Transparent Trivia | 35 facts about the series

«Transparent» is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Joey Soloway for Amazon Studios that debuted on February 6, 2014.

Let’s find out more about the series!

1. Transparent is an American comedy-drama streaming TV series.
2. It was created by Joey Soloway for Amazon Studios.
3. It debuted on February 6, 2014.
4. The story revolves around a Los Angeles family and their lives following the discovery that their parent (Jeffrey Tambor) is a trans woman named Maura.
5. Transparent tells the story of Maura’s coming out, as well as her family’s journey with her identity transformation. Transparent moves away from a solely transition-centred narrative and represents Maura’s story in her role as a trans parent, grandparent, professor, partner, ex-spouse, sibling, and in representing queer aging.
6. Transparent’s first season premiered in full on September 26, 2014.
7. Its second season on December 11, 2015.
8. Its third season on September 23, 2016, and fourth season on September 21, 2017.
9. Amazon picked up the series for a fourth season ahead of the premiere of the third.
10. The fourth season premiered on September 22, 2017.
11. Shortly before the premiere, Amazon renewed the series for a fifth and final season, which ultimately took the form of a feature-length finale with the subtitle Musicale Finale, which was released on September 27, 2019.
12. At the 72nd Golden Globe Awards, the show won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy, while Jeffrey Tambor won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.
13. This is the first show produced by Amazon Studios to win a major award and the first show produced by a streaming media service to win a Golden Globe for Best Series.
14. The series began airing on Sundance TV starting August 9, 2017.
15. In November 2017, Tambor was accused of sexual harassment on the set.
16. On November 19, 2017, Tambor stated, “I don’t see how I can return to Transparent” after a second sexual harassment allegation was made against him.
17. He was officially fired from Transparent a few months later, on February 15, 2018.
18. The show had faced earlier criticism regarding the initial casting of Tambor, a cisgender, heterosexual man, in the role of a trans woman.
19. The Transparent: Musicale Finale addressed the death of Tambor’s character, Maura, and examined the lives of the Pfefferman family life through the lens of Maura’s former spouse, Shelly (Judith Light), and through music.
20. The Finale, featuring music and lyrics by Faith Soloway, was developed through a series of concerts at Joe’s Pub.
21. In addition to the regular and recurring cast, featured performers Shakina Nayfack, Lesli Margherita, Erik Liberman, and Jo Lampert
22. Inspired by and loosely based on true events, Transparent draws themes from series creator Joey Soloway’s own father coming out as a trans parent three years prior to the show’s release.9
23. Joey Soloway always had Jeffrey Tambor in mind for the role of Maura: “Everyone knows how funny Jeffrey is, but he is also a great actor because he can make you feel.”
24. Joey Soloway has said that Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank (2009) made them decide to take the leap from writing to also directing. Arnold has since directed several episodes of Transparent (2014).
25. The opening titles are updated with different clips every season. Season 1 featured footage from Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. Season 2 reflected the queer Weimar era and women’s movement. Season 3 focused mainly on families in the queer community. Season 4 keeps many of the previous themes while incorporating the landscape of Israel and Palestine.
26. Gillian Vigman was cast as Tammy and worked on the pilot, but after Amazon picked it up for series was replaced by Melora Hardin.
27. No character appears in every episode.
28. All the bathrooms on set are gender neutral. The production’s call sheets usually include the cast and crew’s preferred pronouns (he/she/they/etc.) along with their names.
29. Amy Landecker told the Daily Beast site how she was once mortified when a friend started talking about one of Landecker’s nude scenes in the show in front of her 11 year old daughter. The friend was monologuing her indignation–“Full-frontal, Sarah? How could you do that?”–and her kid was in earshot for the whole thing. Landecker went into mom mode, calmly explaining the circumstances of the scene to her daughter, hoping to justify and/or stave off further embarrassment: Her character in the show, at that point, had been divorced, had a lesbian affair, got divorced again, and was on an unsettling chute careening toward rock bottom. She was explaining to her daughter that the moment illustrates how bleak the circumstances were for Sarah, who is filmed naked and alone, cooking and eating a sad meal in the kitchen. Her daughter interrupted: “Wait, wait, wait. You were cooking?” Landecker erupts into a cackle as she tells the story. “Like, that was what was shocking.”
30. Henry Simmons played Derek the trainer in the pilot episode but was replaced by Cleo Anthony when the show got picked up.
31. The first show produced by Amazon Studios to win a major award and the first show produced by a streaming media service to win a Golden Globe for Best Series– in this case, the Comedy or Musical category. The Handmaid’s Tale (2017) became the first show produced by a streaming media service to win the Golden Globe for Best Television Series – Drama three years later.
32. Cinematographer Jim Frohna prefers using natural lighting whenever possible in order to give the actors freedom to move and not be distracted by a cluttered set full of gear
33. Like her character, Davina, actress Alexandra Billings had previously competed in beauty pageants for trans women
34. Joey Soloway begins every day of shooting with an activity called Box, a space in which the cast and crew can share whatever is on their mind, be it “it jokes, meditations, personal revelations, deep despair, joy or fears.
35. When Rhys Ernst was designing the opening title sequence for Transparent (2014) season 1, he cut together clips from various Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. His prototype for the sequence, by complete coincidence, featured the cousin of series creator Joey Soloway.