Big Love Season 1 Episode 1

Broadcast History
Season 1 (March 2006 - June 2006): Sunday 10 p.m. on HBO
Season 2, episodes 1-10 (June 2007 - August 2007): Monday 9 p.m. on HBO
Season 2, episodes 11-12 (August 2007): Sunday 9 p.m. on HBO

Bruce Dern (Frank) and Harry Dean Stanton (Roman) have also appeared together in the movies The Rebel Rousers (1970) and Down Periscope (1996), and in episode 1-26: By Force and Violence of The Big Valley.

International Air Dates:
- Latin America: October 1, 2006 on HBO Ole
- Australia: June 3, 2007 on SBS
- Denmark: May 12, 2008 on Kanal 5

Director Rodrigo Garcia received an Emmy nomination for this episode in the category "Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series" in the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (season 2005–2006). The award went to director Jon Cassar for episode 5-1: 7:00 A.M. - 8:00 A.M. of 24. In addition, the opening title sequence was nominated for "Outstanding Main Title Design".

Shooting for the pilot began on April 30, 2004 and wrapped on May 21, 2004. Shooting for the series began a year later, on April 5, 2005. It took nearly another year before the show finally premiered on March 12, 2006.

Music Featured in This Episode:
- Top of the World by Lynn Anderson
- Miss America by David Byrne

Amanda Seyfried (Bill and Barb's daughter Sarah) and Tina Majorino (Sarah's friend Heather) both have recurring roles on the UPN series Veronica Mars.

Opening theme song: God Only Knows by The Beach Boys

The premiere of Big Love was watched by 4.56 million viewers with a rating of 2.2/5 among adults 18-49. Overall, it was the sixth most-watched cable program of the week of 03/06/06 through 03/12/06.

As a publicity stunt for the premiere, HBO sent out cards that looked like wedding invitations to the wedding of Barbara Dutton, Nicolette Grant, and Margene Heffman to Bill Henrickson on March 12, 2006 at 10 p.m. The wedding invitations even had the return address as Sandy, Utah.

Jeanne Tripplehorn who plays Barbara Henrickson, Bill's first (and legal) wife, says that at first it was very difficult for her to relate to the role. She couldn't understand why a wife would willingly share her husband with other women.

Although the events of the show take place in Sandy, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City, it is actually filmed mostly in California.

Executive producer Tom Hanks was briefly a Mormon when he was a small child.

When the debut of the series was publicized in fall 2005, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a press release emphasizing the fact that polygamy was officially discontinued in the church in 1890. Those that do still practice polygamy are not members of the church and are often referred to as "fundamentalist Mormons". Therefore, the depiction of the Henrickson family in this series is not a representation of the mainstream Latter-day Saint Mormons.

A message emphasizing this fact was also included as an on-screen note at the end of the premiere episode:
According to a joint report issued by the Utah and Arizona Attorney General's Offices, July, 2005, approximately 20.000 to 40.000 or more people currently practice polygamy in the United States. The Mormon Church officially banned the practice of polygamy in 1890.