Amazon Studios is trying something different for the June premiere of British comedy Catastrophe.
Instead of debuting the Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan series on its own video platform, Amazon will stream the pilot on its Facebook page. The first episode of the half-hour series will be exclusive to Facebook for a 48-hour period beginning June 15 at 4 p.m. PT.
Amazon has traditionally made pilots of its original series available for free through Prime Instant Video so that audiences could vote on which pilots they want to see picked up to series. People who want to watch the full series then have to pay $99 a year to subscribe to Amazon Prime. But Catastrophe, which has already aired on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, was picked up outside of Amazon’s pilot voting process, meaning that audiences didn’t have the opportunity to watch the pilot for free. Making the pilot available on Facebook could help introduce the series to new viewers and entice them to sign up for Prime to watch the whole season.
Catastrophe, which comes from Avalon Television and co-producers Birdbath Productions and Merman, began airing its six-episode first season in the U.K. on January 19 and Amazon announced 10 days later that it had acquired the exclusive U.S. rights to the series. Channel 4 has already renewed it for a second season.
Catastrophe tells the story of an American man (Delaney) and Irish woman (Horgan) who struggled to start a relationship after she gets pregnant. Carrie Fisher and Ashley Jensen (Ugly Betty). Delaney and Horgan created the series and executive produce alongside Richard Allen-Turner, Kara Baker and Jon Thoday. Jack Bayles and Ben Taylor produce.
