Alpha House is an American political satire television series produced by Amazon Studios. The show stars John Goodman, Clark Johnson, Matt Malloy, and Mark Consuelos as four Republican U.S. Senators who share a house in Washington, D.C. It was created by Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau. The show premiered on Amazon Prime Video on April 19, 2013.
The series was inspired by several real Democratic Senators who shared a row house in Washington D.C. The series has a number of cameos from celebrities such as Bill Murray (as Senator Vernon Smits) and politicians such as Chuck Schumer as himself. Amazon Studios offered the first three episodes of Alpha House for free, with each subsequent episode released weekly thereafter for Amazon Prime members on Amazon Prime Video.
On February 11, 2014, the series was renewed for a second season and the production for the second season began filming in July 2014. The entire second season became available on Amazon.com on October 24, 2014. The series was canceled after the second season.
Contents
Cast
Starring
John Goodman as Gil John Biggs, a Republican U.S. Senator from North Carolina and former basketball coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Clark Johnson as Robert Bettencourt, a Republican U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania who is currently eighth in seniority.
Matt Malloy as Louis Laffer, a Republican U.S. Senator from Nevada who owns the house where the four Senators live.
Mark Consuelos as Andy Guzman, a Republican U.S. Senator from Florida and candidate for President.
Yara Martinez as Adriana de Portago, Andy's girlfriend and Cuban-American heiress who runs a super PAC that assists Republican campaigns.
Alicia Sable as Tammy Stackhouse, a legislative assistant to Senator Biggs.
Julie White as Maddie Biggs, Gil John's demanding wife.
Recurring
Bill Murray as Senator Vernon Smits, the Senators' fifth roommate who is arrested in the pilot episode for multiple scandals (3 episodes, 2013–14)
Haley Joel Osment as Shelby Mellman, a reporter from Reno, Nevada (12 episodes, 2013–14)
Amy Sedaris as Louise Laffer, Louis's wife (14 episodes, 2013–14)
Wanda Sykes as Senator Rosalyn DuPeche, the Senators' next-door neighbor from Illinois and the Democratic Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee (14 episodes, 2013–14)
Brooke Bloom as Julie Carrell, Louis's Chief of Staff (18 episodes, 2013–14)
Kobi Libii as Aaron Stimson, Robert's legislative aide (7 episodes, 2013–14)
Ben Rameaka as James Whippy, Louis's social media aide (17 episodes, 2013–14)
Bjorn Dupaty as Hakeem Agabi, body man to Gil John and one of his former players (5 episodes, 2013)
Willa Fitzgerald as Lola Laffer, Louis's daughter (12 episodes, 2013–14)
Lila Newman as Charlotte "Cee" Biggs, Gil John's daughter (6 episodes, 2014)
Natalie Gold as Katherine Sims, Andy's Chief of Staff (15 episodes, 2013–14)
Sofiya Akilova as Marta Stjepanovi-Majdandzic, the Senators' Croatian housekeeper and Andy's mistress (7 episodes, 2013–14)
Tony Plana as Benito "Benny" López, Adriana's aide (6 episodes, 2013–14)
Episodes
Season 2 (2014)
On February 11, 2014, the series was renewed for a second season. Production for the second season began filming in July 2014, and the entire season premiered on Amazon.com on October 24, 2014.
Production
Filming took place on stages at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens. ADR recording was done at Cherry Beach Sound in Toronto.
Broadcast
In Australia, where Prime Video was not yet available, the series premiered on SoHo on July 14, 2014, and returned for season two on February 26, 2015.
Reception
Reaction to Alpha House has been generally positive. Metacritic gives season 1 an average rating of 68/100 based on reviews from 21 critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives season 1 a score of 76% based on reviews from 38 critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives season 2 a score of 83% based on reviews from 6 critics.
