My family and I have an issue when it comes to TV. We’re bored. There are so many shows out there but none of them really capture our interest. For both kids’ TV aimed at my 5 and 2 year olds and for my wife and I who want to laugh and be entertained in the evenings, we’re bored.
Then something happened. Online TV is now really interesting with unique and original series coming to the likes of Netflix, Amazon and Hulu Plus.
In fact, Back in February, Netflix brought its customers House of Cards, an amazingly entertaining and fascinating series based in Washington DC. Many folks say it’s Kevin Spacey’s best work, and I would agree.
Image courtesy: ABCNews.com
So, it appears that online content providers such as Netflix, Amazon and Hulu Plus are willing seek out, fund and bring to market new content, which is perfect for cord cutters.
For households like mine that have traditional TV, Netflix and Amazon Instant Video – these are exciting times.
In the latest experiment, Amazon Instant Video has put up 12 pilots for our viewing and voting pleasure. The project is called Amazon Originals and at the website you can watch pilots and then give detailed feedback to the Amazon team. According to the site, the top shows will get produced into full-fledged series, available exclusively to Amazon Instant Video customers. If you have Amazon Prime, streaming of these shows (and tons of ‘normal’ TV and movie content) will be free.
Trying on the original pilots
My family fired up our Samsung Smart TV on Sunday night in order to watch some of the Amazon Originals kids shows. We watched 4 of the pilots, including Annebots, Tumbleaf, Teeny Tiny Dogs and Positively Ozitively.
The pilots for the kids’ shows are short – only 12 minutes long. The animation is odd in parts – for example Tumbleaf goes between stop motion animation to hand-drawn animation. This is because these pilots are a work in progress. They’ve been put up for the public to weigh in on these ‘beta’ shows. With the pilots as is, you can get a sense for the story line, animation style and character development.
My 5-year-old and 2-year-old watched all of the shows – and my 5-year-old worked with me on the computer to provide the feedback to Amazon. She loved Positively Ozitively and Tumbleaf. Annebots shows potential but needs more polish to the writing to make it appealing to a mass audience. Teeny Tiny Dogs was the worst of the bunch – it was boring and not engaging for either of my daughters.
While I was without my kids, I watched Alpha House, a funny Washington, DC-focused comedy featuring John Goodman. The preview looked really good and actually I was a little let down by the pilot episode – I thought it could be sharper and crisper in the dialogue. However, I’d likely watch the series if it was produced..and I told Amazon that. 😉
Kudos to Amazon
I’m impressed at Amazon’s effort to bring interactive public feedback into the series selection process. This shows the potential that tech companies such as Amazon and Netflix can bring to consumers by using their existing web properties to quickly solicit feedback. The Amazon Originals model also shows the disruption that can happen when web development methods are applied to the TV industry!
Kudos to Amazon for putting these shows up for vote!
Have you watched any of the Amazon Originals shows..what are your thoughts?