Boomer Women on TV This Fall – Is This a Good Trend?
- Kyra Sedgwick
- Holly Hunter
- Mary Louise Parker
Are already kicking some serious butt as hard driving, hard living, hard up, midlife women on TV series this summer.
If you like that, then you will like television this fall.
When you turn on your television this fall, you’ll be watching more women kick more ass than you can possibly imagine — physically, economically and sexually. Hard-bodied and smart, rich and aggressive, confident and independent, the chicks who populate the prime-time lineup are being cast in roles that once belonged almost exclusively to men. These broads are cops and lawyers and masters of the business universe.
No, Denny Crane is still master of the business universe. I digress, it seems the fall lineup will include:
- Julianna Margulies – Nancy Grace
- Angie Harmon – cop
- Patricia Heaton – news anchor
- Lucy Liu – publisher
There are still some prime roles for men – as the Geico lizards cavemen. Generally men will be beaten, beaten up, and raped by a monkey.
There are guys whose wives cheat on them, whose girlfriends get promoted over them, whose mates make more money than they do; guys who get left out of baby-making, who date women with penises and at least one who gets anally raped by a monkey.
OK, it’s about time. Guys really have had it pretty good over the past few years. According to Jim, Everybody Loves Raymond, King of Queens pretty much accurately portray men in a family situation.
Because when people list adjectives describing the male husbands in these sitcoms — dolts, incompetents, dumb, lazy, dufus, predictable idiotic territorial selfish doofuses who need to constantly be looked after by their wives, and so forth, there’s an essential adjective that always gets left out: The Lead.
Yes, the smart women behind the men are there to support The Lead.
I can’t wait for the fall television shows to start. The blogs will be roaring with indignity, and I will be snoozing with indifference. It’s only television, people.
Think about this the next time you are releasing the chocolate hostages. Which is worse? Hard driving, hard living, hard headed woman? Or a dumb, dufus, dolt?
I have been watching Holly Hunter in TNT’s Saving Grace. Talk about one tough cookie.
I’ve heard good things. I haven’t seen the show.
I still think Cagney and Lacey was the worst cop drama on TV.
Most of the viewers of these shows ARE women. That’s what drives the ratings. Most of the women make the purchasing decisions. That’s why the advertisers buy time on them. The networks know what they’re doing on this one.
I agree — it’s women viewers driving the trend of “strong women” on TV. It’s what they want to see. Men? They would prefer to watch a show about drinking beer and braless girls jumping on trampolines (witness “The Man Show”).
My six-year-old, watching TV one day, said “It’s mostly the mommies who do things. Daddies just sit around and watch TV and drink beer.” Cavemen, indeed. My husband, however, didn’t disagree with Sam’s assessment . . .
@Mark: as long as the women are kinda slutty, a few men will watch.
@Gretchen:Don’t forget we like to see things crash too!
Sam is just too darn smart for his age! “Right, now go get me a beer son…”
I just want to be entertained. I don’t sit and think about the slut:dolt ratio, I don’t worry that my children will see too many lazy men or too many heavy-drinkin’ women, I don’t even worry about the future of broadcasting from a woman’s point of view.
I just watch TV and try to be entertained – remote in one hand, beer in the other.
Omg, I’m a man.
LOL- great comment!