Season three of Upload, a Greg Daniels comedy with sci-fi elements, premieres on Prime Video October 20. Robbie Amell plays Nathan and Andy Allo is Nora. 

The series is “set in a technologically advanced future where holographic phones, self-driving vehicles, AI assistance, and 3D food printers are the norm,” according to Prime. “And, forget about dying — instead, you’ll be ‘uploaded’ to a virtual reality afterlife, and enjoy all the comforts of a world-class resort. Provided you can afford it.”

There are eight episodes. Two episodes are available every Friday. 

Season three sees Nora and “freshly downloaded” Nathan navigate their relationship while racing to stop the mysterious conspiracy that threatens to destroy millions of lives. Can they shut down Freeyond, and finally have a real life together? Or is it just a matter of time until Nathan’s head explodes? Meanwhile, back in Lakeview, a backup copy of Nathan has been activated and Ingrid sees an opportunity for a second chance at love. Back in the real world, Aleesha rises through the ranks of Horizen by managing AI education, and falls into a new relationship. And Luke, all alone in Lakeview, is forced to come up with the funds to pay for his stay in paradise, driving him to work in The Grey Zone. 

Daniels created the show and is the showrunner and executive producer. Howard Klein and Jeff Blitz executive produce as well. 

Kevin Bigley, Allegra Edwards and Zainab Johnson are also in the cast. 

A review in The Daily Beast said the show “keeps getting better, weirder, and even more meta.”

One in AV Club said Upload “loses its charm” in the new season. “Oh, Upload, what the hell happened? The endearing, inventive sci-fi comedy sadly loses grasp of its unique appeal in season three, returning as the dullest version of itself,” it reads. 

Season three of the Greg Daniels sci-fi comedy Upload will be on Prime Video on Friday, October 20. There will be eight episodes, with two premiering each week. 

The show is set in the future, where dead people are “uploaded” to a virtual reality afterlife. 

Season three sees Nora and freshly downloaded Nathan navigate their relationship, while racing to stop the mysterious conspiracy that threatens to destroy millions of lives. Can they shut down Freeyond and finally have a real life together? 

Meanwhile, in Lakeview, a backup copy of Nathan has been activated and Ingrid’s not about to let this second chance at love slip away. Back in the real world, Aleesha rises through the ranks of Horizen by managing AI education and falls into a new romantic relationship. And Luke, all alone in Lakeview, is forced to come up with the funds to pay for his stay in paradise, driving him to work in The Grey Zone.

Robbie Amell plays Nathan, Andy Allo portrays Nora, Kevin Bigley is Luke and Allegra Edwards plays Ingrid. Zainab Johnson portrays Aleesha and Owen Daniels is A.I. Guy. 

Daniels is an executive producer with Howard Klein. Daniels adapted The Office in the U.S. and co-created Parks and Recreation and King of the Hill. 

Upload debuted in 2020. “It’s not a dystopian future and it’s not a utopian future,” Daniels told B+C at the time. “It’s some kind of middle-topian future, which to me is the funny take on things.”

USA Today called season two "superb.”

 Apple TV Plus's drama series The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey is among several new series, movies and documentaries debuting during the first full week of March. 

The six-episode series stars Samuel L. Jackson as an elderly man with dementia who uses an opportunity to remember his past to complete some unfinished business, according to the streaming service. 

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for multiple shows debuting the week of March 7 to March 13 on cable networks and streaming services (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

March 8 – Perfect World: A Deadly Game (reality series) – Peacock

March 8 – Undercurrent: The Disappearance of Kim Wall (documentary) – HBO

March 9 – The Andy Warhol Diaries (documentary) – Netflix

March 9 – Good Trouble (returning series) – Freeform

March 10 – Bust Down (comedy) – Peacock

March 10 – Ruthless (returning series) – BET Plus

March 11 – The Adam Project (sci-fi movie) – Netflix

March 11 – The Snoopy Show (animation) – Apple Tv Plus

March 11 – Turning Red (animation movie) – Disney Plus

March 11 — Upload (scf-fi/comedy) – Prime Video

Season two of sci-fi comedy Upload is on Amazon Prime March 11. Greg Daniels created the show, set in a technologically advanced future where hologram phones, 3D food printers and automated grocery stores are the norm, and humans can choose to be “uploaded” into a virtual afterlife. 

Season one depicted a young app developer, Nathan Brown (Robbie Amell), who winds up in the hospital following a self-driving car accident, needing to quickly decide his fate. After a rushed deliberation with shallow girlfriend Ingrid (Allegra Edwards), he chooses to be uploaded to her family’s luxurious virtual afterlife, known as “Lakeview.” Once in Lakeview, Nathan meets his customer service “Angel” Nora Anthony (Andy Allo), who becomes his friend and confidante.

Season two sees Nathan is at a crossroads in his (after) life. Ingrid has unexpectedly arrived at Lakeview hoping to strengthen their relationship, but his heart still secretly yearns for Nora. Nora, meanwhile, is off the grid and involved with the anti-tech rebel group “The Ludds.” 

“Season two is packed with new near-future concepts, including Lakeview’s newest in-app digital baby program called ‘prototykes,’ and other satirical glimpses of the technological advances and headaches to come,” according to Amazon Prime. 

Howard Klein executive produces alongside Daniels.

Daniels' credits include The Office, King of the Hill and Parks and Recreation. ■

Greg Daniels turned a British hit, The Office, into a legendary comedy on NBC.

After it left the network, The Office became a big cannon in the streaming wars, topping the charts for years for Netflix and, since Jan. 1, leading the charge for Peacock, the streaming service launched by NBC parent companies Comcast and NBCUniversal. 

Daniels, whose writing credits also include Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons, knows a few things about TV, whether it’s old-fashioned broadcast or this newfangled streaming stuff. 

He’s got another show on Netflix, Space Force, starring the world’s best boss from The Office, Steve Carell, and Upload on Amazon Prime Video.

He spent the summer re-editing The Office to create “superfan” episodes for the shows with restored deleted scenes. And he’s now in Vancouver shooting Upload.

Daniels talked about the state of TV in this interview with Multichannel News. An edited transcript follows. 

MCN: The Office is a hit in streaming. Was that a surprise to you that this is the No. 1 show in this supposedly new medium of streaming?

Greg Daniels: Yes. It’s interesting because I was just on my computer and something was just released saying that we were the No. 1 streamed show in 2020. And as I put it in a little folder I saw that I had clipped something that said the same thing in 2017. I think it might have been for four years, which is pretty amazing. Obviously, we were the No. 1 show on NBC at one point when we were being aired, so it wasn’t like we never were successful before. But this was unexpected and, yeah, pretty cool.

MCN: How involved were you in the decision to move The Office over to Peacock?

GD: Well, frankly, I wasn’t, because I would have probably left it on Netflix just because it was doing so well there. If all you’re worried about is the show, why would you risk it? But Peacock really wanted it and we’ve been working with everybody over there. There’s something very appropriate and great about it being back on Peacock since it’s an NBC  show, and they really understand it very well and they’re committed to making the most comprehensive fan experience. And so they’re very good about trying to provide extra content, and make it fun, and kind of make it the very best experience for a super fan you could possibly want. I’ve gone back with the original editors, and we had access to all of the footage, because it’s NBC, and all of the marketing and all of the interviews with the cast. It’s just been really fun this summer, while we were all locked up, that we could go back and look at dailies and go, ‘Oh, yeah, I remember that,’ ‘Oh my God, I haven’t seen that since we were on the set,’ or stuff like that. 

ALSO READ: ‘The Office’ Maintains Stream Share After Move to Peacock 

MCN: Was there a lot of stuff that you didn't remember and just thought was terrific? Or was there more stuff that was on the cutting room floor that belonged on the cutting room floor?

GD: Well, there was stuff that is still on the cutting-room floor. We didn’t use every piece of scrap. And some of these long ones don’t play the same, because when we’re putting in a lot more material [into an episode] they’re not as tight. I don’t want to compare ourselves to the Beatles, which I’m about to do, because it gets a little hairy, but I have friends who are so into the Beatles and they have these bootleg tapes and it’ll be them just sort of tuning the guitars and chatting with the engineers and you’re just like, ‘Wow.’ And if you’re really into it,  even that is fun. So I think some of this stuff, it’s just fun to see, like that moment when they return from Beach Games when they’re singing The Flintstones. We’ve seen that, but it was an hour drive and we had them sing a lot of other songs, so it's just fun to see them doing different ones.

MCN: Are you getting much feedback yet from people watching The Office on Peacock?

GD: Well, I’m getting feedback from Peacock that they’re very happy with the amount of consumption of the extended cuts. I’ve heard from them that it exceeded their expectations and they had high expectations, so that’s good.

MCN: If you were producing The Office for streaming, is there any way you would have done it differently?

GD: Well you know what’s so funny about that is, I have a show on Netflix now with Steve Carell, Space Force, and I have a show on Amazon that I’m in Vancouver producing right now called Upload. In both of those instances, I will be talking with the streaming executives and they will say stuff to me like ‘Well, as you know with streaming there’s all these differences and you know, we are a special case and when people are binge-watching it’s not like network and all this stuff,’ and in the back of my head, I keep thinking, ‘Yeah, but this show that we did on NBC is the No. 1 show on streaming. So, is it really that different?’ 

MCN: You used to get notes from NBC execs like Kevin Reilly and Ben Silverman based on watching the show. Theoretically, the streaming guys are giving you notes based on data. Is data more intelligent than the average network executive?

GD: Well, we were in a marketing meeting for Space Force very early on at Netflix and they said, ‘Let us tell you what we found works on our platforms.’ And they said, ‘We found that workplace ensembles with a large, diverse cast of funny people that include romantic entanglements and have very relatable humor work really well on our platforms.’ And you know, Steve and I looked at them and we were like, ‘Yeah you’re talking about The Office. We’re aware of that.’ 

MCN: Are you more comfortable releasing seasons in batches, like you do on the streaming services? Or do you think there was a merit to the weekly drip, drip of a series over 22 weeks?

GD: Well, from the standpoint of somebody who's producing, the old system was good because you had a writing staff that was there the entire year. We would sometimes do 28 episodes a season and that provided enough employment for the writers to just be there year after year, the same people. So you were able to go, ‘OK. I know who’s good at this and is good at that, and you go cover the set and I’ll sit in the editing room and you do this.’ But with these eight- or 10-episode seasons, the writing staffs disappear, because they are only on for 2.4 weeks per episode. So they’re gone usually by the time you start shooting and then you’re all by yourself in post and it’s actually harder to do these small seasons because you end up doing more of it yourself. 

ALSO READ: Peacock Plans Zen Channel When It Streams ‘The Office’

I think from the standpoint of the audience, the other thing is you could lose yourself in one of these old TV shows that have 100 episodes or 200 episodes in a way that it’s harder to do if you’re only if you’re doing 10 episodes every 18 months. By the time you get 30, 40 episodes it’s, you know, it’s been
six years. I don’t know. I do think it’s a different experience.

MCN: Has there been any discussion about having a reunion show for The Office?

GD: Well, I hate to talk about that because every time I say anything about that you know if that’s the only thing that anybody pays any attention to. So no comment on that. 

MCN: What are you watching that’s good out there in the television world?

GD: I loved I May Destroy You. I thought that was terrific. And what else have I been watching? This is one of those weird things about Netflix. I just got into this Korean cop show called Bad Guys. You probably have not heard about this. And it’s affected my stream. I watched so much of this Korean cop show that the only thing that they are offering me are either Korean shows or other international cop shows. I’ve gone down this rabbit hole of Korean cop shows. But I really like Bad Guys.

MCN: What’s the status of Space Force and Upload?

GD: We’re writing season two of Space Force. The room is writing and we are going to shoot it in Vancouver starting in May. And we are shooting Upload starting next week. So right now, I’m just finishing doing all the production meetings and stuff like that.

MCN: Would you go back into doing a broadcast show again?

GD: Yeah, I would, actually. Because of what I said about the fun of being able to have a large staff around again. I think there’s something good about that. But so much depends on who you’re doing the show for, both the executives and who the audience is and what they’re going to want. 

Amazon Studios has renewed Upload for season two. The sci-fi comedy series, from Greg Daniels, premiered May 1. Set in the near future, Upload sees those who are dying pay for uploads into seemingly dreamy virtual after-life locales. Amazon called the first season “a worldwide success.”

“In Upload, Greg Daniels delivered a smart, cinematic comedy crackling with intrigue and it has clearly delighted our customers who have spent a lot of time in Lakeview this past week,” said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, “We know our global fans want to see the next chapter with Nathan and Nora so we are greenlighting season two and are excited that Greg’s passion project has found such a devoted audience.”

The series follows a young app developer, Nathan Brown (Robbie Amell), who winds up in the hospital following a self-driving car accident, needing to quickly decide his fate. After a rushed deliberation with shallow girlfriend Ingrid (Allegra Edwards), he chooses to be uploaded to her family’s luxurious virtual afterlife, known as “Lakeview.” Once in Lakeview, Nathan meets his customer service “Angel” Nora Anthony (Andy Allo), who becomes his friend and confidante.

Howard Klein executive produces alongside Daniels.

“I am thrilled to continue a great relationship with Amazon Studios and this wonderful cast and find out what happens next to Nora and Nathan and Ingrid and their 2033 world,” said Daniels, creator and executive producer. “With this news I can stop drawing my season 2 flip book.”

Amazon Studios has renewed Upload for season two. The sci-fi comedy series, from Greg Daniels, premiered May 1. Set in the near future, Upload sees those who are dying pay for uploads into seemingly dreamy virtual after-life locales. Amazon called the first season “a worldwide success.”

“In Upload, Greg Daniels delivered a smart, cinematic comedy crackling with intrigue and it has clearly delighted our customers who have spent a lot of time in Lakeview this past week,” said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, “We know our global fans want to see the next chapter with Nathan and Nora so we are greenlighting season two and are excited that Greg’s passion project has found such a devoted audience.”

The series follows a young app developer, Nathan Brown (Robbie Amell), who winds up in the hospital following a self-driving car accident, needing to quickly decide his fate.  After a rushed deliberation with shallow girlfriend Ingrid (Allegra Edwards), he chooses to be uploaded to her family’s luxurious virtual afterlife, known as “Lakeview.” Once in Lakeview, Nathan meets his customer service “Angel” Nora Anthony (Andy Allo), who becomes his friend and confidante.

Howard Klein executive produces alongside Daniels. 

“I am thrilled to continue a great relationship with Amazon Studios and this wonderful cast and find out what happens next to Nora and Nathan and Ingrid and their 2033 world,” said Daniels, creator and executive producer. “With this news I can stop drawing my season 2 flip book.”

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting the week of April 27 to May 3 on cable networks and streaming services (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

April 27 -- Never Have I Ever (dramedy) -- Netflix

April 29 -- Normal People (drama) -- Hulu

April 29 -- A Secret Love (documentary) -- Netflix

April 30 -- Dangerous Lies (thriller) -- Netflix

May 1 -- Betty (drama) -- HBO

May 1 -- Hollywood (drama) -- Netflix

May 1 -- Trying (comedy) -- Apple TV+

May 1 -- Upload (comedy) -- Prime Video

May 3 -- Billions (drama) -- Showtime

If you live in a Verizon FiOS market, you’ve likely seen the video ads denouncing upstream speeds other than theirs. If not, here’s the gist of it: Families, at home, surfing the Web but running into slowdowns when posting music and video. The tagline? “Stop living with half-fast Internet,” voiced by Modern Family’s famously funny Ty Burrell, a Verizon spokesman.

On the one hand, “half-fast” is a brilliant and funny play on words, not unlike Kmart’s “shipped its pants” campaign, or the lesser known but still funny pairing of “sofa” with “king,” to emphasize how very … anything … something is. (“That is sofa king good.”)

As someone who perennially frets about the state of the upstream/home-to-head-end signal direction, on the other hand, it’s another reminder about the growing plausibility of symmetrical network traffic — meaning an environment where as much stuff flows out of a home as flows into it.

For the longest time, now included, we’ve not really had a need for symmetry. Think about it. When you click to retrieve a Web page or to initiate a video stream, that click is tiny compared to what comes back. In general, and at any given time, we’re using way more downstream capacity.

For me, the first vestige of the potential for upstream capacity calamities came last spring, when my colleague Sara set up a chicken incubator at her farm. She used a paper clip to kickstand an old iPhone, which live-streamed the incubation action.

It was a forehead-smack moment: Video is big. Webcams stream it. Uh-oh, upstream path. Cameras that stream become part of the machine-to-machine scene, consuming bandwidth in ways not before seen.

Then, this year, the GoPro camera craze intensified. It won’t take too many of them, strapped to the dog’s head, or the kid’s bike, to gum up the upstream path.

The bandwidth-keepers in my circles assure me (repeatedly) that from a normal traffic- loading perspective, we’re nowhere near the need to build for network symmetry — or as much data moving away from you as toward you.

That said, there’s no shortage of gadgetry in our lives that can capture and stream video, especially those that can be triggered to run remotely — you’re at work, but someone rings the doorbell at home. Who is it? See for yourself, via a live video stream.

One thing is certain: We can expect more video running upstream, coincident with the webcams and GoPros we use. That alone will contribute to a tilt toward symmetry.

As a result, the widening of the upstream path will likely go from “not in my lifetime” — the decades-old answer among technologists — to lots more trial expansions next year.

Stumped by gibberish? Visit Leslie Ellis at translation-please.com or multichannel.com/blog.