As more or less direct competition for Netflix’s House of Cards, Amazon has Alpha House. It’s a comedy, but still manages to capture a lot of what’s wrong with modern politicking. Gary Trudeau’s involvement helps. It may even be a more accurate portrayal in some ways, because it’s not laser focused on power and corruption. The light hearted approach leaves room for some less diabolical absurdity.

There are some long running plot lines, but for the most part it’s much more episodic. Curiously it retains much of the TV format, including a title sequence introducing each character. It’s hard to imagine a viewer “tuning in” to the middle of the series and needing such an intro. All the episodes are available online; why would anyone not start with the first?

Amazon also had a one season run of a show called Betas which I thought was nearly as biting in its parody as Silicon Valley. Amazon may not yet be a first rate producer, but I’ve been impressed with the quality of what they’re turning out in tier two.