Over the last two years, Amazon has tried to challenge Netflix in creating original shows.
While Amazon's first few attempts didn't make much of an impact, it scored its first blockbuster hit with 2014's "Transparent," a comedy-drama about a family trying to make sense of a father's transition from man to woman. The show won two Golden Globes last year, for best actor and best TV series in the musical or comedy category.
This year another Amazon show, "Mozart in the Jungle," which chronicles the scandalous lives of classical musicians, was just nominated for two Golden Globes. ("Transparent" was nominated for three.)
But are the rest of Amazon's shows any good? Amazon doesn't release figures on how many people are watching, so it's hard to tell how popular a show is. You can gauge by how much its being talked about in the media, but that isn't necessarily a reliable indicator of quality.
To understand how Amazon's eight shows ranked against each other, we turned to reviews aggregator Metacritic, which pulls in critic (and audience) reviews from all over the world. As we did with our recent look at Netflix's original shows, we excluded shows acquired from other networks and shows made for kids. We just looked at how the dramas and comedies compared to each other.
The data certainly seems to indicate that Amazon is getting better at making shows as time passes — although it has had one epic flop this season. Here are Amazon's original shows, ranked based on their critical reception:
SEE ALSO: RANKED: All 16 of Netflix's original shows from best to worst
8. "Hand of God"— 44/100
Average critic score (19 critics): 44/100
Audience score: 6.8/10
Amazon description: "A psychological drama about a morally-corrupt judge who suffers a breakdown and believes God is compelling him onto a path of vigilante justice."
7. "Alpha House"— 68/100
Average critic score (18 critics): 68/100
Audience score: 6.8/10
Amazon description: "They work in the Senate. They live in the house - Alpha House."
6. "Betas"— 69/100
Average critic score (8 critics): 69/100
Audience score: 7.5/10
Amazon description: "Trey and his guys have an app, and a plan — now they need an investor. It's party-crashing time."
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