Pilot

The episode does a great job at establishing the main character Ruth Wilder(played by Alison Brie) without boring the audience. We get to learn the characters in a dynamic way. Jokes are mostly alright. Sometimes they land sometimes they don't, that's how it is. Overall the pilot did what it needed to do: It gave a glimpse of what the show is going to feel like, it set up the characters in a rather unorthodox and interesting way, and most importantly it made me want to watch the next episode immediately.

This is an excellent pilot and a very fun, well made show. The review calling it "Misogynist Trash" is completely irrational and nowhere close to accurate. This show is anything but misogynistic-the overwhelmingly female cast is diverse, intelligent, well defined, and wonderfully cast. It was written, produced and developed by intelligent female creators including Jenji Kohan of 'Weeds' and 'Orange Is The New Black' fame. Every one of the fantastic cast of female characters is empowered and emboldened by her foray into the strange carny world of professional wrestling. The show has a lot of fun Easter eggs and inside jokes for pro wrestling fans, but is just as enjoyable for viewers with no familiarity with the world of "wrasslin". GLOW is a dramedy set in the 1980s, and the period specific music, set design, and costumes are a real treat. This show is simply a joy on every level and manages to subvert and redefine some worn out tropes over the course of the season If you like fun shows about misunderstood outcasts coming together to achieve something bigger than themselves while becoming a ragtag family this is a must watch (the excellent music choices and era-specific 80s touches don't hurt either). It's very easy to fall for this show, and very difficult not to watch all 10 episodes in one or two sittings. Ignore the negative (and completely off-base) reviews and give GLOW a try- you won't be sorry.

One of the most unusual starts to a series I've ever seen, yet also a great deal of fun. The little touches in set design and soundtrack choices go a long way in setting up this fantasy world of marginalized actresses who're just waiting to kick ass. Not to mention the writing; there were some winning one-liners here. Alison Brie is a capable lead (I think it's the hair), but Marc Maron provides the fun of an incorrigible sleaze that really leaves me wanting more.

It's funny, dramatic and moves with ease. I had real fun with this.

8/10

Desperate female performers, including out of work actress Ruth Wilder (Alison Brie - here looking like Nathalie Imbruglia with a hangover), struggling on the Los Angeles entertainment production scene flock to a mystery audition which some appear to think is porn and others seem to think is extras casting for a used car commercial. The auditions prove to be for something more bizarre for it's time i.e. women's professional wrestling on cable TV.

Ruth is no saint (She's doing her best friend Debbie's husband & Debbie just had a baby). She also doesn't appear to care whether or not she actually has any gift for acting to still want to do it after numerous indications from others that she isn't very good.

In fact none of the people depicted looks particularly heroic or even like someone you'd wanna know. They swear like women do now and use an argot that women use now. But as far as I remember women didn't call each other "dude" back in the 1980s or throw Fs and Cs around near as often.

The pilot episode strikes a universal tone that anyone should be able to understand. It shows us where someone has to get to that they might think taking up pro wrestling (without years of training, only the minor chance of success, excellent chance for injury and be insulted every step of the way) is a good idea.

The humour is of a drier, darker edgier variety. For instance during her cattle call audition with Sam Sylvia (Marc Maron) - the sleazo cokehead producer/director of GLOW, Ruth is given not only a crude, cursory assessment of her physical appeal (Specifically her face) but one that sounds it was written by an insult comedian who can read her thoughts and knows how to word exactly the nuanced missive to her that she will have staring back at her in every mirror she sees thereafter.

That particular rock-bottom feeling, common to all of us at one time or another, is of the kind that started revolutions throughout history. Ruth does something else with it as do the other characters on GLOW. Many will laugh at these characters. Others will look at them with pity and an awkwardness recognizing similar circumstances.

Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling was a real life cable TV wrestling promotion that specialized in works performed by female sports entertainers. Its legacy of grooming women gladiators for TV stardom and wrestling glory cannot be overestimated. GLOW paved the way for generations of female performers in the wrestling ring.

At worst it was fun to watch. At its best, like any pro wrestling promotion, it reached a fairly high level of live performance art many times in any given year. But the characters in this series are composites and it very loosely articulates the chain of events in GLOW history.

As for feminist or post-feminist I don't know. Is there such a thing as "Post-post-feminist"?