I have ranted many times in these pages and on my podcast and on Twitter and on Tumblr about the dearth of women-led stories that can be found in movies these days. However, there is a bright spot, and that bright spot can be found on television.
The sad reality is that movies have become increasingly risk averse, and risk averse means we have franchises, remakes, reboots, and sometimes someone throws the Wachowski siblings money to make something completely off the wall (Seriously, Jupiter Ascending has Channing Tatum with wolf DNA and Mila Kunis is a janitor that finds out she’s alien royalty, so basically this going to be the best movie ever). And for some reason, despite being proven otherwise (Hunger Games, Divergent, Lucy, God help me, Twilight), studios consider female-led projects to be risky. It’s ridiculous.
However, where the risks in storytelling are being taken is on TV. Not just on cable, but even on networks. Ad we’ve had a number of really fantastic woman-centered shows recently that are doing really well! So lets celebrate some of those. This list is not exhaustive.
Drama:
Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries: WE LOVE THIS SHOW. We have a whole post about why it is awesome.
Orphan Black: Tatiana Maslany (nominated for a SAG award for her role(s) as “Various”) plays at last count 12 different clones in this conspiracy thriller from BBC America. It’s amazing, and there are instances where Tatiana punches herself, pours herself a drink, gives herself a hug, shows clones pretending to be other clones (AND YOU CAN TELL) while being supported by Maria Doyle Kennedy and is one of the better written, most tense shows on television. (Does it pass the Bechdel Test if the two named female characters talking about something other than men is played by the same actress?)
Agent Carter: We tell you every week why to watch this show. Well, not THIS week. Female secret agent protects democracy and fights the patriarchy in perfect lipstick.
Orange is the New Black: Netflix women’s prison series. You know it’s doing something right because there have been complaints that this show does not fairly present the viewpoint of men. Ensemble 90% woman cast, with a very good proportion of characters of color, explorations about what brings women to federal prison, and one of those rare instances of a transgender actress playing a transgender woman.
State of Affairs: This is not an objectively good show, but it’s got Katherine Heigl as a CIA operative? Analyst? Something? And Alfrie Woodard as POTUS, so it counts.
I kind of hope Jeffrey Dean Morgan shows up and Heigl kills his character, as revenge for that horrible Grey’s Anatomy plotline (which one? Either? both?)
How to Get Away With Murder: Viola Davis kicking ass, taking names, and being allowed in courtrooms with bare arms. Also being on screen without her wig and make up and being a natural African American woman in private.
Scandal: Shonda Rhimes goes to Washington. Kerry Washington.
Yeah, it’s soapy and Shonda Rhimes seems to have a lot of worrying things to say about what she idealizes in a relationship as shown by Olivia and Fitz, but it’s one of the few shows to feature a powerful black woman as the lead character.
Madame Secretary: Tea Leoni as the Secretary of State. I haven’t watched this show yet (it’s on the list for summer binging) but the cast is stellar and it’s been renewed for a 2nd season.
Reign: This show is not good. It’s ridiculous.
But Meagan Follows as Catherine di Medici of Green Gables and terrible costuming choices that it’s at least consistent about, that blends Mary, Queen of Scots with Gossip Girl sensibilities? Props for knowing your audience, CW.
Bletchley Circle: BBC series about women who were former code breakers at Bletchley Park solving complex mysteries years after WWII. In addition to smart, savvy women, it explores how women were expected to just go back to business as usual after the war was over, and the costs of the work that they did.
Call the Midwife: Midwives in the 1950s in the East End of London. It almost never passes the reverse Bechdel test- there are almost never two named male characters talking about anything other than women.
It treats women’s work and women’s stories as profoundly important, and has explored topics like illegal abortion, developmentally disabled people being pregnant, and the stresses of poverty.
Comedy:
Jane the Virgin: CW has been knocking it out of the park with this show, that is delightfuland owns its nutty and telenovela conventions while acknowledging the ridiculousness of them. Golden Globe winner Gina Rodriguez is super charismatic and just so adorable.
Plus it’s one of the very few mainstream American shows that feature a predominatly Latina/Latino cast. Really, everyone should watch this show.
Parks and Recreation: This show is almost over (sob), but the story of Leslie Knope, determined public servant for whom her true loves are her career, her Ann Perkins, her Ben, and the family she built out of love, determination, and waffles will forever be in our hearts.
Mom: Allison Janney is the Queen of the Universe, as far as I’m concerned, and her chemistry with Anna Faris is off the damn charts. My mom loves this show.
2 Broke Girls: I tried to give this show a shot, because Kat Dennings was one of the best parts of the Thor movies, and because we have two women seizing their destiny in their own hands, which is awesome. Less awesome is the often racist humor used.
Broad City: I have not watched this show, but PCHH just did an episode talking about it- it’s produced by Amy Poehler, is about two single women living in New York, and all that entails, with a lot of pot. Ppyajunebug describe it to me as: “Basically it’s ladies being friends and boning dudes while having weird adventures and getting stoned.”
Girls: Yeah, this show has a lot of problems, based mainly on representation, and claims that it’s a universal depiction of what Millennial girls experience, but a show that is run by women, stars women, and is unashamed of showing non-conventional naked bodies? Whoomp there it is.
Veep: Julia Louis Dreyfus is trying to run the world, with Anna Chulmsky texting at her side, in sharp, fast, hilarious dialogue.
The Mindy Project: Mindy Kaling’s sitcom that’s only the first American show run by a Indian woman, so no pressure.
New Girl: I think this started out as a deconstruction of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope that Zooey Deschanel gets pigeon-holed into- what happens to the girl after the guy says “You changed me and now I can go off into the world as a better human!”
Also if I can get the rest of the Bitchery drunk enough, there might be a game of True American at RT. Just saying.
Transparent: Amazon’s Golden Globe winning show about a transwoman who transitions late in life. There are legit concerns about having a trans character played by a cis actor, but Jeffrey Tambor (and, I believe, the showrunner) has been extremely sensitive to those concerns.
Other shows mentioned on Twitter that I haven’t seen any of: Bad Judge, The Mysteries of Laura, Cristela. Some arguments were made for Masters of Sex, Grey’s Anatomy, and Once Upon a Time. I’m sure there are others, and in the interests of keeping this article a manageable length, I stuck with current shows. Otherwise we’d have Ally McBeal, Mary Tyler Moore, Murphy Brown, Buffy the Vampire Slayer… this list could go on and on and on.
In addition to this admittedly incomplete list, we also have a sea change in female directors and writers for other shows like Outlander, Mad Men and (up until last season, and it really shows) Game of Thrones. We’ve seen some fruits of those labors with Michelle Maclaren, who directed several episodes of Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad, and she’s now directing the Wonder Woman movie. I don’t believe there’s been a director announced for Captain Marvel yet, but I hope Marvel takes this cue and hires one of the amazing female directors available. (now if we could get a damn Black Widow movie….)
It’s true that this list is pretty white, and there’s really only a tiny handful of showrunners of color. I hope that the success of the Shondaland shows, Jane the Virgin, and The Mindy Project demonstrate that there’s an audience for shows about women of color. Hollywood doesn’t seem to want to learn this lesson in movies, but I am feeling guardedly optimistic that they’ll let television take that path.
I feel like we’re on an (admittedly very shallow at times) upswing of female led shows, female show-runners, and an increasing number of shows with complex, fully-realized female characters. The establishment is slowly recognizing the women of color leading some of these shows with the wins of Gina Rodriguez at the Golden Globes and Viola Davis and Uzo Aduba at the Screen Actors Guild awards (seriously, y’all. Jane the Virgin. It’s the best) So I feel like we’re going in the right direction.
What shows did we miss? Which ones do you love? What are you watching right now?
Masters of Sex is brilliant!
I LOVE Orphan Black! Tatiana Maslany is incredible, all her clones are so distinct and real. I have so much to say and love about this show that my feelings are coming out as spasms of unintelligible blurbles instead of actual words. Blurgaaaah.
Orange is The New Black is also great. The inmates’ all have a depth to them. Piper is so much more interesting when she’s not with anyone, though.
Great list!
One of the two leads on Sleepy Hollow is a woman of color (Nicole Beharie), and while they’ve hinted at romantic possibilities she’s always, ‘Um potential apocalypse going on ok?’ And love when her and her sister have scenes together. (This positive for the show takes a big hit whenever Catrina shows up because she’s super irritating, shallow, and serving the script ugh)
I know she’s not the lead so it doesn’t qualify for the list, but the stuff Jada Pinkett Smith is doing on Gotham is AMAZING. And every time Carol Kane comes on screen as The Penguin’s mom it makes me really happy.
Rozzli and Isles – love this show.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The humor isn’t for everyone, I admit – it’s dark comedy at its finest. However, Kaitlin Olson is AMAZING. She takes whatever the writers throw at her and runs with it, esp. the physical comedy. From dry-heaving to drunkenly serenading a runaway teen to falling down a wooded hill in spike heels, I have not laughed so hard at a woman’s comedic antics since I Love Lucy. It’s a crime that she’s never been nominated for an award.
“complaints that this show does not fairly present the viewpoint of men.”
*facepalm*
I’ve never watched OitNB, but that sounds akin to complaining that The Shawshank Redemption doesn’t pass the Bechdel test.
Orphan Black is just breathtakingly brilliant. Tatiana Maslany deserves to win every best actress & best supporting actress award out there. Every single one of her clones is a complete individual… just fabulous. But I must flag up Sophie Grabol’ s fantastic Sarah Lund in The Killing .
Olivia Coleman (who is her generations Judy Dench) who nailed it as Ellie Miller, detective & devastated wife of a murderer in Broadchurch…. And THEN plays an absolute blinder as the wife of an Anglican vicar in the fabulous “dramadey” Rev.Not to mention stealing every scene that she’s in in “2012” ( & considering she was playing opposite Hugh Bonneville that’s no mean feat !)
The 100 on the CW is arguably the most feminist show on TV. It’s a futuristic/post-apocalyptic sci-fi show with an actual matriarchal society for a warrior tribe, multiple female leaders (seriously, women make all the decisions on this show) and a good variety of diverse female characters. Not only that, but the female leaders are almost all young women (teen-early 20s). It shows adult men easily following their lead, being loyal to them, fighting for their respect. Pretty revolutionary.
Goodness that moment on Orphan Black when you see Cosima but its so obvious its really Sarah, amazing stuff.
This past year I havent watched many shows but you have named several on my “planning to binge watch” list. The Mindy Project, Call of the Midwife, Agent Carter, and Transparent are the four I am most interested in.
I caught some Reign the other day and not even my precious Anne-girl could induce me to watch it on a regular basis.
GUYS. BROAD CITY.
Seriously, I may or may not have sent redheadedgirl a treatise on this show, but it’s so, so damn good. And you can tell it’s made by two best friends who want to make a show that they think is hilarious and were kind of take aback by how popular it was.
The representation is much better than on Girls (Ilana’s main guy is Hannibal Burress, who may or may not be the funniest man on the planet, and she’s also bi), most of the writers are women (and many are WOC) and it’s just a goddamn delight. Ilana and Abbi have none to very little shame about the things they do and the men they bone, but it’s very clear that they are each others soul mates.
I’m going to stop now but find me on Twitter if you want to know more. I could write a 10 page essay about this show.
As long as you are singing the CW’s praises, The 100 has got to be on this list. Seriously AMAZING female characters that are not just a stock archetype. There are women leaders, warriors, doctors, mechanics, etc. And they are flawed as well. Also, they actually all look like they have all been living in the woods for a while.
Love Mrs. Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.
I also want to add Agents of SHEILD although there is s male protagonist and the cast is somewhat white every main female chracter in there is a badass, even the villainess.
Although it’s an older show, I’de like to recommend Star Trek: Voyager because the main captain is female and much of the crew is also female. There’s also plenty of diversity.
I also wanted to add a vote for The 100. Pretty much all the major decisions are made by women. The women are not just “strong”, but genuinely complex. Clarke, the young woman who (mostly) anchors the show, reminds me a lot of Buffy in that she is given a role of leadership way over her head and struggles (succeeding and not, at times) to lead her people.
But there’s not just Clarke. There’s Raven, the genius mechanic, Lexa, the leader of a warrior society, Indra, her second in command and respected warrior. Even those in secondary roles usually associated with men, say leader of the guard, are given to women.
And that’s not to say that the men are secondary, or not as well developed, or not agents in the plot. They are. Totally. But they are also allowed to be complex, character driven, loyal in their support to the women, and to make mistakes.
I’m surprised you didn’t mention THE HONORABLE WOMAN starring Maggie Gyllenhaal. We don’t have cable, but this BBC original is on Netflix and we spent two astonishing days binge watching in January. Gyllenhaal plays an English-Israeli woman trying desperately to bring equality to the Middle East (wildly understating here for brevity). The show is wonderfully complicated and complex and impossible, and I loved every minute because Spies! Women! Lies!
You mentioned most of my favorites but I have to throw in The Good Wife. Alicia Florrick might be one of the most complex female characters on TV right now and Julianna Margolis plays her to perfection. I also love the Downton Abbey character everyone else hates – Lady Mary. She has progressive views of sex for the 1920s and I love that she’s gotten involved in the running of the estate now that it’s clear her father needs her input.
I am currently obsessed with Jane the Virgin! To begin with it’s just a great show. Funny with an extremely strong female lead! In fact, all the women in the show are strong in their own way. I introduced my friend who’s a Spanish teacher to the show and she loved it! I’m jealous because she doesn’t have to read the subtitles when the characters spoke Spanish. And what other shows can bring up immigration reform in a totally organic way? Not many!
@Darlynne: I had no idea about this show and I want to watch it immediately. Thank you!!
Count me as another vote for The 100. It’s probably my favorite show on TV right now. (Plus, it’s got an absolutely brilliant recapper for every episode http://www.tv.com/users/Toni_watches/posts/)
We just discovered Orphan Black and mainlined the first season. Love the concept…and am always left sad that US TV just doesn’t seem that creative.
A lot of these show sound great but I can’t find the time for t.v. When I have a spare moment I head straight for my iBooks.
I haven’t seen Transparent, but the show runner recently published a tweet making fun of Bruce Jenner’s gender identity. This link gives links and responses from the trans community.
Last Tango in Halifax is not all women all the time but they certainly are the stars. The men are there to fill in and add conflict or humor. The women are strong, intelligent, so well written, and I swear I know them in real life. I know all of these characters.
I’ll watch Nicola Walker or Sarah Lancashire in anything and they deliver my catnip here (strong, flawed women who get it done). Nina Sosanya is always good too and Anne Reid will make you want to punch someone here. I always count that as favorable as it takes a lot to make me hate a character played by an actor I love.
This is written by Sally Wainwright who also wrote and or created Happy Valley and Scott & Bailey, both with strong female leads. I’ve watched Scott & Bailey and, again, catnip. I’m waiting on Happy Valley as I’m watching Sarah Lancashire in two other shows and found it distracting.
@Coco … Happy Valley was one of my top series of 2014 . It’s as addictive in its own way as Broadchurch. Sarah Lancashire is an absolutely amazing & brilliantly versatile actress. I’m just delighted the Beeb have commissioned a second series for later this year.
I would recommend Once Upon A Time, at least the first two seasons. They have really awesome complex relationships between women, and one of the best parts of the show is seeing two characters grow from enemies to allies to hopefully friends. Plus women doing more than the roles prescribed to them and going after what they want. But the third and fourth seasons have been less awesome. And there is a reliance on true love saving the day.
Also, an oldie but goodie, Prime Suspect (the original, though I didn’t hate the reboot…) with Helen Mirren was written by Lynda La Plante who also writes the Above Suspicion shows. I enjoyed those. She also wrote The Commander:… and some of Trial & Retribution both if which I HATED but couldn’t stop watching. These all have mostly singular female leads in traditionally male dominated positions.
Vera is great with Brenda Blethyn. And I enjoyed Blue Murder too with Caroline Quentin (created and mostly written by Cath Staincliffe).
For a less bloody good time Rosemary & Thyme was quite good.
@ Cate
I am, in the very best way possible, in Sarah Lancashire overload. I just remembered I’ve got the second series of The Paradise to watch too.
She’s EVERYWHERE!
And it makes me so happy.
I CANNOT BELIEVE I FORGOT THE GOOD WIFE.
I will also put The 100 on my binge list. I watched the pilot and went “…..eh” but so many people have talked about how it surpassed the pilot that I’ll give it a go.
I would recommend Once Upon a Time. It gets really, really ridiculous at times, but those women do kick ass – far more than the men at times.
The Americans on FX! Keri Russell’s character has so many traits female characters aren’t supposed to have. I won’t spoil the plot by listing them… Fair warning though, it might be the anti-romance show since so many of the relationships are setups. (It’s a spy show.)
I loved season one of Orphan Black, but didn’t like the direction the show went in season two with the male clones. I will give season three a try, but don’t think the actor they cast is up to the challenge which Tatiana Maslany makes look so effortless.
I’m enjoying the last season of The Mentalist. I love that TPTB got Jane and Lisbon together, but the change in their relationship is awkward at times and they’re having difficulty at times communicating. I also like that Lisbon is having fun no longer being in charge so she gets to be in on the schemes.
I’m also enjoying The Mysteries of Laura (despite the very bad pilot). I love that Janina Gavankar’s character started as the cliched female cop who is ambitious and didn’t get along with anyone has been allowed to develop into a strong character in her own right and show women can work together and get along even when they don’t always agree.
For older shows, I still love Earth 2. Debrah Farentino’s played a mother who was willing to go beyond the ends of the earth to save her child. The characters worked as a team, but she was the one in charge whenever push came to shove.
@ library addict
Earth 2!!!
That is all.
When I watch TV, which is getting rarer and rarer, I want to laugh. I have been a fan of Mindy Kaling since her days with The Office and LOVE The Mindy Project. Don’t know what I am going to do without Leslie Knope after Parks and Recreation goes away. The “Galentine’s Day” episode is permanently preserved on my DVR.
That said, Girls is a can’t miss of mine and, no, it isn’t much of a comedy. As one of my younger friends says, Lena Dunham is cray-cray, but she is a brilliant writer who really captures the experiences of that just-after-college time. So much of the show resonates with the 25-year-old socially inept girl that is still in me.
You might like VERA, another BBC production: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_%28TV_series%29
Based on a novel written by a woman and featuring a female lead (homicide detective). Dark, but compelling.
So many of my current favourite shows on this list. Orphan Black! Call the Midwife! Orange is the New Black! Jane the Virgin!
I’d also like to recommend Playing House, which should be back for a second season soon. It’s about two best friends who move in together to raise a baby after the pregnant one dumps her husband for cheating on her. Very funny, and their friendship is just wonderful.
Earth 2, all the way, for multiple good roles for women. And available on DVD.
For that matter, SyFy has a number of shows with good roles for women, such as Defiance and Warehouse 13.
I love sci-fi (and syfy, that spelling makes me nutty though) but I find it sad too that it’s almost always only in sci-fi that the number of women and Not White Males are even near equal and that often enough the women are still marginalized.
On the other hand, I just was looking at Earth 2 on IMDB and realized that, for me, the draw was Clancy Brown. I love that it’s woman-centric but likely wouldn’t have watched it if I hadn’t first loved the guy in it. I did watch it and LOVED it but still…
Another rec: Jodie Whittaker, Harriet Walter, and Christina Cole in The Assets is awesome. Based on the true story by and about Sandra Grimes and Jeanne Vertefeuille who wrote Circle of Treason: A CIA Account of Traitor Aldrich Ames and the Men He Betrayed.
SO GOOD! I cannot recommend it highly enough. Also, some of the best American accents ever.
… are awesome …
I haven’t seen Playing House listed here. It is so good and so funny. It is a comedy about a woman who moves back home to support her pregnant best friend. There is nothing better than a shore about female friendship actually written by women.
Scott & Bailey, I’m obsessed with it right now. British detective drama with arguably three (only two in the title) strong, believable, imperfect female leads.
Oh my gosh Call the Midwife is one of my absolute favorites. When my friend first told me about it I was like, that sounds horrible and boring, but I sat down to watch it once and fell in love. I cry every. Single. Episode. I think its starting to stretch too long, I wish they’d kept it to a miniseries, but it’s really great.
I’d also like to shout out to The Americans, even though it focuses as much as men as on women. Keri Russell is amazing, she uses her female sexuality as a tool but she struggles with nurturing and motherhood and I really like that the writers seemed to flip her and her husband’s roles in some ways (he’s the emotional one, he’s got doubts about the mission, he’s more “soft,” she is hard as steel). But there are also a TON of other great women on that show. On the one hand, Martha is being duped, but where anyone else would make her a sorry sadsack, the actress and the writers make her a really funny, fully fleshed-out character. Stan’s wife is like “fuck this noise, I’m done being an ignored housewife, peace out.” Paige is learning about herself and constructing her own identity, like teenagers do. There’s an array of womanhood on that show and I love it.
Also, even though “Men” is in the title, and it’s always focused on Don, I gotta mention Mad Men. Especially in the early seasons, that show was primarily Betty-Peggy-Joan presented as a palette of women’s experiences in the 60s. It’s drifted a bit, but that was where the original interest in the show began (look at the second episode- “Ladies’ Room”- which is really better than the pilot). I’ve read some stuff by Matthew Weiner and I’m pretty sure he’s said something along the lines of, he really wanted to tell women’s stories, he just had to have Don in there to get away with it. (I’m obviously paraphrasing and could be pulling that out of the air…it’s early. But it’s in line with how I feel about the show.)