Bosch - Amazon Studios

The pilot episode of Bosch is now available on amazon. It's based on Michael Connolly's ongoing series of books and while I haven't read that latter novels the early ones were bloody great. Bosch is one of those great characters that really seems tailor made for the big screen so hopefully amazon will pick this one up. Not had a chance to watch the pilot yet but reviews are very positive and a few have said that it's amongst the best pilots this year.

You can watch the pilot on any of the amazon sites or thorugh the app for PS3, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tNvPsSv9yk

DEFTLEFTHAND

I was always surprised that nobody had made a Bosch series or film over the years considering the success of the books.

Apparently they've made changes to Connolly's character, this 'Bosch' is 16 years younger and a veteran of the first Gulf War instead of Vietnam.

Mars Bar

Michael Connelly is my favourite author. I have every Bosch and Haller book he has written.

I'm kind of afraid to watch this coz I spent so many years with my own little Hollywood, mental images of his house, how he looks (I didn't imagine him as a James Nesbitt look-a-like at all!) etc…

pickarooney

Is that the guy from Lost? One of the black/white eejits at the end.

Mr E

Titus Welliver as Harry? Nice.... Must check this out.

Nice to see Scott Wilson back on the small screen too.

Mars Bar

pickarooney wrote: »

Is that the guy from Lost? One of the black/white eejits at the end.

Don't know, never watched Lost!

Random fact: Titus Welliver's father was a famous painter and Harry Bosch is name after a famous painter.

Bosch, from amazon studios is part of their second wave of pilots from which viewer input will decide which ones get commissioned for a series pick up. Based on the long running series of books by Michael Connelly, Bosch is the kind of old fashioned, hard boiled crime fiction that has become something of a lost art. Connolly has an unprecedented level of input in the pilot, co-writing and producing it, he has been the driving force behind getting the show produced and keeping true to the spirit of the novels.

Combining two novels in the series, City of Bones (2002) and The Concrete Blonde (1994) with some original material, Connelly has taken the characters and world from his novels and reinvented them for the small screen. Titus Welliver plays a much younger Bosch who is quite different from the Bosch we all created in our heads. The Bosch from the novels is reminiscent of someone like Kurt Russell but much like the adaptation of Craig Johnson's Longmire, certain aspects of the character have to be retooled so as to fit in with today's world. Much like Longmire, Bosch is no longer a Vietnam vet though he has a military past, evident form photographs glimpsed in his apartment.

The 50 minutes of Bosch we are shown hints at a rich thematic world. Unlike most, the pilot is not self contained and sets up a number of plots which the show will explore if it gets picked up. Opening with Bosch shooting a suspect the narrative jumps forward 2 years to find Bosch in court being sued by the family of the man he shot. Bosch, never one to enjoy down time heads straight back to his present once court breaks for the weekend and begs to be thrown on the rota for the weekend. Bosh is a character defined by his work and without it he's lost, which is hinted at in a rather humorous exchange between himself and two other detectives whom readers of the series will recognize. For those unfamiliar with the books, just keep an eye out for Mac's dad from It's Always Sunny.

While attending a suicide, Bosch gets a phone call that encapsulates everything that makes him such a fun character. The call relates to dog who has returned found a bone up in the Hollywood Hills. Bosch's demeanor and skepticism perfectly captures the sense of weariness which the character has to spare. The scene is played perfectly, with just he right level of humour to make it into something more than just another call, about just another homicide.

While there's a whole lot going on in this pilot the show never loses momentum and there's a real sense that the writers know exactly how the series will play out. There's nothing here that feels forced or simply there to fill air time and at just under 50 minutes, Bosch is one of the tightest and more refined pilots we've seen in years. Perhaps most impressive of all is how the city of L.A. comes across less like a backdrop and more a character in its own right. A number of locations explored in the novels are glimpsed, as is Connelly himself in a role so fleeting that if you blink you'll miss him.

Bosch is up there with the best procedural airing on TV. It's an accomplished and adult drama that never revels in excessive gratuitous sex or violence and has an authenticity that shows such as Criminal Minds, Castle, etc seriously lack. It's a refreshing change of pace, an adult drama that is adult not for what it shows but how it plays out. Hopefully viewers will be kind and Amazon will take a chance on what could be a real gem of a show.

Just to add, if you watch and like the show make sure to leave a review on the amazon page. The more positive reviews and feedback they get the more of a chance that we will see a full series commissioned.

Agent Coulson

Titus Welliver as Bosch works ok with me as a fan of the books, He of course is nothing like I pictured Bosch but that's ok at least its not as dramatic as Cruise as Reacher.

I really enjoyed the pilot and I think it helps that Michael Connelly seems to be having a hands on deal at the moment as a writer on it. So far what I have seen of the LA in the pilot and the LA I pictures in books works well.

It is one of the best cop/detective pilots I have seen in a while and it does deserve to be picked up.

If you do watch this and like it and want to see more please comment on Amazon,Lovefilm,IMDB etc.

It is free to watch you don't have to join LoveFilm or Amazon Prime to watch it.

Mars Bar

Just watched the pilot.

It gets a thumbs up for me which says a good bit as to how good it is as I'm precious about this series of books!

copacetic

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

I was always surprised that nobody had made a Bosch series or film over the years considering the success of the books.

Apparently they've made changes to Connolly's character, this 'Bosch' is 16 years younger and a veteran of the first Gulf War instead of Vietnam.

Apart from that unknown guy Clint Eastwood like?!

Agent Coulson

copacetic wrote: »

Apart from that unknown guy Clint Eastwood like?!

That wasn't a Bosch Story.

It was a Michael Connelly book but not Bosch. Blood Work was about Terry McCaleb

Matthew McConaughey took on another one of Michael Connelly's books in the The Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller.

This is the first attempt at the Bosch series of books.

Haller, McCaleb and Bosch all live in the same universe though.

copacetic

True, but they made that one because all Bosch rights were tied up by Paramount who wouldn't make any movies. It's the expiry of that in 2010 that made this one possible I suppose once he bought out the development rights.

I count it and Lincoln lawyer as close enough since they are the only ones that could be made I guess and Connelly wrote them without Bosch in them with that in mind is the rumour


Bit of background here

http://m.deadline.com/2010/12/author-michael-connelly-vs-paramount-how-harry-bosch-was-rescued-from-hollywood-development-hell/

don ramo

just watched it there, pretty decent pilot, decent enough cast, i think they filmed it in such a way as to keep cost to a bear minimum, ive never watched an amazon series, and i dont know how last years lot went, but im assuming the budget would expand a bit if this gets a full series order,

ive never read the books, but im very intrigued in the character now that i saw the pilot, i would have thought they would have done more background on him, so that we could understand him better, i read the characters wiki page and there seems to be a very solid background to the character, one that i would love to see translated to screen,

also does lance reddick know how to play any authority figure below captain

Mars Bar

Bosch is a complex character. It's gonna take a lot longer than the Pilot to get to the root of him. I think the shooting and the scene in the bathroom would be enough to make ya think "I want to know more about this guy".

Did they do a TV/Movie thing based on Terry McCaleb?! :eek: I did not know that.
Clint Eastwood was definitely not how I imagined Terry McCaleb to look.

Agent Coulson

Mars Bar wrote: »

Did they do a TV/Movie thing based on Terry McCaleb?! :eek: I did not know that.
Clint Eastwood was definitely not how I imagined Terry McCaleb to look.

Blood Work was turned into a movie about 10/12 years ago off the top of my head Clint directed and stared in it.

It wasn't very good at all sadly.

pickarooney

Is there any legit way to watch this over this side of the world or should I just ask a cousin?

pickarooney

pickarooney wrote: »

Is there any legit way to watch this over this side of the world or should I just ask a cousin?

Love film have it. It takes all of a minute to get a legal copy of it and honestly pirating the show is going to harm its chances if getting picked up.

don ramo

pickarooney wrote: »

Is there any legit way to watch this over this side of the world or should I just ask a cousin?

yeah just watch it on amazon.coms site, its free to watch

http://www.amazon.com/Pilot-HD/dp/B00I3MPDP4

you need to log in to watch it, if you have a .co.uk account its the same details,

pickarooney

Excellent. Never heard of Amazon video before and it's the first site of its kind that is actually available in France.

Amazon have commissioned this for a full series.

JP Liz V1

Titus deserves lead in a show he a great actor

Think that this pick up could be the first we see of a number of great crime fiction getting a series. Amazon seem to offer a lot of creative freedom and it's something that will appeal to writers who retain the rights to their work. Would love to see a Charlie Parker show, each book could be told over 6 episodes or so.

Mr E

I'd love the same with a Jack Reacher series (with a big Jack Reacher, not a 5'7" Tom Cruise).

don ramo

Mr E wrote: »

I'd love the same with a Jack Reacher series (with a big Jack Reacher, not a 5'7" Tom Cruise).

just watch person of interest:D:D

nice to see, the pilot was interesting enough, i wonder how many of the people they can get to commit to the show now,

also i seen alpha house has been renewed by amazon, but there is no info about betas, it will be interesting to see how many shows amazon is capable of juggling over the next few years,

Heckler

Great pilot. Welliver seems good for the role and the story is good. Defo watch more. Hope its a goer.

theteal

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Blood Work was turned into a movie about 10/12 years ago off the top of my head Clint directed and stared in it.

It wasn't very good at all sadly.

understatement of the millennium. It's an abomination. Starts off true to the book and then takes a tangent that will leave any fans of the book shouting "WTF? How could make THAT change?!"

Anyway, I hope Bosch gets made, the pilot is good if not great. There's so much more to Harry to be seen. In my head Bosch will always look like John C Riley but I'm obviously glad he wasn't in the running for the part.

CastorTroy

Ask and you shall receive
http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2014/03/amazon-orders-the-after-transparent-more-pilots-to-series-report.html

brevity

Finally got around to watching this and I'm very impressed. Good production, good writing and good actors apart from perhaps the prosecution lady who I felt was a bit forced.

The pacing was spot on as well, sped up nicely towards the end showing us Bosch's motivation for solving this case. In fact most of the main characters were written quite well and we learn a few bits here and there about them. It was neatly done.

Really looking forward to the series kicking off.

Mars Bar

theteal wrote: »

understatement of the millennium. It's an abomination. Starts off true to the book and then takes a tangent that will leave any fans of the book shouting "WTF? How could make THAT change?!"

Anyway, I hope Bosch gets made, the pilot is good if not great. There's so much more to Harry to be seen. In my head Bosch will always look like John C Riley but I'm obviously glad he wasn't in the running for the part.

Really?

I actually had two very different people in my head. Tom Selleck and Hugh Laurie. Bosch is described as having a 'tache it's obvious why I thought Selleck! It's a strange one to think Hugh Laurie because Bosch is also described as having dark brown eyes. Hugh Laurie has blue eyes but so does Welliver.

Pleasantly surprised with Welliver though. I think he'll do the role justice. He's got a hard face that will play well.

Kurt Russell is Bosch. He's the one person I've always pictured in the role.

Mars Bar

It's happening!

Now that it has been announced as official I can say with great enthusiasm that we are going forward with BOSCH, the screen adaptation of the Harry Bosch novels. I am so excited about this and it would have never come close to happening without the excitement and support of the fan base that watched and rated and shared the pilot thousands and thousands of times. Thank you so much!

I know there are all kinds of questions and most of them have no answers yet. I can tell you this - the first season will be the pilot and nine more episodes. The season will draw from City of Bones, The Concrete Blonde and Echo Park. What is super exciting to me is that the writers' room for the show opens tomorrow and a highly accomplished team of skilled writers will begin sketching out the season and then writing the episodes. I will be there too and am looking forward to taking part.

Probably the biggest question is: when can I see it? Guess what? That's my biggest question too, but for now I don't have an answer. Over the next several weeks the BOSCH creative team will be discussing this at length with Amazon Studios. The deeper question is what is the best way to deliver this story -- all at once or in weekly installments. As soon as I have an answer I can share, I certainly will.

As far as where the show will be available, we know it will be in all Amazon territories, but now that we have the go ahead, we will begin the process of finding homes for the show in other territories around the world. So if you want to see it, let your local providers know. Next week I go to Europe to help in the process of pitching the show to new territories. I think because the Bosch books have already created a fan base in many of these places that we should be successful in interesting broadcast, cable and streaming content providers everywhere.

In addition to all the fans who came out and supported the show, I also need to thank the BOSCH creative team. This certainly has been a team effort with many people on both sides of the camera doing their best work because they already knew and loved the books or wanted to tell an LA story shot in LA. A lot of different reasons brought everyone together for the pilot and it came together in a way that made this decision -- to me, at least -- a no brainer. Thanks so much and keep watching here for updates on this exciting project.

-- Michael Connelly

Agent Coulson

Double thumbs up

Agent Coulson

February can't come fast enough for me now!


Created by Michael Connelly, the show will air exclusively on Amazon Prime Instant Video in February 2015.

Bosch stars Titus Welliver as LAPD detective Harry Bosch, who attempts to solve a 13-year-old boy's homicide. At the same time, he is facing charges after allegedly murdering a serial killer suspect in cold blood.

Jamie Hector, Annie Wersching, Amy Aquino, Amy Price-Francis, Scott Wilson and Lance Reddick also feature.

ElNino

I am just reading the latest Bosch book so I am really looking forward to this.

Agent Coulson

Launch date...

The original series, which is based on Michael Connelly's best-selling novels, is launching on Amazon Prime Instant Video on February 13 in the UK, US and Germany.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/news/a621559/amazon-to-launch-original-series-bosch-in-february.html#~p1mSpdg8eluF5W

Agent Coulson

Just over 3 weeks away

Slippin Jimmy

Is there anyway of viewing this without having a prime account? Can you just pay a one off charge?

theteal

Duffff-Man wrote: »

Is there anyway of viewing this without having a prime account? Can you just pay a one off charge?

I don't know what the craic is with Amazon instant video in Ireland but over here its just like Netflix, £6 pm. I found it very good to begin with but its very annoying that they try to charge extra for newer episodes of shows - this only became apparent after I had become addicted to Parks & Rec and Madmen.

Bosch is literally the sole reason I've not cancelled it yet!

theteal

theteal wrote: »

I don't know what the craic is with Amazon instant video in Ireland but over here its just like Netflix, £6 pm. I found it very good to begin with but its very annoying that they try to charge extra for newer episodes of shows - this only became apparent after I had become addicted to Parks & Rec and Madmen.

Bosch is literally the sole reason I've not cancelled it yet!

They don't try to charge extra, what happens is that once you get caught up to the current airing episodes then Amazon no longer have streaming rights so they offer you the ability to pay to stream them. It's actually not a bad system if you aren't willing to wait till the series is added to Prime or don't have Hulu

kearneybobs

Deleted User wrote: »

They don't try to charge extra, what happens is that once you get caught up to the current airing episodes then Amazon no longer have streaming rights so they offer you the ability to pay to stream them. It's actually not a bad system if you aren't willing to wait till the series is added to Prime or don't have Hulu

I've always thought that it makes it feel like they're holding the latest content to ransom.

kearneybobs

kearneybobs wrote: »

I've always thought that it makes it feel like they're holding the latest content to ransom.

The cost of amazon buying currently airing series to stream on Prime would be incredibly expensive. Look at Hulu, they do just that and the only way they can provide the service at a reasonable price is due to the inclusion of ads. I remember reading before that were Hulu to offer an ad free version the subscription would be about $50 a month. When you have Netflix paying $2-3 million for streaming rights to shows a year after they air, it says it all.

kearneybobs

Deleted User wrote: »

The cost of amazon buying currently airing series to stream on Prime would be incredibly expensive. Look at Hulu, they do just that and the only way they can provide the service at a reasonable price is due to the inclusion of ads. I remember reading before that were Hulu to offer an ad free version the subscription would be about $50 a month. When you have Netflix paying $2-3 million for streaming rights to shows a year after they air, it says it all.

As a consumer, it's frustrating to see the content there, but you have to pay for it on top of your subscription. In a way, I'd rather they didn't have it there at all. Always seemed to wind me up when I went to watch something that was behind a pay wall.

I never watched the pilot, but everything about this show is drawing me in to watch it.

kearneybobs

kearneybobs wrote: »

As a consumer, it's frustrating to see the content there, but you have to pay for it on top of your subscription. In a way, I'd rather they didn't have it there at all. Always seemed to wind me up when I went to watch something that was behind a pay wall.

I never watched the pilot, but everything about this show is drawing me in to watch it.

Amazon Prime and them offering new episodes are separate entities. You don't need a subscription to avail of new TV and while it can be annoying it's understandable. If you want the latest TV then get a Hulu subscription, atm I have Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and will be getting use of my brother's HBO Go soon meaning that I have all the TV I'll ever need.

theteal

Deleted User wrote: »

They don't try to charge extra, what happens is that once you get caught up to the current airing episodes then Amazon no longer have streaming rights so they offer you the ability to pay to stream them. It's actually not a bad system if you aren't willing to wait till the series is added to Prime or don't have Hulu

I wouldn't mind if it was the current airing episodes but, taking for example, madmen is currently airing season 7, Amazon are charging extra from season 4. Similar with parks & rec, they're charging extra from season 3. Its just a little annoying and it would be better if it was clear before you click into a season that its not part of your sub (maybe it does on the website but it doesn't on the xbox).

Amazon are good for their original content though. Transparent is a quality show and obviously Bosch will be awesome!

theteal

OK now stuff has taken a turn. I just tried to watch the Bosch pilot again on my Amazon Instant Video account (xbox and then laptop) but it won't play - the play button has been replaced with at button displaying the text "Sign up for Prime". I have checked on quite a few items in my back catalog and they all do the same thing, nothing will play. My paid for subscription is now absolutely useless, they're pushing me to upgrade to the full Prime account - I have received no notice of any changes.

Just for curiosity, I went through the steps to upgrade to Prime (they're giving 30 days free again - how nice!) but before I could confirm the selection a warning popped up informing me that the service will not work at my address as it's geo-locked. Dafuq is going on????

Mars Bar

Considering they released the pilot as a preview a good few months back, I'm surprised they didn't release two episodes yesterday. I think that would have been better.

Everything is great but I do find the "banter" (for the lack of a better word) between the prosecutor and Harry a bit cringey! Same with the IAD guys.

Slippin Jimmy

Watched the pilot episode of this and thought that it was brilliant. Lots of good actors in it. Looks very promising. Can't wait for the new episodes.

Big Nasty

What do we need to have / do to watch this when it starts on the 13th? Just sign up for an Amazon Prime account?

Really looking forward to this but I'm gonna have a hard time with Welliver as Bosch. I'm just gonna keep seeing Jimmy O from SOA!

Agent Coulson

Tomorrow

Reviews have been very very good so far.

Anyone who watched last years pilot should watch it again as it has been tweeked to fit this 10 episode run.

Agent Coulson

It's up now on Amazon UK.