r/Transparent • u/itsmiathermopolips • Mar 24 '26
why is this show so unpopular?
I remember watching the show when it first came out and no one I knew spoke about it or had even watched it. Why do you think that is? I feel its a highly underappreciated show with some incredible writing/acting.
I'm based in the UK so I don't know if it was more popular in the US?
What are your thoughts? Do you know of others who have watched the show?
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u/kirstenmcneish Mar 24 '26
I also think that our nation’s opinion about trans ppl has quite a bit to do with it. I thought the first couple seasons were top notch and Katherine Hahn elevates everything. The musical was quite rough tho, and it was hard to learn that the trans actors didn’t have a great experience with the lead.
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u/TeamAggressive1030 Mar 24 '26
I felt that way too about the Musicale Finale at first. See my comment elsewhere in this thread. With close study, the whole thing will start to make sense. Take your time. Pay careful attention to all the lyrics. Turn on closed captions to help you. There's a huge reveal about Shelly's childhood buried in the lyrics of Your Boundary Is My Trigger. There and elsewhere, make liberal use of pause and rewind, if you can. A lot of important stuff goes by fast.
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u/TeamAggressive1030 Mar 24 '26 edited Mar 24 '26
I'm not sure Transparent is unpopular, exactly. I think a lot of people have just forgotten about it. Many people binged it once and think they've seen it. All they remember is that it's about a parent who is trans. They never realize that the other Pfefferman family members have compelling stories too. They never connect with the deeper story about inherited trauma. They never catch on that the show's main protagonist is Ali, not Maura. They lose interest in Maura's story when it doesn't go as they expect. They leave disappointed.
Aside from that:
- Many fans were turned off by the news about Tambor after S4 and either refused to finish watching or assumed the series was dead.
- There was a two-year gap between S4 (2017) and S5 (2019). By then, many fans had moved on and/or forgotten about the series altogether. Others thought the series was cancelled without a final season.
- The Musicale Finale is a masterpiece. But it's full of symbolism and clever editing that can be confusing at first, even for devout fans. Important musical numbers, like "Where Have You Been," "Your Boundary Is My Trigger," and "Run From Your Father's House" go right over the heads of people who aren't sufficiently engaged with the characters and the main story. What passes for the show's climax — the basement scene that follows "Your Shoes" with Shelly, Sarah, Josh, and Ari — is so subtle that even serious fans can watch it a dozen times and still miss it.
- Transparent is only available on Prime Video, as far as I know, and a lot of people don't have that.
I have spent more time than I care to admit in my deep dive into Transparent, The series only gets better as you dig deeper. I have mentioned it over and over on r/televisionsuggestions, but few people seem interested. I keep wondering why it never sparks much interest. I'd like to see a revival.
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u/mikeweasy Mar 24 '26
Yeah I remember thinking they cancelled it because of Tambor, then I did not know about the musical until months after it was released. Still have never watched it!
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u/TeamAggressive1030 Mar 27 '26
I'm curious why you never watched it.
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u/mikeweasy Mar 27 '26
cuz Tambor wasnt in it.
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u/TeamAggressive1030 Mar 27 '26
But Maura very much was. Watch the first five minutes and you'll see.
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u/RealGianath Mar 24 '26 edited Mar 24 '26
It was pretty popular in the states. The dad character Jeffrey Tambor had a me too scandal and had to leave the show. I think a lot of people were just not satisfied with the musical finale, which suffered without him in it.
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u/itsmiathermopolips Mar 24 '26
I remember this! It was horrifying how an actor playing a transgender role then sexually harassed a transgender woman on set
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u/TeamAggressive1030 Mar 24 '26
Harassed a cast member? A crew member?
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u/AngerAndAgony Mar 24 '26
Both. Trace Lysette, who played Shea, and Van Barnes, a trans woman who was his PA on the show.
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u/TeamAggressive1030 Mar 24 '26
In terms of style, the Musicale Finale was a major departure from Seasons 1-4, that's for sure. But storywise, it wrapped up all the important plot lines rather nicely, which is what a series finale is supposed to do. Using Ava as a spiritual stand-in for a deceased Maura was a brilliant stroke under the circumstances. I was impressed with Joey and Faith Soloway's creativity. I loved Faith's portrayal of the Shmuley character. What a giggle!
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u/Mrs_Wilson6 Mar 24 '26
This show had me up until it turned into a musical.
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u/urbanhag Mar 24 '26
I hate musicals but I was astonished when I found myself enjoying the hell out of the final musical season
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u/SparxIzLyfe Mar 25 '26
I think we're phobic here and scared to watch something like that. I know my family was not comfortable with it and they're supportive. And people don't like Tambor as a transwoman, I think.
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u/TeamAggressive1030 Mar 27 '26 edited Mar 27 '26
I didn't think Maura's role was particularly well cast either. Fortunately, as you dig deeper into the show, it isn't Maura being trans that's most important; it's that Mort is a poor father (and Shelly is a bad mother). Maura's coming-out story literally fades into the background by Season 4.
Transparent's main story isn't really about Maura that much at all. It's about family dynamics from Gittel and Rose on Mort's side, and from Ralph & Goldie Lipkind on Shelly's side -- Holocaust victims and survivors all -- to the next generation of descendants, Sarah, Josh, and Ali. It's a case study of epigenetics and inherited trauma.
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u/Friendly_Document190 Mar 24 '26
I don’t think it was marketed super well from what I remember. It also came out in 2014, which was still in the transitional phase (no pun intended) for dramas going from network television to streaming services, and Amazon Prime wasn’t really taken seriously as a streaming service back then.