Amazon to debut original series 'Alpha House' Nov. 15, 'Betas' Nov. 22; first three episodes available free for Amazon customers, with additional episodes available each week for Amazon Prime members

Cindy Allen

SEATTLE , November 4, 2013 (press release) – Alpha House to debut November 15; Betas to debut November 22

The first three episodes of each series will be available for free for all Amazon customers, with additional episodes available each week for Amazon Prime members

Are you an Alpha or a Beta? You can decide this month when the four senators-turned-unlikely-roommates of Alpha House and the endearing, young tech industry entrepreneurs of Betas come back to Amazon in 11-episode series. Alpha House debuts November 15 and Betas will follow on November 22.

The first three episodes of each show will be available to all Amazon customers for free via Amazon Instant Video on Kindle Fire, iPad, iPhone, Roku, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and Wii U, and other connected devices, and online at www.amazon.com/AIV. After that, one episode of each show will become available weekly, exclusively on Prime Instant Video. Customers who are not already Prime members can sign up for a trial at www.amazon.com/prime. Those who haven’t already viewed the pilot episodes—or those who want to relive them ahead of the series debuts—can access them now on any Amazon Instant Video app or at www.amazon.com/AIV.

“Based on customers’ enthusiastic response to the pilot episodes we are counting down the days until we can share more of the political and entrepreneurial exploits of our Alpha House and Betas characters. Our goal is to make great TV shows that customers will love and we hope they’re going to love these shows,” said Roy Price, Director of Amazon Studios. “We will release three episodes upfront for all customers so they can try out the shows and get to know the characters. Then we will release new episodes via Prime Instant Video week by week so that customers can chat about the shows and build up anticipation. We’re constantly experimenting and trying new things—and we’re eager to hear customers’ feedback on this model.”

Alpha House, which was written by Academy Award nominee and Pulitzer Prize winner Garry Trudeau and produced by Trudeau, Elliot Webb and Jonathan Alter, is a comedy about four misfit senators (John Goodman, Clark Johnson, Matt Malloy and Mark Consuelos) who rent a house together in Washington DC. The roomies are joined by Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City), Amy Sedaris (Strangers with Candy), Wanda Sykes (Curb Your Enthusiasm), and Julie White (Go On), who share in the outrageous—and sometimes all-too-real—follies of Washington politics.

“The first season is about the fight for survival among incumbent Republican senators first elected in the pre-Tea Party era. Even though they’re all solidly conservative, three of the four senators living in Alpha House are facing strong primary challenges from the right. The struggle to hold onto their core values drives both the comedy and the drama in our show,” said Garry Trudeau. “We think we’ve kept the show realistic in its essential details, while taking broad satirical liberties you might expect. We also tried to make a few political points along the way, but mostly, we wanted the show to be as much fun for the audience as we and the cast had making it.”

Set in the land of Silicon Valley start-ups, Betas, written by Evan Endicott and Josh Stoddard, follows four friends as they attempt to strike it rich with a new mobile social networking app. Joe Dinicol, Karan Soni, Jon Daly, Charlie Saxton, and Maya Erskine star in the show, with special appearances from Ed Begley Jr. (Arrested Development, St. Elsewhere). Michael Lehmann directs and produces the show along with Emmy Award winners Alan Freedland and Alan Cohen, and Academy Award nominee Michael London.

“We’re thrilled that Amazon has given us the creative freedom to produce a show like Betas,” said Alan Freedland. “And we’re excited for audiences to watch it on their TVs, tablets, phones...and devices not yet invented.”

About Amazon Studios

Amazon Studios launched in 2010 as a new way to develop feature films and episodic series—one that’s open to great ideas from creators and audiences around the world. Anyone can upload a script and will then be notified within 45 days if that script is optioned. Amazon Studios will read and review all submissions and those who choose to make their projects public may also receive feedback from the Amazon Studios community. Recently, Amazon Studios announced 11 new pilots including: kids pilots Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street, Grid Smasher, Hard-Boiled Eggheads, The Jo B. & G. Raff Show, The Maker Shack Agency, Wishenpoof!; comedy pilots Mozart in the Jungle, The Rebels and Transparent; and drama pilots Bosch and The After. The pilots will be available on Amazon Instant Video and LOVEFiLM early next year for all customers to watch and provide feedback. This fall, Amazon Studios will debut its first comedy series Alpha House and Betas available exclusively on Prime Instant Video and Amazon LOVEFiLM in the UK.

Since launch, more than 19,000 movie scripts and 5,000 series projects have been submitted to Amazon Studios. Amazon Studios continues to invite series creators to upload their proposals for drama, comedy and children’s programming at http://studios.amazon.com/getting-started/series or submit them privately via Amazon Studios.

Comprehensive cast and crew information, including bios and filmographies, is available on Amazon’s IMDb (www.imdb.com), the world’s most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle Paperwhite is the world’s best-selling and most advanced e-reader. It features new display technology with higher contrast, the next generation built-in light, a faster processor, the latest touch technology, and exclusive new features designed from the ground up for readers. Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle, features improved fonts and faster page turns. The new Kindle Fire HDX features a stunning exclusive 7” or 8.9” HDX display, a quad-core 2.2 GHz processor, 2x more memory, and 11 hours of battery life, as well as exclusive new features of Fire OS 3.0 including X-Ray for Music, Second Screen, Prime Instant Video downloads, and the revolutionary new Mayday button. The all-new Kindle Fire HD includes an HD display, high-performance processor and dual speakers at a breakthrough price.

Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, www.amazon.es, www.amazon.com.br, www.amazon.in, and www.amazon.com.mx. As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management’s expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment and data center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com’s financial results is included in Amazon.com’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.

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