Prime Video has come a good distance. It’s now the second-most-subscribed video-on-demand streaming media service in America, after Netflix, with over 205 million paid memberships. The platform consists of movies and tv reveals produced or co-produced by Amazon MGM Studios, or licensed to it by different manufacturing firms as Amazon Originals. It additionally hosts loads of content material from different suppliers through momentary licensing offers.
From Reacher to The Boys, the streaming service has had many unique hit reveals up to now few years. And it continues to put money into extra. A report at the start of 2025 revealed that Amazon deliberate to spend $9.1 billion in content material all year long. Given the massive library, it’s simple to overlook what got here first. Nicely, the earliest Prime Video reveals have been fairly respectable.
Right here’s how the primary 10 Prime unique reveals ever rank towards one another on Rotten Tomatoes.
10
‘Hand of God’ (2014 – 2017)
Rotten Tomatoes: 30%
Hand of God stars Ron Perlman as Harris Pernell, a corrupt choose who suffers a psychological breakdown after his son makes an attempt suicide. Believing he’s seeing visions, he turns into satisfied that God is driving him onto a path of vigilante justice. He thus turns into a member of a cult-like church referred to as Hand of God, led by the doubtful preacher (portrayed by Julian Morris), and begins partaking in every kind of bizarre practices.
A Choose With Poor Judgment
The wonderful thing about Harris is that he’s a really conflicted man, so we get to see Perlman showcasing a variety of feelings, and the present, as a complete, is by far at its greatest when it sticks with manipulation. After Season 1, critics famous that the crime drama “boasts a gifted solid and intriguing premise, however neither is sufficient to overcome a powerful lack of significant drama or impactful thrills.” For the second season, they didn’t care to provide a consensus, a transparent signal that that they had been bored. Startup followers can be glad that the sequence turned out to be a multitude. With out it, Perlman wouldn’t have moved on to the engrossing Crackle crime drama.
9
‘Mad Canine’ (2015 – 2016)
Rotten Tomatoes: 66%
Bored with the every day grind, Milo (Billy Zane) has opted for early retirement, and that’s no downside as a result of he’s now rich, with a mansion in Belize. Mad Canine opens together with his buddies Lex (Michael Imperioli, Joel (Ben Chaplin), Gus (Romany Malco), and Cobi (Steve Zahn), arriving from totally different elements of the nation to rejoice the selection with him, just for them to be taunted by a mask-wearing hitman of brief stature often known as The Cat (Mark Povinelli).
Getaway-Gone-Incorrect
Whether or not or not you need Mad Canine, the present calls on your consideration, proper from the opening minute. And what an amazing selection of a villain. The presence of The Cat provides appreciable weight to a buddy drama that in any other case may simply have been kitsch and gummy. In a stunning transfer, Prime selected to not renew for a second season, but critics on Rotten Tomatoes have been impressed, summarizing that the sequence “boasts thrilling twists and a wealthy panorama.” Nonetheless, additionally they famous that it “squanders its gifted actors on stale midlife-crisis observations.” Certainly, we may have seen extra from Christopher… sorry… Michael Imperioli.
8
‘Good Women Revolt’ (2015–2016)
Rotten Tomatoes: 71%
Good Women Revolt celebrates and sympathizes with a bunch of younger feminine writers on the fictional Information of the Week journal (representing the actual Newsweek Journal of the non-fiction e book The Good Women Revolt) within the ‘60s. Bored with being confined to low-level positions as researchers and by no means receiving credit score for his or her work, they resolve to do one thing about it.
Demanding Extra
The magic of Good Women Revolt is refined, however wholly impactful. The relevance of the sequence title turns into obvious when the activism undertaken by the central characters turns into one thing extra than simply private objectives. They get to alter the complete business. Critics beloved it, evaluating it to different ’60s-set reveals and noting that it “encompasses a compelling true story, advised by a gifted solid, even when the interval drama hasn’t but achieved Mad Males-level mastery.”
7
‘Alpha Home’ (2013 – 2014)
Rotten Tomatoes: 79%
There’s a fairly attention-grabbing residing association in Alpha Home. 4 Republican senators — Robert Bettencourt (Clark Johnson), Gil John Biggs (John Goodman), Louis Laffer (Matt Malloy), and Andy Guzman (Mark Consuelos) — share a home in Washington, D.C. Unsurprisingly, egos maintain clashing, leading to hilarious situations.
By no means Too Outdated To Have Enjoyable
For the primary season, critics mentioned that Alpha Home had “an unfocused comedy type,” however acknowledged that it “incorporates practical themes and concrete performances that wrangle sporadic chuckles”. There was no consensus the second time round, however an improved rating suggests they have been happier. There’s no arguing with their conclusion for this political satire present. All the primary solid members are credible as politicians keen to do something to spice up their careers. And the targeted, nearly claustrophobic course brilliantly captures the human desperation and acute sense of chaos emanating from the bigger DC space.
6
‘The Man within the Excessive Fort’ (2015 – 2019)
Rotten Tomatoes: 84%
Produced by Ridley Scott, The Man within the Excessive Fort imagines a world the place the Axis Powers gained World Conflict II as a substitute of the Allied Powers. This occurred after the Nazi-led alliance dropped a significant atomic bomb on Washington, D.C. Consequently, America is now dominated by Germany and Japan.
Not an Very best World
The Man within the Excessive Fort is usually characterised as allegorical, however the symbolism solely exists for these decided to search for it. Most viewers will see solely a traditional Nazi-versus-America yarn, one that’s sustained by some stress, nice performances, and neat characterization. Licensed critics on Rotten Tomatoes have been ecstatic when the alternate-history story started, noting that it was “not like anything on TV, with an instantly engrossing plot pushed by rapidly developed characters in a completely realized post-WWII dystopia.” Evaluations remained pretty good for the remainder of the present’s run.
5
‘Betas’ (2013 – 2014)
Rotten Tomatoes: 85%
Betas lampoons the conventions of Silicon Valley as 4 quirky buddies work onerous to develop the subsequent massive relationship app, and, hopefully, make themselves billionaires. The chums — Trey (Joe Dinicol), Hobbes (Jonathan C. Daly), Nash (Karan Soni), and Mitchell (Charlie Saxton) — discover themselves in every kind of awkward situations as they chase funding, make pitches, and face irascible rivals who consider they’re higher than anybody else.
Chasing Love, at Work and at Residence
”Betas‘ first season suffers from occasional unevenness, however presents a well timed techie narrative stuffed with Millennial raunch and wit,” mentioned critics on the overview aggregation web site. Unevenness? What unevenness? The present is quite a lot of enjoyable, and also you simply would possibly get the urge to be taught coding. Moreover, viewers get handled to some cool romance arcs the place nothing ever works out completely. It’s all fumbling and beginning once more. There actually must have been multiple season of this.
4
‘Clear’ (2014 – 2019)
Rotten Tomatoes: 91%
Clear facilities on the Los Angeles household, the Pfeffermans, who be taught that their mother or father (Jeffrey Tambor) is a trans girl, and she or he now goes by Maura. The sequence examines the results of her selections on these near her.
A Deeper Dive Into Queer Life
With a present like Clear, it’s at all times a assure that not everybody goes to see the joke, however this stays a heartwarming story wrapped round a watershed interval in sexuality, and all of the stronger for its mix of private triumph, introspection, and heartbreak. Critics praised it for “elevating the bar for programming with sophistication and honest dedication to the human journey,” and for “retaining the poignancy and humor which have made it such a constantly entertaining instance of one of the best that fashionable serial drama has to supply.”
3
‘Purple Oaks’ (2014 – 2017)
Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Purple Oaks retains it easy. It’s all about David (Craig Roberts), a university pupil who takes up a job on the Purple Oaks Jewish nation membership in New Jersey through the 1985 summer time break. There, he will get to have attention-grabbing adventures with buddies, household, coworkers, and membership members.
Colourful and Enjoyable
The all-too-relevant themes of socioeconomic mobility, adolescence, and the pursuit of pleasure make Purple Oaks a intelligent present than it appears to be like, however most credit score belongs to newcomer Craig Roberts, an emblem of grace below fireplace who tunnels proper into your coronary heart. The ultimate phrase from RT critics varies per chapter, however the reward is constant. In Season 1, they label the sequence “an affectionate nod to Eighties intercourse comedies,” and in Season 3, they acknowledge that it’s the sort of providing that’s “powerful to beat as a rose-tinted look on the previous.”
2
‘Bosch’ (2014 – 2021)
Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
Tailored from Michael Connelly’s novels, Echo Park, The Concrete Blonde, and Metropolis of Bones, Bosch follows LAPD detective Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver) as he solves totally different difficult instances. The present shuns the villain-of-the-week format widespread in many of the standard procedurals for a serialized story involving deranged criminals.
A Extra Restrained Cop Present
Bosch’s plots are particularly rewarding for his or her fealty each to Michael Connelly’s works and to the unequalled artistry of lead actor Titus Welliver. It’s a gradual burn, but you’ll by no means get bored. RT-certified critics acknowledged the expansion. In Season 1, they referred to as it “an uneven boilerplate police drama”, however by Season 3, they have been singing its praises for “deftly interweaving story strands as sprawling as a Los Angeles intersection.”
1
‘Mozart within the Jungle’ (2014 – 2018)
Rotten Tomatoes: 95%
Classical music hardly ever will get the identical love on tv because it does in motion pictures, however Mozart within the Jungle modifications that. No! This isn’t a biographical story in regards to the legendary Amadeus, however about Hailey, a younger oboist performed by Lola Kirke, dreaming of the large break, and Rodrigo (Gael García Bernal), a conductor. Hailey’s purpose is to play for the New York Symphony. Will she handle?
The Pleasure of Love and Music
Mozart within the Jungle is an unbelievable, shifting, and extremely absorbing present that sees its characters emerge from toil and obscurity to grow to be one thing. Garcia is astonishing because the meditative conductor, and different actors additionally showcase their religious reference to music with masterful subtlety, whereas making us all really feel real sympathy for his or her rapturous, oft-uneven lives. Most critic summaries point out Garcia, too, with the primary ever one noting that he “makes the present sing,” regardless of its area of interest nature. After the ultimate chapter, critics praised the present for “providing a considerate view of the problems of blending relationships with work.”
Mozart within the Jungle
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Lola Kirke
Hailey Rutledge
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Saffron Burrows
Cynthia Taylor
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Bernadette Peters
Gloria Windsor
