Netflix made a flashy entrance into the world of original content this year, despite two of its founding pillars being warmed over Arrested Development, and a Kevin Spacey vehicle that was all sizzling ham, no steak. Orange is the New Black was the first real whiff of something new we got from the aspiring media giant, and it singlehandedly justified the entire enterprise. The show batting straight down the middle between comedy and drama is causing headaches for academy voters, but typified some emerging TV trends Orange is the New Black capitalized on: a fluid tone, wandering plotting, and ladies getting shit done.
And Orange is the New Black had more ladies getting more shit done than most of the major networks combined. Taylor Schilling’s great lead performance as a yuppie drug mule doing time in a women’s prison didn’t so much anchor the show as give it a launch pad for its more all-encompassing exploration of race, gender, sexuality, and class. It had a character bench as deep as Lost’s, and a breadth of worldview that brings to mind memories of The Wire. And it was really fucking funny to boot, having the decency to both expose, and then fill the hole in your TV viewing life that was Kate Mulgrew playing a mobbed-up Russian chef.
