i've been having this issue with my car over a year, its mostly annoying as all hell, what it does it taking off from a stop, especially making a righthand turn my trans will shift hard into 2nd, sometimes hard enough to bark the tires not even trying, or it will almost slip a little and then hard into 2nd, the fluid is fresh and full and i changed the filter recently, it has no other issues other than this and i've put nearly 40k on it, could the cable be adjusted wrong?
Sounds like your cable may be adjusted wrong. But check the basics first. Transblood color should be reddish clear. Smell should be sweet oil smell. I am no trans expert but I have battled a fair share of AODs. Some guys on here are true AOD Gods. Hopefully they will chime in.

While coasting, does it seem to hold gear (eg 3 or 4) too long before letting it upshift? This combined with the harsh 1-2 and 2-3 shift would be characteristic of a cable that is too far out (trans thinks you are heaver on the throttle than reality).
I would go read up on how to set the TV Cable before monkeying with anything. (http://www.txchange.com/aodadj.htm) but mark your current position.
A bad valvebody seperator plate gasket or warped valvebody. My old car got to the point where it would occasionally drop out of gear and violently slam back in at very inconvenient times. Just loosening all the valvebody bolts, tapping the valvebody loose, then retorquing the bolts starting from the center and working your way out. This was also an issue on C4's.
I've seen plenty of units overhauled because of such simple problems.
Good luck,
Don
yes!! it does that too, especially when cold and not moving when say waiting in line at a light it will drop out of gear and act like its in neutral and then slam back into gear, helps if you rev it up a little and then it will jump back into gear
Try adjusting the TV cable first. That should solve most of the shifting problems. Plus it's easier than droping the valve body (unless that is the problem;))
Yeah sounds just like my old 'Bird...seems to be really common after sitting for awhile. You don't have to completely drop the valvebody, just tap it loose with the bolts backed off a little.
Sorry about the previous post, seems like I wasn't completing my thoughts...lol, don't know wtf that was about!
Good luck,
Don
the car sat for two years before i bought it, thats probably the issue