Well-rounded women on TV

Well-rounded women on TV—are we any closer?

There was a time not too many years ago, that major movie stars wouldn’t be caught dead on TV. Now every award-aspiring actor seems to crave an Emmy as much as an Oscar.

The prime time lineup these days includes Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Holly Hunter, Glenn Close, Denis Leary, Edie Falco and Jada Pinkett Smith.  More and more women are landing plum leading roles…headlining their own shows.

And at first glance, the female roles would appear to be mostly strong, career women who are running companies (Glenn Close in “Damages”) or at the top of their chosen profession (Kyra Sedgwick in “The Closer”, Tina Fey in “30 Rock”). We have come a long way, baby.

But on closer inspection, it proves difficult to find one female lead character on TV who balances a happy home life with a satisfying career.  Are women on TV content? Are they satisfied professionally as well as emotionally? Do they indeed have it all?

Now you could argue that most of the lead actors in television shows, male or female, play conflicted characters. After all, that’s what makes interesting viewing.   But where are the examples of complex, deep women who also manage to have solid relationships or a family?

-Glenn Close in “Damages” is the villain…an ambitious, grasping lawyer, who does nothing to advance the cause of sisterhood in the workplace.

-Tina Fey in “30 Rock” is successful, yet yearns for an enduring relationship and a child.

-Vanessa Williams in “Ugly Betty” is conniving and power-hungry. She has few if any maternal instincts.

-Holly Hunter in “Saving Grace” is a drug-addicted, sex addicted detective.

-Edie Falco in “Nurse Jackie” plays a nurse who is cheating on her husband….and also pops pills to get through the day.

And TV writers still insist on annoyingly trite character signifiers to clue us in to a woman’s weakness. For example…must “The Closer”s Brenda Leigh Johnson shove Twinkies in her face just to illustrate that she is fighting to keep her head above water in a man’s world?