Feminist television??

[politicat]

Is there any? I am/was a big Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan because the women were strong, self-possessed and more comfortable with being female than any other show on. I liked Firefly for the same reason. Hated Sex in the City (whiny and boinking anything with legs is not feminist ....)

So what's on now? I watched the pilot of the Geena Davis thing, and eh. Whatever.

[WildClarySage]

1. Those were precisely the reasons I really enjoyed Buffy and Firefly

too. I'm not much of a TV watcher, so maybe that's why- or maybe it's because the commercials are even worse than the programs in how they portray women.

[politicat]

2. The miracle of DVR....

I haven't seen a commercial in over a year - I record everything I want to watch (not much, sad to say) and FF through the commercials.
I'm paying for my TV - there's no reason I should be watching the ads, too.

[musette_sf]

3. real feminist television

would scare the bejeebus out of the vast majority of males.

the closest thing I've found is some of the programming on Logo.

and I didn't think SATC was all that non-feminist... but then again, they remind me of myself and three of my girlfriends, back in the early seventies in NYC. in the early seventies, females initiating boinking, without fear of unwanted pregnancy, WAS feminist...

[politicat]

4. Now, it's a recipe for disaster.

There are so many other places where we don't have equality - pay, health care, household responsibilities, effective birth control that isn't potentially deadly - that focusing on the right to sleep around is like saying we've fought and won all of the other battles. We haven't. When 80% of us are literally SOL if we need to get an abortion, and 90% of us make 25% less than men doing equivalent work, the only less important battle we have is to reclaim the color pink.

Feminist TV would scare the hell out of men. But they need it.

(On a side note, Dish network dropped the Bad Romance Novel Channel - AKA Lifetime - and hopefully will be replacing it with something ACTUALLY empowering to women.)

[musette_sf]

5. What I would love to see

is the feminist version of "The Man Show". With funny, snarky women going to town on every male stereotype. Like, maybe, Sarah Silverman (who is, incidentally, "Man Show" co-star Jimmy Kimmel's girlfriend).

"Man Show" almost always makes me laugh, sometimes in spite of myself. Wouldn't it be great if we had feminist comedy of a similar nature, that would make the men laugh at themselves and their brothers in the same way?

[politicat]

6. That would be incredible!

And yes, S. Silverman would be fantastic for the host....

(What does one do to pitch this kind of thing?)

[OldLeftieLawyer]

12. First, you need a contact

Preferably an agent hooked into a studio or any number of real producers - not the guys in coffee shops who call themselves "producers." The agency I'm with is ICM, and they've handled my work very, very well.

But, before you can do that (get an agent, that is), you need to write a pilot, as marketable and as special as you can make it. There are a number of software programs that will help you in setting up a script format, which really is important.

Then you pray.

[Finder]

7. There is no specific network really, but...

since I just did an analysis of Sex in the City and found it was indeed feminist, I think you may want to look closer at the characters a bit. They are all professional women who struggle with convention like we all have at some time or another.IMO

I didn't find that a fantasy based show(Buffy)did the adult feminist movement any justice. Shows like Alias, SitC, Lost(which I am analyzing now)seem to be honest depictions of the struggle between feminism and femininity many struggle with.

My next project is "Desperate Housewives" which I have heard opposite opinions on. I don't watch TV so it is interesting to observe the impact on society(according to diverse opinion)before analyzing for myself.

I have found most comedy sitcoms to be very insulting to male intelligence in general and see most negative views of feminism seem to stem from sitcoms rather than dramas or serials.

[politicat]

8. We will just have to agree to disagree, then.

EOM

[clitzpah queen]

9. I agree with you about Sex and the City

How insulting to boil feminism down to objectifying men to fuck. Endless talk about DRIVEL -- $500-800 SHOES FFS! They never gave a shit about anything going on in the world at large besides what immediately impacted on them getting laid. I watched it (cuz I'm a sit-com whore) -- but it ALWAYS pissed me off. I was always hungry for a show with smart, sensuous/sexual women who had a POLITICAL Cue and were NOT Wealthy.

[Finder]

10. The SitC women were not wealthy.

I thought many political themes were the subject. Abortion, single parenting, homosexuality, feminism, etc. The wealthy family one of the characters married into was not exactly shown in a good light. The portrayal of the struggles faced by female writers, pr reps, lawyers, art directors in NYC were very realistic. Other than Sam's overactive sexuality at times, I found the frankness and honesty entertaining.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

11. I agree

I wasn't really a big fan of the show, but the women were strong, well-defined characters who lived their lives as they chose.

Isn't that what so much of feminism is all about?

As for the malebashing that I see not only in regular programming, but in commericials as well (I really do enjoy commercials, I have to admit - a very intimate perspective on American culture), it's upsetting. There's nothing gained by making men look like jerks so much of the time, all those bad stereotypes: Dumb Dad, Helpless Adolescent, etc. It's offensive.

One of the most well-developed shows I've seen in terms of busting sexual stereotypes have been the Dick Wolf "Law and Order" series; in all of them, there's always a few powerful men and women characters, and that's been a hallmark of that whole conglomerate Wolf has built. I think that's part of why they enjoy such success in syndication. The defendants are often strong women, as are the cops and prosecutors - and the medical examiner, my favorite laconic character.