'Transparent': Where Amazon TV stands as the show's second season debuts
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The critically acclaimed program 鈥淭ransparent鈥 will soon debut its second season on Amazon.
Amazon, which was previously best known as an online retailer, debuted the show starring 鈥淎rrested Development鈥 actor Jeffrey Tambor in early 2014. The program quickly racked up awards and nominations, with the show being nominated for best comedy series at the Emmy Awards and Tambor winning the award for best actor in a comedy at both the Emmys and the Golden Globes.
The full second season of the show will debut on Dec. 11 (the first episode is already online). How have Amazon鈥檚 fortunes changed in the TV world since the debut of the first and second season of 鈥淭ransparent鈥?聽
鈥淭ransparent鈥 certainly put Amazon on the map as a provider of original content. The show and Tambor鈥檚 performance quickly got critics鈥 attention and garnered awards. The company had debuted the John Goodman comedy 鈥淎lpha House鈥 before, but 鈥淎lpha鈥 didn鈥檛 get half the attention that 鈥淭ransparent鈥 gained.聽
As with competitor Netflix, we don鈥檛 have as clear a view of whether a show is a success or a failure when it鈥檚 on streaming as we would with, say, a broadcast show, where viewership numbers would be available. However, it鈥檚 safe to say 鈥淭ransparent鈥 is the Amazon program that has gotten the most attention.
Amazon debuted the police program 鈥淏osch鈥 earlier this year and the show got mostly positive reviews. When it debuted, the show became Amazon鈥檚 most-watched series in the program鈥檚 debut weekend.聽
Meanwhile, the 2014 classical music show 鈥淢ozart in the Jungle鈥 was well-received by reviewers but the show doesn鈥檛 seem to have gained wide recognition yet. (A second season of 鈥淢ozart鈥 debuts later this month.)
Amazon had an outright misfire with the show 鈥淗and of God,鈥 which stars Ron Perlman and debuted this fall. Critics panned the program and there鈥檚 no news yet on whether the show will get a second season.聽
However, with 鈥淭ransparent鈥 and 鈥淏osch鈥 (if the popularity of the latter show continues), Amazon has two hits. It has yet to attain the cultural ubiquity and stable of high-profile programs of, for example, Netflix, but the company has shown that acclaimed shows can find a home there.聽
Amazon鈥檚 original programming is still a work in progress, but the streaming service has already gotten its name into the increasingly crowded TV conversation. Now it just has to maintain its momentum.