SF Shows With GOOD First Seasons
- Thread starter Mr Light
- Start date
nuBSG
Angel
Stargate Atlantis
Farscape
Firefly
First season nuBSG is utterly amazing! And I never knew S1 of Angel wasn't has widely loved as I thought it was.
Angel
Stargate Atlantis
Farscape
Firefly
First season nuBSG is utterly amazing! And I never knew S1 of Angel wasn't has widely loved as I thought it was.
Dr_Daystrom
Commander
7 Days
Red Dwarf
I remember loving it back then.
The X-Files had a bad first season? Ridiculous. The first season provided great stand-alone and conspiracy-arc episodes.
Either you don't remember the first season or you're just tossing ideas out there with little thought.
Stick to DS9, which was truly shitty during its first season.
LOST & BSG are the most solid.
Farscape has some great episodes
I've never really thought about how many first seasons I really don't like all that much.
Farscape has some great episodes
I've never really thought about how many first seasons I really don't like all that much.
P.S. Nobody list Firefly it was a one hit wonder and that's all!
I like to think of it as a 14-hit wonder. And I wonder how long it could've maintained that
.TOS, definitely
nuWho
nuBSG
First Wave (does nobody remember this show from SciFi? I never see it mentioned anywhere)
Jake 2.0 (similar to Firefly - UPN cancelled it as it was finding its feet, but it started strong, nevertheless, and had 16 episodes
Stargate SG-1 - no TOS, but IMHO a better first season than TNG
Odyssey 5 - again, short-lived, but strong.
The Chronicle - quirky, one-season-only, good from start to finish
Wow, looking at that list, it makes me wonder - is it primarily the shows with great starts that get canceled, and we're left to soldier on with the dregs year after year, wishing that network IICs would be consigned to the mailrooms, instead?
Oh, First Wave! That show was so fun. I loved the concept of one man using prophecies to fight and gather a force against an oncoming invasion. It wasn't a terribly strong show in general, but damn does it remind me of when I was younger. That's a show that could use remaking!
I loved Jake 2.0. It was very strong, just a great take on the sci-fi spy/action genre. I've read an interview with a writer or creator who talked about his plans for the show (or the rest of that season) and there were some good ideas there. I was pissed when it got canceled. I still wish it could have gone on, it wasn't mind blowing but it was solid.
Space: 1999. In fact, the first season was the only good season!
I too really liked first wave. Who knew Traci Lords could almost act! Not sure it needs a remake less than ten years after it went off the air though.
Jake 2.0 was good and I'm curious why a similar show like Chuck (which I also like) is growing in the ratings while Jake faded quickly into oblivion?
Journeyman.
Damn you, NBC!
Damn you, NBC!
The new Doctor Who had a great 1st season, although I prefer Season 2 when David Tennant became the new Doctor. (Season 3 sucked except for "Human Nature," "The Family of Blood," & "Blink." Season 4 was uneven but greatly helped by the presence of Catherine Tate.)
Star Trek The Original Series had a great 1st season.
Roswell had a good first season, although a bit too angsty at times. (I prefer the more sci-fi focused 2nd season.)
I think that the 1st seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel are sadly underrated. Although the shows would both reach even greater heights in later years, both of these shows came out really strong right out of the gate. Buffy Season 1 was back when Buffy & all of the other characters were actually likable. The entire core cast fully degenerated into whiny, angsty, selfish shells of their former selves by the end of Season 4. I loved how Angel Season 1 fully embraced the show's noir premise. Plus, Doyle & Kate Lockley are 2 of my favorite characters and Cordelia was hilarious in the beginning (before she became Saint Cordelia in Season 3 & evil-Cordelia in Season 4). To anyone who doesn't like the 1st Season of Angel, "I'm going to thrash you within an inch of your life... AND THEN I'M GONNA TAKE THAT INCH!"
Agreed. Stargate Atlantis achieved a great, almost alchemical balance in its first season. Then they screwed it up by focusing too much on Dr. McKay. He was, admitedly, the show's best character but it became too much of a good thing in Seasons 2-3. He became over-exposed while the other characters were woefully underused. Hell, even John Sheppard became little more than a comic relief character.
I think they also underestimated how valuable Lt. Ford was to the show. Sure, he was never a featured character but he had a developed personality and maintained a certain balance among the team. But they replaced him with Ronon Dex, a character who was (1) cliched (a blatant rip-off of Worf, D'Argo, Tyr Anasazi, & even their own Teal'c) and (2) redundant. (Teyla already filled their stoic alien warrior quota.)
And don't even get me started on the whole Michael debacle!
IMO, the show only barely started to find its footing again in Season 4, when the writers seemed to finally recognize all of their mistakes.
Amen! I'm always kinda bummed that Doug Naylor can't seem to recognize what a gem Series I was. So what if the production values weren't up to his lofty standards? The acting, dialogue, & characterization were spot on.
Star Trek The Original Series had a great 1st season.
Roswell had a good first season, although a bit too angsty at times. (I prefer the more sci-fi focused 2nd season.)
I think that the 1st seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel are sadly underrated. Although the shows would both reach even greater heights in later years, both of these shows came out really strong right out of the gate. Buffy Season 1 was back when Buffy & all of the other characters were actually likable. The entire core cast fully degenerated into whiny, angsty, selfish shells of their former selves by the end of Season 4. I loved how Angel Season 1 fully embraced the show's noir premise. Plus, Doyle & Kate Lockley are 2 of my favorite characters and Cordelia was hilarious in the beginning (before she became Saint Cordelia in Season 3 & evil-Cordelia in Season 4). To anyone who doesn't like the 1st Season of Angel, "I'm going to thrash you within an inch of your life... AND THEN I'M GONNA TAKE THAT INCH!"
Agreed. Stargate Atlantis achieved a great, almost alchemical balance in its first season. Then they screwed it up by focusing too much on Dr. McKay. He was, admitedly, the show's best character but it became too much of a good thing in Seasons 2-3. He became over-exposed while the other characters were woefully underused. Hell, even John Sheppard became little more than a comic relief character.
I think they also underestimated how valuable Lt. Ford was to the show. Sure, he was never a featured character but he had a developed personality and maintained a certain balance among the team. But they replaced him with Ronon Dex, a character who was (1) cliched (a blatant rip-off of Worf, D'Argo, Tyr Anasazi, & even their own Teal'c) and (2) redundant. (Teyla already filled their stoic alien warrior quota.)
And don't even get me started on the whole Michael debacle!
IMO, the show only barely started to find its footing again in Season 4, when the writers seemed to finally recognize all of their mistakes.
Amen! I'm always kinda bummed that Doug Naylor can't seem to recognize what a gem Series I was. So what if the production values weren't up to his lofty standards? The acting, dialogue, & characterization were spot on.
This has probably been said but The Twilight Zone had a great first season.
Well, I didn't mean today or this year, I meant eventually.
Jake 2.0 was on UPN, I think that's answer enough.
Most of those episodes were actually pretty good. Of that list, I would only avoid "Space" and "The Jersey Devil" today.
But back to your claim. How do you account for the survival of the show past it's first season, if it was so bad? It was also on Friday nights back then--surely, millions of viewers could've found something better to do on Friday nights than watch The X-Files if it was so crappy, right? Why didn't they?
Well Season Two fell into the trap of "Let's change the format for the Americans", failing to realise the Americans watched the show because they liked it, so why change it to appeal to them if they're already watching!!
Was the same prob with Doctor Who - The Movie, and the failed American Red Dwarf Pilots.
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