How about entertainment we *can*stomach?!

[moofolk]

Inspired by the other thread of feminism ruining TV.

Let's compile some good stuff.

Not too many men, lots of strong female characters, hopefully some lesbians, definitely not loads of women being raped and murdered for male titillation.

I watched The Women with Meg Ryan and Annette Benning recently. It's bubblegum and hardly a feminist manifesto. It has a very strong female cast including Bette Midler and Carrie Fisher and crucially there are no men in it at all.

What have you got?

[ReeseWitherfork]

Oooooo The Marvelous Mrs Maisel!

[Deliriumoftheendless]

I haven’t watched it for about 12 years but Coronation Street has some iconic women characters and powerhouse performances from Pat Phoenix, Julie Goodyear and Suranne Jone just to mention a handful.

In fact June Brown over on Eastenders is mighty- and the episode with Gretchen Franklin where she (and we) said goodbye to Ethel was outstanding.

In fact looking over at Brookside any story line with Sue Johnston was very strong too.

[GingerBeverage]

Atypical on Netflix - all the characters are well fleshed out, flaws and all.
I Am Not Okay With This - coming of age lesbian supernatural series with an outstanding female lead
On My Block - teens again, great diverse cast, a loveable comedy drama

[Deliriumoftheendless]

I rather liked Daria when I was younger.

I also enjoyed Candy Guard’s Pond Life - certainly made Peppa Pig bearable as Dolly was voiced by Sarah Anne Kennedy aka Jill-of-all-trades Miss Rabbit.

Oh and Roseanne.

[SpeedofaSloth]

Oh yes, I used to like Daria, is it still on?

[Deliriumoftheendless]

Looks like Amazon has it but not free.

[SpeedofaSloth]

Might look, to show DS.

I actually watched The Amazing World of Gumball with his this morning and the mum character definitely has depth and a back story, which was refreshing.

[SpeedofaSloth]

*him

[Goosefoot]

@ErrolTheDragon

* I read a while ago that there was some tension between Kate Mulgrew and Jeri Ryan, because KM wasn't keen on the 't&a' aspect of Seven's character.

I agree with KM, but that's hardly JR's fault!*

More the fault of the costume designer. Actually what got me about seven's outfit most was the high heels. Wtf? Anyway, she had a much better look in Picard.

I can't believe this is in my brain taking up room, but as I understand it the whole point of the character was to sex up the show, it wasn't the costume designers idea. Which Mulgrew felt undermined the original vision. There were a lot of problems in production all round, but as time went on, a few people, one being Ryan, had more and more of the stories focused on them and other characters had less and less and a lot of people didn't like that. And at a certain point Ryan had started dating one of the producers which didn't help the bad feeling.

[scrappydappydoooooo]

@SpeedofaSloth I actually watched The Amazing World of Gumball with his this morning and the mum character definitely has depth and a back story, which was refreshing.

Gumball, for the most parts, is a really smart show with good social commentary. Another great kids animation is the new Ducktales. It's genuinely fantastic and the female characters are really well rounded and real. (As are the main character, with the triplets all having their own distinct personalities and so much more nuance is given to the characters of Scrooge and Donald.) Mrs Beakley and Webby are both excellent characters who both excel in their specialities while also having real flaws. Instead of being 'housekeeping granny' and 'girl' as their 80s versions were. The fate of the triplets' mother, who is never so much as mentioned in the original, is a major, major plotpoint that ends up defining the series. The most recent series introduces Daisy, who again was never part of the original series, and instead of having her usual, 'fancy girl who barely tolerates Donald' personality, she is shown as having a personality, ambitions and genuine reason for liking Donald.

I can't actually believe I'm describing the nuance and personal development of Donald Duck. And recommending a show based on it. But it's a funny, clever, warm cartoon that makes real 'people' out of what have always been one dimensional characters. I absolutely love to watch it with my DS.

[scrappydappydoooooo]

That should say (as are the male characters....) not main. Talk about a Freudian slip that I'd type 'main' instead of 'male.' But in the OG series that was certainly the truth with the whole show being exclusively about Heuy, Dewey, Louie and Scrooge. With the females just there.