’NET GAIN: “Betas” will join “Alpha House” (above, with John Goodman and slobbery friend) on the slate of upcoming Amazon Studio shows set to premiere later this year online.
NET GAIN: “Betas” (left, with star Joe Dinicol) will join “Alpha House” (right, with John Goodman and slobbery friend) on the slate of upcoming Amazon Studio shows set to premiere later this year online. (
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Amazon has already conquered the world of online book sales — now it’s taking on the TV networks.
Amazon Studios has given the green light to five new series, including two sitcoms, which will stream on amazon.com Prime Instant Video service later this year and into early 2014.
The shows, “Alpha House,” “Betas,” “Annebots,” “Creative Galaxy” and “Tumbleleaf” will begin production shortly and include some big names — including John Goodman, Bill Murray and Ed Begley Jr.
The announcement from Amazon Studios yesterday follows on the heels of the successful launch, on Netflix, of the rebooted version of “Arrested Development” — which, in turn, followed the Netflix launch last winter of “House of Cards,” a political drama starring Kevin Spacey.
Amazon Studios only gave the go-ahead to the five shows after their pilot episodes were screened online — and were voted on by customers.
Goodman, the former “Roseanne” star, will headline “Alpha House,” a political sitcom which was created by Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau and included a cameo from Murray in the series pilot.
It centers around four roomates in Washington, DC and co-stars Clark Johnson (“Homicide: Life on the Street”), Matt Malloy and Mark Consuelos (husband of “Live with Kelly and Michael” co-host Kelly Ripa).
“We’re thrilled to have emerged safely from this harrowing exercise in online democracy,” Trudeau said in a statement, in which he alluded to the strong presence of digital TV.
“As the future of episodic TV packs up and moves to Seattle, we hope the audience will continue to have as much fun watching the show as we have making it.”
“Betas,” also a sitcom, stars Begley Jr., Jon Daly, Joe Dinicol, Charlie Saxton and Karan Soni as friends trying to strike it rich in Silicon Valley.
There are also three kids’s series in the mix: “Annebots,” which revolves around a young scientist and her three robot helpers; “Creative Galaxy,” an animated series; and “Tumbleleaf,” a stop-motion series aimed at preschoolers.
“The success of this first set of pilots has given us the push to try this approach with even more shows,” Amazon Studios director Roy Price said in a statement.