Amazon’s Spring Comedy Pilots Continue Amazon’s “Take Risks” Plan
When Amazon Video credits pilots as “the best way to take risks, find voices and evolve the art form of television”-they really mean it. Amazon’s latest crop of half-hour comedy pilots, and one drama about comedy, pull from a myriad of fields for their talent and executives. The streamer is debuting three new comedy pilots; there’s “The Legend of Master Legend”, a homegrown superhero saving potential victims on the Vegas Strip, “Budding Prospects”, a fish-out-of-water story about city boys in 1983 seeking a nonexistent agrarian paradise to grow marijuana in Northern California and the harsh truth they find and a workplace animated comedy, “The New V.I.P.’s” about a group of low level employees who find themselves in control of a major corporation after accidentally murdering their boss. On the drama end, there’s also “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”, the tale of a satisfied ‘50s housewife who finds she’s a natural at stand-up and the tumultuous success she achieves.
Obviously, all pilots sound vastly different, but it’s their casts and above the line crews that are really interesting. “The New V.I.P.’s” for instance, pulls from well-known comedy names, like Ben Schwartz (“Parks & Recreation”) and Jonathan Adams (“Last Man Standing”) and dramatic actors like Missi Pyle (“Gone Girl”). Or “Budding Prospects”, which is directed by “Bad Santa” alum Terry Zwigoff and also produced by Vincent Landay (“Her”). Or take “The Legend of Master Legend”, which features not one, but two “Transparent” stars (Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster), but talent from “Boardwalk Empire” and “Major Crimes” (Shea Whigham and Dawnn Lewis respectively). While “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” doesn’t tout itself as a comedy, it’s got Tony Shalhoub (“Monk”), Alex Borstein (“Family Guy”) Marin Hinkle (“Two and a Half Men”) and stars “House of Cards” actress Rachel Brosnahan. It’s a genuinely ballsy move to incorporate such a diversity of backgrounds and that makes these premieres all the more exciting for the fledgling monolithic content creator.
