Amazon Pilot Season

It's pilot season for Amazon again. I've seen all six, here are my thoughts below. We'll have to see what series, if any, get picked up.

Half Hour Shows:
Highston
Starring: Lewis Pullman, Chris Parnell, Mary Lynn Rajskub, and Curtis Armstrong
Synopsis: Amazon, and others, probably classify their half-hour pilots as comedies. But there were three of them, and none of them were funny. "Highston" is probably the closest to a comedy. But it's not great. It's about a kid who sees famous people. He's mentally ill, but those not real people — like Flea and Shaq — offer amusing advice. Let's all laugh... or not. I didn't care for this pilot and I can't imagine watching this as a full length show.
Pilot Grade: D

One Mississippi
Starring: Tig Notaro, Casey Wilson and John Rothman
Synopsis: This is another Amazon half-hour, and it's also decidedly not real funny. Tig Notary has a rough personal story, and this show seems a bit based on that. The pilot is about Tig going home, to Mississippi, as her mother dies, she struggles with cancer and its side effects, and tries to find her place in the world. There were some moments of genuine emotion that I thought worked, but overall I wasn't wild about this pilot. Still, given the dearth of greatness in this pilot season, this might be one of the more watchable options.
Pilot Grade: C-

Z: The Beginning of Everything
Starring: Christina Ricci and David Straithairn
Synopsis: This series, based on the early life of Zelda Fitzgerald, was probably the worst of the new pilots I saw. And that's saying something. Of the six shows, I'm not sure there is one I'd be excited to watch. But this half-hour pilot, directed by Tim Blake Nelson, was a painful experience. I didn't care about the characters and I thought it was a mess in terms of tone. Those are all very bad signs.
Pilot Grade: F

Hour Long Shows:
Edge
Starring: Max Martini, Ryan Kwanten, and Yvonne Strahovski
Synopsis: I have long been a fan of Shane Black. I loved what he did in creating "Lethal Weapon," and I love "Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang." Black co-wrote and directed this pilot, which is a western. It's set just after the Civil War and features a man (Martini) seeking vengeance against a fellows soldier (Kwanten) that killed his brother. Of course, the pilot features plenty of action and violence, and hints to something deeper in this story. It also hints to Strahovski actually having a role if the show got a full pick up. I didn't love the pilot, but it was somewhat interesting. I just don't know how a western revenge story works as a weekly series, particularly in 2015. It's different, but that might not be enough.
Pilot Grade: C

Good Girls Revolt
Starring: Genevieve Angelson, Anna Camp, Grace Gummer, Hunter Parrish, Jim Belushi, and Chris Diamantopoulos
Synopsis: This is a show set at a news magazine in 1969. Our culture is exploding and the times, they are a changing. But it's a slow process. The ladies working at this magazine are talented writers and tenacious reporters, but their names never make it to print. When they try to change the status quo, people aren't having it. So they might have to go outside the system. There's enough material here, and enough interesting characters, that I could see this as a series. I didn't love the pilot, but I might like it more in future episodes. Sometimes it takes dramas a while to find their footing. This feels like it might be one of those shows. There were interesting moments in the pilot, but I expected something bigger to happen at the climax. Perhaps that's coming if the show is picked up.
Pilot Grade: C

Patriot
Starring: Michael Dorman, Kurtwood Smith, and Terry O'Quinn
Synopsis: This was the best of the Amazon pilots this time around, but not by a wide margin. I could just see some potential in this series, which is about a spy in deep cover as an engineer. Except the spy is having some trouble and tries to work it out through a little too honest folk songs. There was a fun blend of some humor and drama in this pilot, and I liked Dorman in the lead role. This is the only one of the six that I was genuinely curious about where the series might go. That's not to say I think it's a slam dunk. But I was curious, which was a big step up from most of these pilots.
Pilot Grade: C+