I watched the entire season of Orange Is the New Black over the Weekend

I know, I should not be holed up in my apartment binge watching American TV shows on beautiful weekends like this one in Italy. I should be at the beach or in the square with friends having a prosecco or taking a stroll up the hill arm in with my beloved. The truth is it is too hot outside to do most of that, and the beaches this time of year are beyond crowded. I am not seeking sympathy for any of this, but felt it necessary to explain why I watched the complete season of an amazing new series called Orange Is the New Black in two days.

Yes, I watched the entire season of Orange Is the New Black (OITNB) over the weekend. I love female prison shows. Women's prisons make for very good drama. I was hooked on a British show called Bad girls a few years ago, but OITNB is American and it is based on true story.

I first heard about Piper Kernan on The Moth storytelling podcast. I was intrigued. Then I heard she wrote a book about her year in prison after she got mixed up in her ex-girlfriend's money laundering business. Before I could start to think about reading her book I heard Netflix created a "web series" based on the book. This was the second series Netflix ran. The first was House of Cards, another hit.

I thought I heard the last of Netflix in 2011 when they changed their name and business model and then changed back and sent apology letters to all of their customers for the shoddy service. I was not convinced they could recover. After watching them flounder for months and my DVDs taking weeks at a time to get here, I gave up and bought Apple TV.  I did not look back until OITNB. There was so much buzz and critical acclaim for the show about a bisexual, WASP, New Yorker, serving time in a Federal penitentiary.

The critics and my friends on FB were right! This show is awesome. I watched all 13 episodes in two days. I even managed to go out for a walk yesterday. I was supposed to meet a friend today, but had to cancel as I needed to get through the last two episodes.

Piper's fiance's parents are right. Prison is changing her. Oh and Alex is very manipulative. I loved this showed. Cannot wait for season two.