Conducting a survey.

[hannah]

The topic of skippable first seasons of TV came up recently. It's a common one in fandom - "you only need these four episodes", "grit your teeth and get through it," "just start on season two." Whatever the given entertainment or narrative value of those seasons that varies from person to person, there's general agreement that they're nowhere near as good as what comes after.

It's got me wondering: what TV shows have genuinely good first seasons? I don't mean one-season wonders like Wonderfalls or Freaks and Geeks, and I don't mean premium cable shows like Deadwood and Six Feet Under. I don't mean shows that had wonderful pilots and then never realized that promise. I mean stuff that ran on ordinary networks for at least two seasons.

What first seasons of TV are fully and enjoyably watchable all the way through?

The first thing which comes to mind for me is Scrubs - a little shaky and still steady on its feet, funny where it wanted to be funny and serious when it was supposed to be serious. petra suggested Slings & Arrows, which is a show that never got worse than "amazingly good."

I'm curious what someone else might come up with.

Comments

[wendelah1]

I love the first season of The X-Files. I've probably watched it more than any other season. Fringe gets better and better (until it gets worse again) but I thought it had a good first season. It's been awhile since I watched some of these shows, but as far as I can recall, Gilmore Girls, ER, The West Wing, Sarah Connor Chronicles, thirtysomething, China Beach, Felicity, and Northern Exposure all had good first seasons. Yes to Leverage! More recently, I loved season one of The Americans, The Expanse, The Good Place, Timeless (cancelled far too soon!), and Better Things. Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist had a great first season--season two, not so much, at least not so far...

Admittedly, I don't watch much TV but the only show I can recall watching which had a truly awful first season but got better in season two is Parks and Recreation. I consider season one of that show unwatchable but I love the rest of the series. It seems much more common for a show to have two, three or even four strong seasons and run out of inspiration thereafter.