The Bold Type season finale will feature a ‘big event’ and tackle a heavy topic
By Buckie Wells
Before The Bold Type wraps its first season on Tuesday, “Carry the Weight” will feature a ‘big event’ that will open the door for a heavy conversation.
Upon changing its name from ABC Family to Freeform, it’s clear that the ABC powers-that-be had a really clear vision for the future of their programming. Instead of focusing on family-friendly, pre-teen content, Freeform aims for young adults and folks heading into their thirties.
When the network rebranded in 2015, president Tom Ascheim explained:
"“This is a long time coming. It really is an evolution of something that started 10 to 12 years ago when this network began to focus on what were then millennials. The network built incredible strength and incredible ratings success with young people, especially women. And then something funny happened on the way of the demographic dance where millennials were no longer synonymous with youth. The oldest ones are turning 40 in a couple of years.”"
To accommodate the shift in audience, Freeform strengthened its line-up of television shows. Fast-forward to 2017 and we now have The Bold Type, a television show hailed for its female empowerment and strong writing.
Ahead of the season finale, Meghann Fahy (Sutton Brady) sat down with Entertainment Weekly to preview what fans could expect. She explains that her relationship with Alex probably won’t really go anywhere. Plus, she confirms that “we’ll absolutely see the girls rallying around Kat.” Of course, Adena just jumped on a plane and left (again!). Well, it didn’t exactly happen like that. But I imagine #Kadena isn’t over yet regardless.
However, that’s not the entire focus of “Carry the Weight.” This Tuesday, The Bold Type will wrap a tremendous first season. During which, they covered topics like immigration, breast cancer awareness, and sexuality. But the finale still has one more heavy topic in store: sexual assault.
As Fahy said, “I’m excited for people to tell us how they feel about it. I hope that we did right by the viewers.”
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In addition to being a heavy yet prevalent topic worthy of discussion, it’s interesting that Fahy looks to the viewers for approval. I mean, that’s a great thing, of course. The show is in its infancy and recently came under fire for transphobic comments. Though, I think what The Bold Type aims to do is get the conversation started. Their efforts to broach such topics, engage the viewers and willingness to admit that there may be missteps along the way is why we all fell in love with The Bold Type to begin with, isn’t it?
The Bold Type airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Freeform.