It’s pilot season for Amazon and they have a few shows they’ve been working on. After Transparent‘s huge success, eyes are now on Amazon to see if they can deliver another hit show, especially since the majority of their last ones were duds. I’ll admit that I like the idea of being introduced to only the pilot of a show before the entire season is released for your binge-watching pleasure.
Say there’s a pizza on the table. It has some of your least favorite ingredients. You eat a slice and find it mildly satisfying and filling. You can do without another slice, but because it’s available, you eat another, and another, and another. Then you throw up and probably go back to the remnants of the pizza until you surrender to the disgusting feeling of completion. That is the pitfall of having an entire season available all at once: you don’t get the right amount of time to digest and truly decide whether you should even continue watching.
I’ve watched all of the new Amazon pilots (excluding the children’s ones, of course), and out of all of them, these are the three I would watch the next episode of: The Man in the High Castle, The New Yorker Presents, and Salem Rogers. There’s also one second-chance honorable mention: Cocked.
The Man in the High Castle
We are no strangers to what-if scenarios, historical re-imaginings, or flat-out alternate universe occurrences. Based on the novel of the same name by Philip K. Dick, this is possibly the most provocative and interesting pilot Amazon currently offers. Frank Spotnitz (X-Files) knows how to perfectly blend mystery and intrigue, making him one of the best choices in adapting this novel into a TV show. The Man in the High Castle gives us a look at what America (and some of the world) would look like if the Axis powers (Germany, Japan and Italy) had won the war. Most of the west coast now belongs to Japan, while the east/midwest is under Hitler’s rule.
This story could easily have come off as preposterous and hokey, but its treatment feels like it could be supported by historical facts. One specific instance is when someone is nonchalantly explaining that the raining ash is coming from a local crematorium where they send the elderly and those that can no longer contribute to society. If that isn’t based on Nazi ideology, then I don’t know what is. The production values and costume design are pretty good, except when obvious CGI is involved.
Advertisement
Bottom Line: The concept stirs up ample mystique to pique anyone’s interest, and develops its themes carefully enough that the few bread crumbs it does drop leave us hungry for much more. I’m ready for a full season.
RATING: ★★★★★★★★★(9/10 stars)
The New Yorker Presents
Advertisement
I found this one particularly intriguing. The New Yorker Presents is a visual anthology of stories (fictional and non-fictional), poems, political cartoons and art related. I don’t think those will be the only themes, but like The New Yorker itself, it will be an amalgamation of different forms of media on a vast variety of different subjects. The stories are engaging and informative, especially about topics you may have heard nothing about.
I think this show can prosper as long as it is treated as a companion piece to The New Yorker itself, and doesn’t end up double-dipping by using the same exact projects on both. This also adds a new level to The New Yorker experience that you just can’t convey through print. The production value is humble, but effective. The only thing that took me a bit to realize is that there is no connection between the ideas. Separating them are political cartoon transitions that also have no connection to what came before, or what will follow. I got over this realization fairly quickly, and appreciated its intended scope.
Bottom Line: The New Yorker Presents will do well as long as it adopts the same principles and standards its print sibling employs. The pilot episode delivers quality, and a fresh and entertaining perspective that has the power to educate with limitless potential. The only problem, as far as capturing the audience’s attention is concerned, would be how thematically unconnected each episode is in itself. Some people may be put off by it. Personally, as long as it remains provocative and insightful, I’ll continue watching.
RATING: ★★★★★★★★(8/10 stars)
Advertisement
Salem Rogers
I’m a huge Rachel Dratch fan. From her work on SNL to 30 Rock to all the voiceover work she has done. I love it. I just feel I need to preface by saying that because I went into this show really wanting to like it. It is completely coarse, unapologetic, in-your-face, dark humor, and that is right up my alley. It follows a model who went into rehab in the ’90s (during her peak) and came out over a decade later to find the world did in fact go on without her. Trying to pick up her career where she left it, she enlists the help of her old assistant (Rachel Dratch), who is now a bestselling children’s author. Hoping to get material for a book out of her experience trying to help, Dratch agrees. Shenanigans ensue, and politically incorrect jokes are told.
Leslie Bibb’s supermodel/diva character is the perfect foil to Dratch’s mild-mannered pushover one. These are two extremes we’ve seen before. So much so that I can without a doubt predict that while working together, they will each learn things from each other that will make them better, more well-rounded people. Ok, so that’s not the point. The important part is the boozed-filled, drug-induced misadventures they will have along the way.
Bottom Line: Salem Rogers is crass and unrefined at the moment, but in it shines glimmers of comedic gold. As long as it can overcome the cliches, and eventually establish likable female characters, I can see this transforming into something greater.
RATING: ★★★★★★(6/10 stars)
Bottom Line: The high quality production values and interesting character relationships aren’t enough to keep this fence-riding show engaging. If any of these shows deserve another chance, it would be this one. Episode 2 may surprise us.
RATING: ★★★★★(5/10 stars)
Advertisement