Although it’s only been a little over four years since New York City-based dramedy “The Bold Type” ended its five-season run on cable network Freeform, it already feels a bit like a time capsule, a snapshot of a media era that has faded away in the face of corporate consolidation and online fragmentation. It’s fashionable and fun, but it’s also smart about the magazine industry and the challenges that its trio of main characters face as young women in a high-profile media company. There’s a refreshing sense of optimism that comes across in both the personal and professional storylines.
Katie Stevens, Meghann Fahy and Aisha Dee star as three best friends working at Scarlet, a women’s magazine inspired by Cosmopolitan and run by a fiery but compassionate editor based on real-life Cosmopolitan boss Joanna Coles. Jane Sloan (Stevens) is an idealistic writer who wants her work to inspire social change. Sutton Brady (Fahy) is initially an assistant and later a stylist who expresses herself through fashion. Kat Edison (Dee) is Scarlet’s social media director, in an era when Twitter hashtags could be seen as forces for good.
Their pitfalls at work and in their love lives are like a sunnier, more socially conscious version of early “Sex and the City,” so it’s perfect that all five seasons of “The Bold Type” are now streaming on HBO Max.
‘The Bold Type’ offers an appealingly idealized view of journalism and fashion
As a writer, I’m used to seeing wildly inaccurate onscreen portrayals of my job, and while I wouldn’t exactly call “The Bold Type” starkly realistic, it does capture plenty of the everyday frustrations and triumphs of being a professional writer. (I’ll admit to feeling seen when Jane, in a period of working as a freelancer, has to send multiple follow-up emails to her various pitches.)
Jane is the kind of journalist that most journalists wish they could be, given extraordinary leeway to pursue her interests, with flexible deadlines and shifting editorial parameters based mostly on her personal whims. Within that framework, she breaks important stories about workplace harassment, women’s health and political activism, all while looking impeccably put together.
Kat accomplishes similar feats via social media, using Scarlet’s online presence to advocate for justice and equality, and often achieving those goals. Sutton’s job is the least consequential from a societal standpoint, but she also challenges norms about the clothing and models that are used in fashion shoots. Throughout all of their travails, the trio is privileged to have a boss like Jacqueline Carlyle (Melora Hardin), who has seemingly endless reserves of patience and goodwill. In the first episode, she makes Beyoncé wait on the phone so she can give Jane advice about her writing.
Over the course of five seasons, Scarlet faces difficulties in the transition from print to digital, but it remains a potent brand that can launch careers, host major festivals, and steer the national conversation. It’s a hopeful image of a principled publication that’s in serious short supply less than half a decade later.
‘The Bold Type’ is built on a beautiful core friendship
Wherever their professional lives take them — even if it’s away from Scarlet for a period of time — Jane, Sutton and Kat never waver in their devotion to each other. The show’s title card usually appears on a freeze-frame image of the three of them in an awkward, enthusiastic friendship pose, and they are endlessly supportive of each other at their highest and lowest moments.
A different show might have attempted to generate conflict from disagreements among the protagonists, but the creators of “The Bold Type” understand that the friendship is more important than any journalistic endeavor.
Of the three stars, Fahy has gone on to the biggest subsequent career, with her breakout turn on “The White Lotus” and starring roles in movies like “Drop” and limited series like “The Perfect Couple” and “Sirens.” But all three actresses are excellent, balancing the glamorous with the vulnerable as the characters look gorgeous at parties and events, then come home to bond over ice cream and share their hopes and fears. If the world of Scarlet can sometimes feel unbelievable, nothing about the central friendship is ever less than convincing.
‘The Bold Type’ is an underappreciated gem
It’s no surprise that I was eagerly tuning in to “The Bold Type” each week at the same time I was a dedicated viewer of “Younger,” another glossy, emotionally honest show about young creative professionals in New York City. Just as “Younger” has recently found a new audience on streaming, “The Bold Type” deserves the same appreciation. Its mix of aspirational stylishness and upbeat social consciousness makes it both entertaining and fulfilling, a glimpse at a place where millennial women breezily change the world and look effortlessly chic while doing so.
Throughout the series, the diminutive Jane’s friends playfully nickname her “Tiny Jane,” and Kat assures her that she’s “so tiny yet so strong.” That description could equally apply to “The Bold Type,” a marginal show that aired on a marginal cable network but consistently delivers genuine, satisfying stories with humor and warmth.
“The Bold Type” is now streaming on HBO Max
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