Amazon will debut pilot episodes of brand new shows for its third season in the U.S. and U.K. later this month.
The third season will make its debut on Aug. 28 on Amazon Instant Video and will feature five shows that include two hour-long thrillers and three half-hour comedies.
Compared to the past two seasons, Amazon's list of new shows is reasonably small. But it seems that company is more focused on quality than quantity. Season three's pilots have big names behind them, such as comedies from Steven Soderbergh and Whit Stillman and thrillers from Marc Forster and Shaun Cassidy.
Viewers of the new series are encouraged to provide feedback, which will help determine which pilots will be featured as full series. All Amazon customers can watch and comment on the pilots.
"There is something for everyone in this season and I can't wait to hear our customers' feedback when they premiere later this month, " Amazon Studios director Roy Price said.
The thriller "Hysteria," written by Shaun Cassidy, is about an unknown physiological illness that infects a girls' dance team in Texas and spreads via social media. Cassidy is most recently known for the show "Invasion."
Amazon's other thriller pilot, "Hand of God," follows the story of an unfaithful married man who seeks revenge against a rapist who breaks his family apart by relying on visions from God. "Hand of God" features the television debut of director Marc Forster, known for films such as "Quantum of Solace," "Monsters Ball" and "World War Z."
Amazon Studio's other pilots include "The Cosmopolitans," a comedy directed and produced by Whit Stillman that stars Chloë Sevigny and Adam Brody. Filmed in Paris, "The Cosmopolitans" is about a group of Americans searching for love in the city of love.
"Really," is another comedy that centers on the friendship and love of four couples living in Chicago, which stars and is directed by "Super Troopers" Jay Chandrasekhar.
"Pineapple Express" director David Gordon Green and "Traffic" producer Steven Soderbergh team up for the series "Red Oaks," a coming of age story based in New Jersey in the '80s.
Amazon's last round of pilot's in February received tens of thousands of comments, resulting in the series "Transparent," "Mozart in the Jungle," "Bosch," "The After," "Gortimer Gibbon's Life on Normal Street" and "Wishenpoof!" getting full series spots.
Amazon's full-series shows are available for free for Prime subscribers.
