Amazon announces six original TV show pilots, asks customers to rate them

Like other streaming video services, Amazon Studios is producing its own slate of original TV shows that will play exclusively on the company’s Prime Instant Video service.

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However, unlike the offerings from both Hulu and Netflix, Amazon is actually asking its audience to pick the shows that it likes the most before it decides to produce a full season of the show.

The company is producing six shows initially, which will all get at least a pilot episode that Amazon Prime members will be able to watch for free. Based on feedback on those pilot episodes, the company will determine which shows go forward.

It’s actually a pretty good way to determine a hit, and much better than the traditional method of producing a bunch of high quality content every season and seeing what gets the best reaction out of an audience.

Check out a description for each of the six shows, (all comedies) below, and let us know your thoughts in the comment section:

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.