In today's age of streaming, ratings are largely secret, and all it takes to watch the next episode of a show is the press of a button.
But before this, we had week-to-week television.
The best way to ensure a show would be picked up for the rest of a season was to have an excellent pilot episode that attracted many eyeballs and, in turn, ad revenue.
These 11 pilots that aired in the last 24 years established series-long arcs, beloved characters, and filmmaking worthy of the big screen.