bravelittletoaster

40 minutes from Charlottesville? Maybe with the horses and buggies y'all drive. ;) ETA: AH, Fishersville. Good catch. I'd actually heard it was Fredericksburg from a friend and hadn't gone back to check. So that makes more sense, and also confirms that YES VIRGINIA, SHE'S FROM VIRGINIA. As a PA transplant to Virginia who thinks my adopted state should have to claim 'tucky, not my birth state, that bit of confusion is one of my pet peeves with the viewing audience. But the confusion is understandable, given her name [which is itself just an artifact from the book, though that character WAS from PA.] Obviously someone on the show staff has a beef with the valley. ;)

I'll be sad if Alex goes back to dealing, but I definitely see it as within the realm of possibility and intriguing from a narrative POV even if it's not what I personally want for one of my favorite characters.

The New York Times is live streaming a roundtable called Powerful Women of TV at 6:30 pm EST today with Taylor as well as Lucy Liu, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Mira Sorvino here: http://timestalks.com/ The chat is archived and linked in this write-up about it here: http://gothamist.com/2014/07/26/taylor_schilling_says_oitnb_gives_w.php

She's seemed like a hot mess for at least a year, tbh. This is just...weird. But whatever. Not my circus, not my monkeys.

Looks like Piper finally gets that visit in prison from her dad: ETA: Also someone named Tanisha Thomas who is apparently a reality tv "star" has been cast for season 3 in an unknown capacity, and I hope it's not as fucking shark-jumpy as it sounds. I hate stunt casting with amateurs. ETA2: Oh, good, nevermind. Netflix says she was lying about being cast.

omg, yes, I agree about Poussey being a Mary Sue this season. I don't know why that didn't occur to me before, because I couldn't put my finger on what I didn't like about how they wrote her, but that's exactly it. Give me the imperfect one any day over that.

Variety apparently fucked up and released the Television Critics Association winners early [the ceremony is tonight]. Orange won best new program: http://www.goldderby.com/news/6858/tca-television-critics-association-award-winners-entertainment-news-419603857.html

Somehow it had never even occurred to me that Larry had a thread when I posted those pieces by Larry Smith in, variously, the book and media threads. And apparently I've even posted here before. Ha. Well. As for Biggs, I'm not clutching my pearls over the joke per se, because I can have a pretty dark sense of humor myself. But tweeting it was a really really dumb move, and he definitely should have known better.

Ha, a follow up to yesterday's piece by Larry Smith on his side of the OITNB story, here's an entertaining and enlightening interview between him and Jason Biggs -- https://medium.com/matter/the-larry-spin-off-is-going-to-be-awesome-de067bd2d53

Again, kind of stretching the "book" topic here, but Piper just tweeted out this sweet essay by Larry about his own thoughts on the whole life to screen thing: https://medium.com/matter/my-life-with-piper-from-big-house-to-small-screen-592b35f5af94

Nah, I agree. I think she lands comedy more consistently than any other character. Especially in season 2 where a lot of previously comical characters take darker turns.

Gold Derby asked its panel of experts about the lead actress in a comedy race today. Most went with the favorite, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, but one did pick Taylor as the dark horse who could upset her.

Piper Kerman sat down with Ezra Klein of Vox to discuss US incarceration rates, recidivism and other issues around the prison industrial complex: http://www.vox.com/2014/7/14/5898401/the-real-piper-of-orange-is-the-new-black-on-how-prison-is-broken [Just kind of treating this as her thread in addition to the book thread...seems to make sense to lump that all together.] ETA: Piper on Melissa Harris-Perry's show to talk about how personal narrative can frame public sentiment / policy: http://www.msnbc.com/melissa-harris-perry/watch/can-a-personal-narrative-impact-policy--303521859772

2% is statistically significant for sure. And also if one of those 10 people from your graduating class were the most important person in your life then obviously it would be devastating. Not to defend the show, really, which I think is stupid. But it worked in the book.

Or at least won't represent a client they know is lying and also has fallen out of love with their son in favor of the other woman...

There aren't many federal pens for women though. I think there are only 5, and they very nearly closed the one that Litchfield is based on recently--they were going to send all of those prisoners down to Alabama, something Piper publicly lobbied against since it basically means separating those women from their visitors for the duration of their sentence. I think they stopped that. Anyhow, point being there aren't many women's correctional facilities at the federal level, so I think it's not outside the realm of possibility that you'd be stuck in there with someone you knew. Also irl in Chicago they actually stuck Piper and the woman Alex is based on in the same cell [!!] when it was time to testify, which one wouldn't think they would have done. IIRC Piper spent her first few nights fantasizing about killing her, but they eventually reached a truce and buried a bit of hatchet anyways.

I think he was implying that, yes, he knew she lied for Alex's sake (or so they both thought).

Sounds scarily accurate.

I feel like when I watch a show with a laugh track I can actually feel my brain cells dying. So I basically just avoid CBS.

I think the bigger problem was FOX had zero prospects to fill its space. They are on life support right now. You know they got, like 19 Emmy nods? Netflix got 31 in its second year of eligibility. Meanwhile all the good properties of 20th century are on FX. But I guess the two networks are run completely independently even though they're owned by the same entity? Otherwise I don't know why they don't put the better product on the network with more potential viewers... (Tho I imagine FOX not broadcasting at 10 pm EST is an issue. That's where most of their TV MA dramas would have to go due to "safe harbor." Long story short, the fact that Glee is on the most floundery of networks has definitely given it life support it didn't deserve.

Ha, I noticed a Twitter conversation in my feed yesterday between Piper Kerman and a couple randos where someone was like, "Piper, please settle a bet for us. I think Morello would be in federal for mail fraud, while my friend thinks stalking." And Piper responded unequivocally it was the mail fraud. Stalking would be state. heh.

I think that's the episode Taylor Schilling should submit for the Emmy now that she has the nomination [as I understand it, that's how it works--you now submit one for consideration for Best Actress.] The brilliant thing about that scene in the lockerroom with Dina, to me, is that it encapsulates the show's tone perfectly; it begins in comedy with the broad generalizations about Piper and her sexuality and the ridiculous show the guards and prisoners put on for the "scared straight" kids, and then it delves into some of Taylor's best dramatic acting with the kid, and then comes back around to comedy with her code-switching, "Bitches gots to learn." I suspect she and her people are leaning towards the pilot or Fucksgiving, but I hope they go with this one. /just my two cents.

Oh, cool. Didn't realize those threads still existed anywhere on the web. Thanks. /back on topic now.

I'm going to enjoy reliving this through a newb. :) I kind of wish I could go back and watch it all for the first time. Because I never thought it was going to be as good as it ended up being. And it just kept getting better and better [iMO] throughout the first season. Too bad we couldn't import the discussions from TWoP about last season's episodes for you, but nice that you're writing something in these empty threads.

Piper to Suzanne in the season 1 finale: "You have to admit, you do come on a bit strong."