Farscape Season 1, Episode 19, the one which introduces Scorpius. That said, you really do need to watch most of the preceding episodes or else nothing is going to make any frelling sense and you'll think you've gone fahrbot.
this post was submitted on 27 May 2026
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Now I'm imagining someone tuning in to Farscape for the first time on a Harvey episode, and trying to make any sense at all out of anything they were watching.
Not TV, but I've told people to skip the first two books in the Discworld series, Sir Terry doesn't really get into his stride till a little later, but book three is where his talent starts to shine.
Yeah, though even then there's a lot of growth. Comparing The Theif of Time, Thud, or I Shall Wear Midnight to Sourcery just feels unfair to the latter.
Or start with Small Gods, everyone who likes discworld likes Small Gods. It stands alone, it's clever, but has some of the early book style, and it's regularly referenced by the fans.
Most of Babylon 5's first season really feels like discount store-brand Star Trek substitute. The show really starts to get its feet under itself somewhere around A Voice in the Wilderness and the Season 1 finale Chrysalis is the episode for which the term "wham episode" was coined.
B5 has the unique problem that it's crap season 1 is kind of necessary homework for the rest of the show; it's one continuous story, but on first watch the first season doesn't feel like that because it's a bunch of stuff that happens that comes into play later. So unlike TNG you can't tell someone "just start at season 2." You have to sit through the first season.
Not a unique problem. Farscape has the same issue. Most of season 1 is kinda mediocre, but you need to watch it for the good stuff later to make sense.
I mostly disagree, I can see where you're coming from. Farscape has a lot of adventure of the week episodes that don't really matter...and they genuinely don't. Like I, E.T or Thank God It's Friday, Again. Those keep happening though, like Take The Stone in Season 2. Farscape occasionally makes episodes that are good sci-fi but not very good television.
Most of the way through Season 1, Scorpius is introduced. Crais' story has no froo froo symbolism, it's a simple tale of a man who hates a guy. Scorpius is much more interesting as an overall villain because 1. he has motivations beyond the main cast, 2. he's actually right and we'd be on his side if he wasn't such an apocalyptic shitbastard about everything and 3. Harvey is the best character on the show. The overall plot kinda doesn't exist until Scorpius shows up. But most of the season before it isn't mandatory homework. There's even an episode, I think it's the three parter Liars, Guns and Money, where they recruit a bunch of the enemies they met over the early episodes, and kill most of them off, they head off to a different region and a lot of the lore built up to then is discarded.
I was more thinking of it from a character relationships standpoint. If you drop season 1 you lose a lot of that character depth.
First season on Parks and Rec is not good. Redid the concept and one character season 2 and was awesome season 3 onwards
Parks and rec has the same issue trailer park boys has.
Season 1 is absolutely pure to the format and is therefore technically superior, but the characters and situations you love dont materialise until later.
Parks and Rec does not follow the pattern you describe. Season 2 was a big format and tone switch.
Its been a while since I seen it, but they both try to be mockumentaries with talking to the cameraman for plot exposition, and then they both give up on any attempt at realism with it quite quickly right?
Unless im forgetting something crucial
P&R dropped one primary cast member in season 2 and rewrote the rest of the characters significantly. Changed personalities and shifted relationships, it was a big shift in tone and cast.
They scaled back a lot of inter-character drama, made all the characters more relatable, and made the depicted workplace more cohesive and less adversarial.
Gradual character development is totally normal, just like acquaintances take a while to turn into friends and later turn into really good friends. But that doesn't devalue the good times you have with acquaintanaces. I enjoyed Parks & Rec and Trailer Park Boys right from the start, and then they both got better.
Bob's Burgers, Season 3.
Seasons 1 and 2 the seeds were there, but on the other hand they were trying to be yet another Adult-Swim style "edgy" show in the wake of Family Guy. Once that phase passed, the show found a real heart while the humor and storytelling grew up a bit. Now, it's been one of the most genuinely special things on television for a long time.
If it doesn't happen by the third or fourth episode I'm out.
Better Call Saul, but I can't really pinpoint a specific episode. The show starts of so slow and boring but it keeps building and building and before you realize it, you're hooked. I didn't survive the first season the first time around, but I'm glad I gave it a second chance just in time for the final* season to unfold in real-time.
The Good Place gets good in the season 1 finale
It starts out pretty good. It's not like TNG or something where you'd say "No, start at season 3, and just don't watch Code Of Honor." The Good Place starts out watchable and fun, and then the season 1 finale has an "Oh SHIT!" moment and then you've gotta finish it.
Yeah, the thing about The Good Place is you can't just start at the episode where things get really good, you gotta see the buildup to it
And you'll watch season 1 again on your second watch, even though it has minimum Derek.
Arrested developed starts well, ends on season 3 (season 4 and 5 dont exist, shut up) and gets more amazing every re-watch
After the first season: The Office
Late first season: Breaking bad maybe
Season 1 of the wire is definitely this. I tried to get a friend to watch it and we started with the pilot and I could tell he was like “this is so boring”. It’s definitely a slower show but when shit pops off it pops hard.
I remember putting on Kevin can fuck himself, and being super bored and not sure wth was going on. What was I supposed to be watching here. I turned it off. Wasn't until I heard someone describing it's message, and I dived back in. Man that was a ride! Pure brilliance. I love that it ties up, too. It was never made to be a long run, they don't do that tired thing of teasing new concepts, to never answer them, because they were beating a dead horse. It's just bam, all in, all tied up. But so delicious.
Invincible. Halfway through S1 it's like they fired all the original writers
Hunterxhunter, when the exam arc finishes
Exam arc my goat bruh
Its great but for non shonen enjoyers, the ending of the exam is where the universe and characters really take off. Had multiple people that bounced off trust me and got through and love it now
It's not a show, and typically one would play that game of "never read this" fairly unironically. But the webcomic Homestuck starts off REALLY slow and takes a few hundred pages to really even become interesting. It was so long ago, but I'm guessing page 246 was when I started to legitimately be interested in it. And I would say it finally gets good at page 1149.
So why did I read 245 pages of a story I wasn't very much interested in? The music, pretty much. I had already known Toby Fox had worked on something called Homestuck because of the history behind Another Medium (YouTube), and then I encountered this track (YouTube) in the wild and decided to read it at least until I reached the page this music is from.
Also, if you look at it purely for the ratio, getting good 1/8 of the way through is a little better than standard.
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