S01.E01: Pilot

[The Crazed Spruce]

Desperate to jump-start her career, struggling actress Ruth heads to a casting call at an LA gym -- and quickly realizes it's not a typical audition.

[Primetimer]

Allison and Chris tag team on our newest podcast all about Netflix's GLOW.

View the full article

[AzureOwl]

I only had time to watch the pilot this morning before leaving for work and I liked it quite a lot. 

But I must say that the promos were kind of deceptive. They painted Debbie like some kind of mean girl when in reality she has every right to be pissed at Ruth. 

BTW, as someone born in late 1982, I have to ask... didn't they have breast pumps in the 80's? Or was Debbie's problems at the aerobics class something that happens even when they pump them?

[doesntworkonwood]

I only watched the first episode because I was bored, I didn't realise that Alison Brie was in it so when I saw her name in the credits I thought I should definitely give it a chance! It seems really good, really fun so far but not particularly funny. Netflix advertises it as a comedy, so I hope that this was just set up and that it'll get funnier soon.

[heatherchandler]

34 minutes ago, AzureOwl said:

 

BTW, as someone born in late 1982, I have to ask... didn't they have breast pumps in the 80's? Or was Debbie's problems at the aerobics class something that happens even when they pump them?

I assume they did, but that can still happen even if you just pumped.  Found that out the hard way...

I am liking this show so far.  I didn't even want to give it a chance - when I saw the ads on netflix, I skipped over them.  BUT I do love WTF podcast, and Marc Maron, so I figured I would give it a chance.

Speaking of the WTF podcast - Marc had Alison Brie and Betty Gilpin on recently.

[Silly Angel]

Wow, I really liked this. Eye candy to the max, with a tight script.

The weirdest '80s moment for me was the mini-thugs in "Los Angeles Death Squad." LADS was a real, not very violent or active, baby gang in L.A. during my punk-rock high-school years. We had a fair number of them in my public school. Mostly ok kids, actually.

[The Crazed Spruce]

I did appreciate the irony of Ruth complaining of possibly having to do porn while Allison Brie was going topless on-screen.

[AzureOwl]

3 hours ago, Silly Angel said:

The weirdest '80s moment for me was the mini-thugs in "Los Angeles Death Squad." LADS was a real, not very violent or active, baby gang in L.A. during my punk-rock high-school years. We had a fair number of them in my public school. Mostly ok kids, actually.

Wait a minute. You mean to tell me there were actually bands of little shits on skate boards going around in real life like that?

[benteen]

I really enjoyed that.  It was a lot of fun and quite funny.  Allison Brie was terrific and even though Marc Maron is basically playing Marc Maron, he's entertaining to watch.  Anyone think the big guy Sal looks like a taller and bigger Kit Harrington?

I've been a wrestling fan for as long as I can remember.  I haven't watched it in years but still, a chance to do a show about wrestling is not one I was going to pass up.  I never watched GLOW but I do remember it being on television.  I probably remember it best from an episode of Married with Children where some of the wrestlers appeared.

I was thrilled they showed actual wrestling footage.  Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Kerry Von Erich were all present in those clips.  For anyone who doesn't know, the WWF is now the WWE and all that footage that Ruth was watching is now owned exclusively by the WWE.  Definitely appreciate real wrestling footage popping up.

Edited June 23, 2017 by benteen

[mtlchick]

Well Alison Brie is not Annie from Community anymore.  

 

I liked it.  It's a weird band of misfits most of them are likable.  The one that plays Carmen has a certain charm about her. 

[Lady Calypso]

So, I decided to check it out. I think it's ok so far. It's different than a lot that I've seen, which is important for me to give it a chance (if it's different enough and I am pulled in by the premise, then it's a good sign). 

I thought for a first episode, it did well in setting up the premise for the show, and it set up the season. They did sell me on Ruth's struggle to be a real actress, but not being able to because of the times that she lived in.

I didn't really laugh, even during the obvious funny moments, but I've always had a hard time with comedies and sitcoms hitting my funny bone. I do think some of the emotional beats were hit, such as the ending when Debbie found out about her husband's affair with Ruth. 

Overall, I didn't love it and it didn't suck me in completely, but I liked it enough to give it another couple of episodes. Pilots are always shaky to begin with, so hopefully, the next couple of episodes are better.

[tennisgurl]

I know nothing about wresting, don't have any 80s nostalgia (I wasn't born yet), but I love Allison Brie, so I decided to lift my current Netflix embargo (#renewSense8) to support her, and I thought this was a really good start to the series, I enjoyed it a lot. I thought they sold us on Ruth being really passionate about acting, but struggling to find any decent roles for woman, and make her likable, even after doing something really shitty to her friend, and having a bit of a ruthless streak. I like that they're giving her some flaws, but aren't making her a full on jerk.

The ragtag bunch of misfits is a total cliché, but I fall for it every time, so I am already enjoying the other woman in the wresting league, and their coke head manager.

It wasn't exactly laugh out loud funny, but I it was fun to watch.

[Silly Angel]

4 hours ago, AzureOwl said:

Wait a minute. You mean to tell me there were actually bands of little shits on skate boards going around in real life like that?

In my experience, it was mostly punk rock Latino dudes who wore leather jackets with LADS in studs on the back and never did anything. But yeah, they existed.

[thuganomics85]

First things first: as a Mad Man fan, seeing Trudy Campbell riding Harry Crane about blew my mind.  Good thing Pete wasn't around for that!  Granted, I wasn't prepared for Naked Alison Brie in general.  I guess Netflix brings the wild side out of everybody!

I enjoyed it.  I obviously use to love wrestling judging from my screen name, but GLOW was before my time, so I liked seeing the insights into, even if I'm sure it was exaggerated on some levels.  Plus, Brie, Betty Giplin (who I loved in Elementary), and Ellen Wong (Knives!) make this a must see.  I was even surprised over the reveal that Rich Sommer's character was actually Debbie's husband.  Kind of flips what the trailers were hinting, and it makes Ruth not so nice, and Debbie has legit reasons to hate her.

Not familiar with Marc Maron, but he sure looks the part.

Liked the training segments, and the clips of the classic WWF matches, including legends like Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair.

But as with most things set in the 1980s, I always wonder what in the hell they were thinking about in that decade, when it comes to fashion and hair....

[CofCinci]

Allison Brie lost too much weight and it's distracting. 

[SeanC]

14 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

First things first: as a Mad Man fan, seeing Trudy Campbell riding Harry Crane about blew my mind.  Good thing Pete wasn't around for that!

On the one hand, Pete would totally have deserved having Trudy cheat on him with Harry.  On the other hand, Harry would in no way have remotely deserved to have Trudy cheat on Pete with him.

"Separate Ways" is my favourite Journey song, so as soon as that started up, the show was really in my good books.

[Megan]

I was all in on this. I loved GLOW as a kid (Lady Godiva was my fav, prolly because of the horse and the hair) this was surprisingly good. Ruth deserved to get the shit kicked out of her.

I also loved and owned The Warrior on cassette.

Edited June 26, 2017 by Megan
clarity

[Armchair Critic]

Funny because as a kid I didn't like GLOW, it would air late at night in my area and I would rather have watched SNL or Fridays or SCTV or USA "Up all night!". But I am a sucker for 80's nostalgia and Netflix series so checked it out. Will have to get used to Trudy from Mad Men and Dr. Carrie Roman from Nurse Jackie as these characters but I liked it.

[OnceSane]

I loved it.  I mentally fist-bumped Ruth when she complained about the crappy roles for women, cringed when she bathroom-stalked the casting agent and wanted to punch her in the face when she banged the married man.  That it was her best friend's hubby is just filling of the shit sandwich.

 

I'm so in.

[CletusMusashi]

I don't like Ruth. She's supposed to be all plucky and sympathetic, but... why? Because she can't pay her bills? So get a job! Other actors wait tables or whatever until they make it big. I see a lot of things happening to her that make her sympathetic, but no more so than anybody else. She wants an acting gig? Well so do all the other applicants.

On "Community" there was a funny joke about Brie's character not knowing who Sam and Diane were. Now she's playing Diane, albeit a very second-rate not-particularly-funny Diane. Actually, scratch that. At least Diane was willing to lower herself enough to work a peasant job.

I'm gonna try one more episode to see if it gets better, but I have a bad feeling that this is going to continue the long tradition of Netflix shows that I can not sit through a season of.

Edited July 1, 2017 by CletusMusashi

[zibnchy]

On 6/24/2017 at 8:36 AM, CofCinci said:

Allison Brie lost too much weight and it's distracting. 

I don't know why, maybe the 80s hair, but I did not recognize Alison Brie. I'm familiar with her work and, generally, enjoy her performances BUT I did not recognize her. I thought Ruth kinda, sorta, looked like Brie but I really did spend the first half of the episode waiting for Brie's character to be introduced. I am a little bit old so I may just have had a stroke but did anyone else think Brie didn't look like Brie?

[snowwhyte]

The permed hair definitely changed her look and it does appear that they are trying to minimize her attractiveness. She is meant to be pretty but missing obvious star quality. When she smiles she is more easily recognizable, I think. 

[DrivingSideways]

I think the weight loss and the hair really 'edge up' Brie's look, which was kind of generically pretty before.  The Debra Winger wigs and maybe a tan (?) give her a more interesting look than previous roles.  She's great.

[Duke2801]

I did not like Betty Gilpin at ALL as Dr. Roman on Nurse Jackie, so I had some misgivings about this show.  But my love for Alison/Trudy/Annie won out. And I am glad.  I really enjoyed the pilot episode.  Looking forward to more.

 

22 hours ago, zibnchy said:

I don't know why, maybe the 80s hair, but I did not recognize Alison Brie. I'm familiar with her work and, generally, enjoy her performances BUT I did not recognize her. I thought Ruth kinda, sorta, looked like Brie but I really did spend the first half of the episode waiting for Brie's character to be introduced. I am a little bit old so I may just have had a stroke but did anyone else think Brie didn't look like Brie?

Yeah she looked very different.  Aside from the hair and clothes, I think they gave her darker eyebrows and really went very minimal with her makeup.  She looked more like herself (at least the version of "herself" I'm used to seeing on TV) at the end with the dramatic eye makeup (even despite the crazy war paint). 

Also, I'm not seeing where she lost a ton of weight?  She was always quite slim. 

Edited June 27, 2017 by Duke2801
Because Betty Gilpin and Perri Gilpin are 2 different people.

[Cheezwiz]

I don't know or care about wrestling at all, but I love Alison Brie & Marc Maron, so I decided to give this one a shot. The opening song hooked me. Agree with everyone that Alison Brie looks totally different, barely recognizable.

Really liked it - not laugh out loud funny, but amusing and entertaining enough to keep me watching. I'm not familiar with Betty Gilpin at all, but really enjoyed her as the betrayed friend - that was a good twist, didn't see that one coming (Harry Crane! Mad Men! Worlds Collide!) - also good motivation for future eps.

I was in high-school in the 80's, and boy let me tell ya, they are NAILING the costumes and production design in this one. A lot of films set in the 80's kinda sorta almost but not quite get it right (I'm looking at you Stranger Things), but no mis-steps in the first episode at all. They've totally got the terrible fried perms, big hair, big glasses and tacky earrings down. Looking for clues to see if there's a specific year this first season is supposed to be set in.

I'm also enjoying Marc Maron as the semi-sleazy director. In real life, I think he's quite attractive looking, but they're really done him up as middle-aged 80's skeeve-dude complete with dorky glasses and a pornstache. It might be too early to call it, but his character seems like he might be modelled after the character Tom Hanks played in A League of Their Own: douchebag with a heart of gold.

I know it's cliche, but all the other misfits weirdos are fun. The actress who plays Cherry is excellent!

[OnceSane]

11 hours ago, Cheezwiz said:

Looking for clues to see if there's a specific year this first season is supposed to be set in.

The original GLOW pilot was made 1985 if that helps!

[Clanstarling]

On 6/23/2017 at 8:32 AM, AzureOwl said:

BTW, as someone born in late 1982, I have to ask... didn't they have breast pumps in the 80's? Or was Debbie's problems at the aerobics class something that happens even when they pump them?

Milk leaks for a variety of reasons - which is why I always wore nursing pads in my bras. (in the 80's -  I'm obviously older than most of the crowd here). 

On 6/26/2017 at 1:28 PM, zibnchy said:

I don't know why, maybe the 80s hair, but I did not recognize Alison Brie. I'm familiar with her work and, generally, enjoy her performances BUT I did not recognize her. I thought Ruth kinda, sorta, looked like Brie but I really did spend the first half of the episode waiting for Brie's character to be introduced. I am a little bit old so I may just have had a stroke but did anyone else think Brie didn't look like Brie?

I always have trouble recognizing Brie - it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize Pete's wife in Mad Man was the girl on Community. She has that kind of face (I had to laugh about the "sometimes your face is 'hey, hot' and then 'meh'" - thought that might have been an in joke.

I loved my aerobics clothes (well, the mister loved them the most...) I recognized the style of mine on one of the actresses. 

I thought they captured the 80's better than most shows. 

I can't say I love the show, but I'm intrigued.

[Milburn Stone]

When Sam was picturing Ruth and Debbie wrestling, at first I couldn't decide whether he was flashing-forward in his mind to how they'd perform when under his direction, or if he was just getting off on the sexual fantasy. Then I realized it was both.

Edited July 2, 2017 by Milburn Stone

[dubbel zout]

On 6/24/2017 at 7:50 PM, Megan said:

I also loved and owned The Warrior on cassette.

I sang along with that!  I have "Goodbye to You" on iTunes. I have a weakness for terrible '80s music.

On 6/29/2017 at 2:01 AM, Cheezwiz said:

I was in high-school in the 80's, and boy let me tell ya, they are NAILING the costumes and production design in this one.

It's cringingly accurate.

I'm really enjoying this.

[DrSpaceman73]

Its a solid show.  I watched the pilot and the first several episodes so far. 

Its not must see, but its enjoyable and watchable. 

I like that they are not really clear on if that last scene in this episode was all play acting or real.  Not the fantasy part of the director, I know that was made up, but the rest of it.  And having watched the next few episodes, they don't really clear that up, leave it a mystery. 

On ‎6‎/‎26‎/‎2017 at 8:46 PM, DrivingSideways said:

I think the weight loss and the hair really 'edge up' Brie's look, which was kind of generically pretty before.  The Debra Winger wigs and maybe a tan (?) give her a more interesting look than previous roles.  She's great.

I thought much of it they just seemed to give her more of an early/mid 80s look, rather than trying to give her any "edge".  Certainly different than how she normally looks though

[snarktini]

On 6/25/2017 at 7:27 PM, CletusMusashi said:

I don't like Ruth. She's supposed to be all plucky and sympathetic, but... why? Because she can't pay her bills? So get a job! Other actors wait tables or whatever until they make it big. I see a lot of things happening to her that make her sympathetic, but no more so than anybody else. She wants an acting gig? Well so do all the other applicants.

 

She is waiting tables...in the locker room scene, she said she waitressed all weekend. 

[DianeDobbler]

I ignored this until I read today that Alison Brie was the star, then I binge-watched. I didn't recognize her throughout the opening monologue - think it was the tan. Then when her character broke character, I recognized her.

She is a bit thinner but she's also amazingly fit. She's gone from "Actress fit" to "athlete fit". I'm sure there are doubles, but there are sequences throughout this show that are all Brie, and you have to be in great shape. 

Really enjoy the cast. Am not the biggest Betty Gilpin fan, AND I don't think she's as apple pie All American Barbie doll as the script says she is, and I think she has too much edge to be the one you'd automatically route for. That said, she brings a level of complication to the anger between Ruth and Debbie. What Ruth did was unforgivable, but there's something in Gilpin's performance that suggests Ruth's betrayal provided a channel for Debbie to express EVERYTHING that pissed her off about her marriage.  I get the idea that she wasn't incredibly happy in her marriage to begin with. Still not sure why Ruth slept with Debbie's husband. He's not especially hot, and the friendship between Debbie and Ruth was portrayed as so close, it's really hard to figure out how Ruth did that, not just once, but a second time. Still, I always find Brie someone to root for, no matter what, so there's a nice balance. Brie's character is in the wrong, Gilpin's is in the right, but I like Brie better, so there's a balance.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I started watching this show for Alison Brie and Betty Gilpin (I couldn't stand her on Nurse Jackie but I grew to like her on Masters of Sex) but I may stay just for the music and wardrobe alone! Man, those highcut 80s leotards. Only one episode in and the soundtrack is awesome!

On 6/26/2017 at 1:28 PM, zibnchy said:

I don't know why, maybe the 80s hair, but I did not recognize Alison Brie. I'm familiar with her work and, generally, enjoy her performances BUT I did not recognize her. I thought Ruth kinda, sorta, looked like Brie but I really did spend the first half of the episode waiting for Brie's character to be introduced. I am a little bit old so I may just have had a stroke but did anyone else think Brie didn't look like Brie?

For me, it was the eyebrows more than anything.

[Clanstarling]

1 hour ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I started watching this show for Alison Brie and Betty Gilpin (I couldn't stand her on Nurse Jackie but I grew to like her on Masters of Sex) but I may stay just for the music and wardrobe alone! Man, those highcut 80s leotards. Only one episode in and the soundtrack is awesome!

For me, it was the eyebrows more than anything.

For some reason I never recognize Alison Brie in her roles. Took me forever to connect Pete's wife on Mad Men with the girl in Community. She really takes on a different look each time.

[Black Knight]

I just watched the pilot, and as a child of the '80s who was obsessed with the WWF back then, I was in total heaven.

I watched with a friend who's a little over a decade younger, and thankfully she isn't the type to mock my 8-year-old self. (She found the pilot quite entertaining too, but of course she missed many of the references, which I gleefully explained at length. She was very patient and tolerant - did I mention she's not the type to mock? Heh.)

[SnarkEnthusiast]

On 6/25/2017 at 10:27 PM, CletusMusashi said:

I don't like Ruth. She's supposed to be all plucky and sympathetic, but... why?

 

Just started watching! Ruth reminds me of Piper in OITNB in that she's introduced as a stand-in for the audience as a fish out of water in a world where she doesn't belong and has relatable qualities (professional fuck up, personal fuck up, just overall screwed up her own life), but then it turns out she's a self-absorbed asshole whose ignorance and entitlement becomes a foil for the much more interesting cast of supporting characters. 

Edited August 10, 2018 by SnarkEnthusiast

[aradia22]

After much debate on what to watch, I settled on starting Glow. They had me from the opening credits with the cheesy 80's glam rock and neon animation.

The opening scene was on the nose but it got to the point quickly. Also, I was excited to see Nonnie from Insatiable.

The clothes are great. By which I mean terrible. 

Alison Brie's nudity felt unnecessary. There was no reason to have that conversation in the locker room.

Jackie Tohn! Kate Nash!

I already love Cherry.

The crumpled picture of a wolf broke me.

I knew Ruth would be the other woman with her best friend's husband. It was too obvious. I didn't love that or her purse being stolen by those little kids. There's a good show in here but I feel like there are also lame "edgy" HBO show tropes. I'll excuse it because it needed to be the set up for what actually convinced Marc Maron to take her back.

That actor from Superstore as Neil was perfect. I admit part of what I'm enjoying about this show is the casting but it gives me hope for future episodes that they cast so many people I like from other things.