By the end of the year, every business in America will have thrown their fedora into the ring that is TV, from MSN (allegedly already working on a revival of Heroes) to my very own CorgiCo Enterprises. We’re in talks to get Balki Bartokomous for cheap. Today, Amazon put all 14 of their original pilots online, including Zombieland and Onion News Empire, for free, but only one features both John Goodman and Bill Murray. That would be Garry Trudeau’s Alpha House, about four senators — Goodman, Clark Johnson (Gus from The Wire), Matt Malloy (movie producer Roger Pasquese on Six Feet Under), and Mark Consuelos — living in a house together.
If the shenanigans that will most certainty arise when four adult male politicians are forced to live together for some reason is a premise you find most wacky, then you can vote to keep Alpha House “alive.”
There will be “a lot of data points” in Amazon’s decision-making process as to which pilots will be picked up to series,” said Amazon Studios director Roy Price. Amazon will count how many people watched each pilot, how many watched each pilot from start to finish and how many shared it on social media. Additionally, the company will evaluate feedback from an online panel recruited on Amazon preview.
The analysis will be both quantitative and qualitative. For instance, a pilot that gets a lot of “likes” but the vast majority of people like it, don’t love it, won’t score as high as a pilot that has fewer fans but they all love it as a passionate fan base is key to the success of online series. Amazon brass have not decided yet how many half-hour pilots they will pick up to series, with the orders likely to be around 13 episodes each. The launch date for Amazon’s first original scripted series also is TBD. Meanwhile, the company has quietly started to develop drama series to add to its portfolio of comedy and kids programs. (Via)
Here’s Amazon’s full slate of shows, which can be watched here:
I’m voting for Goodman/Murray and the dog one. If I had a nickel every time I’ve said that sentence, I’d be a millionaire. Maybe then Balki would return my calls.
(Via)
