I know what you're thinking: what happened to the Amazon pilots from last time? Transparent, Bosch, The After and Mozart in the Jungle? One assumes they'll be available to stream soon, but we already have the next batch of pilots for subscribers to watch and 'vote-to-series'. (If you truly believe Amazon give a shit, because last time they just went ahead and commissioned all but one of the pilots they'd already deemed good enough to make.)
'Hand of God'
Created by: Ben Watkins
Directed by: Marc Forster (Monster's Ball, World War Z)
Premise: Drama about Judge Pernell Harris (Ron Perlman), a "hard-drinking, law-bending married man with a high-end call girl on the side, who suffers a mental breakdown and goes on a vigilante quest to find the rapist who tore his family apart. With no real evidence to go on, Pernell begins to rely on 'visions' and 'messages' he believes are sent by God through [his] ventilator-bound son."
Co-stars: Garret Dillahunt, Andre Royo, Alona Tal, Julian Morris, Elizabeth McLaughlin & Emayatzy.
'Hysteria'
Created by: Shaun Cassidy (American Gothic)
Premise: Drama about a high school dance team from Austin, Texas, who catch a "strange, psycho-physiological illness that manifests itself in violent fits and spasms and then begins spreading in the community through technology".
Stars: Mena Suvari, James McDaniel, Josh Stewart, Adan Canto, Laura San Giacomo & T.R Knight.
'The Cosmopolitans'
Created & directed by: Whit Stillman (Metropolitan)
Premise: A romantic-comedy about a group of American ex-pats living in Paris, looking for love and friendship.
Stars: Adam Brody, Chloe Sevigny, Carrie MacLemore, Dree Hemingway, Freddy Asblom, Adriano Giannini & Jordan Rountree.
'Really'
Created & directed by: Jay Chandrasekhar (Community)
Premise: Half-hour comedy that follows "four hard-charging suburban Chicago couples trying to grasp-on to their dwindling youth."
Stars: Sarah Chalke, Jay Chandrasekhar, Selma Blair, Travis Schuldt, Hayes MacArthur, Collette Wolfe, Lindsay Sloane, Rob Delaney & Luka Jones.
'Red Oaks'
Produced by: Steven Soderbergh (Ocean's Eleven)
Directed by: David Gordon Green (Eastbound & Down)
Premise: Half-hour comedy set in 1985 about an "assistant tennis pro at the Red Oaks Country Club in suburban New Jersey... who is both reeling from his father's heart attack and conflicted about what major to declare in the fall", who meets a group of misfits that help him come-of-age.
Stars: Craig Roberts (Submarine), Jennifer Grey, Oliver Cooper, Gage Golightly, Alexandra Socha & Ennis Esmer.
All of those pilots will be available to stream in the U.S and UK from 28 August. They all read a lot stronger than the pilots from last time, so it's good to see improvement. My favourite would have to be Hand of God, followed by Hysteria, then Red Oaks, Really and The Cosmopolitans... but that's purely based on the concepts and the people involved. I hope to review these once they're release on Amazon Prime.
Do you have a favourite, based on first impressions?
