Saw a couple of Amazon's pilots. Here's what I thought:
Highston was fun, a Wilfred-esuqe comedy about a young man (who's got a real John Carol Lynch thing going on, not that its a bad thing at all) who has imaignary friends who help him through life. Those friends? Celebrities. Represented in the pilot by Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers and Shaq from, well, basketball. The character actors that show up are great too, Chris Parnell, Mary Lynn Raskjub (sp), Kurt Fuller...
Patriot is a sort of dark comedy about a spy who's trying to go undercover at a plant... it took a LONG time to get started, at least that's how it felt to me. But when it got going, it was interesting. It's sort of like the Coen Bros' "Burn After Reading." I might watch it if it gets picked up.
Good Girls Revolt-- there have been so many period shows that have tried to follow up on Mad Men, but now we finally have one that doesn't feel derivative. It probably helps that it's based on a true story, the rise of female reporters at Newsweek (Nora Ephron is a character in the first episode, which deals with the Hell's Angel murder at the Rolling Stones concert, the Gimme Shelter incident). It's an awesome show, and even pulls off a minor miracle: Jim Belushi is GOOD in it!
And to undo all that feminism is Shane Black's insane western Edge. Dudes. Insane sh1t going on, it's a hard-edged quest for vengeance with geysers of blood, cutting off fingers, nudity from both genders, and just pure evil characters left and right. It kidn of reminds me of video games in a way, particularly things like Grand Theft Auto and, obviously, Red Dead Redemption, which is certainly interesting. The one issue I had is that all women seem to be ho okers or sex objects, even Yvonne Strahovski, who is an undercover inspector, disguises herself as a ho oker even though she ALSO disguises herself as a blacksmith across the street. Having said that, I'm pretty certain this show will get picked up.