In an effort to keep up with Netflix’s never-ending slate of new series, Amazon has announced a handful of original pilots, all of which will debut on Amazon Video on March 17th.
First and possibly most exciting, The Marveous Mrs. Maisel is an hour-long series from Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino that follows a woman – in 1958 New York City – coming up in the Greenwich Village comedy scene. House of Cards’ Rachel Brosnahan is set to star as Miriam “Midge” Maisel, an upper class Upper West Side-r who abandons her perfect life to pursue a career in stand-up; Alex Borstein (Family Guy) and Tony Shalhoub (Monk) will co-star.
Another period series (sort of), weed-centric Budding Prospects follows a group of friends who move to infamous Menocino County, California, to start up their own grow in the early 80s. Brett Gelman (Another Period, Love), Will Sasso (MADtv), Adam Rose (Veronica Mars) and Joel David Moore (Bones) will star, and Terry Zwigoff (Bad Santa) will produce.
Following the recent trend of darkly comic shows that expose the real lives of superheroes (The Tick, Son of Zorn) comes The Legend of Master Legend, following “homemade superhero” / Las Vegas resident Frank LaFont as he balances saving lives with placating his ungrateful family. The exceptional John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone – also, incidentally, a former Austin-based standup comic) will star.
And, Amazon’s very first animated show aimed towards adults, The New V.I.P.’s – from Steve Dildarian (The Life and Times of Tim) – will feature Ben Schwartz and Matt Braunger as two slackers who accidentally murder their boss and take control of a major corporation.
Along with these four new series, Amazon also announced Oasis, an hour-long sci-fi drama fro0m Bridge of Spies screenwriter Matt Charman.
