G.L.O.W (Season 1)
Created by Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, G.L.O.W is the kind of comedy series that grows on a viewer slowly. It’s a fictionalization of the creation of the women’s professional wrestling promotion, Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling – founded by David B. McLane in 1986. At the time, women’s wrestling was regarded as something of a novelty, and McLane faced a great deal of obstruction in trying to get his organization off the ground.
In its first few episodes, the main character in G.L.O.W is Ruth Wilder (Alison Brie), who’s an unemployed actress keen to make her mark. Her best friend is Debbie Eagen (Betty Gilpin), who was previously a soap actress, but who faces the prejudice of having taken a break to have a baby. We learn early on that Ruth has been having an affair with Debbie’s husband – and the stage is set for these two characters to play out their dramatic arc.
Ruth goes for an audition at a gym, and realizes the project on offer is very different. B-movie filmmaker Sam Sylvia (Marc Maron) intends to make a women’s wrestling broadcast – with characters, costumes and storylines – and is looking for women to appear. After a few episodes focused on assembling a cast, the show really takes flight as an ensemble piece, filled with brilliant women who are each facing their own challenges and are becoming more deeply invested in the wrestling show than any of them thought they would be.
G.L.O.W benefits greatly from the inclusion of women in the production process – with 6 of the 10 directors, and 6 of the 8 writers being women. By the time we reach episode 4 (The Dusty Spur), and the female wrestlers are training together and developing their wrestling personas, the show has several plot threads progressing at once – from the relationships between the women, to the relationship between the women and Sam; from the family responses to the women’s work, to the efforts of an incompetent producer to get the show on the air. Each of these subplots is fully fleshed out and well-crafted.
In its entirety, though, G.L.O.W creates a world in which a group of wildly different women begin to work together as a team to create something brand new and exciting – and we see the impact that process has on them on a personal level. It’s both heartwarming and entertaining, and deserves a second season that builds on such a solid foundation.