Have you watched Amazon’s newest original series Transparent? According to Amazon, a lot of people have.
The show, a half-hour “novelistic” series that explores the lives of a family and its transgender patriarch (played by Jeffrey Tambor), debuted last week and since then, it’s been the number one series on all of Amazon Prime Instant Video. Amazon says it’s “record breaking”. The company also touts its addictiveness, calling it the “most binged show” on Prime.
Amazon is so high on the show’s performance, in fact, that its already greenlit season two. It’ll hit Prime Instant Video next year.
“We are absolutely thrilled that the response to Transparent has been so positive,” said Roy Price, Vice President of Amazon Studios. “Our goal is to create series that customers love, so it’s great to hear that Transparent has not only risen to the no. 1 series on Prime Instant Video, but that it’s deemed ‘binge worthy’ as well. Given all this great feedback, it only makes sense to bring the Pfeffermans back next year in season two.”
if you haven’t heard of the show, here’s a synopsis to catch you up to speed:
The series stars Tambor as Maura, who has spent her life as Mort—the Pfefferman family patriarch. When she reintroduces herself to her family, everyone’s secrets finally start to come out. This includes her ex-wife Shelly (played by Light), and their children—meandering Ali (played by Hoffmann), record producer Josh (played by Duplass), and sexually conflicted Sarah (played by Landecker). Each family member spins in a different direction as they begin to figure out who they are going to become.
Amazon’s not bullshitting when they talk about the show’s critical popularity. It currently holds a 91% Metacritic aggregate and a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. And if the company is to be believed, that critical acclaim is helping boost a much more important metric – viewership.
Amazon is trying to match Netflix’s success in the streaming platform-turned-original content provider game, and it may have just found its first hit. What do you think? Does Transparent live up to the hype?