Because if you're here, you have the internet, you all know Netflix is doing some dope-ass shit when it comes to series. They brought back Arrested Development!
![arrested-development-season-4-poster-2.jpg]()
And it was great!
They did House of Cards!
![House%20of%20Cards%20Cast(1).jpg]()
Which I guess people liked!
They did Hemlock Grove, which was bad enough that it wasn't even fun-bad and I won't give it a picture.
But now they've done Orange is the New Black, which is my favorite new show of this year! Sorry, The Americans! I loved you dearly, but you're out of the top spot.
![r-orange-is-the-new-black-large570.jpg]()
First off, that picture is bullshit. It makes the show look like a wacky comedy, as do all the trailers, but man. This show has some teeth. I'm gonna do two pitches for this show - one brief, one (spoilered for convenience) hardcore TV nerd shit.
Brief pitch: This show is an Island of Misfit Toys for characters that'd be one-off bit players in "normal" shows, where they actually get to breathe and be real people. You find and lose sympathy in the most unexpected places, and it's fucking thrilling. Episodes end on cliffhangers that are emotional, and never cheap shocks. Captain Janeway is a major player, and a major badass, if that's your jam. This show has one of the best portrayals of a trans woman, and her marriage with someone she met before coming out, I've ever seen. Actually, no, the best.
Hardcore TV nerd pitch:
Also, this shit made me cry, like, seven times. Which I swear to god is a compliment.
So let's talk Netflix Originals! If you're just now getting to Arrested Development or House of Cards, ditch those old threads for this new hotness. If you're getting on board with Orange is the New Black, which you fucking should, chat up how Taystee is the light! If you like Hemlock Grove, I'm deeply sorry for you, bro.
And it was great!
They did House of Cards!
.jpg)
Which I guess people liked!
They did Hemlock Grove, which was bad enough that it wasn't even fun-bad and I won't give it a picture.
But now they've done Orange is the New Black, which is my favorite new show of this year! Sorry, The Americans! I loved you dearly, but you're out of the top spot.
First off, that picture is bullshit. It makes the show look like a wacky comedy, as do all the trailers, but man. This show has some teeth. I'm gonna do two pitches for this show - one brief, one (spoilered for convenience) hardcore TV nerd shit.
Brief pitch: This show is an Island of Misfit Toys for characters that'd be one-off bit players in "normal" shows, where they actually get to breathe and be real people. You find and lose sympathy in the most unexpected places, and it's fucking thrilling. Episodes end on cliffhangers that are emotional, and never cheap shocks. Captain Janeway is a major player, and a major badass, if that's your jam. This show has one of the best portrayals of a trans woman, and her marriage with someone she met before coming out, I've ever seen. Actually, no, the best.
Hardcore TV nerd pitch:
Spoiler:
The lead, along with all of the characters, are some fucked up people. People both inside and out of prison are all portrayed as selfish, petty, vengeful. You know - like people. But everybody, inside and out of prison, is portrayed as having moments of selflessness. Moments of good. You know - like people. This is one of those rare, rare shows where everybody is human. Even when the good outweighs the bad, there's bad. Even when bad outweighs the good, there's good.
The majority of the characters are, obviously, inmates. The episodes are structured where, in each one, you get flashbacks from the past of one of the inmates. These flashbacks are really impressive, in that they're evocative instead of explanatory. It trusts you to connect the dots from their behavior, and their life path, to where you see them in the main story. In 13 episodes, there are exactly two flashbacks where you actually see police, and there are none where you see handcuffs. Most shows with stories involving the criminal justice system linger on the cuffing, let you hear those comforting miranda rights, because it's a convenient shorthand for otherizing the person getting arrested. It's gratifying to us when we see that shit, because it's familiar, it helps us lump them in with "the criminals," and stop seeing them as people. This show denies us that bit of ritual-derived comfort, and forces us to view everybody as a person. We see the mistakes, without the fake TV catharsis of an arrest. It's really, really incredible, and one of my favorite parts of the show.
It is so, so refreshing to see a cast that is predominantly women, and predominantly women we don't usually see as regulars on TV. Older women, plus-size women, a trans woman, women of many different ethnicities. One-off sidekicks on other shows are season regulars here. All portrayed well, all given fantastic material, all people. "Refreshing" is the wrong word. That shit sounds patronizing. It's a relief. It's finally hardcore proof that you can do a show with all these "unsellable" characters and have it fucking sing. It lets me not talk in hypotheticals about a show with "unmarketable" women; it let's me point to it and go, "There. That one. It can be done, and it can be done well. Which means it can be done again, and you can stop saying you can't make a show like this."
The majority of the characters are, obviously, inmates. The episodes are structured where, in each one, you get flashbacks from the past of one of the inmates. These flashbacks are really impressive, in that they're evocative instead of explanatory. It trusts you to connect the dots from their behavior, and their life path, to where you see them in the main story. In 13 episodes, there are exactly two flashbacks where you actually see police, and there are none where you see handcuffs. Most shows with stories involving the criminal justice system linger on the cuffing, let you hear those comforting miranda rights, because it's a convenient shorthand for otherizing the person getting arrested. It's gratifying to us when we see that shit, because it's familiar, it helps us lump them in with "the criminals," and stop seeing them as people. This show denies us that bit of ritual-derived comfort, and forces us to view everybody as a person. We see the mistakes, without the fake TV catharsis of an arrest. It's really, really incredible, and one of my favorite parts of the show.
It is so, so refreshing to see a cast that is predominantly women, and predominantly women we don't usually see as regulars on TV. Older women, plus-size women, a trans woman, women of many different ethnicities. One-off sidekicks on other shows are season regulars here. All portrayed well, all given fantastic material, all people. "Refreshing" is the wrong word. That shit sounds patronizing. It's a relief. It's finally hardcore proof that you can do a show with all these "unsellable" characters and have it fucking sing. It lets me not talk in hypotheticals about a show with "unmarketable" women; it let's me point to it and go, "There. That one. It can be done, and it can be done well. Which means it can be done again, and you can stop saying you can't make a show like this."
Also, this shit made me cry, like, seven times. Which I swear to god is a compliment.
So let's talk Netflix Originals! If you're just now getting to Arrested Development or House of Cards, ditch those old threads for this new hotness. If you're getting on board with Orange is the New Black, which you fucking should, chat up how Taystee is the light! If you like Hemlock Grove, I'm deeply sorry for you, bro.