The Pilot

When you have one TV show full of deplorable people with no redeeming features, you know you’re onto a winner. When you have TWO, then you know you’re going to have a great episode of the Pilot Podcast!

Now, the Pilot podcast have two really really (really really) likeable hosts, so it may be abrasive to watch two pilot episodes that have quite the opposite right? Wrong! These are two of the most entertaining television comedies of the century and you will hear a deep dive of why it works so well.

<3

This week Jed and Rob takes a deep dive into old skool kids animations with the British classic, BANANAMAN up against the American classic DEFENDERS OF THE EARTH.

There are alot of things to consider when deciding which one is better. For instance, one of them has a guy who can call upon the strength of ten (7 actually) tigers and leap tall buildings. On the other hand, one of them gives you the idea that you can turn into a hench superhero by eating fruit, singlehandedly giving parents the excuse they need to convince their kids that bananas are cool.

Now, as adults, we know bananas suck. It’s like eating a big stick of chalk covered in slime and sugar… but we do still hold a small hope that it will turn us into a superhero, so we eat it anyway.

Find out which pilot episode almost broke our Top 50 in this episode of the pilot podcast!

<3

Back in the days, it was rare for a movie star to slum it on a TV Show. You were either on your way out or on the way up. These two pilot episodes show big stars (and stars to be) making premium television, way before HBO was doing it.

Up first we have the Cybil Shepherd / Bruce Willis powerbomb in MOONLIGHTING. Wow what a cast. The ultimate “will they / wont they”. This is where we first saw Bruce Willis be that wisecracking, sorta charming, lovable goofball and we’ve never seen him stop yet. Up against that we have THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO, the godfather of gritty cop shows. Michael Douglas before he was the Michael Douglas we know and tolerate. This one was pitched as a film, so its very cinematic BUT which of the two were the best PILOT episode?

find out by listening to THE PILOT podcast right now!

<3

Welcome to TENNANT week! The most Tennant-y week of the year.

This episode we dive dome first into the post-doctor dramas that has made David Tennant become more than just a saturday afternoon actor for kids. He is legit a national treasure. First up with see him opposite the equally incredible Michael Sheen in Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens. Then we present our views on the idyllic yet ultra emotional show, Broadhcurch. He plays opposite one more national treasure in the totally scene-stealing queen, Olivia Coleman.

Which had the better pilot episode? Find out on this week’s pilot podcast!

<3

its 2020 and Jed & Rob do the now annual Top 50 countdown of best pilot episodes ever (that we have done so far!). Below is the FULL chart so you can see what we’ve done. Let us know what you think on twitter @jedshepherd and @theejellyman!

The Pilot - League Table

The A-Team (19)

Stephen Spielberg’s Amazing Stories (19)

Cowboy Bebop (19)

Planet Earth (19)

Lost (18.5)

Sopranos (18.5)

Sesame Street (18.5)

The Office (UK) (18.5)

The Haunting of Hill House (18.5)

Breaking Bad (18.5)

ER (18.5)

Treasure Hunt (18.5)

OJ: Made In America (18.5)

The Walking Dead (18)

The Good Place (18)

Westworld (18)

Battlestar Galactica (18)

Robotech (18)

Mr.Bean (18)

Dungeons & Dragons (18)

The Incredible Hulk (18)

Dear John (18)

Cobra Kai (18)

Halt! And Catch Fire (18)

Dawson’s Creek (18)

Downton Abbey (17.5)

X-Files (17.5)

Stranger Things (17.5)

24 (17.5)

Buffy The Vampire Slayer (17.5)

Mike Tyson Mysteries (17.5)

Crystal Maze (17.5)

Reginald Perrin (17.5)

RuPaul’s Drag Race (17.5)

Bodyguard (17.5)

Making A Murderer (17.5)

Daredevil (17)

Sherlock (17)

People Just Do Nothing (17)

The Simpsons (17)

Orange Is The New Black (17)

Luther (17)

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (17)

Flash Forward (17)

Royal Family (17)

The Young Ones (17)

Blindspot (17)

Twilight Zone (17)

The Prisoner (17)

Blacklist (17)

Hill Street Blues (17)

Fraggle Rock (17)

Animaniacs (17)

The Maxx (17)

Derek (17)

Jessica Jones (17)

After Life (17)

Taskmaster (17)

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (17)

The Capture (17)

The Outer Limits (1990s) (17)

Black Books (16.5)

Columbo (16.5)

Black Mirror (16.5)

Atlanta (16.5)

American Gods (16.5)

Knight Rider (16.5)

Gotham (16.5)

Billions (16.5)

Fringe (16.5)

American Horror Story (16.5)

Arrested Development (16.5)

Killing Eve (16.5)

Designated Survivor (16.5)

Life On Mars (16.5)

The Flash (16)

Oz (16)

Seinfeld (16)

Homeland (16)

The Crown (16)

Garth Marengie’s Dark Place (16)

Six Feet Under (16)

Grey’s Anatomy (16)

Blackadder (16)

Line Of Duty (16)

The Killing (16)

Misfits (16)

Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee (16)

Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected (16)

Mad Men (15.5)

Star Trek (15.5)

Porridge (15.5)

GLOW (15.5)

Green Wing (15.5)

South Park (15.5)

The Americans (15.5)

Rainbow (15.5)

Krypton (15.5)

Friday Night Dinner (15.5)

Kidding (15.5)

Once Upon A Time... Life (15.5)

Bad Blood (15.5)

Prison Break (15.5)

You (15.5)

Sons of Anarchy (15.5) 

SeaLab 2021 (15.5)

Cheers (15)

Knowing Me, Knowing You (15)

Hard Knocks (15)

The Exorcist (15)

Mork & Mindy (15)

Marvels Agents of Shield (15)

The Flintstones (15)

Beverley Hills 90210 (15)

Modern Family (15)

Allo Allo (15)

Timeless (15)

Disenchantment (15)

End of the F’ing World (15)

London’s Burning (15)

The Fresh Prince of Bel Air (15)

Yes, Minister (15)

The Boys (15)

Euphoria (15)

Elite (15)

Barry (15)

Dickinson (15)

Series of Unfortunate Events (14.5)

Attack On Titan (14.5)

Bottom (14.5)

Family Guy (14.5)

Peaky Blinders (14.5)

Ren & Stimpy (14.5)

Bojack Horseman (14.5)

Scrubs (14.5)

True Detective (14.5)

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (14.5)

Jonathan Creek (14.5)

Murder In Successville (14.5)

Luke Cage (14.5)

Big Little Lies (14.5)

Tom & Jerry (14.5)

Dr.Who (reboot) (14.5)

Man v Food (14.5)

M*A*S*H (14.5)

The Outer Limits (1995) (14.5)

Lost In Space (14.5)

Mid-Morning Matters (14.5)

This Time with Alan Partridge (14.5)

The Mighty Boosh (14.5)

W1A (14)

Supergirl (14)

Red Dwarf (14)

Baywatch (14)

Dr.Who (14)

curb your enthusiasm (14)

Deadwood (14)

Chocky (14)

Ozark (14)

Skins (14)

Home & Away (14)

Neighbours (14)

Art Attack (14)

Kenan & Kel (14)

Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends (14)

Homicide: Life On The Street (14)

Don’t Tell The Bride (14)

Saved By The Bell (13.5)

The Jetsons (13.5)

Murder, She Wrote (13.5)

Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) (13.5)

Scrapheap Challenge (13.5)

Horrible Histories (13.5)

Cracker (13.5)

Titan Games (13.5)

The Gladiators (13.5)

Tales from the Darkside (13.5)

The Office (US) (13)

Twin Peaks (13)

House (13)

Only Fools & Horses (13)

The Wire (13)

Futurama (13)

Smallville (13)

Nightflyers (13)

Raggy Dolls (13)

Whodunnit? (13)

Dexter’s Laboratory (13)

GBBO (12.5)

Pugwall (12.5)

CSI: Las Vegas (12.5)

QI (12.5)

Sharp Objects (12.5)

Round The Twist (12.5)

Scooby Doo! Where Are You? (12.5)

Carnival Row (12.5)

Dark Crystal (12.5)

The IT Crowd (12)

Friends (12)

Everybody Loves Raymond (12)

MacGyver (12)

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (12)

Robot Wars (12)

Betty Boop (12)

ALF (12)

Wonder Woman (12)

Total Wipeout (12)

Transformers (11.5)

Gogglebox (11.5)

The Thick Of It (11.5)

Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job (11.5)

Celebrity Deathmatch (11.5)

See (11.5)

The Avengers (11)

Heat Vision & Jack (11)

Happy Days (11)

Masterchef Australia (11)

That 70s Show (10.5)

Maniac (10.5)

Russian Doll (10.5)

Archer (10)

Little Britain (10)

Jam (10)

Dad’s Army (9.5)

Quantum Leap (9)

Primeval (9)

Peep Show (8)

Snatch (7)

Big Bang Theory (5)

MERRY XMAS FROM JED AND ROB AT THE PILOT PODCAST!

This week we pit BARRY against TOTAL WIPEOUT.

Find out which one (if any) makes the Top 50 pilot episodes of all time!

<3

How many streaming platforms do we need to subscribe to in order to fully justify a proper investigation into the best TV show ever? the answer is ALL OF THEM! 2020 will be spent working 15 jobs each so myself and Rob can afford to subscribe to all 320 of them, including Apple Plus where you will find this week’s selections!

SEE stars Jason Momoa so it automatically gets points from me, but is it any good? Its the most expensive TV show ever apparently. totally wasted on people who are all blind no? Then you have the anachronistic DICKINSON that stars the equally amiable Hailee Steinfeld who I’d watch eat crisps.

Find out which show we loved the best and dont forget to hit us up on twitter @jedshepherd and @theejellyman

<3

Two marriage themed episodes this week. One about the creation of a new partnership that will hopefully last forever and one thats completely gone to pot.

Sometimes its a real joy (well most of the time!) to revisit older TV shows and Dear John falls into that camp nicely. One of the most underrated sitcoms in British history for my money. It’s also brilliant when a show comes along that surprises you to its entertainment value. Don’t Tell The Bride (especially this episode) is superb car-crash television. It’s gonna be hard to separate these two, but we always do!

let us know how you felt about it on twitter @jedshepherd and @theejellyman.

<3

This week we put two animations against each other (as we tend to do) but thats the only similarity because they are vastly different in tone. Rob takes the corner of DEXTER’S LAB and the fast paced madness that suits him well! Jed holds the towels for SEALAB 2021 with its slow paced surreal comedy that might turn away some.

Will either of these beauties break the TOP 50 pilot episodes though? Here are the standings so far:

The Pilot - League Table

The A-Team (19)

Stephen Spielberg’s Amazing Stories (19)

Cowboy Bebop (19)

Planet Earth (19)

Lost (18.5)

Sopranos (18.5)

Sesame Street (18.5)

The Office (UK) (18.5)

The Haunting of Hill House (18.5)

Breaking Bad (18.5)

ER (18.5)

Treasure Hunt (18.5)

OJ: Made In America (18.5)

The Walking Dead (18)

The Good Place (18)

Westworld (18)

Battlestar Galactica (18)

Robotech (18)

Mr.Bean (18)

Dungeons & Dragons (18)

The Incredible Hulk (18)

Dear John (18)

Cobra Kai (18)

Halt! And Catch Fire (18)

Dawson’s Creek (18)

Downton Abbey (17.5)

X-Files (17.5)

Stranger Things (17.5)

24 (17.5)

Buffy The Vampire Slayer (17.5)

Mike Tyson Mysteries (17.5)

Crystal Maze (17.5)

Reginald Perrin (17.5)

RuPaul’s Drag Race (17.5)

Bodyguard (17.5)

Making A Murderer (17.5)

Daredevil (17)

Sherlock (17)

People Just Do Nothing (17)

The Simpsons (17)

Orange Is The New Black (17)

Luther (17)

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (17)

Flash Forward (17)

Royal Family (17)

The Young Ones (17)

Blindspot (17)

Twilight Zone (17)

The Prisoner (17)

Blacklist (17)

Hill Street Blues (17)

Fraggle Rock (17)

Animaniacs (17)

The Maxx (17)