TV Review: GLOW Season 1 (2017) — An Easily Binge-able Show That Piledrives All Expectations

Luke Miksa loves wrestling. Did you know? He also loves great television, so let’s find out if GLOW is a match made in heaven.

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GLOW is a largely fictional series based upon the short lived wrestling promotion from the 80’s: the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. Ruth Wilder (Alison Brie, Community), a struggling actress based in Los Angeles, attends a casting call for a new television program, but Ruth quickly realises that this is no normal audition. The creative director (Marc Maron) informs everyone that they are auditioning for a new all-female wrestling program, siphoning off the surging mainstream popularity of professional wrestling in the 1980’s. They will ultimately become the stars of GLOW: the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling.

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Probably as painful as it looks.

GLOW is a new Netflix exclusive series from some of the minds behind the hugely successful Orange is the New Black. It’s a comedy-drama ensemble set amongst the world of professional wrestling, and if anyone knows me at all knows that alone made this show an absolute must-see based on premise alone. The good news is that GLOW is sensational! It is oftentimes hilarious, heartfelt, sad, confronting, and triumphant all in a single episode. It’s an easy watch, with each episode cracking through its relatively short run-time leaving you wanting more. The cast characters really shine, and you will end up having your own favourites after these initial ten episodes are through.

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TV Review: Fargo Season 1 (2014) — The Small-Screen Adaptation of the Coens Classic is a Worthy Successor

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“This is a true story. The events depicted took place in Minnesota in 2006. At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occurred.”

That looks familiar doesn’t it? The fictional disclaimer which opened the 1996 Coens Brothers classic film Fargo also appears in the TV series that bears the same name, not following the same characters from the quirky crime classic, but instead a similar tone in the recognisable, snow-covered landscape of the mid-American USA/Canada border.

Key and Peele! Inspired casting!

Key and Peele! Inspired casting!

In theory, a TV spin-off of the seminal Fargo is a terrible idea with impossible standards to live up to. What kind of arrogance makes a person believe they can adapt the perfect blend of whimsical characters and chilling violence? A film that exposed the vile underbelly of seemingly normal people in small towns? But showrunner and writer Noah Hawley did the impossible; not only did he create a show that is loyal in spirit and tone, but he created a stand-out TV show in what is currently a golden era of magnificent TV drama.

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Top Five Trashy TV Treasures

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Everyone has their secret trashy TV guilty pleasure, and if they don’t… they’re lying. If you’re in the market for a new bout of entertainment, here’s the most cringe-worthy, craptastic, laugh yourself silly and call them crazy, Top Five Trashy TV Treasures. Grab some friends, some chocolate and the alcohol of your choice and get cosy coz it’s gonna be a long night.

#5 –Toddlers and Tiaras

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Pageant shows are the pinnacle of reality TV. Crazy pageant mums: check. Kids sugar-high tantrums: check. Fierce competition: check. But most of all, the shameless parents lacking any moral or intellectual substance: check! Toddlers and Tiaras has it all rolled in to a bundle of oh-so-wrong entertaining television. Follow new kids every week through their daily pageant routines, spray tan, fake nails, even the odd eyebrow wax to win that Ultimate Grand Supreme title.This show isn’t about watching a child fulfil their pageant dreams, it’s your chance to yell profanities at the brainless parents who are clearly manipulating their children, it’s so bad it’s good. Catch these parental malfunction daily on Lifestyle You.

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The 100: To Watch Or Not To Watch?

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Airing on Thursday September 7 on Fox 8 is new CW sci-fi drama The 100. As usual, we in Australia are a little behind as the US have recently finished airing season one. I haven’t noticed much hype about this show from Australian audiences, but let me tell you, there should be – from thirteen year old girls! So if you are wondering whether or not you need to jump on The 100 band wagon, read on.

The 100 is a sci-fi drama based on the novel of the same name by Kass Morgan set in a world where the Earth has been torn apart by nuclear warfare, which led the surviving humans to haul up in to space for 97 years on what is called the Ark. The Ark’s number one rule is: if you break the rules, you die; unless you’re under 18 and get put in lock up until you come of age, then you die. The Ark, which is running out of supplies and oxygen, sends 100 of its under 18 year old prisoners to the presumably toxic Earth to suss out the situation. On Earth, the teenagers are learning to survive on their own in a new world while battling the environment, disease, and of course the hostile survivors; the Grounders. Oh and there’s the Reapers. Also, the Mountain Men. People just keep showing up on this supposedly uninhabitable planet. While the kids are fighting internal and external demons down on Earth, the adults are up in the Ark still trying to save what they believe to be the only other humans left.

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Gotham: Not Another Superhero Series

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With the release of the new trailer for Gotham last weekend, an ambitious Batman prequel television series, now is a great time to discuss what exactly it is we are in for.

Still a couple of months away from airing, FOX is really building the tension for one if its more anticipated series. Gotham is set in the DC universe and is marketed as a prequel to the Batman story centered around Detective James Gordon (Ben McKenzie). This dark new series is first and foremost a drama. By that I mean don’t expect the lighthearted Smallvilledrama” with a masked crusader sweeping in at the last moment to save the day. Gotham is about the roots of the criminal underworld and the twisted egos that are created in Gotham City. Gotham will follow Jim Gordon’s mortal struggle for justice against the odds in an increasingly corrupt society.

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