A lot of people say that S1 of The Mentalist is the best one, though I personally disagree (I think whether you think S1 is good depends on if you prefer Jane as the basic light-hearted jerk-with-aheart-of-gold procedural protagonist or the much darker character he becomes in later seasons).

For me, skipping seasons to get into a show rarely works, because I need to like the characters (or premise) at least in some way to like a show, and if they change so much that my opinion would be completely different if I started from another point, then goes against my need for consistent character development. The seed of what I would like in season X must already be present in the beginning. And this is why my road to being fannish about something usually starts with hating the thing but plowing on anyway :D

(case in point: The Mandalorian, which I didn't originally like when I first watched it until suddenly I did)