Back in April, Amazon debuted 14 new pilots – a mix of kids shows and adult shows. They opened up all the pilots for users to watch, for free, in order to provide feedback on which pilots should be developed into full-fledged series.
At the end of that experiment, Amazon came out of it with 5 greenlit shows – two adult shows (Alpha House and Betas) and three kids shows (Annebots, Creative Galaxy, Tumbleleaf). They’re set to air later this year, and possibly in earl 2014.
Today, Amazon Studios is beginning a round 2 of sorts – maybe a round 1.5. They’ve greenlit 5 new kids show pilots and once again, they’re seeking viewer input to determine which pilots land a full series run.
“We’re very excited to be able to introduce these five original ideas and their talented creators to Amazon customers. After the success of our first pilots, we look forward to getting lots more fantastic feedback from kids and parents,” said Roy Price, Director of Amazon Studios. “For the first time we are offering live-action and animated programming for older children and continuing with entertaining, educational programming for preschool aged children – it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
The 5 new pilots are directed at children aged 6 to 11, and are being developed by both Emmy Award-winners and relative newcomers.
First, Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street is a live-action show that tracks the lives of “three quirky tweens.” Next, Grid Smasher mixes puppetry and CGI to tell the story of aliens competing in a galactic game. Then we have Hard-Boiled Eggheads, an animated comedy about special agents tracking down monsters and mutants. There’s the Jo B. & G. Raff Show, a show for preschoolers. Finally, we have Wishenpoof!, from the creator of Blue’s Clues. It’s about a young girl with magical powers.
Amazon has sure been focusing on the kids lately. This move to launch 5 new kids show pilots comes less than two months after Amazon signed a big deal with Viacom to add tons of kids programming to Prime Instant Video.