Dark Comedies, Sexual-Harassment Drama Part of New Amazon Pickups

LONDON: Five prime-time series and three kids’ shows are due out exclusively on Amazon Prime Video, along with three series renewals.

The Amazon originals join the digital hub following the latest fall pilot season, in which Amazon customers can vote and comment on their favorite titles. New half-hour shows are Highston, a comedy executive produced by Sacha Baron Cohen; One Mississippi, a dark comedy written and executive produced by Tig Notaro and Diablo Cody, with Louis CK co-executive producing; and Z: The Beginning of Everything, starring Christina Ricci as Zelda Sayre, the wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald. One-hour commissions, meanwhile, are Good Girls Revolt, a drama inspired by the landmark sexual discrimination cases chronicled in Lynn Povich’s book, The Good Girls Revolt, and the political thriller Patriot. Amazon has also renewed the dramedy Red Oaks, with Steven Soderbergh joining as executive producer, and the Ron Perlman drama Hand of God.

The commissions and renewals follow the second-season order for the Philip K. Dick adaptation The Man in the High Castle, which according to Amazon is the most streamed original show ever by Prime members globally.

“We’re very proud of this outstanding series created by Frank Spotnitz, Scott Free and Isa Dick Hackett, which Amazon customers around the world have enthusiastically embraced, and we look forward to the second season,” said Roy Price, the VP of Amazon Studios. “We hoped that once again bringing together the work of Philip K. Dick and the vision of Ridley Scott—who brought us the classic film Blade Runner—would help deliver on our promise of creating some of the best television in the world for Prime customers, and we believe that it has.”

The kids’ shows are Danger & Eggs, which follows the endless adventures of fearless D.D. Danger and her ever-cautious best friend, a talking egg named Phillip; If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, based on the classic books by Laura Numeroff; and Niko and the Sword of Light, about the epic journey of a boy who is the last of his kind. Additionally, Amazon has renewed Tumble Leaf for a third season.

The shows will debut exclusively on Prime Video in the U.K., U.S., Germany, Japan and Austria.