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In creating a show about women’s wrestling, Glow creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch were armed with inspiration from the 2012 documentary Glow: The Story of The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, which documented the sport in the ’80s, and the ability to craft hilarious dramedy with can’t-stop-watching characters. With Alison Brie in the lead role, a lot of spandex, numerous headbands and more than a little hilarity, Flahive and Mensch’s Netflix series became a smash hit.

Heading into Season 2, Flahive and Mensch discuss writing well-rounded women, how they made everyone comfortable in a leotard, and how the cast became next-level wrestling experts.

Did you ever anticipate that this show would be so immediately successful?

Carly Mensch: We’re not aware of the impact yet. We’re in the bubble of making it and working and we don’t get any numbers.

No doubt about it: The 1980s was a strange time to channel surf. Those neon-tinted, big-haired, irony-free days have provided Internet curio-seekers with fodder for infinite terabytes of grainy, colorful ephemera. And one of the cornerstones of weird Eighties television was "Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling" (G.L.O.W. for short), an all-female pro-wrestling league whose exploits were filmed in Las Vegas and syndicated nationwide.

It's the type of retro-kitsch from the Reagan era could have vanished down the YouTube black hole – until Netflix resurrected it, sort of. The cult...

A bright, neon-lit corner of the ‘80s was occupied by a popular TV show centered on an all-female wrestling league. They were the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling -- or, simply, Glow. Founded in 1986, Glow ran for four seasons on TV, bringing colorful characters -- Corporal Kelly, Dallas and Tina Ferrari among them -- to living rooms across the country. Now, almost 30 years after going off the air, they are back as the inspiration behind one...

During the 1980s pro wrestling boom, television was overrun with musclebound men in colorful tights, slamming each other to the canvas in arenas across the country. Then, in 1986, promoter David McLane and director Matt Cimber came up with a syndicated TV series spotlighting what they called the "Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling," a.k.a. G.L.O.W. For the next few years, they had a hit with a show that featured a diverse cast of mostly ordinary-looking women – as opposed to the weight-lifting Amazons who'd later infiltrate the WWE.

Netflix has released the trailer to their new show Glow, from the producers of Orange Is The New Black. The show, set in the 80's, stars Alison Brie as Ruth Wilder, a struggling actress who auditions for a new professional wrestling company, Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. Marc Maron also stars as the head of the Glow organization, Sam Sylvia.

The show is based on the real life wrestling organization of the same name. In the 80's, struggling promotors were looking to copy what they felt made the WWF so popular during that era. Filmed in Las Vegas and having such luminaries as Jackie Stallone, Sylvester Stallone's mother, involved, the show was the product of too much cocaine. Everything that was bad and cliche in the 80's this show used and abused to bad effect. While you can look back at other wrestling companies of that era and find good...

Netflix has announced the new titles arriving on the streaming platform next month, with five original films leading the pack: “Burning Sands” (3/10), “Deidra & Laney Rob a Train” (3/17), “Pandora” (3/17), “The Most Hated Woman in America” (3/24) and “The Discovery” (3/31). Three of these — “Burning Sands,” “Deidra & Laney,” “The Discovery” — are Netflix Origins that premiered during the Sundance Film Festival in January.

Read More: ‘The Discovery’ Review: Rooney Mara And Jason Segel Find Life After Death — Sundance 2017

Also available to stream next month are “The Bfg,” “Pete’s Dragon,” “The Life Aquatic,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Chicago,” “Jurassic Park,” “Memento,” “Million Dollar Baby,” “Evolution,” “Fire at Sea” and “Welcome to New York,” among others, while the likes of “Jaws,” “Animal House,” “Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey” and “Entertainment” are all expiring at the end of February. Find a full list of what’s coming in March below.

Read More: Why Martin Scorsese’s Netflix Deal Is...

G.L.O.W. has (leg) locked up their lead. Deadline is reporting that former Community star and current BoJack Horseman voice Alison Brie is set to play the lead in the upcoming Netflix series based on the 1980s women’s pro wrestling league. The show is being produced by Orange Is the New Black head Jenji Kohan. The publication explains that in G.L.O.W., Brie will play Ruth “an out-of-work, struggling actress who finds one last attempt to live her dreams when she’s thrust into the glitter and spandex world of women’s wrestling.” Netflix has ordered 10 episodes of the show. Brie commented on the announcement with perhaps a word of warning to her future in-ring competitors by writing on Twitter, “Look out…” G.L.O.W., which was short for Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling, ran from 1986-1990 with a few incarnations in the years since. It featured characters with names like The California Doll,...

DVD Release Date: March 26, 2013

Price: DVD $29.95

Studio: New Video/Cinedigm

Mountain Fiji gives a competitor a life in Glow.

The 2012 documentary film Glow: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling chronicles the rise and fall of the first ever all-female wrestling show on television, which premiered in 1986.

Like its competitor/frequent imitator the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Glow was a prime-time wrestling series, complete with elaborate characters, costumes, skits, personalized raps and, of course, wrestling. By 1989, the Glow girls were an international phenomenon, attracting over seven million viewers worldwide, touring the nation and making some serious money for the show’s producers. But one year later, Glow was gone.

Glow: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling examines the phenomenon through the stories of those who lived it (including such grapplers as Matilda the Hun and Mountain Fiji). For some, the show was a brief foray into acting and a short-lived adventure.

By Susan Lamarca

The documentary Glow: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling screened at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz on December 4 with Houston filmmakers Brett Whitcomb and Brad Thomason in attendance. Alongside an 80s commercial featuring Hulk Hogan in his most terrifying prime, pre-screening bumpers featured a clip of classic women's wrestling from the 1950s: Blond Ballerina vs June Adair with commentary from two male announcers who "sure do love to see a ladies' wrestling match." Then an Alamo programmer took the stage and asked the audience: "Who is your favorite Glow lady?"

Glow: Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling was the first ever all-female wrestling show, recorded in Las Vegas and airing for four seasons in the late 80s. Aspiring actresses, stuntwomen and models went face-to-face in wrestling matches staged before a live audience and remained in character to perform sketch comedy throughout the show. Although some of the participants...