Salon TV critic Matt Zoller Seitz has given us his "Ten Best" lists for American t.v. comedies and dramas over the last couple weeks. He mentioned he'd do non-U.S. shows. Well Matt, consider this one vote of interest, and a list of shows to consider should you decide to tackle it. I've intentionally labeled this a "favorite" list rather than a "best" because I'm limiting myself to shows I've personally seen (which is a tacit admission that I haven't gotten around to watching great series like The Prisoner, The Avengers or Father Ted yet) but whose pilot episodes do a particularly good job setting up the premise of the series and the character dynamics. So, in no particular order, I give you:

Monty Python's Flying Circus

 "And now for something completely different," and indeed it was. The very first episode was titled "Owl Stretching Time" (actually an alternate title for the series) but no owls were stretched. Instead, we have John Cleese as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, introducing history's great deaths; Terry Jones as an Italian teacher with a class of native Italians; and the "pepper pot women" extolling the virtues of Whizzo Butter, which tastes the same as a dead crab. Any modern sketch comedy owes at least something to Monty Python. 

A Bit of Fry and Laurie

Best known in the U.S. for dramatic roles, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie became known in the U.K. for comedy. They each had starring roles in several series of Blackadder (Fry as Lord Melchett in series 2 and General Melchett in series 4, Laurie as Prince George in series 3 and Lt. George in series 4) before teaming up as a sketch comedy duo for four series between 1989 and 1996. The pilot episode for A Bit of Fry and Laurie aired in 1987 set the tone for what would follow: sketches very reminiscent of Monty Python, often with a left-leaning political edge--one dealt with the privatization of the police-- with Fry playing the straight man to Laurie's off the wall goofballs. Two continuing characters, obnoxious businessmen Gordon and Stewart, were introduced. The comedic high point is probably Laurie's performance of the song "Mystery."

The Vicar of Dibley

Richard Curtis is one of those screenwriters who just astonishes me. He has an amazing range--on t.v. he's written everything from Blackadder to the excellent episode "Vincent and the Doctor" from the most recent series of Doctor Who.  When you add film credits such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Love, Actually you have a resume that almost defies belief. Any one of those credits would be a career for most people.

 When he created The Vicar of Dibley in 1994, the Anglican Church had just approved women priests, so the concept of woman vicar taking over a village church was very relevant. In the first episode, the Rev. Pottle, the ancient vicar of Dibley's small village church, dies mid-service and the bishop sends a replacement: Geraldine Granger (played by the great Dawn French). The head of the village council, played by Gary Waldhorn, is horrified. Thus begins a battle of wits that would last for 19 more episodes over 13 years, aided by a gang of loveable village idiots. In true Richard Curtis fashion, the laughs are mixed with often poignant moments and the show has a definite social conscience. 

Doctor Who

It's hard to believe, but this mainstay of PBS and BBC America  will celebrate its 50th anniversary in November 2013. And it has had, arguably, not one but three pilot episodes over its lifetime. The very first, An Unearthly Child, aired on November 23, 1963. If the story itself, which featured the Doctor and his companions traveling back to Stone Age Earth, was somewhat forgettable, it established elements still used by the series today: the TARDIS, the Doctor's time machine, which looks like a blue police phone box and is much bigger on the inside; the Doctor, a centuries-old alien who is often impatient with humans; and the fact that TARDIS doesn't actually work very well. The series' first run continued for 26 seasons, with 6 different actors playing the role originated by William Hartnell.

In 2005, Russell Davies was given the job of reviving the series. There was an abortive attempt to bring back Doctor Who in the 1990s to run on both the BBC and Fox in the U.S. and which featured Eighth Doctor Paul McGann's only appearance. Davies cast Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor; his first appearance, in the episode "Rose," brought back all the elements introduced in 1963 but even from the beginning took them in a direction the classic series never dared. Especially in the palpable sexual tension between the new Doctor and his companion, Rose Tyler, played by Billie Piper. "Rose" pulled off a difficult task very well--updating an established mythology while at the same time staying true to it.

Torchwood

A spinoff of the new Doctor Who, the pilot episode of Torchwood is probably one of the better spinoff pilots I've seen.  The spinoff is always difficult; you have to both engage fans who already know your main character, while placing him or her in a new situation that will enable new fans to come on board. Frasier did this particularly well on American t.v. and so did Torchwood. The main character is Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), introduced in the Doctor Who episode "The Empty Child" (itself a masterpiece of television horror) as a rogue Time Agent from the 52nd century who ends up helping Earth prepare for its coming initial contacts with alien species. The first episode re-introduces Capt. Jack and his team, along with point-of-view character Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles), a Cardiff policewoman who meets Jack and his team at a murder scene. The first episode also introduces what would be a recurring theme throughout Torchwood's run (three series so far, with a fourth set to run on Starz next year): the mental toll the job takes and the seductiveness of the alien technology the team must keep out of civilian hands.

Skins

Ensembles are the hardest scripts to write (I've tried, and the results are best forgotten), and I think as a viewer the hardest series to do well. The payoffs when done correctly are enormous. Skins is probably the least well-known of my list to American audiences, but it is well worth seeking out because I don't think any other series anywhere does such a great job honestly portraying the lives of teens. 

Though the almost completely turned over after the end of series 2, the first episode set up the basic premise, which has not changed: following the lives of a group of British teens nearing the end of the U.K. equivalent of high school, as they prepare for their exit exams and what must come after. Each episode centers around a different character; the pilot had Tony (played by About a Boy's Nicholas Hoult in a starkly different role) in a plot that saw him try to get his virgin best friend Sid laid, not to mention score pot for a party. We're introduced in turn to the rest of the cast, not to mention recurring supporting characters, such as the memorably named pot dealer Madison "Mad" Twatter. Though Hoult is clearly intended to be, perhaps, the first among equals in the ensemble, I would argue that the true breakout star of the cast of series 1 and 2 is Dev Patel, who plays conflicted Muslim teen Anwar. Patel would go on to much greater stardom in Slumdog Millionaire and The Last Airbender.