Out of all the streaming platforms out there—and there are now perhaps too many of them—Amazon Prime Video will always stand out for its unique subscription model and wide contract among its original productions.
The Man in the High Castle
Created by:Frank Spotnitz (Based on the novel by Philip K. Dick)
Cast:Alexa Davalos, Rupert Evans, Luke Kleintank, DJ Qualls, Joel de la Fuente, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Rufus Sewell, Brennan Brown, Callum Keith, Rennie Bella, Heathcote, Chelah Horsdal, Michael Gaston, Jason O’Mara
As far as alternative-history adaptations for screen go,The Man in the High Castlesets the bar. Based on the Philip K. Dick novel of the same name, the story posits the question of what our world might be like had the Axis powers won World War II. The answer is pretty grim. Set in 1962, Nazi Germany and the Japanese empire rule the world. These ruling superpowers have split the US into two nations: the Japanese Pacific States and the Nazi’s Greater Reich of the east, with the Rockies serving as a neutral zone in the middle. From there the story revolves around characters whose lives collide as they discover footage showing the Axis powers losing the war, which they discover to be transmitted from parallel universes and created by a traveler between parallel realms they call The Man in the High Castle. Now in its fourth and final season, the series pays homage to the original novel while greatly expanding on its storyline.
Homecoming
Created by:Eli Horowitz, Micah Bloomberg
Cast:Julia Roberts, Bobby Cannavale, Stephan James, Shea Whigham, Alex Karpovsky, Sissy Spacek
Developed from the hit narrative podcast series of the same name,Homecoming’sfirst season starsJulia Robertsas social worker Heidi Bergman who provides support for soldiers still reeling from combat as they cycle back into civilian life at the Homecoming Transitional Support Center. Or so they think. Four years later, Heidi is working as a waitress with amnesia who struggles to recall the details of her time at Homecoming after being confronted by a US Department of Defense auditor who is investigating why she left the facility. This is how the story unfolds, with many twists and turns along the way as Heidi’s former supervisor Colin Belfast, played byBobby Cannavale, attempts to thwart her ability to recall her time at Homecoming lest she discover the job’s extremely sinister ulterior motives. Season 2 is currently in production and continues the story with a new cast of characters, veering from the podcast while staying true to the overarching themes of the source material.
Created by:Eric Kripke
Cast:Karl Urban, Elizabeth Shue, Anthony Starr, Jack Quaid, and Erin Moriarty
The Boysgives a different take on a world where the superpowered are revered as celebrities replete with their own brands, products, and phony public personas as though they were star athletes or Instagram influencers. In private, like many public figures, many of these superheroes are repugnant and engage in borderline (if not outright) criminal behavior. The titular Boys, led by Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) are a group of vigilantes hellbent on keeping superhero corruption in check, with their archenemies the Seven, led by Homelander (Anthony Starr), being the A-listers of the superhero industry. Much of the story follows the two newest members of each group—the Boys’ Hugh “Hughie” Campbell (Jack Quaid) and the Seven’s Annie January / Starlight (Erin Moriarty) as they discover the truth about superhero corruption and how it has effected their lives.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Created by:Amy Sherman-Palladino
Cast:Rachel Brosnahan, Alex Borstein, Michael Zegen, Marin Hinkle, Tony Shalhoub, Kevin Pollak
This comedy-drama set in 1958 centers around young Jewish American housewife Miriam “Midge” Maisel and the aftermath of her husband, a salesman who also performs as a crappy comedian, leaving her for his secretary. In response Miriam drunkenly drops into her husband comedic haunt, New York City’s legendary Gaslight Cafe, and gives an impromptu and controversial set that has everyone cracking up. Afterward she’s arrested on obscenity charges and meets Lenny Bruce (Luke Kirby) at the jail where he’s being held on the same grounds. She’s inspired to jump into her comedy career full bore, settling on the state name “Mrs. Maisel.” She and her kids move in with her parents, and Miriam works a department store job by day and studies the city’s greatest comics by night.The Marvelous Mrs. Maisela unique period piece that both introduces historical elements of American comedy to new audience while serving as an allegory of the times regarding gender equality.
Transparent
Created by: Jill Solloway
Cast:Jeffrey Tambor, Gaby Hoffmann, Jay Duplass, Amy Landecker, Judith Light, Kathryn Hahn
Back in a much simpler time known as 2015,Transparentwas the first original show for a streaming platform to win a Golden Globe for Best Series. Which made sense considering its masterful execution and groundbreaking premise: the hilarious, heartwarming, and tumultuous tribulations of the Pfefferman family as they adapt to their father Morton (Jeffrey Tambor), a retired UCLA political science professor, coming out as a transgender woman named Maura. It was inspired by creatorJill Solloway’s own life experience of her father coming out as transgender and, despite the controversy that ensued following Tambor’s harassment of colleagues on set and his subsequent dismissal from the show, still stands up to the best of what Amazon Prime Video has to offer.
Created by:David E. Kelley, Jonathan Shapiro
Cast:Billy Bob Thornton, William Hurt, Maria Bello, Olivia Thirlby, Nina Arianda, Molly Parker, Tania Raymonde, Sarah Wynter, Britain Dalton, Diana Hopper, Ana de la Reguera, Matthew Del Negro, Morris Chestnut, Mark Duplass, Lou Diamond Phillips
As far as legal drama web television series go,Goliathis one of the best of the modern era. Now in its third season,Goliathfollows strung-out ambulance-chasing lawyer Billy McBride (Billy Bob Thornton). Billy used to be a high-powered attorney and co-founder of the Cooperman McBride law firm with his reclusive and facially disfigured partner Donald Cooperman (William Hurt). Cooperman holds a grudge against Billy for walking out on the firm following the acquittal of a murder suspect on a technicality who shortly thereafter went on to slaughter an entire family. That’s when Billy, who now lives and works out of an extended-stay hotel near the Santa Monica Pier, started drinking. Heavily. The series follows Billy’s struggles with his inner-demons as he takes on what appear to be bottom-of-the-barrel cases that wind up intertwining with his past in unexpected ways.
Sneaky Pete
Created by:Bryan Canston, David Shore
Cast: Giovanni Ribisi, Marin Ireland, Shane McRae, Libe Barer, Michael Drayer, Peter Gerety Margo Martindale, Jane Adams
This offbeat crime drama follows Marius Josipović / “Pete Murphy” (Giovanni Ribsi), a con man recently released from prison, as he evades a brutal gangster (played byBryan Cranston) he fleeced before going to jail. Marius assumes his former cellmate’s identity—the real Pete Murphy—and pulls it off so well he is able to hide out by convincing the real Pete’s family that he is their long-lost relative. He attempts to integrate himself into the Murphy family’s bail bonds business, entangling his own con with that of Pete’s grandfather Otto Murphy (Peter Gerety) as the family and their business unravels. This one is all about twists and turns, with Marius’s schemes leading to deep character arcs and even deeper trouble for Sneaky Pete.
Created by:Michael Connelly
Developed by: Eric Overmyer
Cast: Titus Welliver, Jamie Hector, Amy Aquino, Lance Reddick, Sarah Clarke, Madison Lintz
LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver) stars in this police procedural inspired by the crime fiction of Michael Connelly. A modern yet classic take on the genre, from minute 1 the character traits ofBosch’s namesake are made apparent: he’s a hardboiled and jaded detective who follows his nose, wherever it may lead and even if he has to use a creative interpretation of the rules to get there. Each season focuses on a single case, adding some gravity and allowing for more complex story arcs as compared to most procedurals. There’s good reasonBosch, in its fifth season with a sixth on the way in April 2020, is one of the longest-running series on Amazon.
Created by:Ben Edlund
Cast:Peter Serafinowicz, Griffin Newman, Valorie Curry, Brendan Hines, Yara Martinez, Scott Speiser, Jackie Earle Haley
Funny, strangely cool, and otherwise peripherally interesting,The Tickstars the voice of Darth Maul (Peter Serafinowicz) dressed in blue tights in the pseudonymous role of a super hero named after a blood-sucking insect.
Created by:Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Kate Purdy
Cast:Rosa Salazar, Angelique Cabral, Constance Marie, Siddharth Dhananjay, Daveed Diggs, Bob Odenkirk
Outside of Japan, animation for adults that you’d actually want to watch is few and far between. Luckily, if that’s your steez, Amazon Prime Originals has you covered with their half-hour animated seriesUndone. It follows 28-year-old Alma (Rosa Salazar) as she navigates the malaise of everyday life in San Antonio, Texas, and how “the elastic nature of reality” opens up to her like a third eye following a near-fatal car crash. She uses her newfound abilities to explore space and time in ways that were imperceptible to her before, searching for clues that will lead her to the full story of her father’s mysterious death. Fittingly the series masterfully combines 2-D and 3-D animation with oil painting, rotoscoping, and live action underneath it all. In may ways is a new echelon for drama-based animation and so far everyone is singing its praises.
