Honestly, Welcome to the Harvest for Buffy worked best. It was clear Joss was trying to establish the series as been something different from the 1993 campy film Fox made of it while at the same time not completely jettison Buffy's original origin (Former Valley girl that had her life upended by this Destiny that she slay Vampires). I think it worked in establishing a darker tone from the movie while at the same time appealing to the Younger audience the WB at the time was trying to captivate.

I enjoyed both of Firefly's first episode the most (I came late to Firefly and got to watch it in the intended order, so I'm talking about Serenity here). The only major downside i can think of was the very first sequence, where Mal and Zoe are fighting in the war, was a little confusing for those of us who aren't really good about remembering facial recognition perfectly. While Zoe and Mal were easily identified later, I kept trying to place some of the other men we saw briefly in the show, not really getting that they weren't there. Other than that, though, I really enjoyed the episode. I liked the tension where it wasn't clear if Simon was a bad guy, and the when Kaylee was shot it was very, very upsetting, so that obviously worked! I liked how they gave each character a few moments to really establish who they were and why they were that way.

My second favorite is probably Angel. Although two of the characters are already somewhat established, making it easier, I still think it did a good job setting up the mission of the show. i liked the Angel failed to save the girl. I liked how tortured he was. I also liked how Cordelia caught on quickly to how the villain was a vampire. Otherwise, she might have come across as just the Chick-who-needs-saving archetype, but they hinted at her being more useful as early as that. I also loved how the episode ended, with Angel kicking the guys chair out the window, handing Lindsey back is card, and Lindsey calling in that there was a new player in town. In those few moments, it really set up what kind of hero Angel would be. The only detractors from the episode, for me, would be the sequence where Angel pretends to be drunk, which was a little weird as an opening since pretending not to be a threat never really returned to Angel's MO that much, and Doyle's speech of exposition about Angel's past. I understand why they needed it but I wish they could have worked it in more organically instead of Doyle just telling Angel his life story.

Third on my list is Dollhouse. While I didn't hate Ghost the way many others did, it clearly could have been much better. If I could change time and have them do things differently, I'd have liked maybe a scene from Epitaph One or something similar as the opening, then a quick cut to the Dollhouse. If the story had been set up as a "how the world ended" story, it would have worked better, imo, and it's what made season 2 so thrilling. But anyway, back to how the episode actually was. Now, I'm a big sucker for kids, so the kidnapping plot worked for me. It was creepy and good. What didn't work for me was the client pushing Echo about her persona despite the fact that Adelle had specifically told him not to. If they had just not had Adelle tell him not to do that, something she never told any other clients that we saw, it would have worked for me. I also would have liked them playing up more of Echo not being as blank as she should be. While there are little moments - walking into Sierra's room, being concerned that something hurt her shoulder and she can't remember what, etc, it wasn't quite obvious enough.

Finally, my least favorite: Buffy. I actually didn't like the first season of Buffy all that much, though I didn't hate it. The things that worked for me were the relationship bits, setting up who all the characters were and how they began to relate to one another. The plot was a little stale. I liked part two much better and think if they could have condensed it into one episode, it would have felt snappier. I also think it could have worked better if they had shown it more from Willow's POV then Buffy's: had us, with Willow, meet the new girl and start to discover weird things about her, and that vampires are real... Overall, there was nothing particularly awful about the episode, but it just felt very flat.

...That got long when I wasn't looking.

hehe = nothing wrong with long!

We are thinking season openers too, so feel free to pitch in on that front!

I'd go with Angel. I think it benefited from being a spin-off - I already knew the characters, and the world was pretty well-established. Joss is a very slow starter when it comes to TV shows, so it definitely helps to have that shortcut.

"Welcome to the Hellmouth" wasn't bad, per se, but the campiness was what made me think I wouldn't like BtVS, and I'm not sure I'd have kept watching if I hadn't been assured it gets better.

Dollhouse I definitely would've quit watching if I hadn't heard so much about the mythic episode six where it finally gets good.

And the pilot for Firefly was so boring that I didn't even bother to watch the rest of the series until a year later.

Pilot-wise, I'd have to say it's a toss up between Buffy and Dollhouse. I've seen all four pilot episodes and I think the ones that stand out in my mind the most and that set the stage for the rest of the season are "Welcome to the Hellmouth" and "Ghost." Although I do think sometimes that had Whedon been able to go with his original pilot episode for Dollhouse the show might have fared a bit better. Not because his original pilot was better, but because I think Whedon fans got turned off when they heard that Fox had already started tinkering with the series. It's hard to become invested in something if you think it's doomed from the get-go.

That said, "Welcome to the Hellmouth" is still one of those episodes that's memorable. The teaser scene still gets me every time, as does the energy of the episode. Pretty much in that first episode, Whedon gives you everything that will the series will come back to focus on repeatedly: Buffy's desire to be a normal girl while still needing to fight demons, her family, Willow and Xander's loyalty and so on. Whereas "Ghost" takes the whole idea of the Dollhouse and what 99% of people thought the show was going to be about and turns that idea on it's head. Yeah they're dolls but they're not always being pimped out for "romantic engagements." We also learn a lot about the series in that first episode even with Fox's tinkering.

I'd have to say my favorite Joss first episode was Serenity. I know you said not the two parters, but seriously...It can't get much better than that. I disliked Buffy's first season and got hooked sometime during season two. Angel has a very good first episode, and Dollhouse, meh. I enjoyed the heck out of the series, but the first few episodes were very blah.

Serenity, however, had me hooked from the moment I saw it. It was this huge thing, full of Crowning Moments of Awesome (Mal shooting the guy when he was holding River comes to mind), girl in a box, plot plot plot! and more. There's nothing quite like it.

My favorite is the Firefly pilot, it sucked me in instantly and without it, I would have never happened upon Joss.

Dr. Horrible was lovely but a bit too short to put in the same legue.

The Dollhouse pilot was ok, but the original was way better.

Both the Buffy pilot and the Angel entrance left me pretty cold. They were fun, but they were by no means mindblowingly good as the shows later turned out to become.

My favorite would have to be the Firefly pilot, Serenity.
It was my first true exposure to Joss' works so I saw it without spoilers or the knowledge that Joss likes to kill people (even so, I was unsure if Kaylee was going to live or not).
It had a lot of impact for its 2 hour (I think?) run, establishing 9 (or technically 10) characters well enough for me to recognize them by name by the next episode.

'Echo' was the first episode I saw of Dollhouse if that counts as the pilot (I didn't watch the aired pilot yet, I think I'm already doing it wrong) and I haven't watched the BtVS or AtS pilots yet if that affects my opinion.
Although I will say that I enjoyed the DHSAB opening as well because I really wasn't sure if it was a literal blog with NPH staring at the screen for 45 minutes (I was wondering where the singing would come in and I thought that the other characters would be flashbacks or cameos or something).

I'd say Firefly's Serenity was the best pilot (and one of the best Firefly episodes, too). I only agree with deternot that the first sequence was a bit confusing, but besides that, it was perfect.

Both Buffy and Angel's pilots were good, especially the first scene in Buffy - everyone expects the boy to be a vampire and then wham! It's Darla!

The Dollhouse pilot was the worst for me, with the motorcycles at the beginning and all. The original intended pilot is much better and I think that more people would have watched the show if "Echo" would have been the pilot episode instead of "Ghost".

You said that we could do season openers, so...

I really think that Bargaining (Buffy S. 6) was a great way to start the sixth season. It would have been so easy for them to bring Buffy back off-stage, having "revived" her during the time lapse. I really enjoyed the use of the Buffybot, which I think helped in allowing for the delay in Buffy coming back to life. Plus, who does love the Buffybot. (Sarah did a wonderful job portraying it.) It also demonstrated the way the characters dealt with the loss of Buffy, months after it happened. We saw their immediate reactions to death in The Body, but this gave more of a depth to them.

Firefly, definitely. I had the benefit of seeing it the first time on DVD, so I didn't get confused by The Train Job. It establishes the entire universe and who the characters are within it. After that, I think Welcome to the Hellmouth / The Harvest. It also clearly laid out what kind of show this was going to be. I just rewatched City Of, and I found it slow, boring, and bit confused. Dollhouse, of course, was massively confused about what it was trying to say, through no fault of Joss's.

This is my first post here. *waves*

For me, Serenity Pts 1 &2 is easily the best Whedonverse pilot. It had the incredibly difficult task of introducing viewers to an entirely new world with 9 main characters and it did both brilliantly.

Ghost was easily the worst, in my opinion. The unaired pilot was a little better but neither were good. I don't know how they would've started it differently but I honestly didn't like ANY of the episode until Man on the Street. The show still had flaws after that episode but I finally became invested in the characters in a way I hadn't in those first few episodes.

The pilots for BTVS and Angel were both decent but I don't think either was all that strong, at least compared to later episodes. I also think both would've been helped by a larger budget but I think that's the case for most pilots :D