T
he golden New Age of television, or streaming viewing, in the case of Netflix, rolls on with the release of a whole new season of Orange Is The New Black, the Netflix original series about the very real Piper Kerman’s experiences as an inmate in Federal prison.
Besides the compelling show-runner’s Jenji Kohan’s powerful crafting of the show, the performances from Taylor Schilling as Piper, the venerable Kate Mulgrew as Red and Uzo Aduba as Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren are so enveloping as to make the script nearly secondary. This is an actor’s landscape, and this cast is beyond brilliant in their ensemble work and in solo.
Netflix entered the content-creation game with their commitment to Kevin Spacey’s House Of Cards and the broadcast (netcast? streamcast?) of Lillyhammer, a hilarious and smart comedy starring Steven Van Zandt of Soparanos fame and, yes, that “Little” Stevie Van Zandt, long-time guitarist for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. This season’s Orange is certainly just as stunning as the new season of House of Cards, which premiered, all episodes at once, early this spring.
It’s clear from this new season of Orange Is The New Black that Netflix is serious about the production of quality content. Netflix subscribers will certainly rejoice about this and a variety of other Netflix-produced offerings. It certainly looks like Netflix-produced content is here to stay. Ladies and gentlemen, start your binge-watching!