I don't think I've ever gone back to watch a Season 1 episode after my first watching. It is not good.
After that things get much better. Hopefully you can deal with Season 1. I'd almost encourage you to skip some of the worse episodes, but they all have little things that get referenced later so ehhh.
I really hope people watch the spoilers though. Even saying something like "X gets better in Season 4" is spoiler-ish to me, since in a Whedon show the fact a character LIVES until Season 4 is not guaranteed. =p
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No amount of planning will ever replace dumb luck.