New Amazon pilots 2015 (including PKD's "The Man in the High Castle")

[Corvinus85]

I haven't seen it, but didn't they also nuke the hell out of Russia? If Nazi Germany took out Russia, nuked DC and invaded by sea whilst Japan invaded from the other direction (itself only possible assuming a total victory at Pearl Harbour, an invasion or blockade of Hawaii and an advance on the mainland), it's at least vaguely plausible for the purposes of a TV series.

There's always been that question if Britain and the US could have stomached the massive losses Russia took and the need to become more brutal and ruthless than the enemy in order to win. The answer I suspect is no. Throw nukes into the equation as well from the German side and the notion of an Allied collapse and surrender becomes more feasible.

I didn't catch any mentions of Russia's fate. Equally, there was no mention of how long the war lasted to end with the Axis's victory, and at what stage in the war were nuclear weapons used. Like I said, a lot more had to go wrong for the Allies in order for the Axis to win the war.

But this is all academic, and the production of the show really impressed me, so I would keep watching. This would be a big thing for Amazon if they go with it.

[Jon AS]

Please let this not become a discussion of how WW2 could have turned out differently, I doubt the show will dwell on it much.

IIRC, in the book FDR getting assassinated in the thirties was a major contributing factor.

[red snow]

Please let this not become a discussion of how WW2 could have turned out differently, I doubt the show will dwell on it much.

IIRC, in the book FDR getting assassinated in the thirties was a major contributing factor.

I'm sure it'll set the scene but I agree that it can't spend the entire show explaining the time between the divergence and when the show is set as that'd be another show. It would be classy if they dropped some of the past in via conversations every mow and then as an easter egg.

[Lord of Oop North]

The fact that the show dropped you right in the middle of it with little explanation leads to me believe that it isn't that important and they won't dwell on it too much (or so I hope).

Unless there is some kind of time travel thing going on.

[Commodore]

great title sequence

not sure if it is sci-fi or just alternate history, hard to tell

[williamjm]

The fact that the show dropped you right in the middle of it with little explanation leads to me believe that it isn't that important and they won't dwell on it too much (or so I hope).

It's been a while since I've read the book but from what I can remember Dick doesn't into all that much detail about the alternate WW2, I don't think the precise details of the alternate history were really what he was interested in.

[phoenix_rising]

Liked it a lot..but wtf???

I feel so stupid ...I expected to binge watch a couple.

I guess I missed the "pilot" aspect..

[Durckad]

The Man In The High Castle was pretty great, maybe a little slow but that's to be expected with a show like this. I hope this gets picked up.

I also watched Cocked which was pretty fucking awful. Just... lazy and not very funny.

[Commodore]

viewers are getting to see why most pilots are never picked up, 90% are crap and no studio would let them see the light of day

kudos to Amazon for trying something different and letting their subscribers weigh in

[Myshkin]

This pilot season looks pretty weak, with The Man In The High Castle looking like the only worthwhile show of the bunch, but as with past Amazon pilot seasons I'll watch them all and give my votes.

[The Killer Snark]

Corvinus - It gets explained, in an enigmatic fashion, at the end of the novel, but I'm not going to tell you if you're on the right road.

[Myrddin]

I started watching Point of Honor. I liked the story better when it was called John Jakes' North and South and set up the northern/southern families up a decade before the war so we actually cared when they got torn apart.

Even the characters almost line up against the North and South cast.

John = merged Orry/Charles Main : the southern son of a plantation owner and graduate of West Point. Hates slavery but will defend his home against invasion.

Robert = merged George/Billy Hazard: Northern graduate of West Point, best friend to John/Orry/Charles and married to his sister. He must fight for the side he believes in, knowing his wife is living behind enemy lines.

Lorelei = Brett Main-Hazzard: innocent blond daughter of a southern plantation family married to a northern officer

Younger sister = Ashton Main: Promiscuous brunette sister of John/Orry who will no doubt get in trouble over her liaisons.

[Fez]

The Man in the High Castle may be great, but I have zero interest in that premise. I don't have Amazon Prime so I won't be watching any of these anyway, but Cocked is the only one that looks interesting to me; primarily because I'm a fan of Jason Lee.

[Durckad]

Cocked was terrible. It's not worth your time IMO. Not even Jason Lee could salvage it.

[Martini Sigil]

I'm such a TV junkie... and news like this makes me really giddy,,,, even if this first wave of shows is not great, I think that this is where TV is headed

[Myshkin]

Okay, watched them all. Here's my take:

Salem Rogers: A half-hour comedy about a former super-model who gets booted out of rehab after 10 years and tracks down her former assistant, who's now a self-help author and life coach. The super-model needs the self-help author to help her break back into the modeling game, and the self-help author needs the super-model to be the subject of her next book, so they're stuck together. Sounds awful right? Well it was actually worse than it sounds. Just the worst kind of raunchy sitcom with a ridiculous premise and lazy writing. No chance this gets picked up.

Down Dog: A half-hour comedy about a stoner yoga instructor who's coasted through life on his good looks, but after taking over the yoga studio from his ex he's now gotta get serious for the first time in his life. Pretty stupid and full of the most overused cliches about L.A.'s laid back health culture. The one thing this show has going for it is that it isn't nearly as bad as Salem Rogers, so if Amazon really wants to produce a sitcom this will be the one.

Cocked: An hour-long drama about the kale eating liberal prodigal son of a gun manufacturing family who has to return to save the family business. The whole culture clash angle is way overdone here and the characters are so one-dimensional that even Jason Lee couldn't make his character work. I'd be surprised if Amazon picked this one up, but they did green-light The After which was a substantially worse pilot than this one.

Mad Dogs: An hour-long drama about four middle aged guys who go down to visit their newly rich friend at his villa in Belize. When they get there it slowly becomes apparent that not all is right in paradise, and their buddy might just be into some dangerous shit. I actually liked this a lot more than I thought I would; not great, but not bad either. I've never been a fan of Michael Imperioli, but I liked him in this, and Steve Zahn managed to pull his roll off well. This one probably has a decent chance of getting the green-light, and if it does I'll tune in to at least a few more episodes.

Point of Honor: An hour-long drama about the trials and tribulations of a rich Southern family at the outbreak of the Civil War. This one wasn't just bad, it was fairly disgusting. You see our Southern heroes go ahead and magnanimously free their slaves before they declare that they will indeed fight for the Confederacy (the slaves are appropriately thankful to their genteel former masters for their generosity). On the other side we have a Sherman-esque Union officer who wants to brutally punish the rebels. In short we have sympathetic Southern heroes and ruthless Northern villains. Is it too much to ask that we stop romanticizing the South? They were after all fighting for their right to keep slaves. No way this one gets picked up; not only was it bad, but there's been considerable backlash over it as well.

The Man in the High Castle: An hour-long drama exploring what would have happened if the Allies had lost WWII. Easily the best pilot of the bunch. Well made, well written, and well acted. It's a bit slow, but it is a high concept pilot, so that's to be expected. I guarantee this one gets the green-light.

It's hard to know how many of these shows will get the go ahead, in the first and third pilot seasons Amazon green-lit only 2 shows, while in the second pilot season they green-lit four. My guess is that The Man in the High Castle and Mad Dogs get picked up, with Cocked and Down Dog both having a chance as well, while Salem Rogers and Point of Honor get the axe.

[Shryke]

Point of Honor: An hour-long drama about the trials and tribulations of a rich Southern family at the outbreak of the Civil War. This one wasn't just bad, it was fairly disgusting. You see our Southern heroes go ahead and magnanimously free their slaves before they declare that they will indeed fight for the Confederacy (the slaves are appropriately thankful to their genteel former masters for their generosity). On the other side we have a Sherman-esque Union officer who wants to brutally punish the rebels. In short we have sympathetic Southern heroes and ruthless Northern villains. Is it too much to ask that we stop romanticizing the South? They were after all fighting for their right to keep slaves. No way this one gets picked up; not only was it bad, but there's been considerable backlash over it as well.

Nice to know my suspicions were confirmed.

[Mexal]

I'm fairly sure Mad Dogs will get picked up and as its from Shawn Ryan, it'll likely be really good.

[Steelborn]

I liked the premise of Mad Dogs, and of course the Man in the High Castle looks promising.

[The Killer Snark]

I'm going to watch Salem Rogers, just out of curiosity. I thought that it looked awful when I checked the premises for these pilots, but I'm interested in how bad it might be. Also, I've always liked Leslie Bibb as an actress and she's beautiful as well. Point of Honour I'll avoid. I have a copy of Birth of a Nation on DVD purely because I'm a cinephile and have a collection of important silent movies. I still find it highly objectionable, though. The premise of Point of Honour rings alarm bells. In Britain, we have a continuous amount of programmes forcing home establishmentarian Left Wing conditioning, and I don't think it makes that refreshing a change to have some propaganda from the Far Right. The Man in the High Castle should get picked out the bunch of these things even if a few others turn out to be half-decent if I watch them. I'm consigning myself at the moment to some expected masochism with the supermodel thing.