Amazon To Not Only Produce TV Shows – It Will Let Viewers Decide If They Will be Green Lighted

Incredible Concept – Means Maybe Network Execs Aren’t the Smartest People in the World

We all get to laugh at the big shot network programmers who think they, and they alone know what the public wants to see.  These execs put on a huge number of programs that fail, and pass on a huge number of programs that are ultimately successful.  Amazon has a better idea, why not let the people who will actually watch the shows decide if they should be produced.

Amazon is letting viewers help choose its new lineup of TV shows, scuttling a secretive, wasteful process once reserved for Hollywood taste-makers.

The online retailing giant will let visitors from the U.S, U.K. and Germany watch, rate and critique 14 pilot episodes the company has bankrolled. Viewer comments will help the company decide which shows — if any — get the green light.

"Why follow the guru method when you don't have to anymore?" says Roy Price, director of Amazon Studios. "The audience is out there and the audience is interested. We might as well make them a partner in the process."

Will TV get any better?  Probably not.  As for NBC, which recently finished fifth in the rating behind even a Spanish speaking network, it could get worse.  NBC could finish behind Amazon.