It's Amazon's turn to get into the original series game. The Internet heavyweight premiered its first original series, political sitcom Alpha House, this month with three episodes streaming for free on Amazon Instant Video.
Alpha House is a solid entry. It's amusing, visually appealing and has a great cast. The quality is there, though it might not be groundbreaking enough to make you cancel your Netflix subscription, and it is unlikely to incite the same level of laughs as your favorite TV comedies.
See also: 'Orange Is the New Black' Is Netflix's Most-Watched Original Series
You've got to admire the fact that Amazon went all-in with choosing a political themed series, Netflix comparisons be damned. But House of Cards this is not. Alpha House is more of a tamer, nicer, less obscenity-filled Veep than anything else, hewing closer to an HBO comedy than the hourlong dramas Netflix has produced.
Alpha House follows the politically incorrect adventures of four Republican senators living in a Washington, D.C., townhouse together. They dip into a bowl full of American flag pins on their kitchen counter and fasten them to their lapels as they leave the house, then go about their work days talking about family values and other stereotypically conservative topics. In private, however, these men aren't as pious as they present themselves in public.

John Goodman (Roseanne, Argo) chews an awful lot of scenery as Sen. Gil John Biggs, a North Carolina representative who finds out he'll soon be running for re-election against the beloved Duke basketball coach. He's clearly having fun, but that Southern accent is mighty distracting. Clark Johnson brings some gravitas to the group as Robert Bettencourt, the smooth-talking, smart Senate veteran with an ethics problem.
Matt Malloy is funniest as the closeted Louis Laffer, who attempts to hit on his female employees and accepts a "Say No to Sodomy" Award from an organization celebrating "Normal Marriage" just to seem straighter in public.
Mark Consuelos is the standout here, though, as Andy Guzman, the suave, womanizing Cuban-American junior senator from Miami. He is the perfect mix of smarmy and respectable. He'd probably make a great politician.
The supporting cast is strong, particularly Cynthia Nixon (; pictured above) as a Democrat forging a bipartisan agreement with Biggs and Bettencourt. You'll do a double-take when Haley Joel Osment appears as a news reporter who follows the House mates on an Afghanistan trip as they try to bolster their images to appeal to voters. Alpha House comes from Doonesbury author Garry Trudeau, and once you make that connection, you won't miss it. Alpha House is the televised equivalent of a Doonesbury cartoon : entertaining and topical but won't keep you laughing out loud for very long, if at all. Doonesbury leans liberal, but Alpha House isn't necessarily making a mockery of its conservative characters' politics (at least, not in the first three episodes). It pokes more fun at the hypocrisy of the political system in general, the differences in the public images assumed by our representatives and their true personal beliefs. The first three episodes of Alpha House are available to all Amazon customers for free, but the subsequent eight installments will be released weekly only to Amazon Prime customers. In other words, you'll have to pay for those. While House of Cards and Orange is the New Black are definitely worth shelling out the money for, Alpha House might not be. Perhaps it's because Alpha House is a half-hour comedy, or perhaps it's because most people presumably already pay for other streaming video services from websites dedicated solely to online video. Either way, though, paying for Amazon Prime just to watch this show just doesn't seem worth it. However, that free shipping is a pretty good deal. With Betas launching on Nov. 22 and Amazon's three children's shows — Annebots, Creative Galaxy and Tumbleaf — scheduled for early 2014, it could be worth your money after all. Besides, Hulu Plus' original series have fluctuated wildly in quality, but the good ones certainly make it worth the monthly membership fee. Amazon Studios tried a new approach in choosing which shows to produce. It put all of its 13 pilots online in April, then allowed users to watch and vote for their favorites. The shows ordered to series were then culled from those with the top votes; Alpha House and Betas got 11-episode orders. "The success of this first set of pilots has given us the push to try this approach with even more shows — this is just the beginning," Amazon Studios Director Roy Price said. Alpha House is a promising start, and hopefully the next batch of Amazon shows will retain the same quality. If Betas and the children's shows can compete with Netflix's successes, Amazon will certainly be considered a streaming content contender. Images: Amazon; Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images