The L Word has never billed itself to be anything more than a lesbian soap opera; however, it looks like the promo staff of The L Word took a cue from MTV and fully embraced the “sex sells” doctrine.

As queer women, we are often in a bind as to how to react to overtly sexualized images of queer women in the media. We are sexual beings, so part of us may react with some level of excitement, yet we are also put in the position of wanting to portray to the general public that we are not the type of sex hungry deviants that right-wing muckrakers claim that we are.

The Gossip Girl promos also fall into the vein of salacious and sensational, yet no one would assume that all straight people are deviant nymphos — only the straight people in Manhattan. Kidding, of course. I think. But then again, it’s just television for crying out loud! Shouldn’t we just loosen up? Maybe?

This promo poster seems to be just a tad over the top. Of course, I find the thought of Shane and Jenny knocking boots to be rather abhorrent, so I may be biased. … continue reading

Showtime just released the first promo for the sixth (and final) season of The L Word, and the general feeling I get from it is murder!

See? You've got the narration talking about the good looks and sexy looks and killer looks. "But this season, the killer looks are not about beauty." And all the while, you've got the crooning in the background, "If words could kill, you'd be dead!" … continue reading

“One woman. Multiple personalities. The United States of Tara.”

The tagline pretty much says it all. The new Showtime series, written by Diablo Cody and produced by Steven Spielberg, stars Toni Collette as Tara, a wife and mother who has multiple personality disorder.

If MPD (dissociative identity disorder to you psych pros) sounds like a weighty subject for a half-hour comedy, well, it is. But if any network can pull it off, it’s Showtime. Here’s our first, behind-the-scenes look at The United States of Tara. (NSFW due to the F-bomb, so you'll have to visit the link.)_

I love it that Marshall, Tara’s gay teenage son, would rather read Valley of the Dolls than shoot a rifle at the gun range. I do hope, however, that if one of Collette’s alters is a lesbian, it’s not macho gun-lover Buck. … continue reading

Ellen Burstyn has come a long way, baby. In 2000, she was popping pills in Requiem for a Dream, and now she’ll be pushing pills in Tim Robbins’ Possible Side Effects on Showtime.

According to Variety, Burstyn will play the matriarch of the Hunt family, a powerful but dysfunctional brood that runs a drug company that gets in a heap of trouble.

If this series is anything less than fantastic, I’ll be shocked. It’s possible that my expectations are high because the pharmaceutical industry is such an easy target or because Ellen Burstyn and Tim Robbins are incredibly gifted. As much as I hate to admit it, I can’t get enough of evil mothers — big screen and small. Save your two-bit psychoanalysis for someone who cares. Yes, yes, my relationship with my own mother is far from perfect. There, I’ve let you in. Can we move on? … continue reading

In a somewhat ironically timed announcement, one of the best-written shows on television has been renewed for a fourth season.

Weeds, Showtime's most popular original show, is due to start production in April for a summer 2008 premiere. If the writers strike isn't settled fairly quickly, that schedule will, of course, change. (Hey, producer/mogul types, just give the writers their fair share of DVD and new media sales, mm-kay?) But whenever the next season is, I'm happy we'll be seeing more of the ever-hot Mary-Louise Parker, who plays pot-selling mom Nancy Botwin, and Elizabeth Perkins as her frustrated foil, Celia Hodes.

… continue reading

Weeds' third season has managed to stay original and funny, with enough twists to keep me hooked. (No way to say that without a drug pun.)

When Steven Spielberg's concept for a dark comedy about a woman with dissociative identity disorder originally got press, Showtime exec Robert Greenblatt expressed confidence that The United States of Tara would attract "an extraordinary actress looking for a real tour de force opportunity." Turns out he was spot on; news just came out that the indeed extraordinary Toni Collette is set to star as the mum of two whose multiple personalities emerge under stress.

My first response to the news was to cheer; I adore Collette and can think of few women whom I'd rather see on a regular basis. Once I stopped grinning, though, I had to be surprised — both because Collette has been so very film-centric and because I think of her as a dramatic actor more than a comedian. But the film focus hasn't stopped Holly Hunter, Glenn Close or Mary-Louise Parker, so why shouldn't Collette join in this "golden age" for women on cable? And as for the comic aspect, I needed only think of my introduction to Collette, Muriel's Wedding, and I became as convinced as Greenblatt that "when you're casting a show that requires an actress to not only play one complex character, but in this case several, the road begins and ends with Toni Collette." … continue reading

I first got hooked on Showtime's Soul Food, the hit five-season drama based on the 1997 movie of the same name about the personal and professional lives of three sisters in Chicago, when I was doing research for AfterEllen.com in 2003 on a potential lesbian story line. The lesbian story line never went anywhere, but I got sucked into the series, ordered the first season on DVD, and watched it all in one long weekend.

I had to wait four years for Paramount to release the second season on DVD, which they finally did earlier this month, but only a few minutes into the first disc, the feeling was definitely back.

What's so great about this series? I mean, besides the fantastic music and the fact that, as the first long-running and successful dramatic series on television to feature a predominantly African-American cast (it ran from 2000 to 2004), it was basically the black community's The L Word without all the lesbians, but with a much better theme song.

It's all about the sisters.

Three sisters, in particular: Teri, Bird, and Maxine, played by Nicole Ari Parker, Malinda Williams, and Vanessa A. Williams respectively. Their relationship is alternately supportive, meddlesome, and confrontational. When they're not laughing, crying, celebrating, or helping each other out of a jam, they're driving each other crazy, in big and small ways.

In other words, they remind me of my own relationship with my sister, except that we don't currently live in the same city, so we have to drive each other crazy using only the internet and the phone. My sister's favorite trick currently includes IM'ing from my mom's account pretending to be mom and trying to get me to complain about her (my sister), then laughing at me if I fall for it. Yes, she has too much free time for a grown woman with three kids, but what can I say — our relationship is pretty the same as it was when we were twelve.

But I digress. Here's a photo of the three actresses celebrating the series' success in 2004: … continue reading

Boy, the Spielbergs are all over Showtime these days.

Last season on The L Word, we watched Jessica Capshaw (Steven Spielberg's stepdaughter) play voluptuous grad student Nadia as she talked (and talked) and flirted and brought forth a serious "A"-game-wearing-down seduction of Bette Porter. Now another Showtime-Spielberg connection is in the offing. It was announced at the Television Critics Association summer press tour that Spielberg’s DreamWorks Television is bringing a new show, The United States of Tara, to a Showtime channel near you. … continue reading

In a blatant attempt to woo Emmy voters, Showtime placed a full-page ad in Variety yesterday for The L Word that boldly proclaims: "no longer 'a show about lesbians,' this series has evolved into a show about people."

Good thinking, that'll fool 'em! And it won't piss off your lesbian audience at all! (Maybe they were hoping we'd be too busy picking up women in people bars or marching in people pride parades to notice.)

Just for fun, let's see what Showtime might have said in the ads for some other popular shows, if they'd been in charge of their Emmy campaigns: … continue reading

American Idol: "No longer 'a show about singers,' this series has evolved into a show about people who project their voice in a musical manner for pleasing effect."