HBO is partially to thank for the pure quality of television we have across the board today. AMC, Netflix, and so many other networks and streaming services were influenced by the quality standards to which HBO had been holding themselves throughout the whole of the 1990s, 2000s, and into the 2010s.
Being the home to umpteen crime dramas and a slew of other shows that helped usher in the golden age of television that we’re living through, HBO is the gold standard of TV. It even shows in their pilot episodes, which set the tone of the shows and set the bar of quality we’ve come to expect from anything audiences watch nowadays.
Deadwood (8.3)
With HBO being the home to seemingly every crime drama that isn’t Breaking Bad, Deadwood is one of many shows about a town full of corruption and violence. What sets the show apart from the rest is its western setting—well, until Westworld was released that is. The pilot episode of Deadwood introduces audiences to all of the great lawless supporting characters and sees marshalls and gunfighters lock horns in gloriously Wild West-like ways.
Euphoria (8.3)
Being one of the newest shows on HBO’s roster, Euphoria follows a group of teenagers struggling with violence and drug abuse. It’s a startling show that makes Skins seem fairly subdued. The pilot immediately captures the fresh and different approach on a kind of story that seems to have been told a million times over at this point. Being based on an Israeli TV show of the same name, Euphoria has become one of the few remakes that’s actually better than the original.
The Sopranos (8.5)
A lot of The Sopranos feels like a series version of the classic movie Goodfellas, which is one of the reasons why the show is so great, but the reason the pilot episode is so highly rated is because of what audiences don’t expect from a gangster movie.
As the show follows Tony Soprano go through therapy, it’s one of the most interesting concepts for a TV show. The first time Tony enters Dr. Melfi’s office, he feels uncomfortable, and it perfectly makes viewers realize that Tony isn’t just a gangster, but a human being too, and it only got better after the pilot.
Boardwalk Empire (8.6)
At this point in HBO’s original programming timeline, the network was just flexing their muscles, creating a typically criminal driven period drama written by the screenwriting heavyweight Terence Winter and featuring some of the greatest actors of this generation. Not only was the first episode of Boardwalk Empire one of the most expensive pilots of the decade, but it was directed by arguably the greatest American filmmaker of all time, Martin Scorsese.
Oz (8.6)
Oz is by no means for the faint of heart, as the show is a gritty prison drama that makes Prison Break look like a children’s show. The pilot introduces all of the diverse inmates and all of the tension building between the many different gangs, not to mention the hostile relationships between the inmates and the guards. The show is completely disgusting, but, in fairness, the series will make viewers never want to put a foot wrong in their entire lives.
Band of Brothers (8.7)
Band of Brothers was a one-off mini-series, but it’s still one of the highest-rated TV shows of all time overall, according to IMDb. Following a US division in Europe during World War II, it’s one of the most captivating historical shows, and it’s full of incredible actors you forgot were in the series who all give unbelievable performances. It’s a hauntingly realistic portrayal of the horrors of war, and fans of everything from documentaries to dramas need to give this a watch.
Six Feet Under (8.8)
With so many TV shows about criminal underworlds and organized crime in their canon of prestigious programming, Six Feet Under is one of the more sombré of HBO’s shows, and it’s a breath of fresh air after something like Oz.
Being about a family who owns a funeral home, the show is just as melodramatic as it is captivating, as the pilot hits every cliche; a death on Christmas Eve, a secretly gay son, a crystal meth smoking sister, and so many more. But it all pays off, and Six Feet Under doesn’t just have a great pilot episode, either, as the whole show is one of the best HBO original series.
Westworld (8.9)
Westworld might have gotten some rough reviews from critics in its third season—and it was even polarizing in the second season—but the first season of the show, perfectly captured exactly what audiences wanted from a modern-day retelling of the classic story.
The first episode built the world of an advanced Western theme park brilliantly, and, between the movie stars that are in the main roles and the scenic vistas of the desert, the 70-minute pilot feels like a bona-fide movie.
Game Of Thrones (9.1)
The pilot is what started it all, as the title of the pilot, “Winter Is Coming,” is a phrase that has been uttered throughout pop-culture and memes for years; even the general public who don’t watch the show know the saying well. Though many fans believe the show didn’t end as well as it started, the pilot episode is the gold standard for TV, and it’s hard for any show to reach this bar, let alone consistently remain at that point for as long as Game of Thrones did.
The Newsroom (9.1)
As Aaron Sorkin had previously created The West Wing, one of the greatest shows of all time, when he worked with HBO to create The Newsroom, the writer cemented himself as the greatest TV writer of the 21st century.
The pilot episode is as clever and witty as any other Sorkin project, as it follows a news team being the first to cover the Deep Horizon oil spill. As it didn’t do the numbers that HBO wanted, the show was canceled after its third season, making it one of the TV shows that should be brought back.