Amazon Freevee announces multiple pickups
May 3, 2022
At the Amazon presentation at NewFronts, Amazon Freevee (formerly IMDb TV) has announced an increased slate of premium Originals, with multiple pickups of scripted and unscripted content.
The free streaming service greenlit a new cooking competition series called America’s Test Kitchen: The Next Generation, the coming-of-age drama Beyond Black Beauty, the family competition series Play-Doh Squished and the music documentary Post Malone: Runaway.
Amazon Freevee also picked up a second season of Bosch: Legacy and a third and fourth season of UNINTERRUPTED’s Top Class: The Life and Times of the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers.
“Amazon Freevee is a trailblazer in the AVoD space, reimagining, redefining and levelling up the quality of content offered by a free streaming service,” said Lauren Anderson and Ryan Pirozzi, co-heads of content and programming, Amazon Freevee. “By developing and programming inspired, fan-favourite Original series and movies—produced and delivered by Amazon Studios in partnership with some of the industry’s best creators and studio partners—and by securing exclusive, highly sought licensed content, we have built a destination where viewers know they can discover and enjoy something new or indulge in something they already love. We’ve also built a home for talent where their ideas will be nurtured and brought to life and are building a brand where advertisers know they will find popular, compelling programming. Today’s announcements about our upcoming slate showcase our continued commitment to delivering customers the premium content they crave—always free of charge.”
Spanning scripted and unscripted programming, Amazon Freevee Original greenlights and additional season pickups announced at NewFronts include:
- America’s Test Kitchen: The Next Generation (Greenlight): A new unscripted competition series to find the next dynamic talent to join the America’s Test Kitchen (ATK) team. Contestants will work inside the ATK studio kitchens, undergoing intense culinary and media challenges in the job interview of a lifetime. The last cook standing will receive a starring role on ATK. America’s Test Kitchen: The Next Generation is executive produced by David Nussbaum, Jack Bishop, David Lonner, and Mark Itkin.
- Beyond Black Beauty (Greenlight): Inspired by the beloved novel, Beyond Black Beauty is a coming-of-age dramedy that follows Jolie Dumont, an equestrian with Olympic aspirations whose journey is suddenly halted when her mother, Janelle, moves them from their posh Belgium life to Janelle’s childhood home in Baltimore. From Amazon Studios, the Emmy-winning production company Sinking Ship Entertainment and Leif Films, Beyond Black Beauty is executive produced by Pilar Golden, Leif and Agnes Bristow, J.J. Johnson and Carla de Jong.
- Bosch: Legacy – Season Two (Pickup): Prior to the first season premiere on May 6th, Amazon Freevee has picked up a second season of the spinoff series, which follows retired homicide detective turned private investigator Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver) as he fights to work cases without the authority his former job provided. Bosch: Legacy, from Fabel Entertainment, is executive produced by Michael Connelly, Eric Overmyer, Tom Bernardo, Henrik Bastin, Pieter Jan Brugge and Titus Welliver.
- Play-Doh Squished (Greenlight): Sarah Hyland hosts this fast-paced, family competition series where three teams of four family members and/or friends compete in a series of physical and creative challenges. To take home the grand prize, teams must combine imagination and inspiration with Play-Doh compound as the medium. Play-Doh Squished is produced by Amazon Studios and eOne. Executive producers are Tara Long and Will Erb for eOne, alongside Allison Berkley and Briana Vowels, who serve as showrunners. Host Hyland is also an executive producer on the series.
- Post Malone: Runaway (Greenlight): A one-hour music documentary showcasing the story of Grammy-nominated Post Malone’s first arena tour, 2019’s The Runaway Tour.. From Pulse Films and Federal Films, Post Malone: Runaway was created by BAFTA-nominated Hector Dockrill and written and produced by Sam Bridger and Casey Engelhardt. The film is executive produced by Dre London, Austin Rosen and Bobby Greenleaf.
- UNINTERRUPTED’s Top Class: The Life and Times of the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers – Seasons Three and Four (Pickup): The Original docuseries showcases the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers, one of Southern California’s elite high school basketball teams, as they chase championship history and balance school, friendships and their budding basketball careers. Season Three will take viewers on a journey as the Trailblazers put it all on the line to regain their spot as the ‘22 CIF-champions. Amari Bailey, Shy Odom, Bronny James and Dylan Metoyer return, with Kijani Wright, Isaiah Elohim and Mike Price as new additions to the roster. LeBron James and Maverick Carter will return as executive producers with their Sports Emmy Award-winning athlete empowerment brand, UNINTERRUPTED. Also returning are executive producers Jamal Henderson, Devin Johnson and Philip Byron; co-executive producer Camille Maratchi; and showrunner/director Brendon Carter.
Amazon Freevee announced a 70 per cent year-over-year increase to its Originals slate, including the upcoming spinoff of Amazon’s longest-running Original series, Bosch: Legacy, premiering May 6th, and a new home-design series, Hollywood Houselift with Jeff Lewis, premiering June 10th. Additional Originals in various stages of production for the free streaming service include Greg Garcia’s comedy series Sprung, premiering this summer; High School, a scripted series adapted for television by Clea DuVall, produced by Plan B, and based on the New York Times best-selling memoir by Grammy-nominated, platinum recording artists Tegan and Sara Quin; Primo, the coming-of-age comedy from Michael Schur and Shea Serrano; and On Call, the half-hour procedural drama from prolific TV producer Dick Wolf. Amazon Freevee also recently announced the Season Two pickup of Judy Justice, streaming’s first daily court programme helmed by television icon Judge Judy Sheindlin.