I canceled my Netflix account a couple of months ago, so I haven’t been able to watch its new original series Orange Is the New Black, which debuted on last week, July 11. 

Created by Jenji Kohan (Weeds), the dramedy stars Taylor Schilling and is set in a women’s prison. As Netflix did with its previous original series, all thirteen one-hour episodes in the series were made available at launch. “Binge-watching” is the term. Anyone watching, or has watched the entire season yet?

If so, thoughts?

Its key cast includes a number of actresses of African descent, including Danielle Brooks, Samira Wiley, Vicky Jeudy, Lolita Foster, Michelle Hurst, Uzo Aduba, Adrienne C. Moore, Laverne Cox and Dascha Polanco.

Here’s a synop:

Orange Is the New Black follows engaged Brooklynite Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), whose decade-old relationship with drug-runner Alex (Laura Prepon) results in her arrest and year-long detention in a federal penitentiary. To pay her debt to society, Piper must trade her comfortable New York life with fiance Larry (Jason Biggs) for an orange prison jumpsuit and a baffling prison culture where she is forced to question everything she believes and form unexpected new alliances with a group of eccentric and outspoken inmates. 

Netflix has released a number of clips from the new series, introducing its key characters.

I embedded 4 of them below, featuring Danielle Brooks, Laverne Cox, Uzo Aduba, Dascha Polanco and Vicky Jeudy.