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Arts and Entertainment

Show Based On L.A.'s Real-Life 1980s Female Wrestling League To Hit Netflix

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Last year it was announced that Netflix picked up a new show from Orange Is The New Black's creator Jenji Kohan. Titled GLOW, the comedy series is based on the real-life story of a 1980s female wrestling league comprised mostly of struggling L.A.-based actresses. Netflix just shared some more information on the series, which will hit the streaming platform on June 23rd, along with some photos.

GLOW tells the fictional story of Ruth Wilder (Alison Brie), an out-of-work, struggling actress in 1980s Los Angeles who finds one last chance for stardom when she’s thrust into the glitter and spandex world of women's wrestling. In addition to working with 12 Hollywood misfits, Ruth also has to compete with Debbie Eagan (Betty Gilpin) a former soap actress who left the business to have a baby, only to be sucked back into work when her picture perfect life is not what it seems. And at the wheel is Sam Sylvia (Marc Maron), a washed-up, B-movie director who now must lead this group of women on the journey to wrestling stardom.


Courtesy of Netflix

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The Netflix series will be set in L.A., but the real GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling) television show (while it got its start in L.A.) was filmed in Vegas as well as on the road. It ran from 1986 to 1990, and was centered around "colorful characters, strong women, and over-the-top comedy sketches. Most of the performers were actresses, models, dancers, and/or stunt women hoping to get into show business through wrestling." Check out this interview with "Hollywood," one of the original bad girls of GLOW.

There's a wonderful documentary on the league that came out in 2012, which you can currently watch on Netflix.

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