Dropkick ladies

‘GLOW’ shines light on a lost era

It is fitting that “GLOW” is happening now, on Netflix. With hits like “Stranger Things” and “Wet Hot American Summer,” the streaming service isn’t averse to ‘80s-set, original programming.

The 2012 documentary that inspired showrunners Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, “GLOW: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling,” produced by Tulsa-native Jason Connell, is also streaming on Netflix.

Flahive and Mensch had ample reason to be inspired. Until the documentary, they had no idea that a wildly successful, nationally televised female wrestling troupe existed during the male-dominated WWF mania of the ‘80s. Four years found the ladies wrestling each other, and daytime talk show hosts (Phil Donahue gets dealt), and even tussling with Al Bundy on “Married With Children.”

In the documentary, the women weren’t a league of their own so much as a motley precursor to the Jerry Springer era of opportunistic trash television. Each of their characters was a stereotypical refection of a jingoistic time: Communists, Nazis, black welfare queens, and indiscernibly brown terrorists who battle Lady Liberty and her allies in a struggle for the carnival soul of 1980s America.      

They were like astronauts, taking steps where women hadn’t, while walking a fine line between empowerment and exploitation. But the importance and absurdity of G.L.O.W’s existence—even in the pantheon of how weird shit from the ‘80s seems now—blurred that line. Particularly in retrospect, when it becomes clear what those relationships and that time meant to them.      

As a comedic adaptation, Flahive and Mensch’s “GLOW” is a knockout. Marc Maron plays a sleazy B-film director hired by a young movie producer to create a trashy, all-female syndicated wrestling show. That’s where most of the laughs are mined, leavened by the dramatic vein of its two leading ladies, Ruth (Allison Brie) and Debbie (Betty Gilpin), former besties who fall out when Ruth sleeps with Debbie’s husband.

It’s a hilarious, sweet, and charming surprise, boasting sharply written characters and performances from a uniformly fun ensemble cast. “GLOW” hooked me immediately—and not just because of its ironically unabashed male gaze. Though there’s that, too.

For more from Joe, read his article on Shout! Factory TV.