Smart, pile-driving ‘GLOW’ debuts on Netflix
A show for our times set nearly four decades in our past, “GLOW” (TV-MA) begins streaming on Netflix today. People will be talking about this quirky, wellcast, expertly costumed and delightfully smart comedy all summer long.
Alison Brie (“Mad Men,” “Community”) stars as Ruth Wilder, a would-be serious actress who has grown tired of auditioning for terrible roles and is always on the verge of running out of money.
Set in the early 1980s, “GLOW” kicks off as she and her pal Debbie (Betty Gilpin, “Nurse Jackie”) appear to be drifting apart. A beautiful former soap star turned wife and mother, Debbie advises Ruth to leave the acting game and settle down. Fate and a few very questionable choices drag both women back into the center of each other’s lives and “performances.”
Ruth’s story takes a turn for the unexpected after she stops waiting for the next production of Chekhov and attends an audition for “GLOW,” the “Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling,” a fledgling cable series being created by Sam, a cranky, sexist, washed-up Z-movie director, hilariously evoked by comic and podcaster Marc Maron. An ensemble cast from all body sizes, races and ethnicities rounds out the other women hoping for a spot in the ring.
“GLOW” has fun contrasting the worlds of “serious” acting and cheesy “Wrestlemania” spectacle. You certainly don’t have to be familiar with, or even like, professional wrestling to get the jokes here. This may be the first series smart enough to combine lines from “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” with clips of Hulk Hogan.
Don’t go looking for the TV-PG tone of last summer’s 1980s Netflix hit “Stranger Things.” The use of casual nudity and sex scenes in “GLOW” are clearly part of its homage to the movies, pop culture and mores of the period.
A very smart, laugh-out-loud romp, “GLOW” also offers food for thought about our own era, all but defined by the blending of the real and the “fake,” and the mash-up of high and low culture.
HOGAN V. GAWKER
On a related note, Netflix also begins streaming the documentary “Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press” (TV-14) about the controversial First Amendment case involving Hulk Hogan, a sex tape, the gossip site Gawker and shadowy Silicon Valley figure Peter Thiel.
BYSTANDER DILEMMAS
“What Would You Do?” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) enters its 12th season, capturing unsuspecting bystanders as they confront contrived ethical dilemmas.
First up: White teens bully a Muslim classmate, a couple insult their son’s chubby girlfriend, a man makes a seemingly indecent proposal to two teenage boys, a man spies on his “flirty” bartender girlfriend and a parent’s “helicopter” blades cut deeply.
When is it right to intervene? Or smart to remain indifferent?
KIDS ON FILM
The Filmstruck streaming service (a subscription-based collaboration between TCM and the Criterion Collection) premieres the documentary “A Story of Children and Film,” a look at childhood as it has been represented in more than 50 movies, from “ET” to “The Red Balloon.”
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
› After a crossover “MacGyver” (8 p.m., CBS, repeat, TV-PG) adventure in Hawaii, a cartel kidnaps Chin on “Hawaii Five-0” (9 p.m., CBS, repeat, TV-14).
› Auditions continue on “America’s Got Talent” (8 p.m., NBC, repeat, TV-PG).
› The Hollow looms large on the season finale of “The Originals” (8 p.m., CW, TV-PG).
› Jason’s murder shocks the town on the pilot episode of “Riverdale” (9 p.m., CW, repeat, TV-14).
› The first day of school presents challenges to Paige and Frankie on the second-season premiere of “Bizaardvark” (9 p.m., Disney, TV-G).
› Frank and a rival put enmity aside to solve his son’s murder on “Blue Bloods” (10 p.m., CBS, repeat, TV-14).
› “Crossroads” (10 p.m., CMT, TV-PG) features Earth, Wind & Fire in performance with Lady Antebellum, Dan + Shay, Darius Rucker, Drake White, Martina McBride, Rascal Flatts and Sara Evans.
› Maggie comes to Emma’s rescue as “Playing House” (11 p.m., USA, TV-14), starring Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Clair, enters its third season.
› Pop goes the mystery box on “MasterChef” (8 p.m., Fox, repeat, TV-14).
› A new twist on the cooler on “Shark Tank” (8 p.m., ABC, repeat, TV-PG).
› Jamie Foxx hosts “Beat Shazam” (9 p.m., Fox, repeat, TV-PG).
› “Dateline” (10 p.m., NBC).
› “20/20” (10 p.m., ABC). Contact Kevin McDonough at kevin.tvguy@gmail.com.