Weeds was a show that took a brilliant premise, stretched it to its extremes, and perhaps ran on a little longer than its best before date. I was a big supporter of it for about five seasons before becoming occupied with other shows that had become of greater interest. It had an excellent run and possesses a legacy that is sure to be understated, despite being one of the most popular Showtime series of all time. It sucks that it’s still necessary to emphasize this but having a female showrunner on an award-winning and popular new cable TV show was and is an important thing, and makes the world better.
I went over some of the reluctance I had toward Orange is the New Black, specifically that it seemed like territory that Kohan herself had already explored, even though I hadn’t seen the seasons of Weeds where Nancy goes to jail. But I’ve come to realize that this was all a product of my own stupidity. Jenji Kohan is the real deal, proving herself as a wonderful storyteller and the furthest thing from a one hit wonder. She has an ability to create more memorable and resonant characters in a single series than many people are capable of inventing over an entire career, and this is more apparent than ever in the ensemble nature of Orange. Among other things, and I realize this may not be her doing but would have had to be met with her approval making her ultimately responsible, she has a knack for beautiful opening title sequences. Orange’s opening is perfect for Netflix in that it becomes richer the more you watch it, and with Netflix, you’re going to watch it a lot over a short period. The faces paired with the Regina Spektor song work wonders, and the rest of the show lives up to that standard.
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