Top 25 Television Pilots
Pilots are an interesting breed of television episode. Not only does it have to tell a story, but it also has to setup the series; the character dynamics, the tone of the show, the themes, etc. And while a strong pilot will set a show off in the right direction, it doesn’t always guarantee a long and successful series. The selected pilots reflect this dichotomy, yet each showed extraordinary potential for their series.
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- DirectorJ.J. AbramsStarsMatthew FoxEvangeline LillyTerry O'QuinnForty-eight survivors of an airline flight originating from Australia, bound for the U.S., which crash-lands onto an unknown island 1000 miles off course, struggle to figure out a way to survive while trying to find a way to be rescued.
- DirectorMichael DinnerStarsTimothy OlyphantNick SearcyJacob PittsMarshal Givens returns home and is assigned a case involving an old friend from his coal mining days who has become a white supremacist and blew up an African American church.
- DirectorMark MylodStarsGinnifer GoodwinJennifer MorrisonLana ParrillaEmma Swan is taken to a strange town by her son Henry, who she gave up for adoption years ago, and tells her of a curse cast by the Evil Queen.
- DirectorMichael RymerStarsEdward James OlmosMary McDonnellKatee SackhoffThe Galactica and the other remaining ships - with about 50,000 people aboard them all - are being pursued by the Cylons. They are forced to jump into hyper space every 33 minutes. Somehow, the Cylons know where they are going and appear exactly 33 minutes after the Galactica arrives. The crew hasn't slept for over 130 hours now and everyone is exhausted. They rejoice when they finally make a jump and the Cylons fail to appear at the 33 minute mark. They are also prone to make mistakes and realize they've left behind a ship, the Olympic Carrier, with 1300 passengers aboard. When the ship rejoins the fleet a few hours later, the Cylons again arrive 33 minutes later leading Adama to conclude that there are Cylon spies on board. President Roslin now faces a major decision. The identity of the the Cylon aboard the Galactica is revealed.
- DirectorAnthony RussoJoe RussoStarsJason BatemanPortia de RossiWill ArnettAfter his father fails to promote him within the family business, Michael accepts a job in Arizona -- until his dad is arrested for shady bookkeeping.
- DirectorAllen CoulterStarsGlenn CloseRose ByrneZeljko IvanekHot-shot, high-stakes, New York City attorney Patty Hewes hires a new associate, the bright, ambitious, but somewhat naive Ellen Parsons, to help her as she tries to ruin billionaire Arthur Frobisher. Hewes represents a group of employees who are suing Frobisher in a class-action suit after he sold his company, leaving the employees financially devastated. Ellen is unaware that her best friend, Katie Connor, and the younger sister of her fiancé David, is working for Frobisher who is financing her new restaurant opening. Flashing forward eight weeks in the future: David Connor is found murdered, and Ellen, wandering the streets covered in blood, becomes the prime suspect.
- DirectorDavid SemelStarsDamian LewisSarah ShahiBrooke LangtonExonerated after serving 12 years in prison for murders he didn't commit, policeman Charlie Crews is restored to duty as a detective. As an imprisoned policeman, Crews had a very difficult time and was regularly and severely beaten by fellow prisoners. Now out of prison and the beneficiary of a large financial settlement, Crews has a different, some would say odd, outlook on life. His new partner, Det. Dani Reese, doesn't quite get him and feels she has been saddled with a loser. In their first case together, they investigate the murder of a young boy who was shot to death. He was a member of a Boy Scout troop whose members all have fathers in prison so they have an obvious starting point for their investigation. Crews is also investigating the crime for which he was wrongly convicted and is searching for those who framed him.
- DirectorMichael CuestaStarsMichael C. HallJulie BenzJennifer CarpenterDexter's world is rocked when a rival serial murderer, dubbed the Ice Truck Killer by the media, privately contacts him and reveals that he knows Dexter's grisly secret. Meanwhile, Dexter's sister Debra is transferred to Homicide.
- DirectorMatt ReevesStarsKeri RussellScott SpeedmanAmy Jo JohnsonA high-school graduate makes a momentous decision that puts her life on a much different track than either she or her parents envisioned.
- DirectorMichael CuestaStarsClaire DanesDamian LewisMorena BaccarinA CIA case officer becomes suspicious that a Marine Sergeant war hero rescued after eight years of captivity in Afghanistan, has been turned into a sleeper agent by Al Qaeda.
- DirectorRich MooreGregg VanzoStarsBilly WestKatey SagalJohn DiMaggioA down-on-his-luck pizza delivery guy is accidentally frozen on New Year's Eve 1999 and wakes up in the year 3000.
- DirectorDean DevlinStarsTimothy HuttonGina BellmanChristian KaneWhen Nathan Ford, a former insurance company investigator, is approached by a man asking him to help retrieve some stolen property, he is dubious. When he finds out that the job requires him to supervise and maintain control of three known thieves that he himself caught in the course of his insurance investigations, he's more than dubious. However, the job offers him the opportunity to get some of his own back from the insurance company that allowed his son to die, so he takes it despite his misgivings. When his doubts prove to be well-founded, he persuades his reluctant colleagues to unite once more to reach a more "equitable" settlement.
- DirectorJ.J. AbramsStarsJennifer GarnerRon RifkinMichael VartanSydney Bristow discovers that her job as an agent for SD-6, a top-secret division of the CIA, is not what she thought it was. Sydney's father, Jack, also tells her the truth about his work and she, enraged, seeks help from real CIA and is hired as their double agent under the command of Agent Vaughn. From now on, her job is really simple: she needs to complete her cases at SD-6 while reporting her findings back to the CIA.
- DirectorMark PiznarskiStarsKristen BellPercy Daggs IIITeddy DunnDuring the day, Veronica negotiates high school like any average teenage girl. At night, she helps her father's struggling, new private investigator business.
- DirectorDavid NutterStarsJessica AlbaMichael WeatherlyAlimi Ballard12 genetically enhanced childern escape from a military base that created them. 10 years later, after The Pulse, a magnetic bomb that destroyed every computer in USA, has struck, Max Guevara, one of the 12 escapees, is a bike messenger in (what's left of) Seattle and with cyberjournalist, Logan Cale, she tries to rid the world of crime and corruption, avoid her creators and uncover her past.
- DirectorPeter ShinRoy Allen SmithStarsSeth MacFarlaneAlex BorsteinSeth GreenAfter drinking too much at a stag party and falling asleep at work, Peter loses his job, signs up for welfare, and gets more money than expected.
- DirectorRich MooreStarsJon LovitzNancy CartwrightChristine CavanaughA beautiful actress falls in love with Jay, but he worries that she just wants a good review for her latest film.
- DirectorJace AlexanderStarsJeffrey DonovanGabrielle AnwarBruce CampbellMichael Westen, a contract agent for various agencies including the CIA, finds that a burn notice has been issued for him. Stranded in Miami, he takes the case of a caretaker accused of stealing millions from his boss.
- DirectorDavid NutterStarsJared PadaleckiJensen AcklesSarah ShahiSam and Dean Winchester were trained by their father to hunt the creatures of the supernatural. Now, their father has mysteriously disappeared while hunting the demon that killed their mother, 22 years ago.
- DirectorMarcos SiegaStarsKevin BaconJeananne GoossenNatalie ZeaIn the series premiere episode, FBI Agent Ryan Hardy is called out of retirement to track down serial killer Joe Carroll who's escaped from prison.
- DirectorFrank DarabontStarsAndrew LincolnJon BernthalSarah Wayne CalliesDeputy Sheriff Rick Grimes awakens from a coma, and searches for his family in a world ravaged by the undead.
- DirectorMichael CuestaStarsJonny Lee MillerLucy LiuAidan QuinnSherlock Holmes, fresh out of rehab, is teamed with a sobriety partner, a former surgeon named Watson. They have to learn to work together even as they tackle their first case, the mysterious death of a doctor's wife.
- DirectorDavid SemelStarsJim CaviezelTaraji P. HensonKevin ChapmanA mysterious benefactor gives an ex-government operative a chance at redemption. All they have is the name of a person who will be involved in a violent crime, whether as victim or perpetrator, they don't know, but will find out.
- DirectorRob BowmanStarsNathan FillionStana KaticSusan SullivanAfter a serial killer starts displaying the victims the way done in Richard "Rick" Castle's books, Castle teams up with Detective Kate Beckett to solve the case. He then starts to shadow her for his new book.
- DirectorScott WinantStarsEllen MuthRebecca GayheartCallum BlueGeorgia, 18, a college dropout in Seattle, gets a filing job. She gets killed by a falling Mir toilet seat on her first workday. Two grim reapers have her join their rank.