GLOW

Wrestling is a 'sport' I don't know too much about. All I know is that it is scripted TV that plays out in front of live crowds. And they 'fight'. After GLOW, my thoughts on wrestling haven't change much, but I can appreciate the behind the scenes a lot more.

GLOW is one of Netflix's newest additions to their ever so growing library. It follows a group of ladies as they take up a wresting job purely for the money. Set in the 80s where many females struggle to get big time work, the show explores the behind the scenes of wrestling while looking into the life of an actress in the 80s.

There is so much to talk about for this show that it is going to be hard to touch on all the bases. Firstly, this is a show about wrestling but it is a story about the characters. That is my biggest take away from this show. Considering that they only had 10 30 minute episodes, they managed to make you care about all these characters and give each an arc that some shows manage to do across several season. 

I have to give a lot of credit to the writing, because without this show being written the way it was, there is no way it turns out as good as it does. Whether it is comedy or emotional dialog, every moment of this show is well crafted and not one line of dialog or one action from a character seems out of place. 

An equal amount of credit has to go to the cast. While Allison Brie was the only name I knew entering the show, I exited the show with many stand outs. While Brie was one of them, I thought Marc Maron, Betty Gilpin and Britney Young stood up as the other standouts. That however takes nothing away from the rest of the cast. Each one of them nailed their performance and I couldn't name one member that stood out for the wrong reasons.

I thought the whole show was shot wonderfully. They really captured that 80s LA that I am use to seeing in movies, and if it wasn't for the camera and audio quality, I would have believed that this show was shot in the 80s. Much of that also came from the music choices. Similarly to Stranger Things, the music gave the show so much authenticity when it came to portraying a time period.

Overall, I was really surprised with this show. Firstly it was one of the easiest binge watches I have ever had. I watched the whole show in an afternoon because it was only 5 hours long rather than 10+. I'm not sure if this show will be getting a season 2 but I am all on board with it. I think this is one of the most well made shows around at the moment and it deserves all the credit it can get.

9/10

GLOW is loosely based on the actual GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling) TV show which was a cheesy but charming women's wrestling show which ran for four seasons in the late 80s.

This is a really funny, heartwarming and sometimes exciting show. It is a very good combination of characters and wrestling. As a lifelong pro wrestling fan, the show successfully shows wrestling for being fun without making fun of it. I could have appreciated more insight into how hard it is to be a wrestler especially taking bumps which take a toll on the body. That being said, it does a very good job showing the people and getting us behind them. They are flawed people but likable and ultimately, you root for their success.

The performances are uniformly excellent. Alison Brie is a capable lead who keeps the movie centered. Marc Maron, as the frustrated but deep down decent cokehead director does a fabulous job. Betty Gilpin as the slightly arrogant former soap opera star is brilliant especially since she has a lot of emotional scenes. I loved the wrestler cameos which I will keep a secret.

To conclude, the show is a wonderful love letter to wrestling fans. It would have been convenient to mock wrestling as stupid and dumb but the show avoids that pitfall. For new fans, it would serve as a good conduit into the crazy world of wrestling and for wrestling fans, it shows a simpler era where we were not smarks who picked apart every booking decision. Highly recommended!

I was pretty skeptical of this show from the previews.--I was wrong to be so skeptical!! It's smart, funny and emotional at times. The costuming and soundtrack are great, as is the entire show. It's really well done and my only complaint is that it's a half hour show when I thought the episodes could have been longer. --I guess I just wanted more of a good thing! It really is better than the previews would leave you to believe. I can't recommend this enough for anyone who enjoys something different from their shows!

This show is almost perfect. I enjoyed every second of it, and I'm not one to usually watch Netflix originals. Seeing the unique group of characters grow and develop throughout the series was really fun to watch. The plot lines were intriguing and had a beautiful mix of drama, comedy, and pure awkwardness. It's so real. But when the series ends with 6 different cliff hangers it makes it hard for me to recommend it to people. Covid got in the way of the closure for this series, and I HOPE they decide to bring it back. If other studios can return to filming after the pandemic slows down, and some can film DURING the pandemic as well, I don't see why they can't bring this show back. So many loose ends need to be tied. Netflix has the money and power to do it and I don't see why they don't. If they can green light shitty shows that NO ONE watches, they can renew this for more. We want more.

The 1980s wasn't just neon fabrics, side ponytails, and cream colored suits with t-shirts. It was also too much moose, too much make-up, and sock-less penny loafers. It was ugly. Brilliantly, gloriously ugly and tacky. And that's what you see in this show. Superficially speaking, this series (and its characters) looks more authentically of the era than anything else I have seen portrayed on film in the last two decades.

Much of the credit goes to costume designer Beth Morgan, who sifted through photo albums to research the look of the decade, rather than fashion catalogs and television shows and seeing an obstructed, romanticized vision of the era. The characters either wear too much or not enough of everything. This was the eighties, warts and all, and just for that alone, this show is worth a look.

But on top of that, you have a rich, diverse cast of characters, almost all of which are multi-dimensional and bring more to the table than just what they appear to be (while ironically trying to play up their stereotypes to promote the show they are working on). And though some characters sadly don't get the time to fully develop in just ten half-hour episodes, you have reason to believe that they will in future seasons, as the executive producers have proved before in the ongoing seasons of 'Orange is the New Black'.

And then there's the men of GLOW. The women are getting plenty of praise - and deservedly so - but the few male characters depicted also get a chance to shine. Chris Lowell plays the fascinating benefactor to the entire GLOW enterprise. He's the only one - initially - with the vision of what the show should be, and although he isn't introduced until episode three ('The Wrath of Kuntar'), his presence is felt as the unseen force propelling a reluctant director and inexperienced cast to pursue this venture. Bashir Salahuddin is the epitome of the phrase "no small parts" in this series. He exudes a warmth that instantly brings calmness and security to anyone and everyone around him. And although he is given minimal lines and - what some may argue - a generic character in the handful of appearances he makes, you genuinely feel invested and supportive of the developments he undertakes in the latter half of the season.

And finally, there's Marc Maron. Whether or not you've heard about him yet, you will soon and it will be because of this role. He plays the director enlisted with putting an all-female wrestling show together. He comes from a B-list, schlock horror background and only takes the job to finance his dream project, but despite being a sleaze ball with a predilection for the vices of the time, he also genuinely cares for people. He's a guy who will step up and stick his neck out for the people he believes in, and unlike just about all the other characters written with a drug problem, Maron's character isn't dictated by societal expectations to flounder and jeopardize the other characters around him. He's an asset, and not only that, but an absolute necessity. He's also an addict, but a functioning addict, which sadly many people in the industry were back then.

Maron exemplifies everything great about this show. It's not glorifying the era, it's a raw, unapologetic, and - at times - brutally honest depiction of the 1980s in southern California: Flawed, hilarious, and tacky.