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Amazon Hedges Its Bets With Second Season Of 'Transparent'

Just two weeks after all 10 episodes of "Transparent" premiered, Amazon has already picked it up for a second season.
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Amazon has already renewed its new hit show "Transparent" for a second season just two weeks after it premiered — and likely before many people have even had a chance to watch it. 

"Transparent" debuted Sept. 26 on Amazon Prime. The ten-episode series stars Jeffrey Tambor, the patriarch of a dysfunctional, self-centered family as he begins a gender transition late in life.

The show has been a huge critical success for Amazon with many critics agreeing that it's one of the best new shows to premier this fall. 

And it's certainly Amazon Prime's most buzzed about show. Although, the bar's been set pretty low. 

"Alpha House" is the only other original show from Amazon to even get an order for a second season. 

But that hasn't stopped the company from boasting in a press release that "Transparent" is its number one show and nearly 80 percent of viewers binged on two or more episodes in a single sitting. It did not, however, release overall viewer numbers. 

Which seems to be an industry standard practice now. Netflix and Hulu refuse to release broad analytics for their sites as well. 

So there is no way of knowing for sure how "Transparent's" actual viewership stacks up to its competitors on cable

Or more direct competitors online like "Orange is the New Black" on Netflix and "Rev." on Hulu.

But Vox brings up an interesting point that how many people are actually watching the show right now might not matter. 

"Even if only five people are watching Transparent and they're all TV critics, the show is still a 'success' for the site, because people are buzzing about it passionately, and that gets the idea of Amazon as a content provider out there in the public consciousness."

The second season of "Transparent" is scheduled for sometime in 2015.