Is Orange the New Black?

photo credit: netflix.movies.com

I cannot be the only one...who has found it impossible to escape talk about the recent Netflix show, Orange is the New Black, so I thought it was time to check it out for myself and see why the show is becoming a part of pop culture.

All right, I am going to start by saying that if you enjoy entertainment that includes a woman finding a long lost love against the odds of time, distance, and adversity, this show is most likely not your cup of tea.  Now, if you find yourself on the flip side of that romdram coin because you enjoy real language, dark humor, and scenes that make you physically uncomfortable in your own living room, I would say Orange is the New Black may just be for you.

I haven't watched the entire season of Orange as of yet, the shows run about 51 minutes an episode, but I have gathered the gist of the show.  Based on the book with the same title by, Piper Kermam, the show is about a seemingly ordinary middle class woman who self surrenders for a crime she sort-of committed ten years ago, and the women's prison scenarios commence.  The story is told through a series of flashbacks that paint the picture of Piper, the main character, along with the events leading up to her self surrender, all while she is adjusting to her new fate behind minimum security bars.

Look, I am sure many of you are thinking that Orange is the New Black sounds like an excuse for gratuitous nudity, ladies behaving badly, and all those scenes late seventies women's prison exploitation flicks provided, but there is a good story idea being played out.  What if you had to leave your normal existence of housewife and mother extraordinaire to make your way through the populous living in a minimum security prison? Would you survive, would you make friends, and would you come out the other side the same person?  I am going to give Orange is the New Black the chance to answer some of these questions and be entertained by the type of tense situations that keep me coming back for more.