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Amazon releases 10 new television pilots (Prime Instant Video/LOVEFiLM)

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RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Just for curiosity's sake, I looked up how many customer reviews have been written for the drama pilots so far:

Bosch: 5160 reviews
The After: 4400
The Rebels: 1450
Mozart in the Jungle: 1390
Transparent: 1250

Update:

Bosch: 5, 729 (4, 831 *****, 590 ****, 183 ***, 69 **, 56 *)
The After: 5,102 (2,627 *****, 1,166 ****, 504 ***, 394 **, 423 *)
The Rebels: 1,633 (1,060 *****, 327 ****, 117 ***, 59 **, 72 *)
Mozart in the Jungle: 1,616 (1,101 *****, 275 ****, 101 ***, 58 **, 81 *)
Transparent: 1,401 (909 *****, 195 ****, 76 ***, 83 **, 138 *)

Transparent sounds like the front runner in terms of acclaim (from critics and people on forums and such, I mean), so hopefully Amazon won't overlook it because it's the least watched of the bunch.
 

ivysaur12

Banned
Is there any chance that Amazon orders all of them to series?

Who knows. We'll know in a month, I guess. The general sense is that everyone is happier with this crop versus last year.

It's so weird how hard it is to find this stuff -- House of Cards season 2 is on the top of the front page of Netflix. Why isn't AMAZON STUDIOS PILOT SEASON in a banner on the top of their front page.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Who knows. We'll know in a month, I guess. The general sense is that everyone is happier with this crop versus last year.

Definitely. Their first batch was pretty dreadful (that Alpha House and Betas were selected as the best of the bunch says a lot) but all of their new shows (their adult shows anyway) seem to be varying levels of good/decent. I could see them picking up Bosch and The After for their mainstream appeal and MitJ and Transparent for the critical attention they're garnering. The Rebels sort of seems to be the odd one out so I don't see Amazon picking it up under any circumstance.

Why isn't AMAZON STUDIOS PILOT SEASON in a banner on the top of their front page.

It is, actually, but the banner changes after a few seconds into a kindle ad so it's easy to miss. They really should have something more permanent afixed to the top of their site though.
 

Timbuktu

Member
The New Yorker had a pretty good (and long) essay on the way Amazon has grown over the years. Basically Amazon has been a bunch of engineers at it core that never really cared about the cultural content in the books or in movies or shows. It never wanted editorial control and would much rather get it for free for the masses. That is assuming the audience always know what they want though
 
The New Yorker had a pretty good (and long) essay on the way Amazon has grown over the years. Basically Amazon has been a bunch of engineers at it core that never really cared about the cultural content in the books or in movies or shows. It never wanted editorial control and would much rather get it for free for the masses. That is assuming the audience always know what they want though
It's a good read regarding the publishing industry and Amazon - I was going to make a thread about it, but I never got around to it this week. Article is up on their website for now in case anyone wants to read it.
 
They might as well greenlight all 5 of them, although that might defeat the whole "you choose" angle.
The Rebels seems to be in danger though. Slapstick humor is hard to pull off.
 

Iadien

Guarantee I'm going to screw up this post? Yeah.
I enjoyed the 4 pilots that I have watched so far. I still need to check out Transparent.
 
Sadly, The After and The Rebels are the only two I've watched and that was days after this happened. Both of those can get series deals on potential alone. I done what I can to stay away from reading about the other 3, but people seem real hot on Bosch and the appearance that it could be an FX, AMC, gritty, kind of show for Amazon.
 
I've never read the Bosch books, but it seems unanimous among fans of the books that Titus Welliver nails the character, which is great to hear.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Transparent is definitely getting picked up. It's pretty much the only one of Amazon's new pilots that critics are talking about.
 
Jill Soloway on Twitter said:
We should know whether #transparentTV is a go within the next week. Only 5 days left to have your vote heard.
Sounds like Amazon is going to make a decision on all of these pilots in the next week. It's your last chance to watch and vote.
 
Totals before they stopped taking feedback. This was the count around 8PM last night. Reviews can still be added:

Title - Reviews - Ratings


The Rebels - 3347 - 8/10
Transparent - 2675 - 7.3/10
The After - 10916 - 7.8/10
Bosch - 10151 - 8.8/10
Mozard in the Jungle - 3343 - 8.4/10


Maker Shack Agency - 485 - 8.1/10
Wishenpoof! - 215 - 7.2/10
Gortimer Gibbon's Life on Normal Street - 509 - 8.1/10
The Jo B. and G. Raff Show - 350 - 7.5/10
Hardboiled Eggheads - 257 - 7.1/10
 
Unless they greenlight all of them I can't see Transparent coming through. It has the lowest rating & the lowest respondents. I would so much rather have Transparent than The Rebels.
 

ivysaur12

Banned
Unless they greenlight all of them I can't see Transparent coming through. It has the lowest rating & the lowest respondents. I would so much rather have Transparent than The Rebels.

A lot of it was unfortunately highjacked by Breitbart and Drudge links to rate it lowly. I think it's exactly what Amazon needs -- critical praise that allows for buzz.

Who knows. We should know this week.

See, I think Amazon has to give some indication that they are listening to user feedback. Otherwise the whole exercise seems rather pointless - and the whole "you choose" thing is a major feature they are trying to use to distinguish themselves. I would honestly be surprised if they pick up Transparent just because "some" critics like it. It wouldn't make much business sense.

There's also value in a critical darling that can get awards accolades. It gives the service legitimacy and might bring better creatives to them.
 
A lot of it was unfortunately highjacked by Breitbart and Drudge links to rate it lowly. I think it's exactly what Amazon needs -- critical praise that allows for buzz.

Who knows. We should know this week.

Oh really? As in an anti-LGBT crusade? Interesting.

Yeah I guess we'll know soon.
 
Amazon really needs a revamped interface to look for on demand and stuff. I have been watching hannibal and it takes me almost 4 clicks to get to an episode.
 

What a pleasant surprise. Before TD last night I decided to use the s note app on my new tablet to scribble down the scores and situation of the shows. Vulture specifically and and some other people on Twitter had mentioned that feedback was going offline around the 9th or so, but nothing was concrete. I mean, Amazon themselves has been quiet about the process other than all the shows up; watch and rate them, etc.

I just wanted to get the info in case they took everything offline completely. Good to see it serves some value.

I left feedback on the six shows I watched. I told them explicitly that Transparent was the best of them all, and that without knowing what their funding situation is and how viable things are on the side of making all five of the adult shows, if they did, they would be able to advertise a variety of original content on prime. This can be done as the service stands right now, if they plan on offering it separately or as an addition to this rumored set top box they have.
 
Unless they greenlight all of them I can't see Transparent coming through. It has the lowest rating & the lowest respondents. I would so much rather have Transparent than The Rebels.

I would think Transparent is also the cheapest to make, which I am sure is a part of the decision making process.
 
I would think Transparent is also the cheapest to make, which I am sure is a part of the decision making process.

Transparent has the highest potential to win critical awards, which Amazon definitely needs. But if only 2,500 people watch it, is it worth it? That'll be part of the decision process too.
 

huxley00

Member
Some of these look interesting, I think Amazon needs to start focusing more on a few very promising products at a higher budget. Going about it this way, they all seem to suffer to some degree, even if the premise and script is good.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
They need to make the rating process easier, after the show finishes you should be able to just click the number of stars. Even on a Kindle the process seemed too long winded for me to bother.
 

johnny956

Member
I got to screen the transparency pilot a while back being a part of amazonpreview. Not my cup of tea. Really enjoyed Bosch though
 

Wiktor

Member
Really happy that Bosch got picked up. It was my favorite from the pilots. So well done, Titus was perfect for the role and the show captured the essence of the novels.
 
THE AFTER
BOSCH
MOZART IN THE JUNGLE
TRANSPARENT

ORDERED TO SERIES

Good to hear. I loathed The After, but Transparent & Mozart have potential to be really solid efforts. Bosch seemed excruciatingly boring, surprised it was the highest viewed. I didn't love The Rebels, but I could tell it had some soul.

Which is more than I can say for the fucking After. Seriously. The most cliche-ridden piece of garbage I've ever forced myself through, with such a shitty pseudo-spiritual cliffhanger.
 

Wiktor

Member
Bosch seemed excruciatingly boring, surprised it was the highest viewed.

Regardless of what you think about Bosch's quality I don't see how you can be surprised it was most viewed. Michael Connelly is huge and it's Amazon, so I'm sure they have much bigger percentage of book lovers in their audience than other networks or streaming services. They weren't exactly hidding that the ability to crosspromote IPs in multiple medias is what they're putting big hopes in.
 
Regardless of what you think about Bosch's quality I don't see how you can be surprised it was most viewed. Michael Connelly is huge and it's Amazon, so I'm sure they have much bigger percentage of book lovers in their audience than other networks or streaming services.

I'd never heard of the novels beforehand, though I suppose if they have a big fanbase they'd draw in viewers.
 
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