THE OA is one of the best TV series of modern times. Netflix made me hate Netflix when it oddly cancelled it. Ignorant. One of the worst choices ever. Imagine if NBC canceled Cheers or Seinfeld, as they wanted to, due to numbers. I also can’t believe that NO ONE picked it up!? NO ONE!? There are dozens of outlets. This show was epic. And since then, 7 years ago, no one has topped it. Not in intellect or concept. No one. Brit Marling is Spielberg level genius. Stephen King. Jordan Peele. Marling. And while “Murder” is slower in its pace, she deserves the power and money and staff behind her that someone like Ryan Murphy has.
Jerry J. Sharell
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The OA was such an inventive and phenomenal show and I was so disappointed when the story did not continue for a third season. I watched the show multiple times hoping it would get picked back up. In a time when so many are focused on female empowerment in Hollywood, it’s appalling that everyone doesn’t know how much of a creative genius Brit Marling is.
The closest album to something like The OA is probably by The Mars Volta or Shabazz Palaces. Sadly (perhaps) neither the show nor those musicians got mainstream attention.
Joah Spearman
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Brit Marling’s work has consistently blown me away over the years. I always know I’m in for something thought-provoking and mind-bending when her name’s attached to a project. I became an instant fan after seeing Another Earth back in 2011, which she co-wrote and starred in. I was truly mesmerized by The OA when it came out. Like you, I thought the first season was superior, though I was still royally pissed that Netflix decided to cancel it once the second season failed to be digested by billions of people in a single weekend. Or because of whatever shortsighted criteria it is that they adhere to.
Anyway, next step, check out some of the movies Brit’s done with Zal as well as with Mike Cahill, like the aforementioned Another Earth, as well as Sound Of My Voice and I Origins. They’re also fantastic.
J.G.
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The OA. I watched it when it first came out… yes, unique, disturbing, and the second season was not as good as the first. I would tell everyone about it, but no-one seemed to get what I got out of it. Kind of like my suburban, teenaged self trying to tell my friends why they should try listening to early XTC, Bowie, Elvis Costello, and the list goes on. Ah, the blank faces that now have been replaced with knowing smirks. So it goes!
Ralph Covert
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I’ve been telling everyone about the oa from the start. Totally mesmerizing! So upset that it was cancelled. I’m loving murder at the end of the world as well because it sucks you in and gets more interesting along the way. Go Brit!
Nathan Benditzson
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Bob, I was excited you included my missive about THE OA regarding your initial note on "A Murder At The End Of The World", and I'm thrilled you took the time to dig into the show now (not presuming it was my suggested behest of course haha). It's cool after years of trying to tell anyone who would listen how good this show is that it finally seems to be finding a bigger audience. Good things indeed take time. I agree, season 1 was brilliant but I did feel season 2 opened up whole new layers of the onion that I didn't see coming.The cliffhanger ending is so frustratingly perfect because it allows us to imagine that anything Brit and Zal do next could "in theory" be a continuation of THE OA. At least I like to think of it like that. Hopefully your cosign will bring this show to even more light. I recco it to fans of LOST and the equally awesome Netflix phenom "DARK" (which may have the best series ending in TV history...better than Sopranos or Breaking Bad).
Best,
- Wordburglar
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I couldn't agree with you more about The OA. I watched it when it came out as it was recommended to me by someone whose taste I respect immensely.
I still think it's one of the most creative and innovative shows over the last 7 years.
Like you said, we were not expecting it
So glad that you saw it and loved it.
Ritch Esra
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Another Earth is when I first noticed her. She was great in that one.
Hal Kempson
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Three words…Sharon van Etten!
Glad you got hipped to The OA.
dick huey
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Another Earth
Film co-written and starring Brit Marling. I remember being moved by it.
Cliff Burnstein
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Despite agreeing with you about the general superiority of today’s series over today’s films, the latter still offer some worthy nuggets. I strongly suggest checking out some of Brit & Zal’s pre-OA films. I recommend starting with “Another Earth.” But they’re all mind blowing and very well conceived, written, acted, and directed.
Tom Carter
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Check out Brit Marling in “The Sound of My Voice”. Similar thematically to the OA, but a feature-length film. Same director involved… Zat Batamangali. “Another Earth” is another one worth checking out.
Stephen Gordon
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You should see Britt Marling's pre-"The OA" movies, too... They're all brilliantly original.
Mark B. Spiegel
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I hope you’ve watched her commencement speech and her other movies
All imperfect little gems.
Thanks for challenging your fans to take a look.
Rick Osswald
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LOVED OA. What a trip. A really good one!!
Wish they got to finish the series as planned, that cliffhanger ending was too abrupt.
Joe Weinstein
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The OA was brilliant. Singer Sharon Van Etten and all of the captives held by “Hap” (Jason Isaacs- playing Carey Grant “Archie” soon on the Brit Box) were quietly complex. Homer and the OA’s connection was the most intoxicating. But the friendships OA forged in her hometown was a “Breakfast Club” of disparate high schoolers and an adult. Those relationships were wonderful. The character development on Steve was especially well done. You hated him then start to understand and eventually like him. You become invested in all of their lives. Because the time is taken for the audience to get to know each of them. I encourage everyone to watch the OA. But skip seaon 2. It jumped the shark. Sometimes it’s best leaving wanting more. Brit Marling- please sell wolf hoodies;)
Kathryn Russ
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I'm so glad you enjoyed that show and wrote about it. I only recently saw it too and this is the kind of art to talk about.
Gregg DeMammos
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Bob - we discussed The OA in Aspen - and I loved it too.
But I forgot to mention another show that I just loved - Dark. Did you and Felice catch it? I binged it during the first few months of the pandemic, so maybe the eeriness of the world bled into my evenings with Dark, but it is absolutely mesmerizing. The final episode broke my heart and will stay with me forever.
If you guys didn’t catch it - do it.
Nichol Carlson
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I'm so glad you took the time to watch and explore "The O.A.," which for me is one of the most wondrous, daring and human series ever created. I had long been a fan of Brit and Zal -- I interviewed them three times for their previous works: "Sound of My Voice" and "The East," and also "Another Earth," in which Brit starred for director Mike Cahill, whom Brit and Zal went to college with. I adored their humanism, but to your point, I always felt their ideas were too big for a two-hour film. Then came "The O.A." An expansive canvas for their wild ideas -- about community, and storytelling, and alternate worlds, and primal movement -- to stretch across. I've never been so heartbroken about the cancellation of a series, and yet, I reckoned with it by deciding we might just not have been worthy of it. I wrote about my feelings in an extensive piece in "The Observer," and I wrote it when I was inspired to -- it wouldn't have been good otherwise. I was ecstatic when co-star Jason Isaacs tweeted about it. (Yes, they were still tweets then.) The thought that my voice was heard by an artist who willingly took part in this gonzo masterstroke of bravery, and who gave life to Brit and Zal's words, was enormous. It pains me that I don't much care for "A Murder at the End of the World" (it's just far too obvious and underwritten for minds like Brit's and Zal's), but for me, "The O.A." is enough to cement them as two of the greatest storytellers of our time -- which they, of course, were not setting out to be.
Kurt Osenlund
PS: I also highly recommend Brit's convocation speech at the 2013 senior graduation at Georgetwon, her alma mater. It tells you all you need to know and more about the human, tribal nature behind her work with Zal: youtu.be/K5izKTfctX4?si=IT73FaP0cqpE9jSl
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Wow- you are really late on this, but also correct. This was unique entertainment.
Steven Berson
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The OA is an amazing show, and nothing was more disappointing than finishing season 2 and learning it had been canceled. Maybe you can use your powers to start a campaign for season 3?
screenrant.com/the-oa-season-3-chances-netflix-cancellation-cocreator-comments/
Pete Smollin
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Brit Marling is not a star, but she is an artist.
Jeff Weicher
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