History Series / Orangeisthenewblack

Debuting in 2013, the series ran for seven seasons, 13 episodes each, which ended in 2019. At 91 episodes, it is Netflix's second-longest original scripted programme, after ''Series/GraceAndFrankie''.

Debuting in 2013, the series ran for seven seasons, 13 episodes each, which ended in 2019. At 91 episodes, it currently holds the record as Netflix's longest original scripted programming.[[note]]''Series/GraceAndFrankie'' is set to break its record when the rest of its lengthened final season premieres in 2022.[[/note]]

* ArtisticLicenseMusic: You ''can't'' stage an all-white production of ''Theatre/{{Dreamgirls}}''. Concord Theatricals, who own the rights and license the show would never allow it, as their North American licensing agreement clearly states that the lead roles have to be played by Black actors. The prep academy that Janae tours while in middle school would have been sued for breach of contract (and would almost certainly have lost) and blacklisted from performing any other show owned by Concord (which is virtually everything in the English language musical theatre canon) if they tried to perform ''Dreamgirls'' with white students in the lead roles.

* ArtisticLicenseMusic: You ''can't'' stage an all-white production of ''Theatre/{{Dreamgirls}}'': the rights-holders who license the show wouldn't allow it, as their licensing agreement clearly states that the lead roles have to be played by Black actresses. The prep school that Janae tours while in middle school would have been sued for breach of contract (and would almost certainly have lost) if they'd tried to perform the show with white students in the lead roles.

* ArtisticLicenseMusic: It is illegal to stage an all-white production of ''{{Theatre/Dreamgirls}}'', the rights holders who license the show forbid it. In reality, the prep school Janae tours while in middle school would not have been allowed to perform the show with white students in the lead roles.

* ADateWithRosiePalms:
** Caputo after he meets Piper for the first time. In Season 3, he recommends masturbation as a way to prevent inappropriate contact with female inmates.
** Pennsatucky [[spoiler: takes advantage of having access to a vibrating cell phone]] in season 5.
** Nicky is fond of noting that "anything is a dildo if you're brave enough".
** Boo uses the handle of the screwdriver that Piper accidentally took for this purpose.

* PrisonersLastMeal: In "[[Recap/OrangeIsTheNewBlackS07E05MinorityDeport Minority Deport]]", Daya and Taystee talk about what they would want for their last meals. Daya suggests a never-ending pasta bowl from Olive Garden and a Crave Case from White Castle. Taystee says she'd rather have a Storky's supreme meal.
* PrivateProfitPrison: In season 3 Litchfield Federal Correctional Institution is sold to private investors to prevent its closing. Several cost-cutting measures (such as prepackaged meals) are instituted in short order, and the inmates are able to apply for jobs making lingerie for the investors' business. They're paid far below minimum wage, but still much better than the jobs in prison operations.

* PrisonChangesPeople: This is the character arc of quite a few characters. Zig-zagged and possibly deconstructed with protagonist Piper, who comes to question whether prison has really changed her, or just brought out her true self.

* ButNotTooBi: For a show which has a bisexual woman for the main character, and with said sexuality being an important plot point, it's surprising how the word 'bisexual' is avoided.
** Piper and her various loved ones have a habit of saying that she "used to be a lesbian" but is different now that she's dating Larry. Later episodes suggest that Piper does identify as bisexual but doesn't always have the energy to explain it to her straight friends and family.
** Alex has a line referring to Piper as a straight girl even though she should really know better.

** Played straight with Taystee at the end of season 6.

* TriangRelations: Piper, Larry and Alex start off as Type 7 and are at Type 1 by the end of the first season after she breaks both their hearts.

** Played straight with Taystee at the end of season 6. In season 7, Suzanne is slow to accept that the judge and jury were wrong, and likewise realizes that she should be in a psychiatric facility rather than prison.

* PlayingGertrude: Elizabeth Rodriguez, who was 33 years old when the series started, plays Aleida who is a mother of the 24 year old Daya (played by actress Dascha Pascho, who is just under two years her junior).

** A number of people comment on Piper's wholesome, blond good looks.

** This intensifies in the Season 4 finale, when [[spoiler: Caputo confronts Piscatella for his behaviour. Piscatella points out that his methods, which border on torture, revealed Aydin's killer and put away the suspect [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]], however since nothing Piscatella did led to the inmate's capture, but Healy told Piscatella about Lolly's confession earlier in the season.]].

** Mendez generally comes off as a sexist, petty, corrupt bully, but he is notably less bigoted towards Sophia than Bennett (though his fetishization of her is gross on a whole different level), and his head-over-heels love for [[spoiler: Daya]] is both pathetic and adorable. Also, he calms Bennett down and drags him away when he loses his temper with the black inmates.

* AmbiguousDisorder: A running theme of the series is the prison system's inadequacy at dealing with mental illness and differentiating it from malicious criminal activity, and several of the inmates are implied to have unaddressed mental illnesses or disorders that would explain or outright justify their illegal conduct.
** One of the biggest examples is Lorna, who likely has some sort of delusional disorder. Most of her outright criminal behavior (Ebay scams aside) stem from a warped worldview and an inability to discern motives. She believes that her "fiance" Christopher loves her, and later that [[spoiler: her new husband is cheating on her]], despite mounting evidence to the contrary.
** It's unclear if Suzanne is mentally ill, developmentally disabled or some combination of both. Her behavior and perception of the world are often childlike, but she also demonstrates certain savant qualities (like quoting obscure Shakespeare from memory). Counselor Berdie tells Healy that Suzanne is "functioning at the level of a six-year-old".
** Nicky may suffer from depression, or may have masochistic tendencies, which would would explain her often self-destructive behavior and her habit of blaming herself for her addictions.
** Lolly clearly has paranoid schizophrenia, albeit milder and more on the "paranoid delusions" side.
** Sam Healy's mother Margaret also had some kind of mental illness, showing erratic behavior and mood swings, plus hallucinations according to his father. All we know is ECT didn't cure it.

** [[spoiler: Taken UpToEleven in the final episode of season 3. When workmen come to replace part of the fence with no guards around dozens of inmates run through the gap out to have a swim in the lake.]]

** Taken UpToEleven in Season 5. The guards outside utterly fail to secure the camp perimeter. This despite a presence of heavy equipment perfectly capable of knocking down the fence. Even after the hostages ''escape through a hole in the fence'', no one bothers to so much as ''watch'' said hole.

** [[spoiler: Poussey delivers several to ''Norma'' over the course of season 3, but turns it UpToEleven after Soso's attempted suicide.]]

** After getting stuck with awful prepackaged prison fare, the inmates moan with longing while watching ''Film/NoReservations''.

* RantInducingSlight: Officer O'Neil is enraged when Coates suggests that he get a red velvet doughnut, listing his grievances against them.

** In the show, Lorna saying Mr. Healy "does his paperwork" is a DamnedByFaintPraise indication that there is little to like about him besides his work ethic, and {{Foreshadowing}} that he is not to be totally trusted (yet). In real life, it was an unambiguous compliment and assurance that he is a diligent worker and will take care of Piper's needs -- unlike others in his position who make prisoners languish. His role in the memoirs is also very minimal, and while Piper doesn't restrain criticism about the bad guards and officers who tend to seek and obtain employment at women's prisons, she did get sincere assistance from some workers in power.

**

** Larry writing about Piper's experience/profiting off of it was considered a JerkAss move in the show and drove a wedge between him and Piper. In real life, their relationship was understandably put to the test but never seriously suffered as it did in the show; his memoir ''brought them closer together'' and [[http://www.buzzfeed.com/leonoraepstein/6-major-differences-between-orange-is-the-new-black-the-book she considered it a wonderful Christmas present]]. In general, the real Larry was noted as being quite popular among the inmates and had "fans behind bars," and the woman who Red is based off of became quite suspicious when Piper was visited by an apparently single man.
** Pennsatucky, the primary antagonist of the first season, is only mentioned a handful of times in the memoirs, and never in an antagonistic context.

* {{Jerkass}}: At times, this series feels like [[TropesThatWillNeverHappen World of Jerkass]]. LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters and only a handful are truly likable, though the show does go out of its way to portray almost all of them as sympathetic.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: There's about sixteen main characters. And there's scads more secondary and incidental characters.

** Big Boo, as benefiting a ButchLesbian, favors a [[TankTopTomboy wifebeater]]. She is also the only inmate whose bra is black rather than issue white.

* TheDogBitesBack: [[spoiler: Vee learned the hard way not to be rude to Rosa.]]

** [[spoiler:Tricia Miller in the first season and Soso in the third. Tricia succeeds, but Soso doesn't.]]
** [[spoiler: Bayley in season 5. It doesn't work because he [[BungledSuicide drank non-toxic dye.]]]]
** [[spoiler: Taystee in season 7, although she ends up not going through with it.]]

* EnsembleCast: though Chapman is ostensibly the main character, there are a ''lot'' of storylines being reeled out. Daya's plotline is the most significant one next to Piper's tribulations; she serves as {{deuteragonist}} despite only sharing scenes with Piper in about five episodes (of the 26 produced so far). And in the second season, the show just goes for it without abandon: its main StoryArc ([[spoiler:Vee and her smuggling ring]]) basically doesn't involve Piper at all.

* AdultFear:
** Yoga Jones's crime. Drunk, she shoots and thinks she hits a deer, but kills a neighbor's kid who had run away from home because his father took away his video games.
** Even though Red's sons are all grown men, they're still her babies, and she doesn't take Vee's threats against them well.
** In the Season 4 finale, Caputo gives a press release about [[spoiler: Poussey's death. Aleida is watching on the news and has a look of sheer terror on her face, as the young woman's name is not revealed, so she has no way to know it's not Daya]].