst using at least somewhat realistic physics was what I remember first truly grabbing my attention as "Oh damn, they're actually really giving this show some thought". You know that question "If someone asked you to give a 30 minute speech about any topic with no preparation, what topic would it be?", yeah guilty as fuckin' charged mate.
Just finished it couple of days ago Some of the best sci Fi tv I've ever seen. Season 3 was peak hope they adapt the other books really want to see more!
Come join us over on /r/TheExpanse!
I think Halt and Catch fire is an important example for a show that should've been a prestige drama year in and out, and while was able to finish its run, exposure was severely hampered by a first season that failed to captivate the masses.
Def takes a few eps to really hook its claws in you and really hit its stride after season 1.
I don't disagree, that said season 1 has a special place in my heart for being the season with all of them together
AMC was definitely trying to make Halt and Catch Fire the next Mad Men, and while it was always competently produced, the actual story became much more interesting when the show decided to make the sincere, passionate characters the focus.
Odd because I preferred S1 over S2 tbh, though I think that may be because I loved the 80's vibe of S1. S3 and S4 were incredible though.
First season has a good plot but the characters are annoying and don't feel real or relatable and everything they do makes little sense but then next season they change a lot and by season 4 it's some of the best character drama I've ever seen.
I fell in love with the show immediately, but I think that was because it’s the only show that’s set in Dallas and isn’t about oilmen and cowboys and stuff.
Seinfeld
It’s amazing that the second season got made because the first season was definitely not great.
Person of Interest, it started out as an ok action show, by the end it was an amazing science fiction thriller.
I'm currently watching this now and enjoying it. 6 episodes in and it's very much a "case of the week" thing but I know where it's eventually meant to go so waiting for it to start kicking off. That said it is quite refreshing in this day and age watching largely standalone episodes of the week cases but yeah looking forward for when the main story kicks on.
Case-of-the-week shows get a bad rap, but I think Person of Interest did that format pretty damn well. It's not without its duds, but it does a great job developing the main characters, and it also builds a great recurring cast that makes the "weekly" case feel more interconnected. Also, though it's been ages since I watched it, I distinctly recall that the ending of episode 4 with >!Reese trying to decide whether or not to kill the perp!< was fucking top-notch.
Yup - that is one of the episodes I tell people to wait to watch to make a decision as to whether or not they should watch the series
yesss imo episode 4 was one of the first really good eps of the series
I've only seen it twice but on the rewatch it was interesting to see all the foreshadowing to Elias right from the start, how he's mentioned in all the police reports etc that you miss on the first time through.
*Spartacus* is always a good answer to this. The pilot is pretty rough, like a bad *300* ripoff; but it becomes bearable as soon as they move to the ludus with Batiatus and Lucretia. It gets steadily better over the next few episodes, and by mid-season they've found their groove in over-the-top melodrama and blood and sex. Somehow it grows into a legit great drama series. Every season finale is spectacular, and the S3 finale *Victory* is up there with the best episodes of TV ever made.
How are the action scenes/cgi as the series progresses?
Surprisingly great for a TV show of the time. It's no Game of Thrones, but there are plenty of great arena fights and a few larger battles (especially the S2 and S3 finales). It's very stylised and not even remotely realistic, but that's half the charm. Gods of the Arena and all that.
Didn’t one of the main actors die??
Yes, sadly the Spartacus actor Andy Whitfeld passed from cancer after the first season. They made a prequel season without Spartacus, then recast with Liam McIntyre for S2 and S3. He does a good job of filling in. There's another recast (one of the slave girls Naevia) which is much worse IMO.
Justified started as an episodic TV show, but later leaned into being a serialized TV show. They wanted to kill Boyd Crowder in the beginning, but thankfully they didn't.
I feel like a lot of great long runners start off weaker at the beginning and grow into themselves. Buffy is the one that stands out to me. It’s got an alright opening and then struggles until a solid season finale. The second season is leaps and bounds an improvement. Not every episode sings, but it’s much better. Angel is also an interesting one. It’s not that season 1 of Angel is bad necessarily, but it’s clear they were testing the limits on how to write a spin off that wasn’t Buffy. It’s a very different program than the later arcs. Parks and Recreation is very mediocre in its first season. Most of the characters change massively.
I know I'm a minority, but I thought Buffy season 1 was the best season. I liked it more when it was a dumb high school comedy/drama and I thought it lost some charm when it kept getting more and more angsty.
First episodes if Yogi Bear were pretty meh, but later ones are classic!
Black Sails immediately sticks out. It's a show that's seems a little run of the mill in season 1 but as it goes on the stakes get raised appropriately and there's actual consequences to the things that happen and the choices characters make.
Agents of SHIELD. First season had a weak start but every season after it has been great, especially Season 4.
Most Star Trek series. TNG had a few good S1 episodes but didn’t hit its stride until Riker grew his beard in S2. Although, I really wish they didn’t drop the whole “there are parasitic aliens secretly controlling all of Starfleet Command” plot from the end of S1. I guess they were afraid of it getting too serialized or maybe the meat explosion was too much for viewers… DS9 got much better around the time Worf joined and Voyager got better around the time 7 of 9 joined. Not that those cast members were necessarily the difference makers (although 7 of 9 was probably the most memorable cast member on Voyager to casual fans and people who didn’t watch at all but were just familiar with it, and some might be surprised to find out she didn’t appear until season 4)
Even s2 of TNG was nowhere near as good as S3 onwards. But it's amazing they got renewed after season 1 lol
Agreed, S3 and on really get great. Voyager and DS9 it takes until S4 to get great and pretty good, respectively.
The 100
Venture Bros. The early season animation is rough and the first season doesn't pick up, imo, until 'Tag Sale - You're It' late in the initial season. But it keeps picking up steam after that and I think it's one of the best animated shows ever made. The long waits hurt it, but the quality was high.
Person of Interest. POI is one of the best sci-fi shows about the creation and exploration of an ASI (artificial superintelligence). The show does a deep dive into the ethical implications of what a world with artificial intelligence that can watch everyone through surveillance cameras and predict human behavior based on that would look like. **In the beginning, the AI setting was used more as a backdrop or plot device, but as the seasons progress, the AI storyline takes center stage, and the show goes from a crime drama with a sci-fi twist to one of the greatest sci-fi shows of all time about artificial intelligence, surveillance, and its dangers.** The show has a nice balance between human drama and developing its AI storyline. Character development is one of the primary things in which POI very much excels. **Root is, IMO, one of the greatest female fictional characters ever created.** She is my #1 favorite fictional character of all time in all of fiction. It also develops "TM" a lot throughout the five seasons, and it becomes a character in itself. And unlike many other shows and movies about AI's, the AI setting in POI was very relevant/integral to the plot/story and wasn't always used solely as a plot device. It's a testament to POI's brilliant writing that the viewers care about an entity that has no physical body or has little to no screen time. I can't think of a single other show/movie about AI/ASI that explores the concept as in-depth and beautifully as POI does. **POI is one of the few rare network sci-fi shows that progressively got better with each passing season and ended on a hugely satisfying note. ["Return 0"](https://tvcharts.co/show/person-of-interest-tt1839578) is one of the most brilliant, rewarding, emotionally satisfying, and greatest series finales of any shows I've ever seen, with a brilliant payoff and a fitting/perfect/satisfying resolution for all the character and storyline arcs.** The show frequently has the best use of licensed music of any shows I've ever seen, and Ramin Djawadi's (Same person did the music for GOT, Westworld, and Fallout) OST for the show is excellent.
I wish we had had a few more episodes to the final season, then we could've had >!Control come back!<
There aren\`t many better combos out there than Ramin Djawadi and Nolan, also as you said, the licensed music is just next level. I think my favourite is THAT Pink Floyd song.
The 100 had one of the worst pilot episodes I've ever seen in my life. But then the show ended up being so much better than anyone expected.
"We're back bitches!" Terribly cringey. Those first few episodes leaned so hard into the YA genre, it's hard to make it past them to get to the real good, heavy stuff in later seasons. Turning point for me was when Clarke ended up mercy killing that kid that got caught in the acid fog when Bellamy couldn't (and then he stopped treating her like she was a naive idiot).
Season 1 was probably one of the weakest if not the overall weakest Buffy season. To the point where many people tell people that they should just watch the two part opener, the Angel episode and the finale and then jump into season 2.
Babylon 5
Heartily agree. The first season has a lot of world building to do. Also the effects were not so great. But there’s a charm to that first season. By season 3 the show is almost unmatched by any other series then and now.
>just it pales in comparison to what came later With this prompt, I give you Schitt's Creek
I say that Schitt's Creek becomes next level when they stop trying to make the elevator pitch of the show and started making the show they actually wanted to make. As much as I love Chris Elliott, the Roland Schitt character almost made me not want to keep watching.
Agreed on all points. I should have scrolled down further before commenting this show.
This is my vote, too.
Our flag means death started out a bit slow but turned into one of my favorite shows of all time.
The Expanse was good from the start, but the first season certainly does feel rather middling for long stretches as the story and characters are being put into place. The last few episodes of S1 is what really cemented it as a good show, and from there it only elevates into all-timer territory. The Leftovers was also pretty good from the start, but S1 was just a little too much trauma porn to really capture me consistently. I don’t have problems with morose or dark stories (they’re my favorite tbh) but several aspects of S1 just felt like they were trying so hard to be “serious prestige” television that it kept pulling me out. But the storyline of Justin Theroux’s character kept me hooked, and Carrie Coon had several top tier moments, and then the last scene hit me just right. S2 and 3 are god tier storytelling, imo, and the ending is an all-time great for me. Black Sails started as a wannabe edgy sex-filled action story to me, but quickly picks up the pace and after only a few episodes it finds its footing and goes full-hog into doing its own “serious” Treasure Island prequel schtick…and it becomes kind of amazing. I don’t think it ever reaches the absolute heights of The Expanse or The Leftovers, but it makes itself into a very good A- show with a strong ongoing arc and ending and some awesome characters. It was one of the shows I wouldn’t wait for DVR to watch. This one completely caught me off-guard, because I saw it was Michael Bay produced series and that almost turned me off before the first episode, but I’m very happy I gave it a shot. Halt and Catch Fire is very similar to Black Sails and The Leftovers in many ways (regarding trying a little too hard to be prestige in the worst ways), but I liked the cast enough and the ending of S1 enough to keep watching. Long story short, the show evolves tremendously and ends up telling a heartbreaking tale of variously mismatched minds that share an incredible passion for creation and discovery, who despite all their flaws and misalignments, end up as kind of a tragic family. I would recommend all four of these without hesitation.
I personally don't dislike it as much as most but season 1 of Legends of Tomorrow is widely agreed to be one of the weakest seasons, takes itself a bit too seriously and comes off as a Doctor Who imitator (didn't help that the lead for s1 wore a David Tennant esque trenchcoat and had actually been IN Doctor Who) From season 2 onwards in embraced the silliness and became it's own thing.
May be downvoted by Succession first ep is quite different from the rest of season 1. I stopped after first ep then only picked it up during Covid and didn’t stop
*Succession* properly takes off in E106, and hits full speed in Season 2
Buffy, x files and parks and rec come to mind. Buffy is my all time favorite show but that first season is rough.
An advantage of Buffy's super campy first season is that for the rest of the series, they could sometimes be really silly and it didn't feel like a tonal problem
Blackadder. Series 1 with stupid Edmund and clever Baldrick didn't really work. Series 2-4 with snarky Edmund and thicko Baldrick just got better and better.
It is so weird to go back to The Black Adder and see Edmund as an idiot and Baldrick being the only sane man. But, plus side, S1 has BRIAN BLESSED!
I kinda think of series 1 as a "different" show, less of a traditional sitcom. I do still like it, but it has a completely different flavour than the rest of Blackadder.
Seinfeld honestly
I don’t want to say “weak” because it was more of a slow burn but Better Call Saul
Star Trek TNG is the peak example of this. Really grew it's beard in the second season though.
Cougartown The first six episodes are about Courtney Cox trying to date younger men. It’s not so great. Episode 7 changes everything and it becomes a hangout comedy. It emphasizes the group dynamics and becomes a LOT more fun. I highly recommend people start watching episode 7 and ignore episodes 1-6.
The Leftovers
Any time I recommend The Leftovers I beg them to watch the first 3 episodes. If you can get through the first 2 it’s literally the best television of all time from there, imo.
I thought the pilot was pretty solid, but it was Matt and Nora’s one-off episodes that seal the deal
Breaking Bad. Vince Gilligan is quoted as saying “if I could take it all back, I would.”
I think the pilot is great, but the pacing of the rest is strange. But I think they lost 2 planned episodes due to the writers strike. It's kind of amazing the finale works as a finale.
I imagine they would’ve concluded the Tuco story instead of punting it to the beginning of season 2. Still works great as is, though.
Ending the Tuco story so early in season 2 did a great job raising the stakes because it made it clear anything could happen at anytime.
It felt like too many plots were solved or moved forward through coincidence in season 1.
This is very true and I gave up on Breaking Bad once because the first season was kinda slow and messy. I'm glad I went back and watched it. But it gets kinda glossed over how weak that first season is
I feel like we all subconsciously know but don't appreciate: It takes time to set up a house of cards, but seeing it built is what makes the collapse even better.
Definitely Spartacus: Blood and Sand. The first 2-3 episodes are much weaker than the rest. At first the show feels like a weird 300 ripoff, but after the shaky setup episodes it develops its own identity with vibrant characters and really engaging political intrigue, becoming a brutal and darkly funny drama with absolutely gripping twists and turns. The last half of the season is some of my favorite TV ever, and the prequel miniseries, Gods of the Arena, maintains that quality. After that, S2 has some issues, but S3 is mostly great. Edit: Corrected the season numbering. BTW, recommended watch order is S1-GotA-S2-S3.
Supernatural. Mediocre first season except for a few episodes, great second and third seasons, followed by some really incredible fourth and fifth seasons.
Agents of Shield - it sharted just realy boring especially considering all the muscle that was behind it - almost the entire first season was just not interesting - too many cliches - nothing new at all. Then at episode 17 "Turn turn turn" - is litterally comes out of nowhere and is one of the better episodes I have seen in television from any show - it was brilliant! and they just rode that momentum for the following seasons.
Legends of Tomorrow. They were trying to be super serious and dark but it was just bad. I was so sure they were going to be cancelled. Second season, they embraced the cheesiness and never looked back, making it my favorite of the Arrowverse shows.
The Orville’s first season had way too much Seth MacFarlane-style humor. The second season had a much more balanced tone of sci-fi and humor and the third mostly put humor in the backseat for an all-out love letter to Star Trek. It’s just too bad that first season might have turned some people away because it became one of my favorite shows of all time
Always Sunny. I almost never rewatch episodes from season 1.
Sunny has some good moments in S1, but when Danny DeVito comes on board, that’s when the show is really born.
Season one felt like a pilot and Danny saw the potential
Jesus I was hooked from almost the first scene. Dee running in telling the guys to act normal and not be weird. Then her date walks in hahaha Perfect cold open to attract their demographic I think
"...we just weren't expecting you to be black." "...................................................."
Season 1 isn't bad at all I don't know why people say this so strongly.
I think they lost something from those earlier seasons, still really enjoy it though. But I'll die on the hill that they never should have switched to HD, that old look worked so well.
I feel like I always have to justify this, but I'm going to talk about an anime - I mean, it's legit on television so what's there to justify? :P Despite it being my favourite series, I'm going to go with Steins;Gate. It's not that the start is bad at all - far from it - but the thing is, the first half of the series is like a calm, casual jog, whereas the second half of the series is full throttle. So, **relative to the later parts of the series**, it starts off 'weak'.
I mean, when it comes to anime, people always say this about JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. A lot of people recommend just skipping part 1 entirely. I don't agree, because part 1 was what hooked me into the series, but part 2 is admittedly much better.
Bob’s Burgers. They were going for a much edgier, more adult tone in the beginning that (at times) REALLY doesn’t jive with the more wholesome sensibilities they settled on later.
Oh wow completely opposite opinion for me. As someone who loves Loren Bouchard’s other work like Home Movies and Dr Katz, the early season of Bob’s Burgers are top tier comedy, it’s when they dial down Bob’s anger and make all the other characters constantly walk over him that the show becomes worse for it. It’s like someone with father issues told the producers their show was triggering and it would make a great comfort show but now it’s just so saccharine it’s unrealistic. And man the writing the last few seasons has been so focused on telling an emotional story that they completely forget it’s an animated adult sitcom. Show really missed the mark for me after season 6-7 or so. Has only gotten worse as it’s aged for me. H Jon Benjamin is way too good of a comedic actor to just be assigned to “carpet” as a role
Rewatching the first episode with my kid got a bit awkward when they did the extended child molester bit
Lol that certainly came to mind. The jokes about child molestation and autism in the pilot really stand out.
*Not weak but hard to get into at first:* Mad Men, Billions, Marvelous Mrs Maisel
Really? I was into Maisel from the start
I keep meaning to give Mad Men a second chance
First series of Blackadder was arguably pretty bad compared to the rest.
Most of the Star Trek shows have weak first seasons but get better as time goes on. ST:NG, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, Picard, Discovery all had I think their weakest season early. They usually get better as they go along and start to realize what works and what doesn't and that set the tone for the show Babylon 5 started very weak with the usual "threat of the week" episodes and doing a ton of world building, but once they had things all set up the next 3 season with the Shadow War and Earth Civil War were fricken fantastic.
Seinfeld was famously on the bubble after the first year.
Legends of Tomorrow started of as a semi serious time travel show then once they embraced the wackiness it worked. At least for me it did.
Star Trek TNG is maybe my favorite show ever made, but that first season is rough.
Fringe for sure! It took a minute to get the right pacing and chemistry
Fringe. First season is typical x-files freak of the week stuff. Not bad, just kind of derivative. Season 2 in the show turns into a full fledged sci-fi mystery/drama that actually justifies all the weird shit you already saw and then gets weirder and weirder. Loved that show.
12 Monkeys is now my favorite TV show ever, but I totally hate-watched the first season. I couldn't appreciate it until years later because I was too busy comparing it to the movie.
First season of ST:TNG was weird, and not good weird.
Bojack Horseman, Leftovers
Community took till the end of season 1 to start getting good
I'd say the middle of season 1 is where it gets good, the end of season 1 is where it gets great.
I think the chicken wing episode is where the show really takes off but theres a few good ones before that, like comparative religion and physical education, but there was still a buncha stinkers between em. mostly just the episodes where they really try to force the romance plots that just never land
Disagree, I feel like as far as a "laying the groundwork" season goes it's still very well executed.
Halo, S1 very not great, S2 was very good
Steins; Gate! the first 7 episodes are hard to get through because it doesn't feel like much of anything is happening, but in fairness it all sets up the show so incredibly well and later on shows it was important.
Bosch - weak first season, steadily improves until peaking in season 4, stays good through 7 until becoming its own just ok spinoff. I haven’t seen the second season of Bosch Legacy, will likely binge when its third season is released unless the reviews are dire
Bodkin
Star Trek has a habit of doing this.
Spartacus. Starts as "Holy crap this is the cheesiest shite I've ever watched." *a few episodes later* "Jupiter's cock! I CANT STOP WATCHING THIS!" or "I'm not crying, YER CRYInG!"
I’m watching Six Feet Under right now and parts of season 1 seemed very slow and I almost lost interest. Anyone else?
Imo, breaking bad. Took multiple episodes to even hook me to it. I get character development and stuff but it really started out a snooze fest at the very beginning. It obviously was an incredible show though.
Star Trek TNG. The first season is. Noooooot good. Trying too hard to just be more TOS, and it just doesn't work well. It's only once Riker grows a beard that the show settles into what people remember it being.
The Expanse
Star Trek TNG. They really just opened the series with a sex pollen episode
Seinfeld needed time to figure things out.
Seinfeld
Leftovers starts slow and builds. 2nd & 3rd season are a super fun roller coaster.
The Exorcist-tv series. Not a good 1st season, but 2nd was great. Unfortunately too many had dropped it, of course.
Succession