Sunday night’s sneak preview of Freeform’s new women’s magazine drama The Bold Type took familiar tropes and made them feel modern.
At one point during Sunday night’s “sneak preview” of Freeform’s new drama series The Bold Type, one character tells another, “There’s a lot more inside of a woman than what you can see on the outside.” It’s a little heavy-handed as a line, but as a concept, it captures the essence of the show pretty well.
The Bold Type follows the lives of three young staffers at the glamorous Scarlet magazine. It’s a familiar-sounding premise and it’s not without its predictability and the aforementioned heavy-handed lines (this is a Freeform drama, after all). But after watching the first hour of the show’s premiere (the full 2-hour debut will air Tuesday), it’s clear the show is also something refreshing.
It takes the guiltily-appealing formula of glamorous young people working their impeccably-dressed butts off at a glamorous magazine we’ve seen a million times and infuses it with more. The atmosphere here isn’t the fluffy femininity of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days‘ Composure magazine or the women-pitted-against-women vibe in The Devil Wears Prada. It’s a far timelier mix of female empowerment and complexity.
The show centers on Jane (Katie Stevens), an assistant-turned-staff writer trying to prove herself; Kat (Aisha Dee), the magazine’s outspoken social media director; and Sutton (Meghann Fahy), an assistant in a secret relationship with an older member of the magazine’s board. Again, slightly cookie-cutter tropes here. What’s less formulaic is the way the show also captures the moment in which media is living. It recognizes the shift women’s magazines have made from “How to Please Your Man” to “How to Please Yourself,” and the fact that outlets like Teen Vogue and Cosmopolitan are proving women can be interested in the latest strappy sandals and the Syrian refugee crisis.
The resemblance to modern-day Cosmo is no accident. Joanna Coles, Cosmopolitan‘s former editor in chief and the current chief content officer at Hearst magazines, is The Bold Type‘s executive producer. The tagline “Inspired by the women of Cosmo” has been played up in all marketing pushes. Coles’ fabulous stiletto print on the show is apparent from the start.
Plus, her on-screen counterpart, Scarlet editor Jacqueline (Melora Hardin), is a stark departure from the icy lady bosses we’ve seen before in stories like these (Meryl’s Miranda Priestly, etc.). Jacqueline is tough and intimidating and flawless. Her curt email rejecting Jane’s story pitches was eerily realistic and prompted cringe-inducing flashbacks to actual interactions I’ve had with old bosses. But she’s also encouraging and supportive. She pushes her staff to push themselves. And that positive spin makes a big difference in the overall tone of the show.
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Yes, sometimes the show’s attempts as being current push painfully hard. There’s a lot of emphasis on Snapchat. Sutton sends Jane an Elizabeth Warren meme in lieu of a pep talk. We get it, Freeform. You’re hip and cool and young. But the effort show runners paid to make a “pretty young women working at a trendy fashion magazine” story that feels substantial is noteworthy. And frankly, exciting.