Amazon Studios announced its intention to air three new shows in 2017 including the revival of the 2001 series "The Tick" for its take on superhero genre, "I Love Dick," a comedy series, and "Jean-Claude Van Johnson," a martial-arts action parody series. These shows will be available in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Australia and Japan for Amazon Prime members.
Earlier this month, Amazon's original show "Transparent," starring Jeffrey Tambor, reaped a couple of awards from the recently concluded Emmy Awards. Yet the company is already back to work, producing more award-winning shows as it announced Tuesday its three new series for its streaming video service.
"These pilots were vast in scope, disruptive in tone, challenging in story and sometimes even funny," said Joe Lewis, Head of Half-Hour Series, Amazon Studios. "It's rewarding to see customers embrace them in such a huge way. We can't wait to premiere these series next year on Prime Video."
Kevin Bacon of "The Following" will play as Dick in the "I Love Dick" show along with co-stars Chris Kathryn Hahn (Chris) and Griffin Dunne (Sylvere). Jean-Claude Van Damme will play the role of the most dangerous undercover private contractor in the world in "Jean-Claude Van Johnson." Lastly, Peter Serafinowicz will play the lead character in "The Tick."
It is no secret that Amazon is planning a big ramp up in content production as it recently declared its goal to become the world's biggest retailer, making its $99 annual Prime membership offer (which includes video streaming and other perks) more attractive. It was in this mission that the company made its decision to greenlight the broadcast of "The Tick," "I Love Dick," and "Jean-Claude Van Johnson."
Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said in an earnings call in July that the company was doubling its spending on video content in the second half of the year versus the amount it spent during the same period in 2015.
The company didn't disclose the specific amount, but speculations say it's probably significant. Amazon spent $1.3 billion on its Prime video service in 2014.
More than the billions of income the company gets from the Prime memberships, Amazon claims that its investment in quality original shows is gaining it a huge cultural influence over TV viewers.
All three series will come to Amazon's streaming video service for Prime members next year, with the specific airing date yet to be disclosed. These shows are based on successful pilot episodes, referred to by Amazon as "the most watched ever."
The pilot episodes for "The Tick" and "Jean-Claude Van Johnson" went beyond Amazon's usual Prime Video enclosure as they were shown on Twitch, a popular video-streaming service for gamers that was acquired by Amazon in 2014.
