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Amazon Pilot Season starts January 15th,13 pilots available to Prime subscribers

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ivysaur12

Banned
I honestly believe that Salem Rogers is a good concept with a good cast that can be saved by a group of people coming together to try to find something within that world that makes sense and toning Leslie Bibb down by 50%.

I think it could actually make a good series, even if the pilot itself was sort of bleh and broad. And hey, I laughed.

Ugh, I want to work on Man in the High Castle. Dream show.
 

Wiktor

Member
When did this happen?

When his visions turned out to be telling the truth. He saw them point at random policeman and right before his death he admited that it was him who raped the woman and he did it because a group of powerful people ordered him to. There was no way the judge could have know he was guilty
 

golem

Member
Just watched the Man in the High Castle-- wow, really good. The costumes and visual design were especially impressive.
 

Wiktor

Member
The Man in the High Castle was a pretty solid pilot. Glad to see it killing it in the reviews.

That was the one I was most excited about, so the quality and the fact that other people enjoyed it makes me happy.
This and Bosch make it obvious that Amazon should lean heavier on adapting novels, especially since books are their bread and butter.
 
What is the agenda? The review I read mentioned that the one of the main problems with the show is that it lacked an agenda.

It might not be overt, but the aims of the characters, combined with their actions and facial expressions make it so. "This person is gross." "This person is reasonable." Etc.
 

Trouble

Banned
I've only watched Man in the High Castle so far because it seems to be the favorite. I liked it and I really like the premise. I'm kinda worried that it's a show that needs more money to be done right than it will get, assuming it gets a run. Also, legit shook by the reveal at the end, didn't see that coming, but I guess I should have.
 
Mikey "F-Bomb" Fassbender reviews part 6: The New Yorker Presents

I'm a fan! A really good format, and if they can keep it up over a serial format, it'll be one of the greats. Not a fan of Marina, though. Non de tout.
 
Mikey "F-Bomb" Fassbender reviews part 7: Point of Honor

A gigantic gumbo of historical inaccuracies, nonexistent accents, bungled scripts, and ham-handed delivery.

THAT BEING SAID

Since I am such a fan of period dramas, if this gets picked up, I shall personally shoot myself in the foot with a .45 caliber bullet. Bank on that.

And that's all!
 

golem

Member
Watched the two dogs...

Mad Dogs got off to a pretty good start and there are plenty of interesting places it could go but the pilot doesn't really show what the series will actually be about due to the way the story is set up. The friends seem reasonably likable and have decent chemistry so I am curious as to how it turns out. Not sure how many series Amazon actually plans to greenlight but if more were made I would watch a few episodes of it to see whether or not its for me.

Down Dog was just ok. There were a few laughs to be had and Lyndsey Fonesca is hot as usual but I think it really missed opportunities to skewer both the yogi and marijuana scenes in LA in one fell swoop. One comparison that pops in my head is how the rather brief gym scenes in Broad City are 100x funnier than the yoga studio scenes in Down Dog. The pilot doesn't really go anywhere or even show the potential of going anywhere besides basic stupid friends hijinks.

Also enjoyed the New Yorker show although the segment about the frog guy bored me after a few minutes.
 
In-fucking-credible. I imagine this is what it feels like to get sucked off for the first time. Just such a dominant sounding title. I'm craving more, I Need it now. Purchasing the book now. It blends Japanese levity and thoughtfulness with German masculinity and abrasive ness brilliantly.
 
I've watched Mad Dogs. If Amazon orders it, i will definitely watch, but it's much worse than original UK series.
And worse in a key component - acting. In UK show all of the actors are also friends in real life, they have chemistry, you believe they are friends. It felt like they went on vacation and brought film crew with them. Here they are just actors. They don't have chemistry, you don't believe them. They are great actors, but their acting here is pretty bad. Steve Zahn and maybe Romany Malco are the only ones with good perfomances. Ben Chaplin is awful, and he was good in the original, i think it's the american accent. Michael Imperioli is eh. Billy Zane is not believable.
If you want to watch Mad Dogs - watch the UK one. If you saw the UK one and want to kill some time - watch the american one.
 

DieH@rd

Banned
In-fucking-credible. I imagine this is what it feels like to get sucked off for the first time. Just such a dominant sounding title. I'm craving more, I Need it now. Purchasing the book now. It blends Japanese levity and thoughtfulness with German masculinity and abrasive ness brilliantly.

I still feel bad that OT title for the last Wolfenstein game was not "Man in the High Castle Wolfenstein". :D The premise of the game was similar, BJ waking up from the come 15 years later end of WW2 in which Nazis won.
 

besada

Banned
Just finished watching The Man in the High Castle and Mad Dogs:

Mad Dogs:

I've seen the first two seasons of the UK original, and thought it was brilliant. Dark and funny, and even touching at times.

I think they did a good job of getting the feel of the original: that vibe of embedded history, both good and bad, that friends who've known each other for decades have. And then pushing it all into a high speed meat grinder of a plot. While I don't think the actors gel quite as well as the originals, I think they're capable of getting there in future episodes.

The table scene was incredibly well done, and it's opening was gruesomely realistic. All in all, I think they hit it out of the park, and even though I've seen the original I'd happily watch this to see Imperioli, Zahn, Malco, and Chaplin tear at each other.

The Man in the High Castle:

I guess I'm going to have to pretend that this is an alternate history version of The Man in the High Castle, which is pretty fitting given the nature of the book. I love PKD, and I really enjoy this novel, so it's difficult for me to watch the series and see them doing things that make little sense given the original story.

Given that it's apparently a looser adaptation than I'd expected, it worked pretty well. Visually appealing, and while the acting from the leads wasn't particularly good, it managed to get from point A to B without being too bad. Once they've had more time to explain what's going on, we'll hopefully see less exposition heavy dialogue.
 
The Man in the High Castle:

I guess I'm going to have to pretend that this is an alternate history version of The Man in the High Castle, which is pretty fitting given the nature of the book. I love PKD, and I really enjoy this novel, so it's difficult for me to watch the series and see them doing things that make little sense given the original story.

Given that it's apparently a looser adaptation than I'd expected, it worked pretty well. Visually appealing, and while the acting from the leads wasn't particularly good, it managed to get from point A to B without being too bad. Once they've had more time to explain what's going on, we'll hopefully see less exposition heavy dialogue.

As a PKD fan I felt the same way about the pilot, but whatever I'm used to it - every PKD book has been "loosely" adapted for the screen. Linklater's A Scanner Darkly is the only one I've seen that follows his book with reverence.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus

Interesting read:

I've never thought the crowd-sourcing element that Amazon touted was really an influencing factor in the decision-making process. Not even for a second.

It seemed a not-very-surprising on-brand approach and a way to, at least on the surface, appear to be making television differently than everyone else, even though it wasn't.

But Transparent was Amazon's lowest rated pilot from within that batch.

So, the people were wrong.

Amazon Studios [then] made huge headlines by announcing that it cut a deal with Woody Allen to make his first television series. Allen's show was what's called "straight-to-series," meaning exactly what it sounds like. Allen's show is a go.

Maybe Amazon Studios should just admit that it doesn't really matter what you think, it will make whatever shows it deems best for the brand, whatever the brand is, or has the best chance to garner awards and thus catch your attention and have you subscribe to Amazon Prime.

I don't think Amazon Studios is really looking at how its pilots rate with customers in any meaningful way. What I don't really understand is why it pretends to.
 
As a PKD fan I felt the same way about the pilot, but whatever I'm used to it - every PKD book has been "loosely" adapted for the screen. Linklater's A Scanner Darkly is the only one I've seen that follows his book with reverence.

I'd equate this Man in the High Castle adaptation with Fuller's Hannibal show. This adaptation clearly takes place before the timeline of the book, but it's also changing things. So it's a weird remix. I wonder if they'll go beyond the book and look at PKD's notes and writings that he did for the proposed sequel.
 

ivysaur12

Banned
IT'S DAY TWO, WHERE DO THE PILOTS STAND?!:

Drama:

Point of Honor: 452 reviews, 3.8/5 average
The Man in the High Castle: 1,326 reviews, 4.8/5 average
Cocked: 278 reviews, 4.1/5 average
Mad Dogs: 555 reviews, 4.5/5 average

Comedy:

Salem Rogers: 316 reviews, 4.0/5 average
Down Dog: 348 reviews, 3.8/5 average
 

A Human Becoming

More than a Member
I hope The Man in the High Castle is greenlit for the premise alone. It's interesting to think about how differently the war could have been if the Hitler had not invaded or defeated the Soviet Union, if Japan had approached the U.S. differently, or the Germans had developed the bomb first.
 

JCX

Member
Man in the High Castle

Read the book last year, enjoyed the feel of the pilot. It really is much more striking than the world i imagined while reading hew book, but I wonder how they'll take the story if this gets greenlit.

Salem Rogers

Great to see Dratch in a lead role. First new comedy pilot I've enjoyed since B99. Really hope this gets picked up.
 
Watched The Man In The High Castle. It was a good pilot, but i'm not really impressed. Visually it looks beautiful, atmosphere, cities. Actors are ok, but nothing special. Writing is so-so. Didn't like any of the characters. I'll watch when the series is ordered, but even though i had more problems with Mad Dogs right now i looking forward to it more that TMITHC.
 

ivysaur12

Banned
Amazon Pilot Season, Day 3:

Drama:

Point of Honor: 674 reviews, 3.8/5 average
The Man in the High Castle: 2,259 reviews, 4.8/5 average
Cocked: 443 reviews, 4.2/5 average (up .1)
Mad Dogs: 865 reviews, 4.5/5 average

Comedy:

Salem Rogers: 495 reviews, 4.1/5 average (up .1)
Down Dog: 473 reviews, 3.7/5 average (down .1)

My guess is, again, The Man in the High Castle, Mad Dogs, and maaaaybe Salem Rogers.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Point of Honor sounds really bad from everything I've read about it. Looks like not even the period setting would save it for me.
 
I really hope Amazon picks up The New Yorker Presents. Reviewing highly, but not a lot of reviews obviously compared to bigger scripted shows. Hopefully the fact that it probably is cheaper to produce than a lot of shows due to its format will be put into consideration.
 

ivysaur12

Banned
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Magic Cooking Made Fun!
By Chris Frandsen on January 15, 2015
Format: Amazon Instant Video
I'm a grown man but I enjoy watching kids shows old and new.

nope.
 
First favorite amazon pilot
tMitHC was good. I'm worried that once it goes to full season that the set and fx will not be as good. Budget for that pilot seems high
 

pa22word

Member
Liked man in the high castle. Watched the period piece civil war one and canned it after about 25 mins because it was garbage.
 

sqwarlock

Member
Just finished Man in the High Castle. Really hope this gets picked up. The only thing I don't like are the Nazis and their terrible accents.
 

pa22word

Member
Just finished Man in the High Castle. Really hope this gets picked up. The only thing I don't like are the Nazis and their terrible accents.
I think that's kinda the point. After a generation of cultural blending with the Americans the accents of the mid level German officers in the Americas would have different accents than your average German would. Not to mention some of them actually are Americans working for the Germans.
 

Fantastical

Death Prophet
Watched The Man In The High Castle. It was a good pilot, but i'm not really impressed. Visually it looks beautiful, atmosphere, cities. Actors are ok, but nothing special. Writing is so-so. Didn't like any of the characters. I'll watch when the series is ordered, but even though i had more problems with Mad Dogs right now i looking forward to it more that TMITHC.

Pretty much in the same boat. BEAUTIFUL and a great premise, but those characters... they seemed paper thin.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
I'm not sure how the "Transparent got low scores but Amazon picked it up anyway so Democracy is a sham" argument makes any sense. What if Amazon looked at something other than just the votes? What if they looked at the demographics of people who watched and voted? What if they looked at the thoughtfulness of the reviews? What if Transparent was a slam dunk to begin with and the reviews were more useful in helping them pick from the other pilots--they didn't pick up The Rebels, after all? What if reviews played a factor in the recasting of a main role? What if reviews played a factor in salary and cost negotiations? What if votes were one of a few factors Amazon considered along with conventional stuff? What if votes were just a sanity check to make sure their initial intuition that the shows were worthwhile was not radically miscalibrated?

I also don't get how the Allen stuff changes anything. It's not difficult to see the creative upside of working with Woody Allen (notwithstanding the ethics question!) Even if the process was quite democratic otherwise, it's pretty reasonable that they'd seal the deal on such a rare opportunity. It's totally reasonable to say "if something falls into our laps and has great potential, we'll do it, but for helping to sort through the normal development stuff, we'll use viewer feedback".

No one would say "my LSAT scores weren't great but I got into Cardozo, I guess LSAT scores don't matter". LSAT scores do matter, but they matter more or less depending on everything else in the application, and unless you're on the admissions committee, why shoot your mouth off? And yeah, if George Clooney wanted to do law school, you'd admit him without looking at his LSATs. Give me a break.

I don't especially think the votes/reviews matter, BTW. I just think the arguments put forward thusfar are pretty weak.
 

Vert boil

Member
A better crop than last time.

Cocked
Everything about this is bad. Everyone that gave the okay for the blur-o-vision should be banned from working on tv. That shit hurt my eyes.
Pro-tip: If you are going to use Sat Nav as a visual cue, continuity check that shit.

Mad Dogs
Hey Bro.
Bro bro bro bro, Bro?
Bro.
Reeks of a US remake.

Point of Honor
Not even the corsets could keep me awake during this one.

The New Yorker Presents
My Ray-Ban RX5268 are in the wash at the moment so I haven't watched this yet.
Spider-Man reading the poem. ahahahaha

Down Dog
The pilot was painfully dry but there could be something in there. I'd watch a few more if it were picked up.

Salem Rogers
Few funny moments but it missed the mark so many times. I'd watch it if they pick it up.

The Man in the High Castle
I have no reference for the source material but I'm not really a fan of the slightly comic booky way the Germans come off in this. Since this is guaranteed to get picked up I'll gladly watch more but I get the feeling that there is a much better version of the show on the desk of another adapter.
 

poopninjamvc3mk

I sucked six dicks to get this tag.
Just watched Mad Dogs, and I thought it was a decent adaption for a pilot. Can see it getting better with a full season order. That's probably my love for Romany Malco mostly speaking and the fact that I barely remember the first season of Mad Dogs tbh

Gonna watch The Man in the High Castle later tonight
 

ivysaur12

Banned
Day 4! (I don't know if this matters, but it's fun)

Drama:

Point of Honor: 864 (up 190) reviews, 3.7/5 average (down 0.1)
The Man in the High Castle: 2,967 (up 708) reviews, 4.8/5 average (flat)
Cocked: 586 (up 143) reviews, 4.2/5 average (flat)
Mad Dogs: 1,122 (up 257) reviews, 4.5/5 average (flat)

Comedy:

Salem Rogers: 645 (up 150) reviews, 4.1/5 average (flat)
Down Dog: 572 (up 99) reviews, 3.7/5 average (flat)
 

mm04

Member
Please bring Man in the High Castle to series! Loved the stylized look of the era and knowing they don't exactly have budgets like HBO etc., they made it work without it looking bad.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
I mean, there's no chance The Man in the High Castle doesn't get picked up at this point. Everyone's been very positive/receptive towards it thus far.
 
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