Amazon continues to press forward in the original video arena, announcing this morning that they have picked up six of their pilots. In fact, only one of the adult series for which they made a pilot this go round, “The Rebels,” did not get a season order.
The online superstore reports that double the number of people watched the pilots as compared to the company's first pilot season and that thousands of reviews were posted. The full list of picked up shows is “The After,” “Bosch,” “Gortimer Gibbon's Life of Normal Street,” “Mozart in the Jungle,” “Transparent, and “Wishenproof!” Cast members across the various series include Jeffrey Tambor, Gael Garcia Bernal, Titus Welliver, Gaby Hoffmann, and Malcolm McDowell.
Alan Sepinwall previously took a look at several of these pilots, including the one that wasn't picked up, “The Rebels.” Be sure to check out what he had to say, especially his opinion of that not-taken-to-series show.
Lest you think that Amazon is eliminating its previous slate of original series, they have also announced that “Alpha House” is returning for a second season. Created by Gary Trudeau, the political satire stars John Goodman, Mark Consuelos, Clark Johnson, and Matt Malloy. Production on season two of “Alpha House” is scheduled to begin this summer.
To this point, Netflix has garnered bigger buzz for their original programming, but Amazon seems determined to make a serious go of it. Now, we just have to wait and see how these new series turn out.