Orange Is the New Black

Submission 21,451

About

Orange Is the New Black is an American comedic drama web series that follows the story of Piper Chapman, an upper-middle class white woman convicted of drug trafficking, as she serves her 15-months sentence in a minimum security women’s prison. Produced and distributed exclusively by the video streaming service Netflix, the series quickly gained acclaim for its diverse cast of well-rounded female characters.

Premise

Orange is the New Black follows Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) as she enters a low security women's prison for smuggling drugs into the country for her then-girlfriend Alex Vause (Laura Prepon) ten years prior to the opening of the series. Now engaged and living in New York City, Chapman vows to do her time (15 months) and keep her head down, but she's quickly dragged into the drama and politics of the prison. Main characters included Tiffany 'Pennsatucky' Doggett (Taryn Manning), a Christian inmate, Red (Kate Mulgrew) the prison cook, and transgender inmate Sophia Burset (Laverne Cox).

History

The show was loosely based on the 2011 memoir Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison, which chronicles the year author Piper Kerman spent in a low security women's prison in Connecticut. It was created by Jenji Kohan, who is most well known for creating the Showtime comedy-drama series Weeds.The series was renewed^[1] for a second season on June 27th, 2013, two weeks before its first season was released through Netflix on July 11th. On May 5th, 2014, the show was renewed^[2] for a third season. Its second season is scheduled to premiere on June 6th.

Reception

Orange is the New Black received a score of 8.5 on IMDB^[3] and a rating of 79 on Metacritic.^[4] It has been nominated for one Golden Globe in 2014 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Drama Television Series (Taylor Schilling). It has also been nominated for two Television Critics Association Awards in 2014 for Program of the Year and Outstanding New Program. Taylor Schilling also won a 2014 Webby Award^[23] for best actress for her portrayal of Piper Chapman.

Online Presence

As of June 2014, Orange is the New Black’s official Twitter^[5] account has over 230,000 followers, its Facebook^[6]page has over 1.1 million likes and its Instagram account^[8] has over 180,000 followers. Fans can also access episode guides and character sketches on the Wikia^[7] page for the show.

Fandom

In addition to the show's branded web presence there are several fan-run sites for Orange is the New Black, including oitnb-fan^[18] and oitnb.^[19] There are numerous fan-run Tumblr blogs dedicated to the Orange is the New Black fandom, including fyeahorangeisthenewblack^[9], Orangeis^[15] and orange--black.^[16] Popular Tumblr tags fans use to tag their content include OITNB^[12] and orange-is-the-new-black.^[13] GIFs shared through Tumblr created from clips of the show often highlight funny or profound quotes from the series.

Fans also gather to discuss the show on the Reddit^[17] thread /r/OrangeistheNewBlack/, which has over 11,000 subscribers as of June 2014. As of June 2014, there are over 27,000 pieces of fan art tagged Orange is the New Black on DeviantArt.^[11]

Chapman and Vause

A lot of Orange is the New Black fanart surrounds girlfriends Piper Chapman and Alex Vause, a favorite couple within the fandom. Fan-run Tumblr blogs dedicated to the couple include be-my-little-spoon^[21] and fuckyeahchapmanvause^[22]. On May 30th, 2014, Flavorwire published a round-up titled "‘Orange Is the New Black’: The Internet’s Best Piper/Alex Fan Art."

Books of Orange Is the New Black

On July 23rd, 2013, the Tumblr blog BooksOfOITNB^[24] was created. The Tumblr highlights books that are seen or mentioned in the series. The Tumblr was covered by several websites including Buzzfeed^[25] and the LA Times.^[26]