Plot-wise it's so complicated that you'll find these explanations helpful like I did. Though I've found that EVERY viewer has a slightly different explanation of Her Missing Years. The whole Rimbaldi/Passenger thing just got too convoluted, let alone with the competing Sloane Clone. Even the third season opener admitted that "last year sucked." Surely the fourth series premiere featured a hit ordered by Ben Affleck! But we always knew "Vaughan" was really French. (updated 8/31/2009)
Arli$$ (Originally on HBO. "Best of" out on DVD.) A much funnier and more biting sports satire than Sports Night and I know zilch about sports, though towards the end it got far more sentimental, perhaps in a misguided effort to appeal more to women. But the real point to watch for is pre-Grey's AnatomySandra Oh, who I've loved since her starring role in the Canadian indie drama Double Happiness. She gets to really throw herself into comedy here as Arliss's scheming, fashion obsessed assistant. Why didn't this woman get an Emmy nom? At least she did eventually. (updated 8/31/2009)
Battlestar Galactica (Reruns on the SyFy Channel. All seasons on DVD. Prequel series Caprica coming 2009. NBC is streaming online the inferior original series. ) Yeh - a sci fi show with sexual tension! With and without robots in human form -- and which raises the issue is it a romantic triangle when two men are in love with duplicates of the same machine? John Hodgman in The New York Times July 17, 2005 quotes from the executive producer David Eick: ''The bad guys are all beautiful and believe in God, and the good guys all [expletive] each other over.'' [Ronald D.] Moore, who is also the show's head writer, put it more simply: ''They are us.'') But -oh no! -- they killed off "Billy"! And he had such sweet chemistry with the communications officer, aw heck, he gave her his debate team ring -- all just to set her up with "Adama"s kid - boo! The only couple with no sparks between them.
The Season 2 episode "Downloaded" written by Bradley Thompson and David Weddle, directed with great emotion on just one tight set by Jeff Woolnough, ranks as one of my all time science fiction TV hours ever -- women robots decide that love is what makes humans worth saving! While it was the particularly hunky specimen, "Sam Anders", that convinced them because "Starbuck" loves him, aw, even if the ex-jock is off doing sports all the time in their married future. The third season further explored these female toasters learning what it means to be a human woman, as Stephanie the Librarian pointed out to me, Lucy Lawless's "D'Anna Biers" discovers mother love and converts from human destroyer to protector for the cylon-human baby. But then OMG vengeance wipes out love among humans and cylons! First, in "Exodus, Part 2" by David Weddle and Bradley Thompson, the head of the resistance poisons his beloved trophy wife in a truly tragic scene of fanaticism (what she saw as love to protect him, he saw as being a traitor to the cause), and then the next, brilliant episode, "Collaborators" by Mark Verheiden (who did some of the most interesting scripts on Smallville), directed darkly by Michael Rymer, had me in even more tears. Yeah, I was supposed to intellectually care that it was all a metaphor about Gitmo and insurgencies etc., but "Starbuck" (that's her macho pilot nickname but her girl name is "Kara") is suffering such post traumatic stress from being held captive by an obsessive cylon who kept re-downloading no matter how many times she killed him to demand she love him that she's practically driven mad by the vengeance "Sam" finally rejects and chooses that over his love: (I got this transcription from tv.com but it seems accurate): "Sam": Hey! I quit because I'm not looking for ways to keep killing people. "Starbuck": I need this, Sam. "Sam": So what. Throwing a few people out of airlocks is gonna make you feel better about yourself? Cause believe me, those aren't the people that kept you locked in that room. "Starbuck": They'll do. And not just for me but for every person we left back on that planet because someone has got to pay. So you can either get with it or you can get lost. "Sam": Is that what you want Kara? You want me to leave?. . ."Starbuck": I'm in a different place now. I...I, I don't know how else to explain it to you, but I got out of that cell and it's like someone painted the world in different colors. And I look at you and I want to tear your eyes out just for looking at me. I just want to hurt someone and it might as well be you. So you should probably go before that happens. And he hands back her ID necklace, the one that saved his life from the toasters, the one that proved that love is what makes life worth living. And she hangs it in her military locker. Sob sob sob! And then even the cylon model of 6's reject "Gaius Balter" -- when they had risked everything for him and for their love, whether inside or outside his head. Surely both toasters and humans are doomed as they now head to Earth! Will the only love survive be the one between the cylon "Sharon" and the hunky human "Helo" that produced the baby of the future?
"Unfinished Business" by Michael Taylor is exactly why I love this series, and so many guy fans who only want sci fi to be allegorical or political or battles or well, sci fi ish, hated it. It was a tour de force set of flashbacks of sexual and romantic relationships as we finally found out why "Kara" really married "Sam" on New Caprica and "Lee" (the very hunky Jamie Bomber) married his communications officer who he didn't seem to have any chemistry with. Her PTS from the toaster's mind games demand for love has brought out all the old memories of her guilt over the death of her ex, "Lee"s brother, that was tangled with her loyalty to "Sam" as she had worked so hard to save him, even though he had just rescued her from prison. But the flashbacks are revealed through a bruising boxing match in a ring in front of everyone, including their spouses-- still recovering from what he thought was a passionate horizontal tango pleading effort at reconciliation with "Kara" who had then blithely put on her thong saying Thanks, I needed that., "Sam" is as usual slow on the uptake: It almost looks like they hate each other. But the wife is wising up: If you want to call it that. [I have to re-check the exact quote.] "Kara" and "Lee" each pummel as good as they get, and almost Memento-style each of the memories that are fuelling them goes a little further and further back to a fateful day, that culminated their long relationship since the Academy, so we gradually see the wrenching context of what had seemed to be innocuous interactions - until bleeding and bloody they each whisper: I miss you.. So much sci fi ignores human emotions and I love that this one inserts them to contrast with the Cylons. And then 2 episodes on, in "The Eye of Jupiter" by Mark Verheiden, they are even more human as she shows her true, uniquely religious stripes to him-- Lee: Every time I look at my wife, I-I see my own guilt reflected in her eyes. Kara: Wow. Wow, Lee. That is really poetic of you but you don't need to make that big a deal out of this. Lee: Well, it is a big deal Kara. It is. (pause) It is. Kara: So I won't divorce and you won't cheat. So where does that leave us? Lee: Trapped. As her husband goes off to rescue her, again, he confronts Lee: You think you were the first?
”Rapture” by David Weddle and Bradley Thompson featured quadrangles that could only happen in a series with really strong women: As “Dee” bitterly recounts to “Kara” in her crashed Raptor: My husband ordered me to risk my life to save yours. And that’s what I’m going to do. Delirious on the painkillers “Dee” resentfully gives her, “Starbuck” points out that “Lee” won’t cheat : I love Sam, I hate Sam. I love Lee, I hate Lee. As she nods off into unconsciousness, “Dee” at least gets the satisfaction of ironically slapping her: I need you awake to get us out of here. Back on Galactica, after some hesitation they both fall into the grateful arms of their respective husbands, with uncomfortable looks all around.
Meanwhile converted Cylon “Sharon” begs her hunky husband “Helo” in a passionate exchange of loyalty and love to save their child – and bang, we find out that means him shooting her dead, so she can download her consciousness on the Cylon ship where their stolen baby is being held. And only “Helo” unconditionally trusts her enough that she’ll come back to him, with their child, sigh, a love that, once again, inspires sexy “Six” to be influenced by humanity, unlike her compatriots. The arc of the relationship between “Sharon” (Grace Park) and “Helo” (Tahmoh Penikett) has been thrilling and not noted enough by fans or critics, since their first freighted chase on Caprica through her betrayals, triangles, trials and literal rebirth. Their relationship was further explored in “The Woman King” by Michael Angeli as “Helo” becomes a sexy hero in his own way, again sticking up for what’s right (quotes are from tv.com but look accurate): “Sharon”/now known as “Athena” (about the despised, discriminated against Sagittarons): Yeah, I want you to look the other way. I have to fight every single day on this ship to be accepted. “Helo”: This has nothing to do with you, okay? You think that’s who I am, that’s what I’ve become? That’s my defining characteristic, the guy married to a Cylon? . . . I think he’s killing people because he’s a racist son-of-a-bitch. The Admiral apologizes to him at the end and “Sharon” gives him a big kiss and hug.
Sorry, I REFUSED to believe in Season 3 that Starbuck’s destiny was to die head first into a supernova! Strong Women on Sci Fi Series Should Not Be Killed Off Like That! Whew, I was right! But, wait, she has TWO Cylons in love with her! The flash back Razor filled us in on the bitterness between two other of the toughest coolest women on the show, a cylon and a human. I’m still sorting out the emotional consequences of The Final 5, just barely in time to grapple with the fast finale.
A 2006 Peabody Award winner: "A belated, brilliantly re-imagined revival of a so-so 1970s outer-space saga, the series about imperiled survivors of a besieged planet has revitalized sci-fi television with its parallax considerations of politics, religion, sex, even what it means to be "human."" And not just the usual technical Emmy nominations, but for 2007 for “Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series” the episode “Occupation/Precipice” by Ronald D. Moore.”
The Sci Fi Channel has noticed that I’m not the only woman watching. In “At Sci Fi Channel, the Universe Is Expanding and the Future Is Now”, The New York Times, 5/19/2008, by Tim Arango (fair use excerpt): “The network has drawn more women by making subtle tweaks to marketing and programming. In marketing materials for Battlestar Galactica, for example, there are no spaceships, and the story lines try to create more of a balance between action and emotion. . . The Sci Fi Channel’s growth can also be partly explained by the network’s distancing itself from traditional stereotypes of science fiction. 'There were a lot of misperceptions that Sci Fi was for men, that it was for young men and that it was for geeky young men,' said Bonnie Hammer, the president of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, which oversees Sci Fi. 'We had to broaden the channel to change the misconceptions of the genre.'”
I'm also obsessed enough to spend some time checking out deleted scenes, webisodes, podcasts and producers' video blogs, but feel guilty that the creators aren’t getting paid for them. Even the music has a thoughtful back story. And then there's that striking use of "All Along the Watchtower"! (updated 8/31/2009)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (7 seasons on video/DVD. 3 soundtrack albums out, one is of the classic musical episode.) The FTC was in a tizzy because this "kids" show was being used to advertise "R" rated movies. Hey I was not the only adult watching this very sophisticated satire of adolescence, young adulthood, the movies, and our inner fears made corporeal through demons and monsters. The only unbelievable element was the negligible clothes "Buffy" wore, which has started an unfortunate teen style sensation. But then I didn't mind when her boyfriend "Riley" wore few clothes! (though I seem to have been in a minority of fans who miss him). Too bad the Jewish sidekick I wrote about in Lilith magazine is now not only a powerful Wiccan, but is wearing crosses. Executive Producer Joss Whedon kept finding new ways to grab us -- from silence, to a musical, to a Hitchcock homage, etc. -- demonstrating the creative potential of long-form television series over time as it tackles serious issues metaphorically. I seem to be the only fan who liked The Dark Season. Great background info at The Cross and Stake. Whedon is continuing the series in up to 30 Dark Horse Comics graphic novels, "starting several months after the Hellmouth's destruction, the eradication of Sunnydale and the empowerment of the potential slayers", per the 12/4/2006 TV Guide, Whedon will write at least 8 with faves from Buffy and Angel, as well as new slayers and villains, but "no matter how bad things get, they're still a bunch of dweebs.
USA Today’s Pop Candy bloggerWhitney Matheson noted on 5/19/2008: “More than a decade after its premiere, Buffy is still inspiring women, and I have a feeling it will continue to move viewers for decades to come. You can't ask for better TV than that. . .NPR's Jamie Tarabay shares a cool story of how she helped stay sane while reporting from Baghdad: by watching episodes of Buffy in “Vampire Slayer Buffy Saves Iraq Reporter's Soul”: "It was so obvious to me what Buffy Anne Summers and me had in common: She lived on the Hellmouth, I lived in Baghdad. . .She fought vampires with wooden stakes, and, well, I always thought most media spokesmen were real bloodsuckers."
Hex (shown on BBC America. 1st season on DVD.) is frequently mis-attributed by critics as a Brit Buffy - but it has none of the social satirical flair, so is much more a femme-empowered take on Supernatural -- and is much sillier. (updated 8/31/2009)
Charmed (weekdays on TNT. All 8 seasons on DVD.) I took this guilty pleasure off my recommended list at one point, but it heated up again, as the Power-of-3 Sisterhood of Witches developed complicated love lives with adorable hunks from heaven (though it can get boring when your lover/husband is literally your guardian angel) to hell (or when your still-in-lover/ex-husband is literally a demon-- and it turns out Julian MacMahon is another Ozzie so I'm consistent in my hunk radar as he was given a whole lot more to do here than in Profiler -- though he was finally killed off over fan protests). Just when I was getting bored in terms of romance-deficit, they brought in Eric Dane for "Phoebe"'s delectation, whew, but then he was mostly gone; then we found out the truth about the cute mysterious new White Lighter "Chris" works out which opened up a new story arc. Welcome to Kerr Smith! Ah, and in a hetereo role for a change. But didn't anyone notice that the adorable kid playing him in the past had big blue eyes vs. Kerr's brown before he died and Ivan Sergei wooed her? Whew, thank goodness Nick Lachey is gone, yuck, but hello Billy Zane! Whoops bye to that demon and hello to "Coop" as in Cupid. I don't miss Doherty, as I'm far more a fan of the Other Two and their love lives and I didn't have a problem accepting Rose McGowan and she's gotten more and more confident in the role. The clothes that the fetching Charmed Ones wear while protecting Innocents is even skimpier, belly-baring, and clingier than ever, and frequently just plain ugly, but if that got guys to watch too, OK, so I support NOW in claiming this a feminist show. Though even executive producer Brad Kern admitted in interviews that the mythology is arbitrary and confusing, as he had a nonplussed character ask: "Who makes up these cockamamie rules?" Pretty good fan site. In January 2006, this show officially passed Laverne & Shirley as the longest-running show with female leads. (updated 8/31/2009)
Dark Angel (Reruns on the SyFy Channel. Both seasons on DVD/video, plus an atypically hip hop soundtrack album.) This was totally a guilty pleasure with high gloss sci fi production values, but darn it, the chemistry between pouty Jessica Alba as a genetically-enhanced kick-asser and her mostly wheel-chair-bound or otherwise disabled scruffy brainy mentor "Logan Cale" is alluring (and they were supposedly engaged off-screen, though best not to dwell on the fact that he was really 32 and she was 19 -- and their romance didn't survive this show and her move on to pin-up princess and his to TV's in NCIS) as they take on the military-industrial complex and an evil breeding cult of the future. Just as he got over his macho hang-ups over her super-abilities (and his exo-skeleton did make things a bit less interesting), she was implanted with a him-specific contagious virus is how they kept the sexual tension going. They never did find a lasting cure, other than a Sweeps Week abeyance. And then a torturous break-up. The Transgenics didn't survive their war with Fox. (Birds of Prey was such a weak rip-off!) There's a thorough episode guide and a whole lot more at the best and still loyal fan site.(updated 8/31/2009)
Earth: Final Conflict (reruns on SyFy Channel, (5 seasons on DVD) The second sci fi show I've moved from the HUNK 'O' METER to the "Hall of Dames" because this is the first sci fi TV show that concluded with two women leads! Probably inspired by the closing seasons of Star Trek: Voyager, and I guess in the future alien hunters have to wear skimpy clothes, but the feminist dialog the last season was a hoot -- did anyone guess that the serial murderer forensic pathologist who could figure out how to kill the Atavus would be a woman? (updated 8/31/2009)
Falcon Beach (ABC Family. 1st season on DVD.) I originally put this on my HUNK 'O' METER as mostly worth watching for Steve Byers as "Jason" --he actually said in the episode "Reckless Love" by Elizabeth Stewart to his water boarding coach What am I - the dumb blond? er, yeah -- and the Doc (unusual realistic that he's an appropriately aged med student resident), among other cute guys. But one of the young women stuffing a bikini vying for his charms has a brain as well as gorgeous hair, “Paige Bradshaw” played by Jennifer Kydd, who is supposedly going for a Harvard MBA and does have her cheatin’, embezzzlin’ dad’s head for business, though the back stories on the characters are pretty inconsistent. I also like her mom’s growing independence. Kudos to the series for having a young woman who unusually for TV is of Lebanese Maronite Christian heritage, even if her teen pregnancy was dumb. Cool Canadian music. But the way the end of the second season was dumped into overnights, as the confusing season ended off into the sunset, I think that’s the direction of the series too.(updated 12/7/2007)
Set in Hawaii so they look a lot warmer is Beyond the Break (on The N which became Teen Nick, but the schedule is so erratic and my cable system keeps moving the channel that I missed the 3rd season) Stretched out to an half-hour of supposedly empowered diverse girl surfers wearing bikinis who the series can't decide are jailbait age or not, but I was watching for legally aged Baywatch grad David Chokachi and a couple of eye candy male refugees from other mindless teen shows. But by the second season I got more involved with the talents and ambitions of feisty “Lacey Farmer” (played by Natalie Ramsey) and sweet native girl “Kai Kealona” (played by Sonya Balmores). But, hey, at least even I can't stand South of Nowhere. (updated 8/31/2009)
Farscape (4 seasons available on DVD - chintzily with only 2 episodes per disk. But now they're putting out something called "Starbust Editions" with all kinds of extras, through the 4.2 seasons in a space-saving single volume with 2 2-sided discs and additional footage. Final mini-series on DVD. Soundtrack album out. Supposedly SyFy Channel is reviving Farscape as a Web-based series of short films on their online broadband network, ordering10 webisodes, to be produced by Brian Henson and Robert Halmi Jr. through The Jim Henson Co. series will expand the Farscape universe.) I had just taken this show off this list when I thought I had witnessed the death of the primo sci fi Dame "Aeryn Sun", but whew, her funeral was premature. Figures that one of the classiest woman warriors on TV isn't just Australian but not even human-- her journey of understanding humanity through her relationship with astronaut "John Crichton" is well worth joining. I primarily watch this show for her and her character development. And her very complex interaction with John. And his clone. The episode when she mourned the clone, "The Choosing", and painfully resolved to get on with her life as before was one of the most moving on TV all season (and I managed to screw up the re-taping of it so now I'll have to wait and wait and wait for it to come around on reruns again); too bad sci fi gets ignored come Emmy time. All so much more interesting than most long-running shows with lead characters' attraction-- probably because she is so much more complex than he is -- but his devotion is sure part of his appeal. The writers kept coming up with interesting ways to get them together -- then pull them apart. The humor and creativity is very much worth the long ride. The fourth season had an almost all-female cast of heroines and villains, as the most seductive of the latter pointed out: "Would you have a weapon in your armory and leave it unused?" "Aeryn" could be the coolest wife and mother in any galaxy! At least Claudia Black has been brought on occasional board Stargate: SG1 as another feisty alien on Sci Fi Shows. The fan sites are a bit too overwhelming to pick a favorite, either in looking back or forward. (updated 8/31/2009)
La Femme Nikita (All 5 seasons out on DVD, with some unaired scenes. Soundtrack available.) Its premise of "a covert anti-terrorism agency" now seems eerily realistic (and needed!) and is weakly imitated by ABC's Alias. One-word title indicates you've caught a first season episode, 2-word, 2nd season, etc. until the last 5th season. You'll need that information to follow the erratic reruns, as they tend to show out of order so the confusing relationships will be even more confusing. The sexiest couple on TV try to keep their humanity, let alone their ever-changing relationship, amidst the politics and paranoia of battling worldwide terrorism in an Orwellian environment. The world sure could use their expertise now! No Moonlighting syndrome here as the producers kept finding creative ways to put the lovers together, pull them apart, let them escape and force them back in with enthralling suspense. And all that tight black leather and gorgeous hair. The music was cool too. As creator Joel Surnow (who is now using what he learned here on 24) says on the video of the first episode: "We were trying to see if music would work on the show the way we had worked it into Miami Vice. Miami Vice was kind of cops and rock 'n' roll, and we were spy and alternative." (But I'm not sure if the repeats or the DVDs have the full, original music selections due to rights issues.) And oh yeah Peta Wilson is a very friendly neighbor of Russell Crowe's Down Under.(updated 8/31/2009)
Gilmore Girls (Was on the CW, soundtrack album out. 7 seasons out on DVD. Repeats weekdays on ABC Family.) While it suspiciously came out of the Family Friendly Programming Forum, a script development advertisers' coalition [though by 6/20/2005 they were describing their goals to The Hollywood Reporter as "programs that have multigenerational appeal, are appropriate in theme, content and language for a broad family audience and may include difficult, real-life issues and problems as long as they are resolved in a responsible manner"], producer Amy Sherman-Palladino had created a witty set of eccentric characters circling around a perhaps too-close-to-be-believable mom and daughter Lauren Graham and Alexis Bleidel, particularly Kelly Bishop as the Grandmother from Hell. Really snappy multi-generational dialogue, even if Six Feet Under savaged the mother/daughter bonding satirically. And who wouldn't enjoy watching the two hunks vying for the daughter? Singer-songwriter Grant Lee Philips is a clever inside musical joke as a troubadour. Terrific teen triangle - first I sighed for Dean, but who could resist bad boy "Jess"? (They return when their spin-off shows or other guest appearances don't pan out. Back and gone, back and gone) And even the best friend --in an unusual Korean-American girl's role on TV though watchdog groups don't seem to notice her -- found a guitar player! (who literally moved out to California in The O.C.) In Season 4 the Palladinos finally found Lorelei a boyfriend who can talk the talk in "Jason" (played by Chris Eigeman) -- then, AW, he's out, that's it. But, whew, Scott Patterson is a much sexier boyfriend than I expected "Luke" to become. At least "Rory" is finally meeting some cute guys at Yale. I'm enjoying the irony of how the Palladinos are handling the dysfunctional family conflicts of her dating when there even isn't any class or ethnic conflict in her choices. Nice to see the Palladinos bring back our cousin Alan Blumenfeld for a recurring role as the wise-cracking rabbi, which is a nice change from the sleazy lawyers or accountants he usually gets cast as. I've decided I want to hire the Palladinos to write the dialogue of my life - I talk that fast all the time anyway. The final season without them is talking the talk but not walking the walk - it's all speed dialog but the situations are tired: Back with the high school sweetheart? Preggers after the disastrous wedding night a la 7th Heaven? Still rebelling against Mom? It's like the tired past its sell date of Remington Steele. Pretty amazing that "Rory" in "A Vineyard Valentine," by co-creator Daniel Palladino, broadcast 2/14/2006 could tell a newspaper colleague to be more aggressive via Betty Friedan's dead and we all have to fill the vacuum. when Friedan had just died on 2/4/2006. That's sure TV Land fast. Fans loved when "Rory"s idols Madeleine Albright and Christiane Amanpour cameo'd.
For my take on the seasons on “Paris” as the Jewish female character on the show and a report on the 4th season). Thorough fan site here.) (updated 8/31/2009)
Malcolm in the Middle (Soundtrack album out. 1st season on DVD.) Jane Kaczmarek is the most realistic sitcom Mom on TV since Roseanne. Equal parts maternal and jailor. A perfect match for Marge Simpson. And it gave me my first opportunity to LOL after September 11. (updated 8/31/2009)
The Middleman (was on the Sci Fi Channel, complete season out on DVD.) This should have been dreadful, after all it was based on graphic novels. But their co-author Javier Grillo-Marxuach is experienced from some of my fave oddball sci fi-ish shows and it was simply charming, particularly Natalie Morales as the very cool and competent "Wendy Watson", when usually such shows depend on a hunk, such that her flirtation with Brendan Hines as "Tyler Ford" was just a satisfying sidelight. (9/1/2009)
The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman (was on IFC, 1st season on DVD.) While it's not 100% original in its depiction of women and movie-making in Hollywood (Sarah Silverman's Pilot Season was very similar about TV) and it simply fictionalizes a lot of what we saw about indie films in the Project Greenlight- 1st Season, again in the 2nd Season, and yet again in the 3rd Season, let alone the quasi-fictional HBO's Unscripted, the relationship between best friends Laura Kightlinger, the co-creator, and ditzy Nicholle Tom is fun, in a kind of femme take on Entourage. But the series didn't really take off until the woebegone graphic novelist showed up and humanized "Jackie"s sarcasm, though I can't figure out who the adorable actor is. And he never came back and she’s back to being nasty to everyone, so I wasn't surprised when it ran off the rails in the second season and didn't get renewed. (updated 8/31/2009)
Once and Again (2 seasons out on DVD.) Sela Ward and Billy Campbell are not only gorgeous, the story lines are not only grab-a-tissue romantic, but the writing, acting and directing from the 30something and My So-Called Life alumni are superb, including the teens. It makes a raw look at divorce and step-families and the impact on families beautifully watchable. The side-stories on the sister and ex-wife are also well-done, though I don't quite get why they keep breaking up with the hunks in their lives. Caveat: No way do teens have such heavy hearts-to-hearts with parents. I always tell friends contemplating parenthood: "You're not having a baby. You've having a sullen teenager." (updated 8/22/2003)
Over There (full season on DVD.) Amidst this testosterone-fest of soldiers talking and fighting a blue streak in Iraq in an updated Band of Brothers, what kept me watching were actually the women, whether fighting at home, abroad or in a V.A. hospital, whether standing by their man or not. These young actresses get to shine in dramatic roles they haven't had a shot at before as they show the range of complexities for the genders in today's Army, so the carping in the blogosphere about unrealistic weapons, helicopters and fighting strategies is irrelevant to me. This is more like an updated China Beach for me. I bought the was-it-there-for-titillation lezzie interlude more than I bought that the AWOL soldier had retained her sit-on blonde hair through service in Iraq -- so I wasn't surprised when she cut it upon return. The encounter between "Sergeant Scream" and "Strident Frog" (for once a credible, committed beautiful activist) in "Orphans" by Joel Fields, was surprisingly involving -- and you do know that he can't return to her without risking her death. (updated 3/20/2006)
The Pretender (original follow-up movies out on DVD. 4 seasons on DVD.) Miss Parker is the coolest dame on TV just about since Mrs. Peel on The Avengers. In leather trench coats and high heels with an impeccable coif, she changed over the series from a cold-blooded assassin into a complex victim of "The Centre." Best season was when she got a charming boyfriend, but her quest to understand what happened to her mother was almost as touching. (updated 3/12/2007)
Prime Suspect (all 7 seasons available on video/DVD. PBS was rerunning all of them, but the reruns moved over to BBC America --they don't seem to be censoring or cutting it like PBS did, even with the commercials. I've put off actually watching #7 because it is the final episode) The welcome new #6 was a jolting reminder not only how groundbreaking this series was and how superior it still is, but just how iconic Dame Helen Mirren's "DCI Jane Tennant" is. While the sexism she faces may not be as explicit as in #1, she is facing the glass ceiling a tough, competent woman pushes up against. Mirren said on Charlie Rose that the series succeeded because it was the first policewoman procedural, not focusing as much on personal lives like Cagney and Lacey did. No, Dame, this ranks with Cracker and Homicide as the top cop shows ever. Only the new The Closer has successfully captured this zeitgeist for American TV. (Nathalie Baye in the French film Le Petit Lieutenant steals a lot of Mirren too.) So much is Mirren's performance -- all we need is a look and an eyebrow from her to reflect sexual tension. The silent scene in one episode where "Tennant" makes the decision to have an abortion was the most poignant treatment of this subject than any wordy debate ever held on TV. And her hidden little victory smiles to herself as she constitutes her own cheering section are priceless. The Dame is also surrounded by superb ensembles -- I'd forgotten that Tom Wilkinson played her early boyfriend, Ralph Fiennes exploded his career with his small role in #1, and Liam Cunningham sexually charged an investigation in #6, among many other men who Mirren clearly challenged to do their best. (updated 9/17/2007)
Samantha Who? (on ABC, cancelled despite lots of noms) I watch very few sit coms, but Christina Applegate is really a riot here as an ex-bitch amnesiac convinced she can be a kinder, gentle person in starting her life over again (including re-discovering sex, courtesy of hunky Eddie Cibrian on only 2 episodes). But this strong estrogen-fest she’s also surrounded by three hilarious women – Jean Smart as her mom, Jennifer Esposito of several failed shows as the selfish best friend at work who is the devil on her shoulder, and Melissa McCarthy Gilmore Girls as the put-upon angel on her shoulder childhood friend. A bonus is Barry Watson as her ex-boyfriend. (updated 5/20/2008)
Sex and the City (HBO will doubtless keep repeating all the seasons -- why watch the bowdlerized version on TBS that edits Samantha's behavior? All 6 seasons available on DVD/video. Soundtrack album out.) Watch for the scripts written (and directed) by women as these tend to be the ones that aren't nasty about women and intelligently criticize men with humor (oy, come on, another episode about size issues? - invariably written by a male, and usually a gay male at that) The second to last season the friends started to get more realistic about getting older - though they were wearing clown make-up to look younger. The last season has them each with more interesting significant others (including TIVO to watch BBC America) that has brought out more humaneness as the real world entered their lives. I finally found a newspaper critic who admitted that "Carrie Bradshaw and company enjoyed a turnover of partners that seemed more appropriate to gay culture, and those women discussed the tawdry details of their escapades in gay-worthy repartee. The writers even winked to the connection by naming Carrie's most eligible prospect after a gay-pornography legend." - Ned Martel in The New York Times August 6, 2005 in An End to Notches on the Headboard, a review of the finale of Queer as Folk.
Even LOL funnier is Coupling (rerun on BBCAmerica now and again, and on some PBS stations. 4 seasons out on DVD) which manages to cover the same topics, but without four letter words and nudity while giving equal time to men. NBC ruined the American version as much as they did Cold Feet (3 seasons out on DVD. 4th season not for U.S. DVD yet.), even with utilizing the same in-laws writer and producer, as the casting was just too pretty and the scripts cut to fit commercials. The Brits are very frank and fearless in poking fun at the six characters who have very different points of view about the battle of the sexes, and aren't just Mars and Venus but are all over the solar system as regards dating, relationships and the body in general. They were clearly inspired by the "Master of His Domain" episode of Seinfeld. The actors aren't cover model gorgeous -- just really good at their comedy. And one guy is also good at drama, co-starring in the ensemble This Life.(updated 8/6/2005)
Standoff (cancelled from Fox during its one season, but the final episodes were burned off online.) I've been charmed by Ron Livingston since Band of Brothers even if he's always referred to as "Carrie's boyfriend from Sex and the City who broke up with her via a post-it.", well until the dreadful Defying Gravity. (I even liked his younger brother John in one of my little indie romance faves Dopamine). And Ron is quite appealing here negotiating nonviolent solutions to violent confrontations while flirting with his co-worker and always trying to get her into bed. I seem to be the only one to enjoy writer Craig Silverstein's jaunty and double entendre dialog between the two that flows with their chemistry -- can he and they keep it up and will Fox let them? They brought in as consulting producer Tim Minear, one of my fave writer/producers, to get up to speed (as one online commentator advised: "You see, Tim, they're hostage negotiators and they're sleeping together. There. You're up to speed.").
But I like how their personal and professional lives intersect. I thought "Partners in Crime" by debut writer Joy Kecken got the bantering connections as good as The Closer with him being chivalric, sexy and feminist - the very definition of Modern Romance. He has to keep explaining the results of a failed test exercise: Are you really going to punish me for trying to protect you? -- but she ends up knocking on his door for a booty call: We could both say we're sorry at the count of three.. He: I dunno. The separate room thing is kinda working for me. Oh damn it! He gives in to a big lip lock. She: Remember our first kiss? In a motel room like this? He: I remember more than a kiss. She: Just so we're clear. This doesn't change what I said before. I can take care of myself as they roll around on the bed - just like the bank robbers. They act out how the robberies are staged as he grabs her as a pseudo-hostage: It has to be somebody he thinks he can control. She: Then maybe I'm not your best model. Her words run through his head when the hostage couple use them to get free and their boss accuses them of personal feelings clouding their procedures. He to her: OK, you wanna know the truth? The truth is as soon as I heard your voice on that phone I couldn't think straight, I couldn't see straight, I just had to get you out of there. She concurs. He plunges on: Well, forget about us. You're the best partner I ever had and I'm not going to give that up over some second rate Bonnie & Clyde. Let's go nail those guys, you and me. Deal? Meanwhile, their tech assistant keeps bringing up parallels between them and the criminals on the lam. As they figure out how the two met up: Then it was sex in the office and downhill there after. He: I hate when that happens. But he vociferously overrules his whole team as to whether the woman robber's in danger from the guy: This guy's not going to hurt her. He's crazy about her. . . Yeah, can't live with 'em. Can't shoot 'em.. . That's what they say. "One Shot Stop" by Juan Carlos Coto had a nice interchange when she accused him of using their intimacy--a sexy opening scene in bed--to trample over her ideas; he recognized his condescension and apologized.
”Peer Group” by producer Daniel Knauf had them again relating their jobs to their relationship as they dealt with a Columbine-like situation as we’re supposed to believe that she can best relate to the picked-on kids holding the popular bullies hostage: Matt: I wonder if I would have liked you in high school. Emily: I wonder if I would have liked you in high school. And then that he can best play the bully role: Emily: You were a pretty convincing bully back there. Matt: Yeah, well... I had a lot of practice. I'm pretty sure you'd have hated my guts in high school. Emily: Well, then it's a good thing we didn't meet in high school. Whew the first TV show that doesn’t glorify high school sweethearts as the love of one’s life!
”Borderline” by Juan Carlos Coto had me at him pleading with her to hold it together at a Mexican stand-off, to be non-PC: I need your brain. But as they’re surrounded by revengeful drug dealers she does lose it: I messed this up because I thought that I could help someone. I thought that I could fix people. It’s a weakness and it’s going to get us killed. She cries. He takes hold of her: When I was a kid, my old man used to say ‘You just can’t fix people. They go wrong, they just go wrong. You assume they’re scum and then they never disappoint you.’ That’s a crappy way to live. That’s how I grew up. But I don’t want to see the world that way any more. I don’t. I like your version better. They kiss. She: If we don’t make it out of here, I just want you to know. . . He: Me too. How many rounds you got left? When they do get out, she asks: What did you think I was going to say? He: I don’t know. What were you going to say? She: Thanks. He: You’re welcome. I’m too busy to go into how their sex life was fodder for a HT, a break-up with break-up sex in the office and then the promise of make-up sex in the next episode. But replaying actual for transcription will have to wait for the DVD as I’m watching it streaming online when I have the chance. (updated 7/27/2007)
How cute is this - so the chemistry was real – the couple wed in November 2009.
Star Trek: Voyager (Will doubtless be repeated into infinity and beyond in syndication and cable. 7 seasons out on DVD.) Until recently Kate Mulgrew was the only mature woman leading a TV show and deserves kudos for that, even if 7 of 9 upstaged her the last few seasons in those tight outfits and high heels. And Be'lanna Torres' and Tom Paris' much-anticipated-by-me marriage was of the 24th century feminist variety. The next in the series Star Trek: Enterprise is literally from an earlier, less feminist time period. (updated 12/20/2004
State of Grace (lasted 2 seasons, no DVD yet) Wonder Years meets Any Day Now when young best girlfriends in 1965 North Carolina learn about each other's very different families and lifestyles, a rich WASP and a child of a Holocaust survivor. Funny, some shards of truth, and sentimental, but I'm a sucker for this partly for the nostalgia of what it was like to grow up with a Gramma with a Yiddish accent. Best though is Frances McDormand's voice-over as grown-up Hannah. More of my review is in the Fall '01 issue of LILITH Magazine.(updated 8/31/2009)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (on Fox, both seasons on DVD.) I was a latecomer to the Terminator movies, seeing the first two not-on-the-big-screen before seeing Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines. But what pulled me in was the Mother of All Mothers and her relationships, so I got into the TV show immediately, even if I’m having a bit of trouble integrating the story line. Bringing in Brian Austin Green as the brother-in-law was icing on the cake. Somehow such strong women characters are more acceptable to male audiences in sci fi shows, whether the buffed up Linda Hamilton in the films for 300’s Spartan wife Lena Headey here. I got a kick out of the comparison in “Heavy Metal” by John Enbom of the Terminator with the Golem legend, as well as the return of Summer Glau fromFirefly, who turns on a dime from high school innocent to assassin, in a new twist on a “Data”-like android, somewhat like a Valley Girl take on Sean Young in Blade Runner (having just seen part of the new director’s cut). I didn’t even recognize the heart-throbbing Thomas Dekker as being the equally adorable “Zach” from Heroes, but I sure welcomed Brian Austin Green as his uncle, so the tough mom has a worthy son and romance, in a show that is much better written than the revived Bionic Woman that started with flare and burned out. Nice to see, too, that Toni Graphia came in to produce; I’ve been admiring her work in the strong-woman sci fi genre since V.R. 5. (updated 8/23/2008)
Ugly Betty (was on ABC, 3 seasons on DVD.) I'll almost forgive them for filming in L.A. the first two seasons before they moved to NYC, as the jokes about Queens are funny, let alone about Latina and fashionista stereotypes, despite bloopers like referring to Roosevelt Boulevard. And they are at least admitting they are stealing from The Devil Wears Prada as much as from the original Colombian telenovela (which has already been satirized in several movies). America Ferrera lives up to her promise in both indie (Real Women Have Curves) and Hollywood (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) flicks with great spirit and atypical chemistry with hunky Eric Mabius (getting to be more uncritically hetero than in The L Word) as her insecure scion playboy boss. Executive producer Salma Hayek was a marvelously sexy feminist Sweeps Weeks foil for him.
In "Lose the Boss?" by Oliver Goldstick her boss was particularly sweet and supportive in dealing with “Betty”s obviously gay brother “Justin” (despite ABC's official denials about such a young kid), defending his artistic skills and perspective in a touching scene with the kid's macho uneasy father, “Santos” played by the very hunky Kevin Alejandro (only slightly less threatening but just as sexily charming as in Sleeper Cell and a prime reason I watched another quickly cancelled Tim Minear drama Drive on Fox that I hope wasn’t the reason he was killed off in the first season finale, then the reason to watch the second season of CBS’s Shark where he was a tough suited lawyer – and I think his odd haircut at the end doomed that show, so hopefully they’ll let him grow it out again as a cop in NBC’s Southland- whoops got distracted from the Dames theme here.). His acceptance, and defense, of his son came through the absolutely marvelous “Derailed” by Cameron Litvack, when the son excitedly entertains the stalled subway car with excerpts from Hairspray. No wonder it got a 2007 Peabody Award for: “This Americanized version defies category. It's part comedy, part drama, part soap opera, part fashion-industry satire – but is unmistakably graced with wry intelligence and heart.
Vanessa L. Williams is having a ball as the one-note villain, though without Meryl's soul, even as the plots get wilder and wilder. They seem to be keeping up the humor and the heart, let alone the anti-anorexia bravura. As good as America Ferrera is, Ashley Jensen and her brogue are wonderful (she even got a bit of romance with an ex, the equally Scot-sounding Derek Riddell) -- in HBO’s Extras she will doubtless go down in history as the only woman to turn down a flirtatious Orlando Bloom.(updated 8/31/2009)
Veronica Mars (was on CW, 3 seasons on DVD with deleted scenes. The last season DVD includes: Pitching Season 4: An in-depth interview with creator Rob Thomas discussing a new direction for the series presented to network executives that picks up years later, with Veronica as a rookie FBI agent , Going Undercover with Rob Thomas: Thomas walks us through some of the most memorable moments from Season 3, Webisode gallery with cast interviews and various set tours, Unaired scenes with introductions by Rob Thomas, Gag reel. Soundtrack out.) Has a very similar intriguing and appealing tone as Smallville, with noir replacing the sci fi angle (though the titular teen not only looks very much like Clark Kent's friend "Chloe" but she does almost identical too-grown-up-for-high-school investigations -- the actress is capable of more; she did a notable deviously dramatic arc on Deadwood). Creator Rob Thomas also tries to mix in some high school social satire grittiness, but Buffy the Vampire Slayer also already did the William S. Paley Television Festival panel: "Thomas, who spent five years as a high school journalism teacher offers both his own defense and a bit of advice for the tin-eared purveyors of teen dialogue. 'If you want to write teenage girls, advise a high school yearbook for five years,' he says." At least the cast is a bit more racially and social class diverse than these other series. The dangerous appeal of "Logan" the rich bad boy from the very dysfunctional family is thrilling, as he goes from appealingly good to bad again and vulnerable then mean and all the time cute, especially when heart-broken. Loved the episode when he meets her father for the first time and has such longing for that warm paternal touch, but now that they're in college their relationship has gotten really intense about trust issues, as he says in the very moving "Spit and Eggs" episode written and directed by Thomas: I don't think I quite measure up to the person you want me to be, and I just can't take feeling like a disappointment anymore. he cries to her, so unexpectedly, so non-stereotypically as our "Veronica" can't change, even as she has demanded that he do so and she just can’t trust him. You have to really pay attention the last 5 minutes of each episode, whew. Joss Whedon is a fan! (updated 8/31/2009)
From TV Is Now Interactive, Minus Images, on the Web by Maria Aspan, The New York Times, July 8, 2006 (fair use excerpt)
"Rob Thomas, the creator and executive producer of Veronica Mars and one of the few such "show runners" to post openly on the Web site's forums, said in an interview that Television Without Pity functioned 'as a big focus group. They're very intense fans, 'the really devoted ones.' But, Mr. Thomas added ruefully, as viewer response to Veronica Mars became more critical in the show's second season, the experience of reading the site was 'like being in a room with a thousand ex-girlfriends,' he said. 'The new shine wore off,' he added. Mr. Thomas conceded that his awareness of the fans' reactions had occasionally influenced the way he wrote Veronica Mars. Fans hated a second-season character played by Tessa Thompson ["Jackie Cook" - yeah she didn't make sense the end of the season], he said, leading him to overcompensate in an effort to make the character likable. 'I feel like I sold out a little. She became a little saintly by the end. If I had to do it over again, I'd leave her a little more complicated.'"
The X Files (All 9 seasons out on DVD, separately and in culled theme sets. 2 movies out on video/DVD.) Gillian Anderson provided the most serious discussion of religious beliefs on TV -- and wearing the best-looking, serious business suits. Creator Chris Carter did seem to tie up the mythology in a neat package -- I'm not even sure what he left for follow-up movies. But the post-9/11 investigations of the FBI show that Mulder was right! The agency wasn't structured for prevention of attacks (OK, not alien OR terrorists). The earlier seasons are absolutely worth watching for the subtle development of Scully and Mulder's silently smoldering relationship, and then for Agents Reyes' and Doggett's more conventional development. Not enough credit is also given to Mark Snow's atmospheric music, that the soundtrack Songs in the Key of X doesn't begin to do justice to. Here's a thorough episode guide. (updated 8/31/2009)
BRING 'EM BACK THEY WAY THEY WAS AND NEVER WERE: A PLEA FOR RE-RUNS/FIRST RUNS
Karen Sisco (When cable channels show the episodes do they show the ones that never aired on ABC?) The provenance pointed to the weakness of a copy of a copy, from an Elmore Leonard short story that inspired the J Lo movie Out of Sight. Surprise - -this is stylish replay of one of my favorite cancelled "Dame" shows of all time Under Suspicion -- and wouldn't Karen Sillas make a great guest star at the least? While Gugino's U.S. Marshall outfits are almost as revealing and high-heeled as The Charmed Ones and have probably have as much relation to reality as Ally McBeal's did to lawyers, at least she is based in hot Miami so is justifiably sweaty a lot, and maybe it will get guys to watch as she tries unsuccessfully to figure out where to hide her gun. Lucky in sex but unlucky in love, she somehow keeps trying - set up amusingly by her very caring, ex-cop dad, magnificently played by Robert Forster, and his ex-con poker buddies. Saturated cinematography and wonderful music -- a key plot clue in "The One That Got Away" was a Leonard Cohen song. But the suits thought the villains weren't evil and guilty enough -- boo, the charming and many times white collar criminals were far more interesting. Hey, at least burn off the ones that got away from us that we never got to see!(updated 8/31/2009)
life as we know it (cancelled from ABC - DVD of complete series includes two episodes not aired) Why wouldn't I consider a show about adolescent men and teens more suitable for the HUNK 'O' METER (especially due to the absolutely adorable Sean Faris, let alone D.B. Sweeney)? Based on a very funny, touching, insightful Brit book Doing It by Melvin Burgess that wonderfully zeroes in on the difference between love and lust in the hormone-fueled world of teenagers, these clueless guys are led around by their dicks by the grounded women in their lives (though the book makes clear that the teacher having the affair with one of the kids clearly has problems), especially as brilliantly written by women. For example producer Allison Adler's scripts for "The Best Laid Plans" and "With A Kiss, I Die." Leilia Gerstein's script for "A Little Problem" was a perfect example of women writers subverting a male-oriented genre - no guy would write a scene where a teen boy breaks down in tears of frustration when the girl of his dreams doesn't understand how he couldn't extricate himself from the affair, such that she responds with tears about the modest truth of her own sexual history. And a kid beset with terrors about impotence is counseled by Peter Dinklage. Aw, if Faris's "Dino" (who does seem to be heading to learning his lesson about being honest with females about feelings as he admitted to his mom I was a jerk. which softens the acerbic source material) doesn't end up in the arms of pre-Reaper Melissa Peregrym's "Jackie" (and she is SO much a better actress than Mischa Barton in The O.C.) before the series is cancelled I'll be miserable as they have dynamite chemistry together -- they could be the first teen series to explore getting to each base from the girl and boy view, as the book most amusingly does. Aw heck, who didn't tear up when she admitted she couldn't just burn away her feelings for him in a symbolic BBQ?
No wonder his best friend's brother retorts to the friend: You sound like a chick when he argues that sex involves feelings too. These are younger versions of the firefighters seen in Rescue Me or the guys in the series BBCAmerica re-runs at various times, Manchild (1st season out on DVD) which frankly pokes fun at four 50-something men-friends. Showtime was developing an American version, but it seems like ABC’s awful Big Shots is it, with very attractive men and limp satire. (updated 8/31/2009)
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