With Amazon’s next pilot season set to kick off in June, the online retail giant/streamer on Thursday revealed its lineup of eight potential upcoming series. Customers will soon get to watch the pilot episodes — two one-hour dramas and six geared toward kids — and weigh in on them to inform Amazon’s programming decisions.
Members in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Austria, and Japan will be able to participate and provide feedback. The new pilots will be made available online on Amazon Video’s website and via its app on compatible TVs, connected devices, and mobile devices. Those who own 4K Ultra HD TVs will get a treat: The two hourlong pilots, The Last Tycoon and The Interestings, will both be viewable in the high-tech format as well as HDR.
Calling for customer input has worked well for Amazon in the past. The feedback has helped the streamer and studio make hits like critical darling Transparent and Mozart in the Jungle, which the company reveals is the most-streamed Amazon Original Series worldwide.
“We’re focused on bringing customers compelling, must-see TV, and we accomplish this by going directly to them for input,” said Roy Price, vice president of digital video and Amazon Studios, in a statement. “Our process has proven to work time and time again. Their feedback has helped create series that have become fan favorites among critics and customers.”
The upcoming pilot season offers a mixed group of shows. The one-hour pilots focus on two very different issues. The Interestings centers on teenagers who met at summer camp in 1974 and how their friendships evolve over multiple decades. Meanwhile, The Last Tycoon is set in 1930s Hollywood and follows a studio power struggle between a man (played by Matt Bomer) and his mentor (Kelsey Grammer).
The group of kids shows includes both live-action and animated pilots. On the live-action side, there is Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, which is about two brothers who befriend a nice sea monster. The animated pilots are The Curious Kitty and Friends, which follows a cat’s adventures with friends; Little Big Awesome, a pilot using 2D animation, puppetry and live-action footage as it follows two creatures in the “whimsically weird world of Ballopolis”; Morris and the Cow, which centers on an aspiring cowboy; Toasty Tales, a comedy featuring three marshmallow friends; and Jazz Duck, a show that uses sounds and music to encourage preschoolers to “listen and express themselves.”
The shows will all hit Amazon Video on June 17.
