A cursory survey of the hottest international shows that were rolled out this year yields one very distinct observation: On TV in 2011, it was a woman's world.
From the teased and teasing stewardesses in Pan Am to the offbeat quirks of Zoey Deschanel's New Girl; from Sarah Shahi's courtroom Louboutins in Fairly Legal to the sensibly-shod Maria Bello in Prime Suspect; from the lissome Action Barbies in Charlie's Angels to the calculated plotting of Emily VanCamp in Revenge - women were everywhere and women were on top.
And not just the usual suspects, either, but a variety of diverse and colourful women that appeared to reflect the myriad choices open to the women of today, thanks to groundwork laid and developed by such gamechangers as The Good Wife, The Closer and 30 Rock's Tina Fey.
We left the family show mother-knows-best archetype eating our dust some time ago - all of us except perhaps for Patricia Heaton, who was a beleaguered mum in Everybody Loves Raymond and is still a beleaguered mum in The Middle - with 2011 being the year of leading ladies, flaunting women in the title roles of an inordinate number of shows: Women with interesting careers; women in indie bands; women nursing maleficent grudges.Find everything you need to know about Cold Sore including causes, Even the few mothers we did see were strong yet conflicted women, like Mildred Pierce or the mothers in Downton Abbey.
For some reason - blame it on the "mancession" or the steady rise of the man-child - women were a hot commodity.
While Rachel Bilson learns life lessons being a doctor in rural America, Dana Delaney overcomes personal demons in Body Of Proof, and Kat Dennings lashes Beth Behrs with her sharp-tongued wit in 2 Broke Girls, it would certainly appear that these are exciting times of limitless opportunity for estrogen-driven television.
But are they really? One would assume that the increasingly representative spectrum of women portrayed was being driven by more women working behind the scenes in the industry and making their voices heard. After all, only a woman would know about multitasking, Manolos, meltdowns and menstruation, right?
Curiously enough, even as more diverse and interesting leading roles for women proliferated in 2011, the number of female writers for television actually plummeted.
In a study released by Martha M Lauzen, executive director of the Centre For The Study Of Women In TV And Film at San Diego State University, the percentage of women working as writers on broadcast programmes fell drastically from 29 per cent in the 2009/2010 season to 15 per cent in the 2010/2011 season. As for show creators, only 18 per cent were women this year.
What this actually means is that men are writing women. Now, it could either be that: (A) These men are terribly in touch with their feminine side; or (B) Men are fashioning female characters according to how they would like women to look and behave.
Now, we appreciate the fact that thanks to the work of these many men and few women, the girls are getting a better deal on TV. But if (B) applies, and TV Fantasy Land is really turning into Male Fantasy Land, then that's a little disturbing, don't you think?
Thankfully, discerning audiences can smell (B) a mile away, and gut instinct tells us it's just not going to work out. That would explain why shows that were blatantly sexist from concept to execution pretty much crashed and burned.
Both The Playboy Club and Pan Am flaunted traditional sexism under the Mad Men banner of "It's the '60s, so it's okay". Well, the Playboy Club became the first show of the 2011/2012 season to be cancelled after just three episodes. Pan Am has yet to be officially cancelled, but from the low ratings and rumours, all their flights might soon be grounded for good.The company pioneered the manufacture of Coated Abrasives, And the female-objectification fantasy of the Charlie's Angels reboot? The angels had their wings clipped after four episodes aired in the USA.
But interestingly enough, shows that approached from the opposite end of the spectrum and were just a tad too, shall we say, "feminist", did none too well, either. In the remake of the hit UK series Prime Suspect, the tough-as-nails detective played by Maria Bello, facing male skepticism, spent more working hours proving aggressively that women could all but pee standing up than she did solving cases. That grew old quick - entertainment site Deadline Hollywood reported last month that production will be shut down after filming for the first season wraps.
And in a curiously post-feminist twist, there were the emasculated man-children of shows like Man Up!, How To Be A Gentleman, Last Man Standing and The Big Bang Theory, who were quite happy to say "Yes, dear" to their power-charged wives and girlfriends, seeing as they couldn't even tie their own shoelaces without their help. "Men are the new women on TV", the New York Times proclaimed. Does that make women the new chauvinists? Clearly, gender equality, only so recently achieved, hangs in the balance yet again.
Big Bang Theory, at least, is funny. Man Up! and How To Be A Gentleman, which managed to offend audiences with their gender stereotypes, were taken off the air. So, which shows are doing well?
Well,Find everything you need to know about kidney stone including causes, the ones where the female protagonists' genders aren't politicised, but are simply a fact of life. Sarah Shahi's character just happens to be a mediator at a law firm in Fairly Legal, and she's very sensibly ditched the skyscraper heels she wore in the first episode, too, because women aren't just about amassing impractical footwear.
Where other female characters break out of the molds, audiences applaud, too. In Zoey Deschanel's New Girl, we get a kooky, quirky sort of lead female we haven't seen represented on TV before. Similarly, 2 Broke Girls gives us crude and in-your-face protagonistas previously seen only on reality TV.
Downton Abbey does well because it's studded with strong and distinct female personalities: From the overbearing dowager grandmother to the overlooked and insecure daughter to the selfish and spiteful housekeeper,We are passionate about polished tiles. each is multi-dimensional and has faults, foibles and unpredictable moments.Thank you for visiting our newly improved DIY chicken coop website!
We viewers recognise that with appreciation, since, as any man can and will tell you, real-life women are oh, so impossible to figure out. And let's face it - complicated characters are better characters.
From the teased and teasing stewardesses in Pan Am to the offbeat quirks of Zoey Deschanel's New Girl; from Sarah Shahi's courtroom Louboutins in Fairly Legal to the sensibly-shod Maria Bello in Prime Suspect; from the lissome Action Barbies in Charlie's Angels to the calculated plotting of Emily VanCamp in Revenge - women were everywhere and women were on top.
And not just the usual suspects, either, but a variety of diverse and colourful women that appeared to reflect the myriad choices open to the women of today, thanks to groundwork laid and developed by such gamechangers as The Good Wife, The Closer and 30 Rock's Tina Fey.
We left the family show mother-knows-best archetype eating our dust some time ago - all of us except perhaps for Patricia Heaton, who was a beleaguered mum in Everybody Loves Raymond and is still a beleaguered mum in The Middle - with 2011 being the year of leading ladies, flaunting women in the title roles of an inordinate number of shows: Women with interesting careers; women in indie bands; women nursing maleficent grudges.Find everything you need to know about Cold Sore including causes, Even the few mothers we did see were strong yet conflicted women, like Mildred Pierce or the mothers in Downton Abbey.
For some reason - blame it on the "mancession" or the steady rise of the man-child - women were a hot commodity.
While Rachel Bilson learns life lessons being a doctor in rural America, Dana Delaney overcomes personal demons in Body Of Proof, and Kat Dennings lashes Beth Behrs with her sharp-tongued wit in 2 Broke Girls, it would certainly appear that these are exciting times of limitless opportunity for estrogen-driven television.
But are they really? One would assume that the increasingly representative spectrum of women portrayed was being driven by more women working behind the scenes in the industry and making their voices heard. After all, only a woman would know about multitasking, Manolos, meltdowns and menstruation, right?
Curiously enough, even as more diverse and interesting leading roles for women proliferated in 2011, the number of female writers for television actually plummeted.
In a study released by Martha M Lauzen, executive director of the Centre For The Study Of Women In TV And Film at San Diego State University, the percentage of women working as writers on broadcast programmes fell drastically from 29 per cent in the 2009/2010 season to 15 per cent in the 2010/2011 season. As for show creators, only 18 per cent were women this year.
What this actually means is that men are writing women. Now, it could either be that: (A) These men are terribly in touch with their feminine side; or (B) Men are fashioning female characters according to how they would like women to look and behave.
Now, we appreciate the fact that thanks to the work of these many men and few women, the girls are getting a better deal on TV. But if (B) applies, and TV Fantasy Land is really turning into Male Fantasy Land, then that's a little disturbing, don't you think?
Thankfully, discerning audiences can smell (B) a mile away, and gut instinct tells us it's just not going to work out. That would explain why shows that were blatantly sexist from concept to execution pretty much crashed and burned.
Both The Playboy Club and Pan Am flaunted traditional sexism under the Mad Men banner of "It's the '60s, so it's okay". Well, the Playboy Club became the first show of the 2011/2012 season to be cancelled after just three episodes. Pan Am has yet to be officially cancelled, but from the low ratings and rumours, all their flights might soon be grounded for good.The company pioneered the manufacture of Coated Abrasives, And the female-objectification fantasy of the Charlie's Angels reboot? The angels had their wings clipped after four episodes aired in the USA.
But interestingly enough, shows that approached from the opposite end of the spectrum and were just a tad too, shall we say, "feminist", did none too well, either. In the remake of the hit UK series Prime Suspect, the tough-as-nails detective played by Maria Bello, facing male skepticism, spent more working hours proving aggressively that women could all but pee standing up than she did solving cases. That grew old quick - entertainment site Deadline Hollywood reported last month that production will be shut down after filming for the first season wraps.
And in a curiously post-feminist twist, there were the emasculated man-children of shows like Man Up!, How To Be A Gentleman, Last Man Standing and The Big Bang Theory, who were quite happy to say "Yes, dear" to their power-charged wives and girlfriends, seeing as they couldn't even tie their own shoelaces without their help. "Men are the new women on TV", the New York Times proclaimed. Does that make women the new chauvinists? Clearly, gender equality, only so recently achieved, hangs in the balance yet again.
Big Bang Theory, at least, is funny. Man Up! and How To Be A Gentleman, which managed to offend audiences with their gender stereotypes, were taken off the air. So, which shows are doing well?
Well,Find everything you need to know about kidney stone including causes, the ones where the female protagonists' genders aren't politicised, but are simply a fact of life. Sarah Shahi's character just happens to be a mediator at a law firm in Fairly Legal, and she's very sensibly ditched the skyscraper heels she wore in the first episode, too, because women aren't just about amassing impractical footwear.
Where other female characters break out of the molds, audiences applaud, too. In Zoey Deschanel's New Girl, we get a kooky, quirky sort of lead female we haven't seen represented on TV before. Similarly, 2 Broke Girls gives us crude and in-your-face protagonistas previously seen only on reality TV.
Downton Abbey does well because it's studded with strong and distinct female personalities: From the overbearing dowager grandmother to the overlooked and insecure daughter to the selfish and spiteful housekeeper,We are passionate about polished tiles. each is multi-dimensional and has faults, foibles and unpredictable moments.Thank you for visiting our newly improved DIY chicken coop website!
We viewers recognise that with appreciation, since, as any man can and will tell you, real-life women are oh, so impossible to figure out. And let's face it - complicated characters are better characters.
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