Women on top at ABC
July 27, 2007
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television Critic
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Women are expected to be so headstrong on TV now. Lucy Liu plays power-hungry Mia in ABC's upcoming show "Cashmere Mafia," where she kisses her boyfriend/work rival in an elevator, then tries to outhustle him for a business account.
"I think," Liu says, "if the audience saw Mia back down and say, 'You know what? I should let him win because he is a man,' I don't know what would happen to me -- if people would throw eggs at me on the street, you know?"
It's great to be a woman on ABC. They're rich, powerful, and they won't let a little thing like a man stand in their way.
ABC viewers are already familiar with the successful heroines of "Grey's Anatomy" (doctors), "Ugly Betty" (glam femmes), "Men in Trees" (novelist), "Desperate Housewives" (wealthy women) and "Brothers & Sisters" (wealthy, powerful women).
Come fall, ABC sends even more women skyrocketing through the glass ceiling in "Private Practice" (rich lawyers), "Samantha Who?" (socialite) and "Women's Murder Club" (crime fighters).
Think of it this way. This fall, ABC will air 12½ hours of dramas and comedies every week. Women will lead the casts for 7½ of those hours -- 63 percent of ABC's primetime fiction.
And when fall gives way to winter, ABC adds "Cashmere Mafia," where Liu and Frances O'Connor star in the story of four female CEO types: a media maven, a cosmetics marketing genius, a Wall Street warrior and one dubbed "the goddess of gracious living."
"Cashmere Mafia" looks like a business version of "Sex and the City" and, wouldn't you know it, it's co-produced by "Sex" creator Darren Star, who says his new drama reflects reality.
"I'm very much living in a world now where ... most of the new Caesars are women," Star says.
This is a weird time for women, though. On the one hand, strong, fictional women are taking over ABC and parts of other networks.
On the other hand, reality shows and TV gossip shows mostly present the worst images of women. "Cashmere" co-star Bonnie Somerville isn't thrilled about that.
"On these reality shows, obviously it makes for better television to see scandal and backstabbing and cheating and lying amongst friends," she says. "I'm tired of that depiction of women.
"My friends aren't like that. My managers are women. I love women. I'm just happy to see a show where women actually love each other and are friends and supporting each other."
The four main characters in "Women's Murder Club" also nurture each other's lives and careers with emotional and tangible support.
There is not, star Angie Harmon says, "the typical, 'Oh, it's women working together. This could get scary.' ... It's not like that at all here. We have a deep respect for each other."
It's hard to underestimate the sea change. James Patterson -- he wrote the novels "Women's Murder Club" is based on -- pinpoints the transformation: "Typically, this would have been called 'The Boys' Club,' and it's the opposite."
Adds "Murder" co-creator Liz Craft, "It's not a situation where we are going to have something great happen, and the women are going to react while the male leads are off being proactive and doing all of the cool stuff."
Male characters will challenge women in these shows, romantically and professionally. Do not expect the often weak men to conquer them. But Liu's character and her friends do struggle. They're human, not superhuman like the heroes and bionic women of NBC.
Sometimes, Liu says, women characters will feel like, "We can have it all. Look at this. I'm in a relationship. I'm working. You know, everything is great!
"And then suddenly, something goes away, and it's because you've sacrificed too much."
But that kind of conflict is integral in TV narrative, rather than destructive. Ultimately, the prize is this: Narrative has turned female -- and female-friendly.
"We feel like there's a perception out there that women tear each other down in the workplace," Craft says. "While that certainly happens, I think that more often, women buoy each other.
"We don't want them to be women trying to be men in a men's world. They are women being themselves."
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television Critic
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Women are expected to be so headstrong on TV now. Lucy Liu plays power-hungry Mia in ABC's upcoming show "Cashmere Mafia," where she kisses her boyfriend/work rival in an elevator, then tries to outhustle him for a business account.
"I think," Liu says, "if the audience saw Mia back down and say, 'You know what? I should let him win because he is a man,' I don't know what would happen to me -- if people would throw eggs at me on the street, you know?"
It's great to be a woman on ABC. They're rich, powerful, and they won't let a little thing like a man stand in their way.
ABC viewers are already familiar with the successful heroines of "Grey's Anatomy" (doctors), "Ugly Betty" (glam femmes), "Men in Trees" (novelist), "Desperate Housewives" (wealthy women) and "Brothers & Sisters" (wealthy, powerful women).
Come fall, ABC sends even more women skyrocketing through the glass ceiling in "Private Practice" (rich lawyers), "Samantha Who?" (socialite) and "Women's Murder Club" (crime fighters).
Think of it this way. This fall, ABC will air 12½ hours of dramas and comedies every week. Women will lead the casts for 7½ of those hours -- 63 percent of ABC's primetime fiction.
And when fall gives way to winter, ABC adds "Cashmere Mafia," where Liu and Frances O'Connor star in the story of four female CEO types: a media maven, a cosmetics marketing genius, a Wall Street warrior and one dubbed "the goddess of gracious living."
"Cashmere Mafia" looks like a business version of "Sex and the City" and, wouldn't you know it, it's co-produced by "Sex" creator Darren Star, who says his new drama reflects reality.
"I'm very much living in a world now where ... most of the new Caesars are women," Star says.
This is a weird time for women, though. On the one hand, strong, fictional women are taking over ABC and parts of other networks.
On the other hand, reality shows and TV gossip shows mostly present the worst images of women. "Cashmere" co-star Bonnie Somerville isn't thrilled about that.
"On these reality shows, obviously it makes for better television to see scandal and backstabbing and cheating and lying amongst friends," she says. "I'm tired of that depiction of women.
"My friends aren't like that. My managers are women. I love women. I'm just happy to see a show where women actually love each other and are friends and supporting each other."
The four main characters in "Women's Murder Club" also nurture each other's lives and careers with emotional and tangible support.
There is not, star Angie Harmon says, "the typical, 'Oh, it's women working together. This could get scary.' ... It's not like that at all here. We have a deep respect for each other."
It's hard to underestimate the sea change. James Patterson -- he wrote the novels "Women's Murder Club" is based on -- pinpoints the transformation: "Typically, this would have been called 'The Boys' Club,' and it's the opposite."
Adds "Murder" co-creator Liz Craft, "It's not a situation where we are going to have something great happen, and the women are going to react while the male leads are off being proactive and doing all of the cool stuff."
Male characters will challenge women in these shows, romantically and professionally. Do not expect the often weak men to conquer them. But Liu's character and her friends do struggle. They're human, not superhuman like the heroes and bionic women of NBC.
Sometimes, Liu says, women characters will feel like, "We can have it all. Look at this. I'm in a relationship. I'm working. You know, everything is great!
"And then suddenly, something goes away, and it's because you've sacrificed too much."
But that kind of conflict is integral in TV narrative, rather than destructive. Ultimately, the prize is this: Narrative has turned female -- and female-friendly.
"We feel like there's a perception out there that women tear each other down in the workplace," Craft says. "While that certainly happens, I think that more often, women buoy each other.
"We don't want them to be women trying to be men in a men's world. They are women being themselves."
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