TV shows have one significant advantage in comparison to feature films. They can sometimes take their time to get good, and it doesn't ruin the whole experience. Just because a series has a slower start, it doesn't mean it's doomed forever and won't become successful, high-quality, and/or long-running (sometimes all the three, sometimes just one).
The world of sci-fi television is full of examples when a series originally struggled to find its footing, but eventually overcame the problem and offered a strong story combined with memorable acting performances. These shows serve as a good reminder that it's not always the best idea to throw away a show just because its first few episodes, or even an entire season, weren't as great as the rest.
5 Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ran successfully for seven seasons, yet the series didn't have as high a viewing score at the beginning, and it took some time to find its footing. One of the reasons for this could be that the viewers expected it would be even more closely linked to the rest of the MCU. In other words, they hoped that the already established MCU characters would show up in the series much more often than they did.
Another, even more, obvious reason, is that the series had to wait until the MCU movies caught up with its events. More specifically, it had to wait until Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) revealed that S.H.I.E.L.D. was corrupted, had been for decades, and that the Nazi organization Hydra had infiltrated it. Once the MCU has made this information known, the series worked with it and its pace, as well as the overall storytelling quality, immediately improved.
4 Avenue 5
Sometimes it takes a few episodes for a new series to properly introduce the characters and raise the stakes. That's also the case of the comedy / sci-fi drama Avenue 5 about a recreational ship that gets off course. As a result, the originally short journey will suddenly last a few years, which is something every passenger of the ship is trying to deal with differently. Even though Avenue 5 was profiled as a comedy right from the start, it doesn't get strong until it brings a bigger portion of drama into the mix.
After all, the situation is in many ways terrifying. By connecting jokes and terror, the series manages to reflect that. The characters develop gradually but by the time the first half of the series is over, some of them have already managed to become prominent and relatable despite — or maybe because of — all their bad traits.
3 Doctor Who
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The original Doctor Who series started airing in 1963, and several aspects of it haven't aged so well. The less-than-stellar special effects are understandable considering the sci-fi series didn't have a high budget back then. What makes less sense is the show's original tendency to stretch a somewhat simple tale into multiple episodes, which means that some of the earliest stories have a rather slow pace.
However, the series still had enough charm to capture the audience's imagination. By the time the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) showed up, Doctor Who's original pains were long forgotten. The First Doctor's era (William Hartnell,)also has its strong episodes and storylines, but just like with multiple shows, even Doctor Who had to first decide what kind of show it wanted to be and type of hero it wanted to work with.
2 Living With Yourself
Unlike multiple sci-fi shows that get to run for years, Living with Yourself was canceled after just one season. That's despite the fact that its main idea — two men share the same life because of a cloning process — has a lot to offer. Paul Rudd takes on the leading double role of Miles... and Miles.
The series grew funnier and more urgent the moment the two men revealed the truth to Miles's wife Kate. From there on, it was a whirlwind of emotions and jokes, and it led to a big cliffhanger. Living with Yourself is one of the shows that flew under the radar for the most part, but it's a must-watch for anybody looking for a civil sci-fi set on the planet Earth, not deep in space.
1 Star Trek: The Next Generation
Multiple Star Trek series could technically be in Star Trek: The Next Generation's place, such as Star Trek: The Original Series with its rejected pilot episode, or Star Trek: Discovery, which became more fast-paced once the crew traveled to another universe.
However, TNG took the longest time of the three shows to get truly great: an entire season. In the first season, the forces behind the show still were unsure how to portray the crew and what storylines to present. As a result, the series tried to copy its predecessor, the iconic TOS, but whenever it did so, it came across as flat and uninspiring. Luckily, TNG was able to pull through, and the following six seasons cemented its position as one of the most popular Star Trek shows of all time.