Canceled shows are a regularly scheduled tragedy, and American Vandal.
It was a unique, women-focused show that loved its unique sport in the difficulties of its time period. Its absence is felt, but Amazon's serialized A League Of Their Own that dropped earlier this month might be what its fans are looking for, as it holds those similarities and more while adding its own spin. It's a great show, and its newest fans might find they want to go back and watch the Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling as well.
A Nervous, Excitable Protagonist Who Adopts Leadership
Alison Brie's Ruth Wilder and Abbi Jacobson's Carson Shaw have character arcs that are different, but the comparisons are plentiful from the moment they're on-screen.
Both leads are incredibly ionate about the sport, even if Ruth is initially an outsider. Ruth doesn't take the directing role, but often she will provide emotional for the group, much like with the trailer they make in season two's opening, and the several opportunities she shares her ideas with the director. Carson's leadership is more literal, as she becomes the coach for the team and learns how to take and share the role to inspire the women to victory.
A Women-Love-Women Narrative
The 2022 remake of the 1992 baseball movie has an all-women team as the focus of its story, alongside its secondary plot following Chanté Adams as Maxine Chapman. GLOW was the same way but with one focused plot with women helping each other and sharing the difficulties in their lives
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A League Of Their Own has a tighter focus on queer women specifically, much like Orange Is The New Black before it. GLOW doesn't have as strong a focus on LGBTQ+ character arcs, but like the baseball team, they go through the struggles of dealing with the gender biases of their times.
Fighting For Equal Respect
A League Of Their Own is far more in-depth with this, but both shows feature inauspicious underdogs that need to do more to succeed compared to their male peers.
This was a factor in GLOW season two especially, where Ruth was pushed in a scenario where having sexual relations with someone of high standing determined where she and her team would lose priority to the male wrestling show and get canceled. Amazon's show has the team constantly fighting to be relevant, underestimated by executives and family just to have a shot to try. It's an examination of the struggles of women in any job industry, but especially male-dominated ones.
Not Just For Sports Fans
Wrestling is a show itself, and it's not every day that there's a series that documents the fictional experience of what makes it work as a medium for storytelling, and the work that goes into it.
Baseball is slightly more common, but it's still a sport that some people just can't get into. However, both shows do a great job of honoring their respective sports while telling stories that can be enjoyed even by people with no interest in them.
Two Women Leads In A Contentious Relationship
Amazon's show does this twice, with an on-and-off feud between Carson and Greta (D'Arcy Carden), and Carson and Max. In GLOW, Ruth has a far more toxic relationship with her co-star Debbie (Betty Gilpin).
Both aim to do the same thing: tell a story in which women realize they need to stand together, rather than compete and fight each other. GLOW's is far more vicious; it takes breaking Ruth's leg before Debbie is willing to it her faults, and she even scolds Ruth for not sleeping with a man to save their jobs. A League Of Their Own gets over this pre-amble faster, with its main characters working and talking together in far more wholesome exchanges.
An Accomplished But Arrogant Man As Leader
This is represented by Dove Porter (Nick Offerman) in A League Of Their Own and Sam Sylvia (Marc Maron) in GLOW. Coach Porter isn't lovable from an audience perspective and isn't as important as his movie counterpart, but Abbi has fond memories of his career.
Sam is far more memorable for his sillier moments, like when he accidentally makes Back To The Future in his head. Porter doesn't redeem himself or have any sweeter moments, but both share the dynamic of the harsh control of their prideful leaders and working around that. Hilariously, it's also revealed that Porter moves on to coach a women's wrestling team — it's almost as if the show is outright trying to make a cute reference GLOW.
A Financier Who Is A Young, Inadequate Man With A Dream
Bash (Chris Lowell) from GLOW and Alan Baker Jr. (Don Fanelli) from A League Of Their Own both finance the careers of each show.
Bash has a stronger presence than Alan, being a regular re-occurring character whereas Alan shows up in smaller moments for around four of its episodes, but they're both meek compared to the main cast. Bash is desperate for the approval of his mother, as is Alan with his father. Bash weak nature is endearing, as his dream is still to make the women's wrestling show and the careers of the women. Alan seems to desire control that he will never have, both from the language he uses in addressing the women, and the pathetic way he addresses his father.
A Comedic Homage To Old Television
Episode four of Amazon Prime's show and season two, episode eight of GLOW both pay homage to old TV editing and acting. The shows are brilliant in playing up the fun of their time period and showcasing the humor that makes them great. GLOW dedicates an entire episode to the gag, and it emphasizes the ridiculous 80s acting that is present in the rest of the show but turned up to eleven.
Its baseball counterpart, meanwhile, exaggerates the sexism of the 1940s to poke fun at masculine fragility that's especially prevalent in the timeframe — women are only allowed to be strong under the tutelage of men, and must be grounded in feminine politeness, hobbies, and charm. They're both great at using the nostalgia of the era to make their point.
Tackling Audience Toxicity
Both shows deal with the cruelty of audience heckling that's by the design of the narrative spun by their executives. GLOW season two, episode four has Tammè (Kia Stevens) or 'Welfare Queen' laughed at and cheered against, and A League Of Their Own has Greta subjected to harassment and objectification.
Within the script and costumes, the women of GLOW play up stereotypes, and this backfires when it becomes hurtful to Tammè. Likewise, Greta suffers the humiliation of harassing fans expecting her to serve men because that's the way the team is marketed. The audiences of both shows are a reflection of not only the state of the time but what the careers have been marketed as, and the journey each journey shows how they're forced to be subjected and to overcome it. It's always irable to see shows set in the 80s discuss racism, and the strength of its characters to band against it.
Fighting Executives To Keep Their Careers Alive
Both teams are always on the back foot, whether it is fighting TV executives or earning financial backing, they come to the brink of having their future denied for being women's sports teams.
Their careers are put in jeopardy due to an ongoing feud between two central of the team, but more importantly, they are shown to have fewer chances specifically because they are women. It's a core message from both shows, as is the strength needed in working through it together.