Top 10 Reasons to Watch 'Orange Is the New Black'

Get ready to have your heart warmed.

Happy Binging! - Can’t understand why your homegirls have hunkered down in front of their TVs and tablets for the weekend? Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black is back for its third season, and fans have been not so patiently waiting for the eps to drop. Here are the top reasons why you should log on to Netflix and binge all three seasons right now. (Photo: Essence Magazine, July 2015)By Kenrya Rankin Naasel

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Happy Binging! - Can’t understand why your homegirls have hunkered down in front of their TVs and tablets for the weekend? Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black is back for its third season, and fans have been not so patiently waiting for the eps to drop. Here are the top reasons why you should log on to Netflix and binge all three seasons right now. (Photo: Essence Magazine, July 2015)By Kenrya Rankin Naasel

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Happy Binging!

Privilege, Interrupted - No show has more directly tackled the notion of white privilege than this one as it follows rich, blonde Piper’s journey into the darkness that is prison life. It’s fascinating to watch her learn that the things she skated on her whole life won’t carry her in Litchfield — even more so when you realize that it’s based on a true story.  (Photo: Spiegel & Grau)

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Privilege, Interrupted

Girl Power - This show is run by a woman and its indisputable stars are the women of Litchfield Penitentiary, whose heartbreaking, funny and scary lives we see play out over the course of each season. Some of them were famous before the show, but most weren’t and watching them breathe life into these characters and make you care deeply for them is a revelation. Bonus: Many of them are Black and Latina!  (Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

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Girl Power

Besties - Prison shows probably make you think of shanks and bed checks, but the relationships are the heart of OITNB. And there is no sweeter relationship on this show than BFFs Tasty (Danielle Brooks) and Poussey (Samira Wiley). They are super sweet to each other (most of the time) and absolutely hilarious. Get ready to have your heart warmed.  (Photo: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for OUT100)

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Besties

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More Laverne Cox - Little birdies tell us that there will be more of the actress’s groundbreaking character Sophia Burset, the proud transgender hairdresser who keeps all the ladies looking their best. She doles out haircuts and advice from her chair, and we love every time she’s on the screen.  (Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

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More Laverne Cox

Crazy Eyes - Yeah, she’s crazy. But damned if the gorgeous Uzo Aduba doesn’t make you feel all the feelings for this loved-deprived sister. Some of the most quotable lines of the show sprang from her lips — can you say, “I threw my pie for you”? — and we can flat out say the show would not have been a runaway hit without her.  (Photos from left: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images, Netflix)

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Crazy Eyes

The Realness - Between the fish out of water comedy and the relationship drama, the show does an excellent job of exposing the horrors of the prison industrial complex, from corrupt leadership to sexual abuse to the lack of opportunities that put people there in the first place.  (Photo: Matias Nieto/Cover/Getty Images)

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The Realness

Race Convos - Race (and racial tension) is at the forefront of the news these days. This show takes an honest look at how people divide along racial lines and how it impacts their lives in prison, which is in some ways an intense microcosm of the world.  (Photo: Blend Images/Corbis)

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Race Convos

Get the Joke - Besides being able to talk about the show with, well, the world, you’ll be able to laugh on Monday when someone finds the perfect time to use whatever one-liners emerge as the quotes of the season. Get into it.  (Photo: Peathegee Inc/Blend Images/Corbis)

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Get the Joke

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Air Conditioning - Much of the country is expected to be blazing hot this weekend, turning the outdoors into a humid mess. Don’t do it to yourself. Why not crank up the AC, invite your girls over and settle in for a marathon of all 13 episodes?   (Photo: Peter Griffith/Corbis) 

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Air Conditioning

Mad Skills - Did you know that you can use duct tape to fashion shower shoes? Or mix Kool-Aid and Vaseline to make lip gloss? Or craft a face mask out of maxi pads? You would if you watched OITNB!  (Photo: Wavebreak Media Ltd./Corbis)

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Mad Skills

Photo By Photo: Wavebreak Media Ltd./Corbis