The first few episodes suck and then it gets better

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

What are some shows you watched where all your friends said "If you can begrudgingly sit through the first half of the season, the beautiful and glorious second half of the season will make it all worth it"?

[krissy]

people told me this about game of thrones for years

it really doesn't sell a show i gotta be honest

[Night Fury]

Parks and Recreation

[Freya]

Honestly, The Magicians is kinda meh the first few episodes but now I adore it.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

Honestly, The Magicians is kinda meh the first few episodes but now I adore it.

How dare you.

[Freya]

I ADORE IT NOW! But it is kinda cringey right away, trying hard to be edgy harry potter. Realized on my rewatch with my friends.

[Darth Ganon]

A co-worker said something like this about Sense 8. The first couple of episodes didn't thrill me much at all, but she says it really takes off. Then continued on to say it kind of screwed the pooch and got itself cancelled. So i don't know what to do.

I could say this about The Clone Wars. The first three seasons drag for the most part. Season four has a nice 3-4 episode story arc system going on, but if it happens to be something you don't care for then that's a lost hour plus. Season five is when it got really fun. Then season six is just alright, but it's short anyway (although it manages to have a better certain lightsaber battle than a certain movie did).

[Vermachtnis]

Parks and Recreation

Yea, first season was kind of meh.

[charliepanayi]

Parks and Recreation
Seinfeld

[Wolf Kanno]

Most Gundam series that are not the short OAVs. Like the first fifteen or so episodes are boring but really help to set up the world so when all the shit starts to fall in the second half it feels utterly worth it. Super Dimensional Fortress Macross and the original Sailor Moon anime are like this too. Hell any anime that is longer than 26 episodes tend to fall into this territory.

Highlander is another, the first season is a bit quirky, but it's the second season where the series really starts to shine.

[Bubba]

A co-worker said something like this about Sense 8. The first couple of episodes didn't thrill me much at all, but she says it really takes off. Then continued on to say it kind of screwed the pooch and got itself cancelled. So i don't know what to do.

I could say this about The Clone Wars. The first three seasons drag for the most part. Season four has a nice 3-4 episode story arc system going on, but if it happens to be something you don't care for then that's a lost hour plus. Season five is when it got really fun. Then season six is just alright, but it's short anyway (although it manages to have a better certain lightsaber battle than a certain movie did).

I wouldn't say it screwed the pooch. It was just too expensive to film. They had over 50 locations in 13 different countries and all the actors needed to be at all of them at some point. It ended up not being cost-effective.

Sense8 is one of the greatest and most important series of all time. Your life will be far richer for having watched it. Plus, they're tying up any loose ends with a feature-length episode.

[Rocket Edge]

Looked at the first episode of Game of Thrones and thought it was fairly boring. My friends push me to continue with it though saying it gets a lot better and I've been meaning too!

[Shauna]

I struggled really hard with the first half of Season 1 of Community. Like really really hard. But then I caught some of the latter half of the season and I thought it was super hilarious. I don't know what changed in the time between.

[WarZidane]

Biggest one that comes to mind is Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, where it was really mediocre until the 15th or 16th episode of season 1, but then the rest of season 1, season 2 and first half of season 3 were great (wasn't a big fan of the second half of season 3, haven't seen season 4)

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

Sense8 is one of the greatest and most important series of all time. Your life will be far richer for having watched it. Plus, they're tying up any loose ends with a feature-length episode.


I agree with this. People coming together from all walks of life and experiencing eachother's lives intimately and literally through eachother's eyes. It was a fantastic concept.

At first I wasn't going to watch it when I heard it was cancelled. I don't want to leave on a cliffhanger. But then they announced a full movie length episode to wrap it all up, so I binged the two seasons.

[Del Murder]

Pretty much Parks & Rec. SHIELD is also a great example. It's one of my favorite shows now but the first season was baaaad.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I actually like the first season of parks and rec, but I guess it does get a good amount better afterwards. I thought the end of it got a bit weird.

It's hard to answer this though as I usually stop a show if I don't like it very much at first. SHIELD might be a good example since it got better after a bit, but I never really did actually like it very much.

[Burtsplurt]

I remember being really close to giving up while watching The Wire. The first four episodes seemed very average. Then it draws you in and, to me, is the high water mark of television.

I've watched it again since and the beginning of the first season seems fine now. There were just so many characters and the set up plunges you straight in; there's no hand-holding.

Is it less about the episodes not being very good, and more about us not being invested in the ideas?

Oh, and the first TWO SEASONS of Star Trek TNG are bad. That takes serious patience.

[Miriel]

Leftovers season 1 is a slow burn and a little hard to get into, and then Season 2 and 3 are masterpieces and some of the best television in this era of peak TV.

[Skyblade]

Farscape. It really takes a while for the show to figure out what it is. But once it gets going, it's amazing.

[Slothy]

Farscape. It really takes a while for the show to figure out what it is. But once it gets going, it's amazing.

Fuck yes this show. So good. One of my favourites ever.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

SHIELD is also a great example.

I haven't watched it. In part due to the thoughts expressed in the over saturation thread and just never getting around to it. How would you sell SHIELD to a new viewer?

I know some people were put off by it, thinking "why would I want to watch a Marvel show without any of the Marvel characters I know and care about". But it's more than just Coulson and some identically dressed agents, yeah?

[Del Murder]

It's not really tied to any of the other Marvel stuff, though the aftermath of the movies do ripple their way through (but can be ignored if you don't bother watching the movies). They will only rarely mention the Avengers and only for humor. There are superpowered people in it and a couple mid-tier Marvel characters do show up, but it has its own storylines and development.

What makes this show great are that the characters have evolved from the flat tropes in the first season to really embrace their quirks and be unique. They have a lot of chemistry with each other too. It's probably my favorite cast on TV right now. Each season since the first has an arching storyline that usually involves more than just 'stop the big bad' and there are some gray areas of morality that the show deals with such as the rights of people with abilities and the nature of reality. You don't always come away thinking SHIELD are the 'good guys' and I like that.

[Jinx]

RE: Sense8

The second season is hilariously bad. I still love it, but let's not pretend like it was good storytelling.

[Fynn]

Pretty much all anime

[Example]

I remember Star Trek TNG's first season was so awful it damn near put me off watching the rest of the show.