The Bold Type


The Bold Type is an American comedy-drama television series created by Sarah Watson and produced by Universal Television for Freeform. It is inspired by the life and career of former editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine Joanna Coles, who also serves as executive producer of the series. Filmed in Toronto, Montreal, and New York City, the series chronicles the lives of three millennial women, portrayed by Katie Stevens, Aisha Dee, and Meghann Fahy, all of whom are employed at a fictional global publication called Scarlet in New York City.
While the pilot episode was aired in a special preview on June 20, 2017, the series officially premiered on Freeform on July 11, commencing a first season consisting of ten episodes. After receiving a two-season renewal, the series premiered its second and third seasons in June 2018 and April 2019, respectively. The fourth season premiered on January 23, 2020, with its episode order being cut from eighteen to sixteen episodes following the shutdown of production due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It also broadcasts internationally on various networks and streaming platforms. To date, every season of the series has continued to receive positive reviews from television critics, including those writing for Vanity Fair, Vox, Variety, and The Atlantic.

Series synopsis

The series centers on a trio of millennial women—Jane Sloan, Kat Edison, and Sutton Brady —living in New York City. The three best friends work for Scarlet, a fictional global women's magazine, spearheaded by its editor-in-chief, Jacqueline Carlyle. The young women navigate their lives in the big city, including their career trajectories and romantic relationships.
Jane begins the series as a new writer for the magazine after working as an assistant, struggling to find her writing voice. Sutton is in a secret romantic relationship with Richard Hunter, a Scarlet board member and attorney for the magazine's publishing firm; she also realizes that she is ready for a change in her career and attains a fashion assistant position for the magazine under department head Oliver Grayson. Secure in her position as Scarlets social media director, Kat meets photographer Adena El-Amin and starts to explore her sexuality, including the tribulations that said exploration brings.
Season two of The Bold Type follows Jane as she continues to find her journalistic voice in a new media-driven landscape, Kat and her struggle with her racial and sexual identity in addition to her relationship with Adena, and Sutton in the aftermath of her decision to end her relationship with Richard due to the realization that it could hinder her from advancing in her career.
The third season sees Jane entering a new relationship with a fellow writer named Ryan and collaborating with Jacqueline on a story regarding the abuse of models at the hands of a prominent photographer. Kat, in a career shift, becomes inspired to run for city council, supported by her campaign manager Tia, with whom she also becomes romantically involved. Surprised by Adena's return during her campaign, Kat ponders whether her past relationship with Adena is unfinished. Sutton, while content in her role as a fashion assistant, considers pursuing a career as a fashion designer while navigating her rekindled—and newly public—relationship with Richard.

Cast and characters

Main

Series overview

Season 1 (2017)

Season 2 (2018)

Season 3 (2019)

Season 4 (2020)

Production

Development

An untitled series inspired by the life of former Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief Joanna Coles was under development with a with a script commitment plus penalty by NBC, Universal Television, Ruben Fleischer and David Bernad's The District and Hearst Magazines in September 2015. The project was created by writer scribe Sarah Watson with Coles joining as executive producer along with Ruben Fleischer, David Bernad and co-producer Holly Whidden, Hearst Magazines director of editorial brand strategy. On April 7, 2016, Freeform announced they had given a pilot order to Issues. The project was ordered to series by Freeform in January 2017 and later renamed The Bold Type. Coles also provides a voice-over in the beginning of every episode that recaps previous events in the series. Two months after giving The Bold Type a full series order, Freeform announced that the series would debut on Tuesday, July 11, 2017. The pilot was aired as a special preview on June 20, three weeks before the series' premiere date. The July 11 premiere was a back-to-back airing of the series' first two episodes.
After the completion of its first season, The Bold Type received a two-season renewal, consisting of 10 episodes each, on October 4, 2017. At the same time, it was announced that Amanda Lasher would assume the role of showrunner after series creator Watson had "creative differences" with the network. The second season premiered on Freeform on June 12, 2018, while the third season premiered on April 9, 2019. In May 2019, the series was renewed for a fourth season at the 2019 Freeform upfront presentation; it was subsequently announced that Wendy Straker Hauser would be replacing Lasher as showrunner. On August 11, it was announced that the fourth season will consist of 18 episodes, the largest episode order for a season of the show. The fourth season is set to premiere on January 23, 2020. On April 21, 2020, it was reported that production on the fourth season would not resume, and that the episode order had been cut to sixteen episodes.

Casting

Sam Page, who portrays Richard Hunter, was the first cast member announced to be attached to the series. His casting was announced on August 16, 2016, which was followed by that of Melora Hardin on August 18. Hardin was cast as Jacqueline, the "quietly tough and confident editor-in-chief of Scarlet", who was later revealed to be based on Coles. The following week, Katie Stevens, Aisha Dee, and Meghann Fahy were announced as the series' leads. Stevens plays Jane, who lands her dream job as a writer for Scarlet, Dee portrays Kat, Scarlets social media director, while Fahy plays Sutton, the last of the three friends to still be in an assistant's job. Matt Ward was also announced to be joining the main cast as Alex, a fellow writer at Scarlet.
On March 30, 2017, it was announced that Nikohl Boosheri was cast to recur on the series as Adena El-Amin, a photographer who develops a complicated romantic relationship with Kat. Emily C. Chang also joined the cast in a recurring capacity as a "blunt, overworked executive editor" named Lauren Park on May 2.
On March 8, 2018, it was reported that newcomers Luca James Lee and Siobhan Murphy were tapped for recurring roles for season two. Lee plays Ben, a potential love interest for Jane, while Murphy portrays Cleo, a new board member at Safford Publishing. Boosheri and Stephen Conrad Moore, who portrays Scarlet fashion department head, Oliver Grayson, were promoted to the main cast for season two after making recurring appearances in the previous season.
On September 7, 2018, it was reported that Peter Vack and Alexis Floyd would recur during the third season. Vack was announced to be portraying a new Scarlet staffer named Patrick Duchand, while Floyd portrays Tia, a campaign manager for a city council candidate.
In October 2019, Raven-Symoné was announced to have been cast in a recurring role as a beauty influencer named Alice for season four.

Filming

The pilot was filmed in Toronto, Canada in 2016, while filming locations for the rest of the series include Toronto and Montreal, Canada, and New York City. Filming in New York was done specifically to obtain exterior shots of the city's outdoor locations, such as the Brooklyn Bridge and Central Park. Production for the first season concluded on July 21, 2017.
In August 2018, it was reported that filming for the third season was underway. The fourth season of the series was in production as of September 2019. On March 12, 2020, Fahy announced that production of The Bold Type had been shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Release

The Bold Type commenced airing in the US on Freeform on June 20, 2017, with a special preview of the series' first episode, while the series officially premiered on July 11. Episodes of the series become available on the streaming platform Hulu the day after the Freeform broadcast of each episode. A week prior to its scheduled Freeform premiere broadcast, the first episode of the second season was made available for streaming on Hulu on June 5, 2018. Regarding the series' relationship with the streaming platform, Freeform president, Tom Ascheim, stated that "Hulu does a lot of marketing for if they like the show, and they like The Bold Type a lot."
The series broadcasts on the streaming platform Stan in Australia; the first two seasons were made available on November 9, 2018, while the third-season premiere episode was released the day after its broadcast in the US. In Canada, the series airs exclusively on ABC Spark after premiering on the same day as its US premiere. In the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Spain, the series premiered on February 9, 2018, on Amazon Prime Video. New episodes of the series become available in the UK the day after their US broadcasts.

Reception

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the first season of The Bold Type holds an approval rating of 96%, with an average rating of 7.52/10 based on 28 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Smart, hip, and exuberantly performed, The Bold Type sharply blends its soapy plotting with workplace drama that feels very of-the-moment." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 58 out of 100 based on 12 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Caroline Framke of Vox commended the characterization of the three lead characters, highlighting that they are "struggling with more down-to-earth, complex issues than the genre that inspired them ever made room to take on," while Sonia Saraiya of Variety opines that the relationship between the trio "is neither saccharine nor unbelievable." Writing for Vulture, Matt Zoller Seitz praised The Bold Types ability to balance its visuals and narrative standpoint, namely the series' "young, gorgeous, impeccably dressed core cast," its "Carrie Bradshaw daydream-vision of what it means to be a New York journalist," and how the series "respects journalism as work, in a way that more outwardly 'serious' narratives about the profession sometimes don't." Laura Bradley of Vanity Fair complimented the series' tone, specifically "Freeform's interpretation of 'boldness'—the feel-good, aspirational, Pinterest-friendly kind," and how said tone is "more than O.K.; it's necessary."
Vulture's Seitz continued to praise the series' "knack for balancing youth-focused melodrama and detailed explorations of journalistic conundrums" during its second season and credited the creators of the series for its realistic appeal and for "grounding the story in lived reality, not just secondhand research." Conversely, in a column on The New Republic, Rachel Syme criticized the unrealistic nature of the show, asserting that the series "needs to depict the difficult, ugly side of this business, as well as the cocktail parties and the blow-outs." On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season holds an approval rating of 100%, with an average rating of 8.76/10 based on 30 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "The Bold Type presents an aspirational yet refreshingly realistic portrait of young women's careers, friendships and love lives in a big city."
In a positive review of the first episode of the third season, Hannah Giorgis of The Atlantic echoed Seitz' sentiments regarding the series' realistic appeal and further expressed that the series, with its "earnest story lines and thoughtful touches, remains a delight to watch." In a mixed review for Forbes, Linda Maleh questioned the trajectory of the series due to the story's tendency to regress and concluded that when it "makes these big leaps forward and then takes them back, it diminishes its power." She added that she hoped the regression "doesn't become a trend for this otherwise wonderful show." The third season received a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 8/10 based on 9 reviews.

Ratings

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Accolades