Starfleet Academy is the best first season of a Star Trek show ever

Tig Notaro as Reno, Sandro Rosta as Caleb, and Romeo Carere as Ocam in season 1 , episode 8 of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy streaming on Paramount+. (Brooke Palmer/Paramount+)

The first season of a TV show is a tricky thing. It has to convince people to watch it and justify the show’s existence to the network (or streaming service) execs. It has to deal with actors and writers who may not have fully dialed into the characters and world yet. There are some shows with absolutely stellar first seasons — Stranger Things, Veronica Mars and Ted Lasso are a few — but many other hit shows stumbled out of the gate, like The Office and Supernatural.

Star Trek is not immune to ...