It seems like every couple of years or so, someone will release another one of those lists: You know, the ones that talk about the greatest on-screen partnerships and duos. There will be a top ten: Hepburn and Tracy will be mentioned, as will Bogart and Bacall. In the realm of (allegedly) non-romantic pairings, there will be Paul Newman and Robert Redford as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and maybe Laurel and Hardy, or the guys from Lethal Weapon. What there reliably never will be is any female-female buddy relationships.

Well, I think that’s nonsense — so without any further ado, here is a list of my favorite (allegedly) non-romantic female partnerships on film and television:

Dorothy (Jane Russell) and Lorelei (Marilyn Monroe), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

The '50s showgirls of this classic film travel together, trade banter, stick up for each other in the face of outsiders, and even walk up the aisle together at the end in matching wedding dresses. Sadly, they weren't actually marrying each other — even though the picture does make it look like it.

Kate/Offred (Natasha Richardson) and Moira (Elizabeth McGovern), The Handmaid’s Tale (1990)

Trapped in the dystopian future imagined by Margaret Atwood's novel, in this film adaptation Kate gets strength, courage, and some much-needed humor from her rebellious lesbian friend Moira.

Thelma (Geena Davis) and Louise (Susan Sarandon), Thelma and Louise (1991)

In this iconic reworking of the traditional road movie, the waitress-and-housewife-turned-stickup-artists became so close that by the end, as Sarandon has said, "they were finishing each others' sentences." … continue reading

Geena Davis has been the Commander in Chief. She has been her namesake in The Geena Davis Show. And now, she is going to be a police detective to see if the third time really is the charm when it comes to having your own TV show. The 52-year-old actress will star in the newly greenlit pilot for the series Exit 19.

In the hour-long drama for CBS, Geena will play a “quirky homicide detective on the mean streets of Manhattan who also is a single mom to two kids in the Long Island suburbs.” As television’s newest female law enforcement officer, she joins the distinguished ranks of Kyra Sedgwick on The Closer, Holly Hunter on Saving Grace, Mariska Hargitay on Law & Order: SVU and many others who have worn the badge for the cameras. Geena almost made her entrance into police work early, as she was approached last year to take over for departing star Mandy Patinkin on fellow CBS crime drama Criminal Minds. Joe Mantegna ended up taking the role.

As a fan of most crime procedurals (there is something to be said for the simplicity of good guys catching the bad guys, especially after a long day of blogging), I’ll probably check out Geena’s latest offering. I can’t say I was a fan of her other post-Oscar small-screen attempts. I never watched her 2001 series, The Geena Davis Show. Apparently it was a relationship/familial sitcom. Though, after seeing this promo shot of Geena and her endless legs, I feel I may have missed out on something important. … continue reading

One of the joys of home ownership is that you and you alone are responsible for fixing things. This means that when the roof leaks, you either have to get up there and fix it yourself or pay someone else to do it for you. When the leak is the result of hail damage, you get to call your insurance company and get a rather large check in order to pay someone else to come out and fix the roof. When they fix the roof, they take all the old stuff off and put new stuff on. This includes removing and re-installing your satellite dish.

Why am I boring you with all these details? Well, when the roof people re-install your satellite dish, they may or may not get it lined up correctly. If it's not lined up correctly, you spend days watching a blank television screen. While watching a blank screen, you may learn something about yourself. Here's what I have learned. I want my, I want my, I want my HDTV. Apparently, I have become addicted to television. I was blissfully unaware of my addiction until my dish went dead.

My television is almost always on, whether I am watching it or not. It provides the background noise to my life — the soundtrack, if you will. Well, without a dish providing a signal, my television has become a large box in the corner staring blankly outward to mock me. In order to get the television to stop its mocking and provide me with picture and sound, I'm relegated to "rabbit ears." For all you youngsters out there, that's how we old folk used to watch television when we had four channels and our youngest sibling was the remote. … continue reading