The (American) office
If you ever want to give a lecture on the difference between American culture and English culture, all you have to do is show one episode from the first season of The Office, and one episode from the following seasons. The American Office is an interesting story, because even though Ricky Jarvais’ original version was brilliant, it wasn’t brilliant-America. It was decided as a one-to-one reproduction of the British version (in accordance with Ricky’s rules), and during the season she struggled to find her voice – and accordingly, was in danger of cancellation – but with only 6 episodes, things start to run immediately with the second season and the “Dandies” ceremony. By the tenth episode of the season, they have become the biggest hit in America, and have found what makes the American office better than the original (quiet, Anglophiles!) – and that is its heart, and above all, Michael Scott’s.
the americans
It’s not that the first season of “The Americans” isn’t good, it just feels like the first season of a completely different series. In its first episodes, “The Americans” is a fairly standard period spy thriller, with a good concept, many action scenes and a body count that makes up for the low profile that the two protagonists manage to maintain – Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, or actually Misha Vanjada, two KGB agents Executives who live in the US under fake identities of full-fledged American citizens – with unlikely exceptions. The dialogues are a bit clumsy, the cinematography is outdated and it is not entirely clear who we are supposed to feel sympathy for – the heroes or their lovable neighbor, Stan (an FBI agent who has no idea what is going on under his nose). Who would have believed, in this season, that within a season or two “The Americans” would find its bleeding heart far away from all this espionage? The real drama is revealed in the relationship between the two, couples whose relationship was forced upon them by the KGB – but gradually they discover that after almost 20 years of living together, something real is also happening between them, perhaps the only real thing in the whole disturbed series, full of intrigue and lies (and wigs! ) this one.
Gardens and landscape department
Like its big sister “The Office”, the gardens and landscape department also suffered from a bad first season disease. But if the office still had the outline of England, in the gardens and landscape department there was a mess – Leslie Knopf felt an almost tragic figure. An optimistic man who works in a junior government job, with a bunch of scumbags, a romantic object as boring as a wall (remember Mark Brandanovich? Neither do we) and literally only one anonymous actor who managed to make us laugh (we’ll later get to know him as movie star Chris Pratt). But the writers’ strike did them good, cutting the season short after only 6 episodes (compared to 22 in most of the others). From the break, they returned with renewed strength, lots of optimism, a bigger role for Pratt, minus Brandanovich and with a different rhythm of jokes. And suddenly this tragic figure became beloved and surrounded by friends, and Pawnee became a better place.
Seinfeld
NBC was so unsure that it was worth giving “Seinfeld” a season that they ordered its creators, Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, only four episodes – in addition to its pilot, which is now only interesting as a historical item (Kramer’s name is Kessler! There’s no Elaine! The whole business is called The Seinfeld Chronicles!). The situation improves in the next four episodes – but not by much. The legendary dynamic between the four protagonists is not yet there, and also the ability of Seinfeld and David to write parallel plots that collide with each other at the least expected moment has not yet been sharpened. It’s such a stuttering start that it’s hard to imagine already in season 2 classic episodes like “The Deal” (Jerry and Elaine decide to continue sleeping while remaining friends) or “The Chinese Restaurant”, and the most iconic sitcom of the last 30 years gets on the track for eight additional seasons.
Philadelphia shines
Look, the very existence of the disturbed from Philadelphia on the screen is a miracle in its own right, but we have to admit that the first season feels experimental, even amateurish, in relation to what is to come. A lot of the DNA of the series was born there (and, in fact, more in the short film they created as a pilot), and the dynamic between the three star creators was interesting – but they only managed to refine all the sharpness, the chemistry with Dee, the complexity of the disgust and the repulsive humanity of the sequel with the arrival of Danny DeVito in the second season. There are some not bad episodes in the first one as well, don’t get me wrong – but they still don’t cut into the huge potential of this series as the next 14 seasons will do until the end.
the hidden
Rewatching “Secret” it is amazing how fun, immersive and interesting the first season is from the very first moment. But this is on the second viewing, and the first viewing dropped quite a few viewers who tried to get into one of the greatest drama series of all time. The first episodes of the series introduce us to a wide range of characters working on both sides of the law – a special unit of the Baltimore police on the one hand, D’Angelo Barksdale’s criminal organization on the other, and the neighborhoods in between – but it takes so long for these two sides to reach a significant conflict, that the fire The slowness of the first chapters is not really rewarding unless you already know how rewarding it is going to be. Then in the eighth episode Detective Kima takes a bullet and suddenly “Undercover” becomes not only important and serious television but also immersive television, and everyone who survives that far falls in love immediately. But for that you need patience for exactly eight hours.
Buffy
If we’re being honest for a moment, the arrival of this masterpiece series on the Disney+ streaming service was the reason we even thought of this list. It’s just so hard to convince people to sit through the first season, and so worth surviving it, that it’s almost become a symbol for this weird situation. Still, hear us out for a moment – the first season feels toyed (because it had a budget for toys), childish (because it deals with teenagers) and superficial (not least because of the “monster of the week” format) – but all of the above things are dwarfed in front of poetics , the maturity and depth to come. Besides, in the second season Spike joins us, and we get one of the coolest (and complex) characters we’ve met on screen. And shit on Twilight who destroyed vampires after Buffy made them cool again.
Mad Man
The first season of “Mad Men” may have received good reviews from its first episodes, but in retrospect, beyond the fantastic design – it doesn’t have that much to offer. It is slow even compared to the series as a whole, its preoccupation with historical moments is rather superficial and mainly, its two main plot moves are more or less thrown aside for most of the following seasons: the big twist of the first episodes (Don Draper is actually Dick Whitman, who stole the identity of an officer killed in the war Korea) becomes a kind of weight on the legs of the series in the following seasons, when most of the time he is completely ignored, only occasionally they drop some completely unnecessary flashback on us; The big twist of the last episode (Peggy is unknowingly pregnant) is something that is rushed to be swept under the rug in the second season and to move on to more interesting areas. The series also has some challenging sequences in the following seasons as well – the third season in particular has some particularly tedious episodes – and in general, it becomes much more fun, immersive and even funny as soon as it jumps forward to the 60s.
The Simpsons
Many talk about how The Simpsons has deteriorated over the seasons, but many forget how difficult the early episodes of the series are to watch. Beyond the liquid animation (in our lives, just look at the amount of strange faces they make) and the humor that hasn’t really been screwed in there until the end, there are very strange things in the plot, and it’s clear that Matt Groening still didn’t know how to utilize the archetypal characters he built. Homer was just another spoiled dad, Marge was a bitter mother and the only thing holding the series together was the “cool” kid Bart. It may have worked for 1987, but unlike the rest doesn’t hold water for a sequel. Besides, the episode where Bart is kidnapped in France is terrifyingly realistic and still gives us nightmares. Lucky that in the second season the episodes start to riot, otherwise we wouldn’t have 33 more seasons.