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Women of a certain deliciousness: Older stars on TV

In Sunday’s New York Times, an article titled “In the Prime of Their Time” focused on older actresses on TV. Here are the (kind of silly) opening lines:

“Botox and plastic surgery allow actress to look younger. Television is permitting them to act their age. Older stars who once had to resign themselves to playing frustrated spinsters or docile moms are suddenly flaunting their ripened sex appeal on television. It’s not ‘The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone’ anymore. This season marks the summer of hot cougar love.”

Let’s all take a moment to roll our eyes at the “cougar” thing. OK, done? Anyway, the first name mentioned in the article is, of course, Kyra Sedgwick‘s — The Closer starts its third season today (TNT, 9/8c). But Sedgwick’s character, Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson, is dating someone age-appropriate, so the rest of the article focuses on some saucier pairings.

Too bad this photo of Holly Hunter and Laura San Giacomo doesn’t actually depict a couple. They’re just co-stars, in Saving Grace, which premieres July 18 on TNT. Hunter plays a cynical cop with a touched-by-an-angel-ish shot at redemption.

Also in July, Lili Taylor graces Lifetime in State of Mind. She plays a psychiatrist who — you’ll never guess — is good at solving other people’s problems but can’t save her own failing marriage.

And then there’s the always-excellent Glenn Close, who stars as a litigator with a killer instinct in Damages on FX (yet another July offering).

Funny: We’ve been mentioning these shows on the blog for a while now, but we’ve somehow managed to overlook the “older woman–younger man dynamic” the article discusses. Probably because, well, we’ve overlooked the men in general. Oopsie.

I’m ignoring the rest of the Times article, mostly because the author keeps saying things to the effect of, “Well, this character isn’t really a cougar, but I’m going to talk about her anyway,” and because it claims, “Female viewers like sex, but they really love Law & Order.” Really? I think you mean “they really love Mariska Hargitay.

And speaking of older stars, can someone please give Angela Bassett her own series? I caught part of How Stella Got Her Groove Back over the weekend, and I think it’s high time Bassett got the spotlight somewhere on cable too. Not that she doesn’t have better things to do — according to IMDb, she’s got three movies in the works. I’m marking my calendar.

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