I'm not surprised that this show got such high ratings. After all, Twilight and 50 Shades of Gray had a massive fan base. This show is comfortable, it doesn't challenge anyone's perception of race, crime, prisons and prison personnel etc. Characters are stereotypical and one-dimensional. I've read a few book reviews of Piper Kerman's book, the people say that she doesn't grow as a character and that she writes about other inmates in a dismissive, derogatory way. Apparently there's a lot of name-calling and stereotype reinforcing in her book. Basically, a privileged white girl spent 15 months in jail, learned nothing about the other inmates and after all that, got a book deal and a TV series. It's painfully obvious that prison experience hasn't changed her one bit, seeing that she is the main consultant for this series.
Regarding the TV show - it's fun at times. Kate Mulgrew is fabulous, so are some of the other actors. The main character is annoying and unconvincing. The same goes for her fiancée, on/off girlfriend and best friend. The black inmates are written by someone whose only "contact" with blacks was through comedies like "Don't drink juice in the hood" and blaxploitation flicks. Poussey is shown as a ghetto girl (she acts that way), although she has a dad who was a military figure stationed in Germany for a while, but she acts in a same way as Taystee (who grew up without parents). Prison guard "Pornstache" acts in an inconsistent way (being soft behind his asshole behavior). Pornstache and Fig (regarding the incident with her husband) just serve the purpose of showing how corrupt people in power are and they get their comeuppance in an unlikely way. Fig giving blow job to Caputo and Pornstache falling in love with a woman who he had sex with twice are clearly written for the satisfaction of viewers. Real people do not act this way!
There are a lot of sex scenes. I'm not a prude, but these scenes often serve no purpose. I've rewound many scenes of Piper and Alex as a couple (flashbacks and prison scenes), those were too boring to watch. All in all, if you want cheap entertainment, this is the show for you. It has a few interesting (but not realistic) back stories about some characters and a few fun moments in a prison setting. It had potential to be a lot more, but the uninteresting main character kind of spoils it.
Regarding the TV show - it's fun at times. Kate Mulgrew is fabulous, so are some of the other actors. The main character is annoying and unconvincing. The same goes for her fiancée, on/off girlfriend and best friend. The black inmates are written by someone whose only "contact" with blacks was through comedies like "Don't drink juice in the hood" and blaxploitation flicks. Poussey is shown as a ghetto girl (she acts that way), although she has a dad who was a military figure stationed in Germany for a while, but she acts in a same way as Taystee (who grew up without parents). Prison guard "Pornstache" acts in an inconsistent way (being soft behind his asshole behavior). Pornstache and Fig (regarding the incident with her husband) just serve the purpose of showing how corrupt people in power are and they get their comeuppance in an unlikely way. Fig giving blow job to Caputo and Pornstache falling in love with a woman who he had sex with twice are clearly written for the satisfaction of viewers. Real people do not act this way!
There are a lot of sex scenes. I'm not a prude, but these scenes often serve no purpose. I've rewound many scenes of Piper and Alex as a couple (flashbacks and prison scenes), those were too boring to watch. All in all, if you want cheap entertainment, this is the show for you. It has a few interesting (but not realistic) back stories about some characters and a few fun moments in a prison setting. It had potential to be a lot more, but the uninteresting main character kind of spoils it.