It's fair to say Greg Daniels has had a bigger impact that most in the word of sitcoms over the past couple of decades. Having played a major role as a writer on both The Simpsons and King of the Hill, he would then go on to create two of the best shows of the 00s.
It was Daniels who created US version of The Office, adapting Ricky Gervais' original show for an American audience. A few years later he would bring us Parks & Recreation. Certainly not a bad resumé.
Now he is back with a new show, with the first season dropping on Amazon Prime this week.
Upload is certainly a bit different to his other offerings, but it has some potential.
It is set in the near future, where those who are near death's door can choose to have their consciousness uploaded to a virtual reality world. This basically let's people choose their own afterlife.
You can get 30 days of Amazon Prime absolutely free right here.
You can watch the trailer for the show below:
The show is summarised as:
In the near future, people who are near death can be “uploaded” into virtual reality environments. Cash-strapped Nora works customer service for the luxurious “Lakeview” digital afterlife.
When party-boy/coder Nathan’s car crashes, his girlfriend uploads him into Nora’s VR world.
All ten episodes of the first season were added to Prime a couple of days ago, and the early reviews are very promising.
Devindra Hardawar of Engadget says it combines elements of various other shows, and does so to great effect:
Take Black Mirror's dystopian tech commentary, The Good Place's philosophical exploration of the after-life, and the workplace antics of The Office, mash them together, and you have Amazon’s Upload...
It's bold and raunchy in a way a network sitcom never could be, and it defies being classified into a single genre. Daniels describes Upload as a "philosophical romantic comedy science fiction murder mystery." And after eagerly binging the series in a few days, that seems like an apt summary.
This could be one to give a go in the coming days.
Don't forget, you can get 30 days of Amazon Prime absolutely free right here.
