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Alright, it's time for Amazon's Pilot Season 2015. Last year gave us Transparent, Mozart in the Jungle, and the upcoming show Bosch in Round One. Round Two last year is giving us the upcoming shows Red Oaks and Hand of God. Luckily we dodged a bullet when the terrible Chris Carter show The After was killed off before filming. We also still have the criminally underwatched Alpha House from the previous year still going. So Amazon is really on a roll. Let's see what they're bringing to the table for Round One this year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgdbpEta18s All of these are available on Amazon right now. Just go to the homepage. Cocked  Family is like a loaded gun. A corporate lapdog is forced to return home to Virginia to save his family's struggling gun business, much to the horror of his liberal family and his playboy older brother who never left. Hilarity, epic fights and meltdowns ensue in this dramedy starring Sam Trammell (True Blood), Jason Lee (My Name is Earl) and Tony-winner Brian Dennehy (Death of a Salesman). Point of Honor  At the start of the Civil War, a prominent Virginia family makes the controversial decision to defend the South while freeing all of their slaves, pitting the family against one another and testing their strength, courage and love. The pilot was co-written by Carlton Cuse (Lost) and Randall Wallace (Braveheart) and directed by Wallace. The Man in the High Castle  Based on Philip K. Dick's award-winning novel, and executive produced by Ridley Scott (Blade Runner), The Man in the High Castle explores what it would be like if the Allied Powers had lost WWII, and Japan and Germany ruled the United States. Starring Rufus Sewell (John Adams), Luke Kleintank (Pretty Little Liars) and Alexa Davalos (Mob City). Mad Dogs  When a group of underachieving 40-something friends gather in Belize to celebrate the early retirement of an old friend, a series of wild, comedic events unfold, exposing dark secrets and a web of lies, deception and murder. Starring Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos), Billy Zane (Twin Peaks), Steve Zahn (Dallas Buyers Club) and Romany Malco (Weeds). Executive produced by Shawn Ryan (The Shield). Salem Rogers: Model of the Yer 1998  After a decade in rehab, an abrasive former supermodel tries to recreate her success in a new world she barely recognizes, relying on the help of her browbeaten former assistant. Unfortunately her world is no longer a place where people jump at her command or care about who she was. A half-hour comedy starring Leslie Bibb (About a Boy) and Rachel Dratch (SNL). Directed by Mark Waters (Mean Girls). Down Dog  A handsome, carefree yoga instructor has breezed through life, women, and jobs, but when he breaks up with his girlfriend -- who's also his partner at their successful yoga studio -- he's forced to face reality for the first time. A satirical look at LA's yoga culture that stars Josh Casaubon (I Just Want My Pants Back), Paget Brewster (Criminal Minds), and Kris Kristofferson (Lone Star). The New Yorker Presents  America's most award-winning magazine comes to life in this new docu-series. Produced by Oscar & Emmy winner Alex Gibney, the pilot features a doc from Oscar winner Jonathan Demme based on Rachel Aviv's article "A Very Valuable Reputation," writer Ariel Levy interviewing artist Marina Abramovic, a sketch from Simon Rich and Alan Cumming, poetry read by Andrew Garfield, and cartoons by Emily Flake. There's also some kid shows available. They pick up some of those every year, so if you have a kid check those out. X-O fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Jan 15, 2015 |
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Jan 15, 2015 20:51
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Deadpool posted:We also still have the criminally underwatched Alphas from the previous year still going.
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Jan 15, 2015 21:00
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Slamhound posted:You son of a bitch, you got my hopes up that Alphas had been brought back. I was just talking about that show recently, so it was on the brain. Fixed now.
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Jan 15, 2015 21:07
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Hey deadpool, you smell like down dog. 
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Jan 15, 2015 21:35
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I checked out The New Yorker Presents on a whim earlier and enjoyed it. Brett Gelman is also in the sketch with Alan Cumming, if you're a fan of his. Fair warning that the Marina Abramovic segment is very NSFW due to several shots of naked people from her previous exhibits. I'll definitely be giving Cocked and The Man in the High Castle a shot, and possibly some of the others. A lot of these shows look promising on paper.
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Jan 15, 2015 22:09
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Down Dog was like a shittier male version of Two Broke Girls. The Man in the High Castle is brilliant so far. CGI is a bit wonky, but the plot and characters are quite compelling.
Ravane fucked around with this message at 01:02 on Jan 16, 2015 |
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Jan 15, 2015 22:22
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I greatly enjoyed The Man in the High Castle. And Mad Dogs was surprisingly good too. I'll watch Point of Honor and Cocked later probably. Not planning on watching Salem Rogers or Down Dog at all. Just not interested in them.
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Jan 15, 2015 23:30
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They really should have picked up The Rebels last year.
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Jan 15, 2015 23:35
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Man, The New Yorker Presents was really good. There's really not much else like this on TV at all. I hope it gets made. It opens with a funny short film and them moves onto a art piece and then a really well made documentary film and finishing with this odd creepy poetry reading. It's a really cool idea for a show and I'd love for it to get the greenlight.
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Jan 16, 2015 00:02
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Fair warning: I'm in the middle of Cocked and it has every chance of spiraling in the second half. But what I've seen so far is pretty drat great. I did finish Mad Dogs, though, and I liked it, but it's weird...I'm willing to watch this crew extricate itself from THIS hosed up situation, but I'm not sure I'd want to follow them to the next one.
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Jan 16, 2015 00:37
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Cocked was FANTASTIC. Saw the twist coming a mile away, but the reveal was well done. Excellent direction by Jordan Vogt-Roberts (You're the Worst, The Kings of Summer) all around, great performances by Sam Trammel, Jason Lee, and Brian Dennehy (there's been a startling lack of him these days).
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Jan 16, 2015 01:14
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Cocked was alright. Weakest of the four I've seen. I might watch more or might not if it gets made. There was an amusing moment early in the pilot where the main character drives off from his father's house and the next 30 seconds looks like it was lifted straight out of a new car commercial in the way it was shot.
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Jan 16, 2015 02:26
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The Man in the High Castle: 
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Jan 16, 2015 04:08
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I'm really shocked that Amazon managed to make 2 good pilots, after years of producing nothing but absolute garbage (Except for the Onion News Network). I haven't even watched all the pilots, so there might be more.
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Jan 16, 2015 04:25
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I went ahead and watched the two comedies. I thought they both sucked. I hope they don't get picked up over the much better dramas. Only one left is Point of Honor.
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Jan 16, 2015 04:36
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The Man in the High Castle pilot is outstanding. My only regret being I'll have to wait several more months for more. I can't see it not getting picked up, it has acclaimed prestige drama written all over it.
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Jan 16, 2015 05:03
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The Man in the High Castle was damned good. I love the book and while the show is vasty different, it did a decent job of keeping with the spirit. A full season could be awesome. The only other Amazon pilot I watched was The After which was loving terrible and shockingly amateurish. The difference is like night and day.
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Jan 16, 2015 05:25
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HUGE SPACEKABLOOIE posted:They really should have picked up The Rebels last year. Yes, they should have. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tecynORFNu8
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Jan 16, 2015 06:12
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Slamhound posted:The Man in the High Castle was damned good. I love the book and while the show is vasty different, it did a decent job of keeping with the spirit. A full season could be awesome. This a million times. The Man in the High Castle feels like a show I'd look forward to all year. The After was garbage and I ended up not watching any of the other pilots because I was so turned off by it.
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Jan 16, 2015 06:17
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Point of Honor sucked too. It felt really amateurish. The ones I'd really look forward to watching are The Man in the High Castle, Mad Dogs, and The New Yorker Presents. I'd probably watch some of Cocked if I had the spare time for it. I'd never watch any further episodes of the two comedies or Point of Honor though.
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Jan 16, 2015 10:21
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I've had low expectations for the Amazon shows but The Man in the High Castle was terrific. I really hope it gets made and hope Amazon throws some money into it. Has great potential.
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Jan 16, 2015 11:43
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The thing that bugs me about Point of Honor is that they try to make their leads look better by having them free their slaves but that doesn't change the fact that they owned slaves in the first place.
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Jan 16, 2015 14:13
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Really enjoyed The New Yorker, definitely hope that gets produced. Salem Rogers was decent enough to me. Down Dog and Mad Dogs were both pretty bad.
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Jan 16, 2015 16:03
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I watched the Man in the High Castle last night. That's definitely going to series, right? It's quickly become my most anticipated show.
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Jan 16, 2015 16:15
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Tuxedo Jack posted:I watched the Man in the High Castle last night. That's definitely going to series, right? It's quickly become my most anticipated show. It's basically the only one with buzz, so I'd be shocked if it didn't get picked up. I left some enthusiastic scores/comments, anyway.
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Jan 16, 2015 16:31
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Man in the High Castle was amazing for a pilot. Very Wolfenstein: The New Order. Just needed some German covers of The Beatles and The Eagles. I could see it getting a ton of acclaim if picked up, strong art design, interesting concept and well one hour of it isn't enough.
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Jan 16, 2015 17:41
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I watched Cocked and thought it was pretty enjoyable, but that might be due to the fact that I just really like Sam Trammell. If it were a show on network TV, I'd spend an hour a week on it.
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Jan 16, 2015 17:43
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I'd binge watch the poo poo out of The Man in the High Castle.
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Jan 16, 2015 17:47
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The Man in the High Castle was awesome, left a bunch of positive feedback for it. Really hope to see it get picked up and turned into it's own thing. I'd imagine that they will go beyond the book at some point if they do pick it up, since at least two of the major twists from the book, the German Naval Counter-Intelligence Officer posing as the Swedish businessman and the truck driver being a Nazi Spy/Assassin aren't revealed until much later in the book. Hell if that does well, I wonder if Amazon would take a look at the Southern Victory series as well. That'd be kinda cool.
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Jan 16, 2015 18:19
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I couldn't make it through Cocked. It seems incredibly poorly written. ("Oh ho ho, the liberal son in the family thinks kale salad sounds great, yuck yuck yuck!") And all the gun culture stuff feels incredibly inauthentic. I am no fan of guns myself but it feels like the people writing it don't really have a clue and did very little research and that bugs the poo poo out of me. Really looking forward to watching Man in the High Castle though!
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Jan 16, 2015 20:21
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Man In The High Castle needs more. They really got me into the show and the world. Too drat interesting. If this doesn't get picked up, I'd be really shocked. What a solid show. Everything about it is dope.
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Jan 16, 2015 21:00
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I imagine MitHC will elicit a flood of Alt-History shows of varying quality from the other networks. It's an entirely untapped genre.
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Jan 16, 2015 21:21
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Howling Man posted:Man In The High Castle needs more. They really got me into the show and the world. Too drat interesting. If this doesn't get picked up, I'd be really shocked. Yeah I realized pretty quickly that I was all in on that show. I'd be on the fourth episode right now if possible
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Jan 16, 2015 22:24
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Looking forward to voting for something, it winning, and then finding out a year later it's been cancelled before filming!
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Jan 16, 2015 22:56
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Tomahawk posted:Looking forward to voting for something, it winning, and then finding out a year later it's been cancelled before filming! Ah the futility of voting.
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Jan 16, 2015 23:03
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Has that happened with an Amazon show before? I really want MitHC to be made.
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Jan 16, 2015 23:20
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Chris Carter's show was picked up a year ago then just cancelled before filming began a few weeks ago. Amazon's metrics for picking up shows seems to be some wizardy which they don't make public, involving the total number of views, the general starred reviews and the survey results. The surveys are interesting in that they highlight things like "Would this series add value to Prime?" "Would this series bring something new to Amazon?" "Would this be something you could see elsewhere?" The type of questions which mean that even if something didn't get a lot of 5 star reviews (Like The Man in the High Castle is currently getting), it could still fit into an otherwise empty niche on their growing slate. I seem to remember The After, Transparent and Hand of God getting similar average star ratings to the other pilots and yet they were picked up, probably because they were bringing something unique to the table. The After being sci-fi, Transparent being the critical darling in the wings and Hand of God being their "This is a heavy poo poo drama ala Breaking Bad but look there's some fantasy in here for some reason" show. Teek fucked around with this message at 23:33 on Jan 16, 2015 |
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Jan 16, 2015 23:24
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But it was terrible so that's a good thing.
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Jan 16, 2015 23:29
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The Man in the High Castle is currently killing it on starred reviews, I think it might end up being their best reviewed one yet. Seems almost a certainty to get picked up.
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Jan 16, 2015 23:32
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Teek posted:Chris Carter's show was picked up a year ago then just cancelled before filming began a few weeks ago. The question there is why hadn't filming begun? It was nine months from pickup till cancellation. In that time Bosch had finished filming their season and was almost ready for broadcast. I have to believe there were huge problems behind the scenes that made Amazon cut bait.
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Jan 16, 2015 23:42
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