Amazon Show ‘Betas’ Gets Greenlight, Focuses On Silicon Valley

Amazon has greenlit the Silicon Valley focused show Betas. The announcement comes just a short time after HBO announced its own Mike Judge created comedy series called Silicon Valley.

According to the e-commerce platform, Betas is a show about “four computer geeks and their quest for nerd fame.”

The new show is being helmed by Heathers director Michael Lehmann. He is the same director who put together 40 Days and 40 Nights and a bunch of American Horror Story and Dexter episodes.

Also producing for the show and taking on some of its directing responsibilities will be Alan Freeland (Guys With Kids, American Dad), Alan Cohen (American Dad), and Michael London (Sideways).

Participating in the show will be Jon Daly, Ed Begley Jr., Joe Dinicol, Margo Harshman, Charlie Saxton, and Karan Soni.

Amazon is attempting to build a TV show lineup that rivals its TV network and Cable TV competitors. The tech company has now greenlit eight comedy pilots which include Alpha House, Browsers, Dark Minions, Onion News Empire, Supanatural, Those Who Can’t, and the highly talked about series Zombieland. The latter was just announced this week with zombie fans and movie lovers clamoring to find more information.

Amazon will air each of the shows pilots and then determine which shows to keep and which pilots to drop based on user feedback. Fans of each show will watch a single episode, and then they will have to wait for months before they can watch a full season if their show is picked up.

With big name directors, producers, and actors (John Goodman) signing on for various Amazon pilots, the company could be on its way to online TV series success. In the meantime, the war for online video streaming dominance is nothing but good news for TV fans who want better scripted TV shows to watch and actually enjoy.