Pilot season rolls around every year, but for the first time TV fans can participate. Like Netflix, Amazon is getting in on the original programming game, so they’ve had 8 comedy pilots made and are now letting viewers weigh in on the options.
All eight episodes are available to stream for free on Amazon.com, so I spent the weekend watching each and every one of them. (Okay, it wasn’t that hard, most of the episodes are only about 20mins.) Here’s my take.
First Impressions Of Amazon’s Original Comedies
Alpha House
About: Follows four Republicans Senators who live together in one house.
Thoughts: Really impressive cast: Bill Murray, John Goodman, Mark Consuelos…and as a pilot it worked well to introduced the characters and set-up future plots.
Bottom Line: It’s not my cup of tea, I’m uneasy about political comedies. I feel like its probably a bit more honest about our government then I’d like it to be, but with that being said I still think it was one of the stronger comedies and could see why others would want to watch Alpha House.
Betas_
About: Four friends living in Silicon Valley created an algorithm and the beginnings of a mobile app that they hope will make them a lot of money.
Thoughts: The cast may not be loaded with well named stars like Alpha House, but for a TV nerd like myself I did recognize several faces. I also really enjoyed the A-plot and was impressed that there was a bit of a twist in the B-storyline, which began as an overused and un-original geeky guy goes after girl storyline.
Bottom Line: This was my favorite pilot so obviously I’d watch it again. I’d like to see the characters develop, there was some interesting relationships/dynamics brewing in the Betas pilot.
Browsers|
About: Browsers follows four unpaid interns at a big-named gossip website. And oh yeah, its a musical.
Thoughts: Despite watching it in standard def, my audio seemed like it never quite synched up, which was particularly annoying during the musical numbers. I also felt like I might have enjoyed it more if I had an unpaid internship experience to draw from.
Bottom Line: In my opinion it would be better if it weren’t a musical. One of the songs was called “When I Tweet”, no thanks, not funny at all.
Dark Minions
About: Two average guys work for an evil intergalactic corporation.
Thoughts: If it were made into a series, Dark Minions would be done in claymation, but only small portions of the pilot were actually animated, which made it hard to watch. Unmoving sketches don’t exactly hold the attention.
Bottom Line: Feels like its not fair to judge an incomplete work but seeing as I’m not really into animated series, I don’t think I would want to watch more. If you’re a fan of Adult Swim or Animation Domination then you might feel differently.
Onion News Empire
About: You know The Onion, which satirizes newspapers? Well the Onion News Network satirizes The Newsroom.
Thoughts: Like Betas, this show was chalked full of actors I’ve seen elsewhere on TV. I found the pilot to be amusing, but I like The Onion so it’s not too much of a stretch.
Bottom Line: I think this show might actually work better as a series of shorts rather than as a real series. I just wanted to see the fake news stories, I didn’t really care about the characters all that much, although a 20 min. time constraint will do that to you.
Supanatural
About: Two ‘divas’ defend the world against supernatural forces.
Thoughts: Between its description and being animated, this was the comedy I was least looking forward to watching. And although it was honest about it’s hater-humor, I’m not a fan of cruel comedy.
Bottom Line: It was better then I thought it would be, but not good enough for me to care about watching anymore. Although Supanatural does get bonus points for making references to Stargates and Hellmouths.
Those Who Can’t
About: Three high school teachers who never really grew up.
Thoughts: Like Supanatural, Those Who Can’t was more cruel then funny. I thought I’d like it because I tend to watch a lot of high school based TV shows and movies but I wasn’t enamored.
Bottom Line: Not interested, despite the fact that its told from the teachers’ perspectives, the pilot didn’t feel any more original then any other high-school based series.
Zombieland
About: A sequel to the 2009 movie of the same name.
Thoughts: Out of all 8 comedy pilots this one seems like it would be the most expensive to make, although I don’t know what kind of budget Amazon is working with so that might not matter.
Bottom Line: Despite having to reconcile the recasting, the enjoyable essence and humor from the movie are still there. Although I did feel like the character of Tallahassee was a bit off. Overall, I did enjoy the Zombieland pilot, and would gladly watch more.
Amazon also had six kid’s pilots created, they’re also free to watch right now. Out of all 14 pilots, at least two will get the greenlight. So go check them out and take the survey when you’re done.
If you’ve already watched a few, or all of them, which comedy would you like see as a series?
