Critic Reviews

Orange is teeming with humor, heart and poignancy--all the elements needed to qualify it as one of the summer's must-see shows.

In every case, there is an abiding feeling for character and authenticity that helps elevate Orange Is the New Black to a new definition of television excellence.

Orange is one of the best new programs of the year, and the six episodes I've seen have left me hungry to see more.

Schilling, Prepon and Mulgrew are uniformly terrific throughout, whether in prison garb or flashback civilian clothes. But other characters are equally compelling, giving this series innumerable stories to tell for hopefully many seasons to come. Based on the first six of 13 episodes, Orange is the New Black has passed virtually every test with flying colors.

In Jenji Kohan’s magnificent and thoroughly engrossing new series, Orange Is the New Black, prison is still the pits. But it is also filled with the entire range of human emotion and stories, all of which are brought vividly to life in a world where a stick of gum could ignite either a romance or a death threat.

Orange Is the New Black might be the closest thing we have to Charles Dickens right now: a sharp denunciation of an arcane system, driven by hardscrabble characters with whimsical names that define who they are and what they like.

Creator Jenji Kohan (“Weeds”) continues to tell the fascinating stories of women rarely seen on “TV” in season two.

Judging by the first six episodes, this round is just as addicting as the first, the ensemble rising to the occasion of topping their first outting.

Audacious plot lines help to keep Orange Is the New Black so unusual and refreshing. It's the one prison show that you may never want to escape.

Through the six episodes of the second season made available to critics, it's clear that Orange is not only as great as it was the first season, but arguably even better.... It's terrific.