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Taken from http://blogs.phillymag.com  1. It passes the Bechdel test.The test, if you don’t know, asks a couple of simple questions about a TV show or movie: Is there more than one woman in it? Do the women talk to each other? Do they talk about something besides a man? If the answer is yes, your show passes the test — but remarkably few do.
It won’t surprise you: A show in a women’s prison passes the test. A show in a women’s prison, in fact, features much more diversity than we typically see on TV, with plenty of roles for African Americans and Latinas alike. Filling out a quota doesn’t make the show interesting in and of itself, but the creators use these tools to tell interesting stories and explore unusual themes.2. It’s got a great theme song. And there aren’t that many great theme songs these days, but Regina Spektor kills it with “You’ve Got Time,” which is probably the best opener outside of Justified these days.3. It gives adult employment to great teen actors of the late 1990s.I’ll be honest — it does my heart good to know that Jason Biggs and Natasha Lyonne aren’t just living off of American Pie residuals, and that Laura Prepon has finally found her first good role since That ’70s Show. You worry about those kids, you know?4. You’ve never seen Kathryn Janeway like this. My only real experience with Kate Mulgrew was watching her play the no-nonsense captain of Voyager for seven seasons. Watching her play a no-nonsense Russian cook in this show has been a revelation — I almost didn’t recognize her at first.5. It’s genuinely funny.The humor ranges from raunchy to sly, and it’s kind of impossible to quote. The best I can offer is a quote from Mulgrew’s character, Red, in an episode called “The Chickening”: “All I wanted was to eat the chicken that is smarter than other chickens and to absorb its power.” In a Russian accent, this is hilarious stuff.
In recent years — post-Sopranos — there’s been a discussion of whether episodic TV has surpassed movies in quality. It’s a young discussion, but it also may be beside the point. If Orange Is The New Black is any indication, we might soon be discussing whether “TV created for the web” surpasses them both. It’s that good.
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