Amazing series with rubbish pilots

[Jayson1]

I feel the exact opposite about Family Guy. I loved it when it was first on. It surprised you a lot more. Then when it came back it became all about just rehashing all their well known bits and became a lot more about shock value for the sake of shock value. It's when everybody got inexplicably abusive to Meg (Whereas previously the joke was how mediocre she was) which is just plain not funny. Stewie changed from a Bond villain baby to just bad weird gay jokes. The show's gotten painful to watch.

To me the early seasons feel to much like warmed over "Simpsons" episodes. Also they relied way to much on cutaways. Granted they still use them today but not like they use to. I kind of like the changes to the characters myself. Meg is never really interesting in either format so the jokes on her is about the only thing the character has to offer Stewie seems to have 3 phases. You had evil vilian,gay and even baby jokes. Brian is the liberal writer but also they can do dog jokes with him as well and I like how he isn't really all that good of a writer and kind of bad guy when it comes to woman which is better than being the character who is above it all, Only big flaw is I don't think the show knows how to write woman that well. Lois still seems stuck as the nagging housewfie to much. Bonnie doesn't seem to get much to do.

Jason

 

[tharpdevenport]

South Park;The show use to be very dumb. It didn't become great until it started becoming topical.

I think it was season three or season four, where in the opening credits it says "Better writing". Even they knew they hadn't been trying.

 

[DonIago]

The first few episodes of "Bojack Horseman" are amusing, especially if you're into furries to begin with, but I'd say it's the second half of the first season where the show really takes off.

 

[Beagleman]

Interesting you say Rick and Morty because I have up after the pilot wondering why everyone raved about it.

I gave up after the pilot, too, then gave it another try because of all the raving, took me some episodes, now it's one of my favourite things on tv.

 

[Ethros]

Dollhouse springs to mind, along with episodes 2, 3, and 4. I only saw Season 1 after it had all already aired, I think if I hadn't read it doesn't really kick off till episode 6- after those first boring few I wouldn't have kept going.

 

[MadeIndescribable]

Dollhouse springs to mind, along with episodes 2, 3, and 4. I only saw Season 1 after it had all already aired, I think if I hadn't read it doesn't really kick off till episode 6- after those first boring few I wouldn't have kept going.

I don't know if you ever saw Whedon's original pilot, but that really was bad. It was basically the whole plot of season 1 in 45 minutes, giving no time what so ever to set up the world before playing with it.

 

[Ethros]

^ Yeah I watched it on the DVD and although interesting, it really was a super fast mess

 

[MadeIndescribable]

^ Yeah I watched it on the DVD and although interesting, it really was a super fast mess

It's almost as if he thought it would be cancelled before it even began.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I think it was season three or season four, where in the opening credits it says "Better writing". Even they knew they hadn't been trying.

The oft cited turning point is the Rainforest episode which was the third season premiere.

I think the first several episodes of the first season were funny in their irreverent minimalism, but season 2 was (With a couple exceptions) an absolute trainwreck.

@Jayson1

I would agree they feel like warmed over Simpsons episodes, but the 'joke a minute' style felt more spontaneous and was occasionally extremely funny, whereas now it's more about shock value and repetition of themes. Like, oh look they're trying to offend me. Well they know if I am offended I probably am not watching the show, so they must be assuming I will automatically think it's funny if "Those other lame people" would be offended. Meh, not offensive, not funny either, lame they are trying so hard to seem offensive. Oh look, Quagmire is spying on a naked woman and saying Giggity and Peter is fighting the chicken again.

 

[Jayson1]

The oft cited turning point is the Rainforest episode which was the third season premiere.

I think the first several episodes of the first season were funny in their irreverent minimalism, but season 2 was (With a couple exceptions) an absolute trainwreck.

@Jayson1

I would agree they feel like warmed over Simpsons episodes, but the 'joke a minute' style felt more spontaneous and was occasionally extremely funny, whereas now it's more about shock value and repetition of themes. Like, oh look they're trying to offend me. Well they know if I am offended I probably am not watching the show, so they must be assuming I will automatically think it's funny if "Those other lame people" would be offended. Meh, not offensive, not funny either, lame they are trying so hard to seem offensive. Oh look, Quagmire is spying on a naked woman and saying Giggity and Peter is fighting the chicken again.

I agree they go with the "Bad Behavior" aproach to humor but I never saw that as a means of shocking the audience so much as using it to define the characters. I also think they spend more time breaking down the 4th wall and trying to make fun of tv cliches, sometimes with edgy material. For example Quagmire is a sexual deviant but then they contrast with stuff about how he loves cats and actually is the most educated of the 4 friends. Stewie and Brian have like 3 or 4 different sides to their characters. Peter is kind of one dimensional in that he is mentally challenged and pure ego but it doesn't bother me much. Adam West was always great as well but then West had a great voice and almost anything he says feels kind of funny IMO.

Jason

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Orange Is The New Black is also a show that took me a while to want to watch the second episode after the pilot, but once I got late in the season I was hooked.

 

[kirk55555]

Interesting you say Rick and Morty because I have up after the pilot wondering why everyone raved about it.

I was the same way. I watched episode 1, didn't like it, and didn't try again for months. When I got around to watching episode 2 (because everyone was raving about the show so I gave it another chance) I liked it a good deal and got hooked,and I've really enjoyed every episode since then (outside of the second transdimensional TV commerical episode). I've now seen the first two seasons multiple times, and I still don't like the pilot but really like the rest of it.

 

[Greg Cox]

I was underwhelmed by the first episodes of "Babylon-5" and "The X-Files," even though I got hooked on the shows later.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Also one more obvious one I didn't think of previously, Parks and Rec.

I watched the pilot, didn't like it so much, didn't give it another chance until halfway through season 2. Now I skip most of the first season when I rewatch and skip nothing else. They just hadn't figured out what made the characters funny yet. Tom was a non-presence and there was so much machismo between Mark and Ron (Not to mention Andy sucked in season 1), and Leslie wasn't accomplishing anything yet, she was kind of this pathetic idealistic holdout people felt sorry for.

Now with X Files I've only ever watched the first two episodes so its mention makes me re-curious.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I almost bailed on Dark Matter after the pilot, but something about it was charming and I'm glad I kept on with it. I had a hard time with the way they executed the premise, and the way they gave everyone numbers, but at its heart, it's a really fun show that's almost irresistible at times.

 

[Forbin]

Space: Above and Beyond. In fact, it really took quite a few episodes to get rolling. I remember giving up after 3, then checking in again halfway thru to find it had become the best military sci-fi series ever (up to then). I hear it was part of Moore's inspiration for nuBSG.

 

[May 20]

There was an ABC comedy on a few years back call 'The Neighbors', a family of humans moved into a neighborhood full of aliens that are stuck on Earth.

The pilot was one of the worst things ever filmed. I went "How the hell did this ever make it to air?". Somehow though I saw a few episodes later and was hooked. It blended cute little alien invasion jokes in the background with satire about human behavior.

It only lasted two seasons and really would fit in well with The Middle and Blackish on ABC now. But the 43 out of 44 episodes isn't a bad record. Plus if you are a Full House fan the finale episode will make you smile.

I remember enjoying that show for the fluff that it was and missed it for a while after it was cancelled. It completely changed the way I look at 4-way stops. But, yeah, the pilot was a hot mess.

 

[bigdaddy]

I remember enjoying that show for the fluff that it was and missed it for a while after it was cancelled. It completely changed the way I look at 4-way stops. But, yeah, the pilot was a hot mess.

I don't remember 4 way stops in the show, but I hate them in real life. It had the best commercials because they said how terrible the pilot was, just every bad review was thrown on the screen and the voice over went "But now it's the most impoved comedy of the year!". Plus it ended with DC and Steven married and happy.

 

[May 20]

The aliens took their parents to the most beautiful view on Earth - it was a 4-way stop. They loved it because, to them, it showed Earthlings at their best - taking turns and waiting for others. Sappy, I know, but I liked it. Now, when I'm stuck at one, I remember that, and it helps.

 

[captainkirk]

The aliens took their parents to the most beautiful view on Earth - it was a 4-way stop. They loved it because, to them, it showed Earthlings at their best - taking turns and waiting for others. Sappy, I know, but I liked it. Now, when I'm stuck at one, I remember that, and it helps.

Good thing they didn't come to South Africa. No one stops, they just try to scare everyone else into giving way.