The Greatest TV Pilots Of All Time

Firefly

Those who thought they would never enjoy a western space drama were pleasantly surprised by the exciting pilot episode of Joss Whedon’s cult classic Firefly. The first episode of the series features space ship stunts, stand-offs, and an epic backstory of Captain Mal Reynolds.

The show aired on Fox and was canceled after eleven of the fourteen episodes were aired, but has inspired large fan support campaigns. The post-airing success led to a movie, Serenity, to wrap up a few plots. The show also won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects. A lot of the blame is attirubed to Fox, the network that decided to pick up Firefly, who not only had numerous disagreements with Whedon over many aspects of the show, but they also decided to air the episodes out of order, finally premiering the pilot last.