Glamorous - General Discussion

[luckyroll3]

Coming soon to Netflix.

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“Glamorous” follows Marco Mejia, a young, gender non-conforming queer person who is feeling stuck in his life until he secures a job working under the legendary makeup executive Madolyn Allison. The job gives Meija his first chance to figure out what he wants in his life, his identity and what it means to be queer.

[luckyroll3]

Currently filming

https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/damon-wayans-netflix-series-glamorous-what-we-know-so-far-08-2022/

[luckyroll3]

All episodes now available on Netflix.

[Keywestclubkid]

Im a twink on prep I can do anything … cracked me up … that and the Clue this is how it happened skit 

[Bill1978]

Did JJ Abrams direct the first episode? So many lens flares. I hope they dial that aesthetic down in future episodes, because it began to get annoying throughout the first episode.

By the end of the episode, I was getting Emily In Paris vibes with Marco falling into luck everywhere and everything falling into place for him. The first episode didn't exactly win me over (a lot of the humour fell flat for me, trying too hard to be hip with the pop culture smackdown) but I'll give it a few more episodes before deciding if it's worth concluding. At this stage, I'd describe it as a mix of Emily In Paris meets Ugly Betty with a side of The Devil Wears Prada. 

[Snazzy Daisy]

I only watched the first 3 episodes, couldn’t go any further.

Glamorous has a typical fish out of water story. This show is just an Ugly Betty wannabe with a sprinkle of The Devil Wears Prada vibes to it. It doesn’t come close to Emily in Paris because it doesn’t showcase these - fun & loving vibes, postcard-worthy locations, the importance of networking and gorgeous wardrobes.

I find Marco Mejia insufferable, not adorable at all. Marco talks big game about bravery, being ambitious and everything but when it comes to real life consequences, Marco will always choose the safe & predictable choices.

Kim Cattrall seems bored playing Madolyn Addison. The other supporting characters are mostly one-dimensional. They aren’t given so much to do other than telling themselves to stay true to themselves and be brave. Again with the bravery! Ugh.

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“I am bad at math. The oldest movie I’ve seen is Titanic. And I don’t know who Cher is... but I can fix that. I can put my phone down once in a while and I can learn. I can grow. The question is: can you?”

No idea why everybody seems so impressed with this word salad.

IRL, Marco will end up like this…

Edited June 25, 2023 by Snazzy Daisy

[giovannif7]

I binged the show and enjoyed it. Kim Cattrall is always a joy to watch, and there's plenty of relationship and corporate drama and homages to previous works to keep things lively. It's basically an alt universe sequel to Ugly Betty, in which early twentysomething Justin Suarez enters the work world at Wilhelmina Slater's cosmetics company. I think the things I enjoyed the most are the diversity of the LGBTQ+ characters, and the fact that nearly every character displays shades of gray - strict black hats and white hats are scarce. Even the most well-intentioned characters have issues, screw up and made bad choices, and the antagonists have moments of doing the decent/right thing. It's a behavioral/moral spectrum I wish more TV shows would let their characters traverse.

Yes, Marco is often a chore, and a lot to deal with - but I think Miss Benny (they/them) does an excellent job of portraying the non-binary Marco (he/him at the start) learning to adult, adjusting to turning his passion into a profession, making his first mistake-laden forays into the world of dating/sex/relationships, and questioning/discovering who he is and what he wants to become. To use the Will & Grace analogy, Marco knows he's a stinkin' rose that will require a nurturing gardener/series of gardeners as he explores the possibilities that life presents. Plus, there's some lovely eye candy, especially for those into hairless muscled blonds like Zane Phillips (Madolyn's son Chad) and Graham Parkhurst (Marco's Uber crush Parker).

Glamorous gets a 👍from me, with the acknowledgement that it's not going to be for everyone.

[Aulty]

I liked it and I hope it gets a second season, but there are a lot of points that need addressing.

Its a cute show, but not very deep. I read some reviews and they go on about Kim Catrall not sparkling in this one. With that bland script, I am not surprised. Chad is a caricature (the Sherlock sequence was so unneccessary), as is the deal broker lady, and the rest is shallow (as in, we don't learn much about them) with the occasional one-liner. Ben is a cheap copy of an early season TBBT Raj. I liked Marco's mum and Chad had some moments.
Pilots need to be taken with a grain of salt, but Marco didn't need to be handpicked in a mall. After the second episode its irrelevant how they got to be an assistant. They could've been hired via an agency or won the job lottery.
Obvious parallels with The Bold Type, what is with the leader-whorshipping? Madolyn like Jacqueline are adored like the second coming. Is that normal? And the unrealistic timelines - it takes a week to develop an organic formular and packaging?
I am glad they didn't just churn out the Pride-line, but looked for some context. Still not the most creative idea.
Venetia, sorry girl, giving the company secrets away like that? and getting re-hired?
Wouldn't the staff at a major make-up company, plus the guru-come-assistant, be a lot more creative with their everyday make-up? Maybe not the IT department, but surely the creatives?

 

[skotnikov]

It is probably one of the worst shows of the decade. Tired, unoriginal and just plain horrible. 

[Meedis]

It was nice hearing Vibeology from Paula Abdul.   Hadn't heard that in decades.   

Cute show (only watched 1st episode so far) I was annoyed how easily everything fell into place for the main character but I suppose that's par the course for most fictional shows.   Willing to watch some more episodes though Mr. Meedis was not impressed so I'll be watching it solo...LOL.

[Empress1]

I’m watching the first episode. What are Marco’s pronouns? I think I missed it.

[giovannif7]

IIRC, in episode 1 Marco doesn't openly express his pronoun preference, but all of the characters at the cosmetics company refer to Marco using he/him pronouns - and his mother refers to Marco as her boy during one of their conversations. If the writers wanted us to know otherwise at the start, they would likely have had Marco establish his own pronouns, or at least correct one of the other characters.

[giovannif7]

Link to a fairly positive review of the show from the Boy Culture website. Aside from oddly declaring incredulity that a group of twentysomething Manhattan gays would be familiar enough with the musical Chicago to lipsync a classic musical number from it, I find it to be a spot on breakdown of the series.

[Empress1]

15 hours ago, giovannif7 said:

IIRC, in episode 1 Marco doesn't openly express his pronoun preference, but all of the characters at the cosmetics company refer to Marco using he/him pronouns - and his mother refers to Marco as her boy during one of their conversations. If the writers wanted us to know otherwise at the start, they would likely have had Marco establish his own pronouns, or at least correct one of the other characters.

Thanks - I watched another episode in which Mom called him her son, so I’m going to assume pronouns are he/him.

[Surrealist]

On 6/29/2023 at 12:58 PM, Empress1 said:

Thanks - I watched another episode in which Mom called him her son, so I’m going to assume pronouns are he/him.

Things change when you watch the last episode. 

[chaifan]

This really is one of the most poorly written, acted and directed shows that I've seen in a long time.  I tuned in for Kim Cattrall, have tried 3 episodes and just can't take any more.   This is a poor rip off of Ugly Betty, except completely devoid of personality of any character.  Madolyn is about as dull as you can get for a former supermodel turned corporate mogul.  Chad and Marco are cartoon characters, completely one dimensional.  Marco has -0- chemistry with anyone on screen, especially Uber boy and the designer guy.  Same with Madolyn and James - they should sizzle, but there's nothing there.   I like Venetia and Britt more than the rest of the cast, but that's not saying much. 

So this is interesting... I was looking up the show on IMDB (5.9 viewer rating, almost surprised it's that high), looked at Miss Benny's page, and there is a "Glamorous" listed, where he plays "Marco", but it's from 2019.  Brooke Shields played Madolyn.  It was an unaired pilot.  I would love to be able to see that, to compare against this version.  "Unaired pilot" usually means so bad it got killed before it was even out of the can.  So if that got killed and this one got 8 episodes, OMG, just how bad was it???

 

[bilgistic]

I liked it overall, but it was definitely at least two episodes too long. The love triangle between Marco and Uber boy and office guy was super tiresome. Marco treated the office guy like complete crap while not seeing the parallel that Uber boy was treating him the same way.

The rest of the show was predictable, and I definitely didn't have to think at all when watching it. BUT I really appreciated the various representations of queerness along a spectrum especially when Netflix has also been a platform for hateful homophobes/transphobes.

In no real world would Venetia be rehired, and if the company had any money, she would've been sued to the high heavens.

Edited July 10, 2023 by bilgistic

[Baltimore Betty]

On 6/25/2023 at 10:32 AM, skotnikov said:

It is probably one of the worst shows of the decade. Tired, unoriginal and just plain horrible. 

But yet I watched the whole series and I don't know why.

It was a hybrid of Emily in Paris and Ugly Betty but the big crime was Kim Catrall's writing, she was sloth like and forgettable.

The Marco character was like a gnat you cannot swat away although I could appreciate the role and the actor it was just laid on so thick it eclipsed the other actors roles.  

In what world does a conglomerate send one person to a company to suss it out, I would have thought there would be a team of less annoying people sent in to look in to each department but I know, it is all make believe. 

[John M]

On 7/23/2023 at 8:30 AM, Baltimore Betty said:

But yet I watched the whole series and I don't know why.

It was a hybrid of Emily in Paris and Ugly Betty but the big crime was Kim Catrall's writing, she was sloth like and forgettable.

The Marco character was like a gnat you cannot swat away although I could appreciate the role and the actor it was just laid on so thick it eclipsed the other actors roles.  

In what world does a conglomerate send one person to a company to suss it out, I would have thought there would be a team of less annoying people sent in to look in to each department but I know, it is all make believe. 

None of it makes any sense just on surface, this company has no accounting department, the only person that knows their financial state but the director of sales. It's like the whole thing was written by gay theater kids using ChatGPT.

Just dreadful, what I hated most of it, as a very openly gay person with a very diverse friend group, it made me feel homophobic. It is just too much.

[Klaw]

Sigh. I wanted to like this one, but TBH it was a slog to get through to the end. I loved the young and diverse cast & I love Kim Cattrall, but this ... was not it. This show could have been all kinds of awesome but alas:

• the stakes weren't high enough - I never once felt that Kim (sorry, Madelyn or whatever her character's name was) was in danger or losing "the company"... and also the show went on and on telling us that Madelyn was the shit in the business but never really showed us. WHY was her product line so iconic? Like they could've have given her some signature product .... you  know her version of Viva Glam or Clinique Dramatically Different moisturiser. Something. 
• Chirpy ruthless corporate girl was just annoying, but not in a "fun Paris Gellar" type of way, but just in the "regular get on my nerves & shut up and go away" type of way
• The characterisations were all over the place - one example: what was the name of the 1st Assistant with the pretty hair - one minute she's ride or die for Kim and the next she's giving away company trade secrets???
• Also also, why was 1st Assistant shamed for looking for another job? She hadn't gotten a promotion and the "the company" was undergoing changes - why was it so wrong to interview with Revlon where she had a shot at a real, non-assistant job? That kind of shitty Boomer attitude about blind loyalty to a job needs to die. But then, of course, never mind because of her amazing SKILLZ and heartfelt confession she gets hired back instead of blackballed from the industry. 
• The love triangle was lame - and I love a good love triangle. The office guy was so clearly superior to Uber boy ... and honestly, I didn't think Uber boy was all that hot. shrug.
• Agree with other posters that  it gave "Emily in Paris" but at least with EIP you get PARIS - actual beautiful scenes of the city. I think this whole show was mostly shot on sound stages and it shows. Where was the NYC eye candy? And the set for the office was ugly as sin. C'mon, where was the real estate porn?

It's a shame. Wonder if it will get a 2nd season.

[Baltimore Betty]

On 9/6/2023 at 9:18 AM, Klaw said:

I think this whole show was mostly shot on sound stages and it shows. Where was the NYC eye candy? And the set for the office was ugly as sin. C'mon, where was the real estate porn?

It was filmed in Toronto.

I also felt like this show was a swing and a miss, there was not one character I would be upset if they got hit by a cab...that is my The Devil Wears Prada reference.

It was Emily in Paris mixed with an Andy Hardy movie with all the "Hey kids let put on a show!" mentality.

 

 

 

[Scarlett45]

I watched this finally- it was cute. But I agree the stakes were low and the structure was all over the place. I did like the concept and the acting. 

[giovannif7]

Shocking absolutely nobody, Netflix has cancelled Glamorous, along with 4 other shows.