I've been watching a lot of first episodes, and I was wondering what everyone's best/worst first sitcom episodes were? A couple of mine:

Best
Spaced - Instantly like Tim and Daisy
Nathan Barley - Rise of the idiots monologue
Raised By Wolves - Immediately quirky and likeable setup
Extras - Film scene/cut to extras got me straight away, Maggie and Andy are likeable
Fleabag - Dug the asides to camera, relatable 30-something crisis stuff
Catastrophe - Likeable characters, intriguing setup, very funny straight away
Motherland - I love Sharon Horgan, I'd basically watch anything she's involved in, and this was also excellent from the outset

Worst
PhoneShop - Annoying characters, banal setting, didn't make it half way through the first episode
The Persuasionists - Just awful, cringe worthily bad in all respects, watched for Adam Buxton, left almost annoyed

Ep 1 of Whatever Happened to the Likely lads was a great reboot and a well conceived re-intro to what I'd call the best ever sitcom sequel.
Porridge also started well. Fawlty Towers was a classic from nowhere and Reginald Perrin's intro was the most original and complete first episode I've yet seen with its stock of regular happenings and catchphrases looking more like an ep 12 than an ep 1. Each one a text book sitcom opener in different ways.

I think the first episode of Porridge is pretty much perfect (also not many first episodes have a line as good as Fletch's "what, from here?"). dinnerladies is a great example of how to introduce the audience to characters who have known each other a long time.

I also love Chance In A Million, how it sets up the central premise of the show, continual coincidences.

As for the worst, it would be pretty hard to beat Ben Elton's The Wright Way. A phenomenal comic cast given an awful script. Even David Haig, who is fantastic in most things, is forced to gurn his way through it as a stereotype with absolutely zero nuance. I remember a scene where Haig is trying to wash his hands, it is the most laboured slapstick sequence I've ever seen.

The first one that came to my mind was To The Manor Born - a fabulous first episode. Also, Vicar Of Dibley.

I would also say The Royle Family 1st episode.
Jim sat studying and complaining about the cost of the phone bill 'its good to talk my arse'
A completely new style of comedy at the time that made you watch.

Only Fools and Horses started shit. And ended shit. There was a dip in the middle though.
I was lucky enough to catch the first ever broadcast of The Young Ones and it knocked me for sex, but it's relatively tame after the last two.

Blackadder obviously had a poor first episode and poor first series. Red Dwarf had a mediocre start too.

Have to concur with poster above. Just rewatched Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? and the first episode is superb. The writing is first class and there are characters and situations that most folks can relate to.
Now halfway through the first series and what strikes me is how much dialogue on the show is just Bob and Terry just talking and the show does not need to jump from scene to scene as the scripts are so good.

Also Coupling has a very strong first episode. They managed to introduce 6 characters in under 30 minutes and immediately this gave an insight to their characters and an expectation of what was to come.
The final episode was however a huge disappointment as the show bowed out with a whimper.

The first episode of Scrubs "My First Day". It was well known for having a good sound track but I recently noticed some tracks are muted on Disney+ which makes me regret putting the DVD boxset in storage. No doubt for copyright reasons and one of them is U2 - Beautiful Day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhJbvlD5D-g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yeb6U-Uxz4

Agree with loads of these, particularly Coupling and Royle Family: Coupling, Yeah, Gold started repeating it this weekend, so solid! Royle Family, as SG said above, it was a new way of doing sitcom and had people glued to it

To add a suggestion:

Detectorists: Sets the course for the three series and displays the show's gentle vibe that's juxtaposed against how sweary it gets, haha. And manages to balance introducing a large(ish) cast of characters well, much like Dinnerladies.

Quote: Sitcomfan64 @ 7th May 2022, 10:22 AM

As for the worst, it would be pretty hard to beat Ben Elton's The Wright Way.

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This. It was at a point in time where I'd several rejections from BBC and stuff and it made me give up for a few years.
That's not even hyperbole, I was that dejected!