Third Set of Amazon Pilots You Can Rate

Amazon has released a third set of pilot shows before it has even started showing the winners from the second competition.  You may remember that the series Alpha House and Betas came out of the first competition.  Season two of Alpha House, a Gary Trudeau creation, should be released next month, whereas Betas was not renewed.  And in terms of the second batch, the new series Transparent with Jeffrey Tambor will be coming to Amazon September 26 (here is a trailer).  The rest will follow shortly after that.

So what do we have for the third set of pilot?  We have three comedies and two dramas.  You can view and rate all of them at the Amazon Pilot Season site.  Here is a quick summary of each:

-- Really (half hour comedy): A funny, honest, behind-the-curtain look at the psychological and emotional complexities of marriage and the charged dynamics of a tight-knit group of friends grasping on to what's left of their youth.

-- Red Oaks (half hour comedy):  A coming-of-age comedy set in the "go-go" 80s about a college student enjoying a last hurrah before summer comes to an end--and the future begins.

-- The Cosmopolitans (half hour comedy):  A dramatic comedy about a group of young American expats in Paris searching for love and friendship and an ocean of distance from their past.

-- Hand of God (one hour drama):  A psychological drama about a morally-corrupt judge who suffers a breakdown and believes God is compelling him onto a path of vigilante justice.

-- Hysteria (one hour drama):  An investigative thriller about a haunted young doctor who is summoned back to her hometown to investigate an epidemic that may be linked to social media - and her own tragic past

I was impressed with the last two pilot seasons, and the star power on this latest set is also a great start.  Amazon is showing it can compete with the adults.  This is good for all of us.  We just need a few more hours in the day to watch all of this.