This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Show subscription services like Amazon and Netflix are riding high with viral original series like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black. Amazon gave the thumbs-up today for two new exciting pilots starring Ron Perlman (Sons of Anarchy) and Adam Brody (The O.C.) to start production. Later this year, viewers will get to vote for the original pilots they think deserve an entire season. (The power is in the hands of the TV couch potatoes!)
Perlman will star in Hand of God, which "centers on the powerful, hard-living and law-bending Judge Pernell who, after a religious awakening, begins having visions and hearing voices through his ventilator-bound son," according to a press release from Amazon Studios. And it looks like there will be some pretty dark aspects to the plot including Pernell going on a "vigilante quest" against a rapist. But beyond Perlman are the heavy hitters backing the pilot: World War Z and Quantam of Solace director Marc Forster will be leading the pilot that is written by Burn Notice's scribe Ben Watkins. This may very well have a Los Angeles theme to the story as shooting begins this month in parts of the city of angels and Long Beach.
The second pilot to get the greenlight from Amazon Studios is dramedy, The Cosmopolitans, starring Chloë Sevigny (Big Love) and Brody (who seemed to disappear after The O.C. in our eyes). Academy Award nominee Whit Stillman (The Last Days of Disco) will be a triple threat; he will be writing, directing and producing this half-hour show. The plot follows American expats in Paris doing all-things romantic like search for love. And lucky them, the stars will be on a jet taking off to Paris this week to start shooting.
In March, as part of its second pilot season, Amazon gave four original series their seal of approval to keep shooting a full season, including shows from the writers of The X-Files and The Wire. Viewers will be able to watch the shows (when they're finally made) by subscribing to Amazon Prime's service, and the episodes roll out one-by-one unlike how Netflix puts out the whole season for binge-watching.
