Amazon To Produce 6 Original Comedy Series Pilots, Viewers Decide Which Shows Survive

Amazon Studios, the online retailer’s department responsible for sourcing scripts and developing original video content, today announced the development of six original comedy series pilots. When production is completed, the series will air on Amazon’s Instant Video platform, which delivers video content like TV and movies to users’ set top boxes, phones, tablets, and computers.

Perhaps the best part of the news is that Amazon will be bringing us a show from The Onion satirical newspaper titled “The Onion Presents: The News.”

The six pilots (listed below) will be aired on Amazon Instant Video once they’re finished. Based on consumer feedback, Amazon will then decide which series to move forward with and continue producing.

After that, completed seasons will only be available to Prime members via Prime Instant Video and through LOVEFiLM for free in the UK.

Here’s what Roy Price, Director of Amazon Studios, had to say about it:

Since launching our original series development effort, we have received more than 2,000 series ideas from creators around the world with all different backgrounds, and we are extremely excited to begin production on our very first set of pilots. The six comedy pilots will begin production shortly, and once they are complete, we plan to post the pilots on Amazon Instant Video for feedback. We want Amazon customers to help us decide which original series we should produce.

This is just the natural next step in the war between library streaming services. In return for loyal viewership on Netflix, Arrested Development is coming back with new episodes directly on Netflix. Amazon’s original content, which includes crowdsourcing original content through funding programs.

Here is a list of pilots to look forward to on Amazon:

Alpha House – Alpha House was written by Academy Award nominee and Pulitzer-Prize winner Garry Trudeau (Doonesbury, Tanner ’88). Alpha House follows four senators who live together in a rented house in Washington DC.

Browsers – Written by 12-time Emmy-winning comedy writer David Javerbaum (The Daily Show) and to be directed by Don Scardino (30 Rock), Browsers is a musical comedy set in contemporary Manhattan that follows four young people as they start their first jobs at a news website.

Dark Minions – Written by Big Bang Theory co-stars Kevin Sussman and John Ross Bowie, Dark Minions is an animated workplace series about two slackers just trying to make a paycheck working an intergalactic warship. The pilot will be produced by Principato-Young (Reno 911).

The Onion Presents: The News – The Onion Presents: The News is a smart, fast-paced scripted comedy set behind the scenes of The Onion News Network that shows just how far journalists will go to stay at the top of their game. The Onion Presents: The News is from The Onion’s Will Graham & Dan Mirk (The Onion News Network, The Onion Sportsdome).

Supanatural – Supanatural is an animated comedy series about two outspoken divas who are humanity’s last line of defense against the supernatural, when they’re not working at the mall. The series, written by Lily Sparks, Price Peterson and Ryan Sandoval, will be produced by Jason Micallef (Butter) and Kristen Schaal (The Daily Show).

Those Who Can’t – Written by Andrew Orvedahl, Adam Cayton-Holland and Benjamin Roy (Grawlix), who were discovered through Amazon Studios online open door process, Those Who Can’t is a comedy about three juvenile, misfit teachers who are just as immature, if not more so, than the students they teach.