Lifetime’s new series Army Wives, which airs Sundays at 10pm, is breaking all kinds of records for the cable network, with more than 3 million viewers tuning in for the the third episode, including me.
Why? Well, why not? The show’s all about women. Yes, their lives revolve somewhat around their relationships with men, but the men are usually not there. And unlike The Unit‘s much more sexist take on the life of an army wife, the gender roles are a little more equal here (although it still some problematic storylines, like Pamela giving up her job as a policewoman just because her husband wanted her to).
Army Wives also has a great cast, including veteran actress Kim Delaney as Claudia Joy, the de-facto leader of the group, and JAG‘s Catherine Bell as a mother whose teenage son has an anger management problem that he takes out on his mother. Sally Pressman is great as newbie Roxy, who doesn’t know any of the rules of Army Life but knows how to defend herself in a fight. Brigid Brannagh and Sterling K. Brown round out the group as Pamela the former cop and Roland the psychiatrist, whose wife Joan (Wendy Davis) is a Lt. Col. with 400 men in her command, and some serious post-traumatic stress issues after returning from Iraq.
Here are some of the character snapshots from the official websites:
But as much as I enjoy the show as it is, I can’t help wondering if you couldn’t alter the premise a little, take a slightly different look at what really goes on when the husbands are away, and have another kind of hit show on your hands. Call it Closeted Army Wives:
This last one can just stay the same…
Who’s with me??
