Goodbye, winter caps—hello, summer hats! It’s that glorious time of year where many of us can switch from content creators to content consumers. NYWIFT members Mellini Kantayya and Kathryn O’Kane have put together #SummerHours, a series of fun summer books, movies, and TV shows by or about women.
By Mellini Kantayya
There’s a Yiddish proverb that goes, “As soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul.” Here are three women-centric, binge-watch worthy comedy picks to keep you awash in humor all summer long (sorry, I just could not resist that pun).
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: It may be a short ride from the Upper West Side to Greenwich Village, but in 1950s Manhattan it’s a world away. Well-heeled housewife Miriam “Midge” Maisel finds herself tumbling out of her classic six and into Bleeker Street comedy clubs after she unearths her talent as a stand-up. Actress Rachel Brosnahan brings such charm and downright spunk to the character. You can’t help but cheer as Mrs. Maisel lives her dual life while navigating her career onward and upward through a scene dominated by men. The series was created by Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls) and is available on Amazon.
GLOW: A wannabe actress (Alison Brie), a soap star turned single mom (Betty Gilpin), a punk-rocker, a party-girl, and a pre-med student are just some of the misfits that make up the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, or GLOW. The ragtag group is helmed by a B-movie director and class-A maker-of-bad-choices (Marc Maron)—rounding out a hilarious cast of characters played by a remarkable ensemble. GLOW is a fictionalized depiction of the creation of the 1980s television show of the same title, which staged women wrestlers as flamboyant characters in over-the-top choreographed matches. The series is created by Carly Mensch and Liz Flavhive (both of Nurse Jackie) and is available on Netflix.
One Day at a Time: Though this remake of the 1975 Norman Lear series may seem like a sharp departure from the original at first glance, its bones are the same—the life of a family dealing with real-world issues with heart and humor. This update follows single-mother Penelope (Justina Machado), a nurse and army veteran, and her Cuban-American family. Though the show deals with serious modern-day issues like being an LGBT teen, depression, addiction, immigration, racism, and so forth—it is nothing short of side-splitting hysterical. This is due to the cast’s razor-sharp delivery of suburb writing and the sheer comedic genius of Rita Moreno, who plays Penelope’s stubborn and eccentric mother. The show was developed by Mike Royce and Gloria Calderon Kellett (iZombie) and is available on Netflix.
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