Orange Is the New Black

  • Guest, it's time once again for the hotly contested and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!



    Go here and fill out your bracket!
    Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Once again, only you can decide!

j00t

Silver Baronet of the Realm
7,380
7,471
0.00 star(s) Rating: 0.00/5 0 Votes
Title: Orange Is the New Black

Genre: Comedy, Drama

First aired: 2013-07-11

Creator: Jenji Kohan

Cast: Taylor Schilling, Laura Prepon, Danielle Brooks, Diane Guerrero, Jackie Cruz, Kate Mulgrew, Taryn Manning, Selenis Leyva, Uzo Aduba, Dascha Polanco, Yael Stone, Nick Sandow

Overview: A crime she committed in her youthful past sends Piper Chapman to a women's prison, where she trades her comfortable New York life for one of unexpected camaraderie and conflict in an eccentric group of fellow inmates.
 

j00t

Silver Baronet of the Realm
7,380
7,471
[SERIES][TVPOSTER]View attachment 135591[/TVPOSTER][SERIESWRAP][EPISODENAME]Orange Is the New Black[/EPISODENAME]

Genre: [GENRE]Comedy[/GENRE], [GENRE]Drama[/GENRE]

First Aired: [RELEASE]2013-07-11[/RELEASE]

Overview: [PLOT]A crime she committed in her youthful past sends Piper Chapman to a women's prison, where she trades her comfortable New York life for one of unexpected camaraderie and conflict in an eccentric group of fellow inmates.[/PLOT][/SERIESWRAP][/SERIES]

Anyone watching this? i've enjoyed the netflix original shows so far. i'm only 2 episodes in but it seems interesting enough. best part of the show for me is that Janeway plays the old, ugly russian cook that no one really likes. fitting end for her imo.
 

sole

Molten Core Raider
338
1,203
Yeah it's pretty damn good, I'm 5 episodes in and can't wait to finish. Highly recommend it.
 

Cantatus

Lord Nagafen Raider
1,437
79
I went in with fairly low expectations. After the direction Weeds went, Jenji Kohan isn't exactly a name that carries a lot of clout with me and some of the previews made this show look like it was the Netflix sitcom model for a chick-flick. I decided to give it a try based on positive reviews and liking Kate Mulgrew and have been more than pleasantly surprised. For one thing, it's darker than I expected. I thought it was going to be primarily a comedy, but similar to the early seasons of Weeds, it relies on dark humor and tends to let drama carry the show.

I also like the story structure. In a way, it reminds me of Lost. Not that there's a big over-arching mystery, but there's a concerted focus on the characters. Each episode revolves around explaining the events that lead to a particular inmate ending up in the prison. It's not only a nice way for them to do this without each character having to explain why she's there, but goes a long way towards humanizing the characters, while simultaneously adding some depth to them. For example, Kate Mulgrew's character, Red, is extremely brash and controlling and has positioned herself at the top of the hierarchy in the prison, but the events that led up to her crime provides insight into why this is so important to her.

I'm only four episodes in, but so far, I think it's one of the better things I've watched this year. I find myself eager to watch the next episode and looking forward to reveals about specific characters, while not feeling too bogged down by the storyline. Overall, it's laid-back enough that makes it a good Summer watch, while being engaging enough that I think it would easily hold up to regular television most of the rest of the year.
 

chaos

Buzzfeed Editor
17,324
4,839
Yeah I'm 3 episodes in and it is good. I'll definitely be watching the whole season.
 

sole

Molten Core Raider
338
1,203
Finished it. I think I liked it better than House of Cards, glad it's already greenlighted for a 2nd season. Cantatus pretty much nailed it with the Weeds and Lost references. It can be overly dramatic in parts, and rightly so I guess, but other than that I think Netflix out did themselves. Great TV.
 

Azrayne

Irenicus did nothing wrong
2,161
786
Not sure what to think of it. The characters and story are rather engaging, but it really bugs me that they go so far to basically deny all of the characters any responsibility for being where they are or touch on the ramifications of their situation. 'oh being in jail isn't her fault, it was her girlfriend/boyfriend/sister's boyfriend/husband's mafia buddies/etc etc.' The only ones I've seen so far who're actually shown as being, and accepting that they are, directly responsible for being where they are to any extent is the bunk mate with the illegal immigration thing and the tranny. And in the process they completely circumvent how fucked up the justice system is, what kind of fucked up effects all of that shit has on the people involved, etc etc. The message of the show seems to be that if women get unlucky then someone else around then will do something bad and they'll be forced to deal with tampons in their food and lesbian relationship drama and imaginary chickens or some shit.

I get that maybe I'm expecting too much from what's basically a high school drama transplanted into a prison setting, but I can't avoid thinking that it seems kinda trivializing to ignore the important stuff coming from a country with 25% of the world's prisoner population, where minorities are incarcerated disproportionately for non-violent crimes, where systemic abuse, prison rape, exploitation etc. is rife. Kinda like making a light hearted comedy drama about soldiers in Afghanistan which doesn't touch on the morality of the war, the effect it has on the locals, war crimes, brutality, mortality, PTSD, the political situation, etc. Seems kinda shitty, although I guess it shouldn't surprise me, coming from the same woman who gave us the ode to irresponsibility, selfishness and bad parenting that is Weeds.

But hey, I'm still watching it.
 

chaos

Buzzfeed Editor
17,324
4,839
Well, I'm only a few episodes into it, but it didn't really seem like the show was saying it wasn't their fault. You have Piper saying it wasn't her fault, but that is kind of her personality. Red was in a business staked by Russian mobsters who went down because or whatever it was in that freezer (i don't think they ever revealed that?). She was definitely part of that world and I never got the feeling that the show was trying to portray her as some kind of victim. And the tranny, well it just humanized her a bit, but she definitely took responsibility for what she did.Maybe it gets worse after this, but at this point it doesn't seem that bad to me.
 

Weaponsfree_sl

shitlord
342
1
I wouldn't call it better than House of Cards. It's hard for most people to identify with being in an all-woman jail after having a massive lesbian-dating-drug-dealer phase. The acting is good and the writing ismostlygood. I think HoC was better because anyone can identify with being ambitious, trying to make it, or wanting more even if they don't take it to the level that the characters in HoC take it.

Regardless, Orange is the New Black is a good show and worth a watch as it is another high quality Netflix Original.
 

pysek

It Didn't Happen, It Should've, and It Will.
<Gold Donor>
16,944
105,589
Well, they started the show out with a shower in the prison. So they had me at hello. The characters are interesting enough and the writing is above average. I think it's a winner for Netflix and I enjoyed it for what it was. Not my favorite show on the telly, but a damn sight better than most dreck networks release. Did I mention the prison shower scene?
 

Unidin

Molten Core Raider
788
425
I enjoyed it, but I thought how they set up the next season to make sure that there's enough time to tell more stories was heavy fisted. Plus Piper would end up in the ultra max after killing (?) another inmate.
 

Khane

Got something right about marriage
19,785
13,293
I found the first few episodes of this show a little boring. Piper was overly naive, sweet and annoying. Jason Biggs is a terrible actor who can only play one role poorly. The middle episodes (up until about episode 8) were fantastic. Very funny, compelling storylines, good character development. And then... the show lost steam really fast. I really.... really hate Jason Biggs after watching this show. I tolerated him in American Pie because I was young but he is incredibly annoying and I'm pretty sure all he can do is play himself. They need to kill his character off. The show would be much better without him.
 

Caliane

Golden Baronet of the Realm
14,421
9,788
Agreed on Biggs. Every minute with him is painful.

Love the rest though.
 

Gravel

Mr. Poopybutthole
36,042
113,796
I didn't want to watch this, but the wife said to give it a shot. We're 3 episodes in and I really enjoy it so far.

Also, can't believe no one mentioned Laura Prepon's tits?
 

Caliane

Golden Baronet of the Realm
14,421
9,788
I enjoyed it, but I thought how they set up the next season to make sure that there's enough time to tell more stories was heavy fisted. Plus Piper would end up in the ultra max after killing (?) another inmate.
well, it was only month 5? of 15 month sentence. so they still had plenty of time to tell more stories. No idea on what procedure is on killing. Corruption is so rife there apparently though, just about anything could go. they might just go with, cover it up again, to cover their own asses.
 
TV show information provided by The Movie Database