Amazon is hard at work trying to duplicate the original programming success of rival streaming service Netflix. After mixed results from its initial 10 pilots earlier this year, Amazon commissioned 10 more in March with 4 that wound up making the final cut. The pickups included cop-drama Bosch based on the Michael Connelly novels featuring LAPD Detective Hieronymus ‘Harry’ Bosch; the mystery-drama The After from X-Files creator Chris Carter; and the dark half-hour comedy drama Transparent starring Jeffrey Tambor as a divorced parent who reveals to his family he is transitioning as a woman. Amazon has released a trailer for Transparent and given all 10 episodes of the show a release date of September 26.
In addition to Tambor, Transparent co-stars Judith Light (Who’s the Boss?) as Tambor’s ex-wife and Gabby Hoffman (Uncle Buck, HBO’s Girls), Amy Landecker (A Serious Man) and Jay Duplass (The Mindy Project and co-director of Jeff Who Lives at Home) as Tambor’s grown children.
With a punny title like Transparent, it’s easy to fear the worst about this show, but the on-screen talent involved and the fact the show was created by Jill Soloway who wrote four seasons of HBO’s Six Feet Under and was the showrunner on Showtime’s Diablo Cody show The United States of Tara inspires confidence.
The Transparent pilot which carefully and respectfully walks the line between comedy and drama while serving up realistic and relatable human emotions is still available for free at Amazon.
