Post by Naj on Jan 5, 2005 17:12:45 GMT -5
Women on TV
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - Remember those old Virginia Slims commercials that said: “You’ve come a long way baby. You’ve got your own cigarette now”?
Yea, that’s right, women marched for equal rights so we could all get lung cancer. Great!
That’s kind of how it feels watching TV these days.
Women have more opportunities in society than ever before, yet on TV way too many of them make June Cleaver and Carol Brady look like Susan B. Anthony and Gloria Steinem.
Sure, there are shows where women play doctors and lawyers and chiefs of staff, but more and more they are becoming the exception to the rule. Too many women revel in being stupid or bad clichés.
Anyone who suffered through the second season of “The Apprentice” knows what I mean. This reality show is supposed to be a battle among the best and the brightest in the business world, but almost all the women set out to win not by using their brains but by being sexy, showing some skin and being catty with the other women.
One woman actually took off her skirt in midtown Manhattan for $20 and twirled around in her underwear.
Women on the show couldn’t just be strong or powerful. They had to be monsters or nut cases.
I’ve got to tell you, as a woman it was embarrassing to watch.
The men on the show were far more sensible. Yes, they were all good looking — an absolute necessity for reality TV — but they used their brains and never ran around in their underwear to win a contest.
Tonight, on NBC, you can watch the premiere of the “Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search,” in which 12 women vie for a layout. Why will this show attract viewers? Besides all the skin, we’ll get to see gorgeous women humiliated by judges who seem to enjoy telling them they aren’t perfect.
Reality shows are in a time warp, where all the worst stereotypes you’ve ever heard about women are depressingly true.
Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson have reinvented the idea of the dumb blonde and audiences eat it up.
The endless string of “Bachelor” and romance shows are about the one obsession all women are supposed to have: getting married.
They’ll go to whatever lengths it takes to get a guy. And the guy gets to road test all the women like he’s looking for a new car.
And the makeover shows remind us that it’s really all about how you look. Really, that’s all that matters.
So much so, in fact, that it’s better to go under the knife than live with an ugly nose or a sagging brow.
But reality TV isn’t the only problem.
Women on prime time TV seem to be in a definite retro mood.
Remember when women were independent? When they were the stars of their own sitcoms and not just the wife or the neurotic neighbor?
Are we in an era when strong women like Roseanne or Murphy Brown scare us? Could we even handle Mary Tyler Moore in today’s comic world?
Even “That Girl” was more forward thinking than a lot of the junk that pops up on TV these days.
Fortunately, there is one place left where women can be strong and independent: cop shows.
You’ll be sorry if you mess with Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) on “Law and Order: SVU” or Lilly Rush (Kathryn Morris) on “Cold Case.”
These women actually have come a long way, baby, and as far as I know, neither one smokes Virginia Slims.
———
Jane Holahan is a New Era staff writer. He column appears every other Wednesday.
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - Remember those old Virginia Slims commercials that said: “You’ve come a long way baby. You’ve got your own cigarette now”?
Yea, that’s right, women marched for equal rights so we could all get lung cancer. Great!
That’s kind of how it feels watching TV these days.
Women have more opportunities in society than ever before, yet on TV way too many of them make June Cleaver and Carol Brady look like Susan B. Anthony and Gloria Steinem.
Sure, there are shows where women play doctors and lawyers and chiefs of staff, but more and more they are becoming the exception to the rule. Too many women revel in being stupid or bad clichés.
Anyone who suffered through the second season of “The Apprentice” knows what I mean. This reality show is supposed to be a battle among the best and the brightest in the business world, but almost all the women set out to win not by using their brains but by being sexy, showing some skin and being catty with the other women.
One woman actually took off her skirt in midtown Manhattan for $20 and twirled around in her underwear.
Women on the show couldn’t just be strong or powerful. They had to be monsters or nut cases.
I’ve got to tell you, as a woman it was embarrassing to watch.
The men on the show were far more sensible. Yes, they were all good looking — an absolute necessity for reality TV — but they used their brains and never ran around in their underwear to win a contest.
Tonight, on NBC, you can watch the premiere of the “Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search,” in which 12 women vie for a layout. Why will this show attract viewers? Besides all the skin, we’ll get to see gorgeous women humiliated by judges who seem to enjoy telling them they aren’t perfect.
Reality shows are in a time warp, where all the worst stereotypes you’ve ever heard about women are depressingly true.
Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson have reinvented the idea of the dumb blonde and audiences eat it up.
The endless string of “Bachelor” and romance shows are about the one obsession all women are supposed to have: getting married.
They’ll go to whatever lengths it takes to get a guy. And the guy gets to road test all the women like he’s looking for a new car.
And the makeover shows remind us that it’s really all about how you look. Really, that’s all that matters.
So much so, in fact, that it’s better to go under the knife than live with an ugly nose or a sagging brow.
But reality TV isn’t the only problem.
Women on prime time TV seem to be in a definite retro mood.
Remember when women were independent? When they were the stars of their own sitcoms and not just the wife or the neurotic neighbor?
Are we in an era when strong women like Roseanne or Murphy Brown scare us? Could we even handle Mary Tyler Moore in today’s comic world?
Even “That Girl” was more forward thinking than a lot of the junk that pops up on TV these days.
Fortunately, there is one place left where women can be strong and independent: cop shows.
You’ll be sorry if you mess with Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) on “Law and Order: SVU” or Lilly Rush (Kathryn Morris) on “Cold Case.”
These women actually have come a long way, baby, and as far as I know, neither one smokes Virginia Slims.
———
Jane Holahan is a New Era staff writer. He column appears every other Wednesday.
