S01E01 Pilot

Sergeant

Why does every TV series have their first episode named Pilot? Ive been watching quite a few TV shows and all of them have the first episode of the series named Pilot for some odd reason.

The name of Chuck's first episode is Pilot.
The name of Fringe's first episode is Pilot.
The name of Burn Notice's first episode is Pilot.
The name of Big Bang Theory's first episode is Pilot.
The name of Lost's first episode is Pilot.
The name of The Soprano's first episode is Pilot.
The name of House's first episode is Pilot.
The name of Bones's first episode is Pilot.
The name of Smallville's first episode is Pilot.

Theres many others named pilot but you get the point now.

As I was doing this post, I googled "First episode pilot" and gave me information that its basically a test episode to see if the show will be largely appealed or not and the creators are too lazy to think of a real name for the episode.

Even though i found out the answer to my own post, i just thought it was interesting to share.

Commander

yeaa... i find it embarrassing i know someone stupid enough to not know this... (whos not canadian)

jkjk Razz

i noticed the same thing after watching like 3 series and guessed correctly its meaning

Commander

never noticed it,
don't watch a whole lot of tv anymore.
Don't really care.

-But, oddly interesting, and very uncreative.

Captain

or maybe they all episodes have something to do with airplane pilots O.o

Commander

yea i noticed i just didn't know why lost, prison break, how i meet your mother all have it

Moderator

A few shows use it as a play on words

The only 1 i can think of off the top of my head right now is Futurama, who called their pilot Space Pilot 3000

But the name Pilot isnt always because they are lazy, its just the accepted standard

Captain

Generally a pilot is the first episode that they recorded to see how many people would watch it or how good of ratings it would get. If it gets crappy ratings and few people watch it, they probably will scrap the show and not make any more episodes. Its kinda like a test episode.

And what pat said: its just the accepted standard.