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Shoe on the Other Foot: The reason I keep watching Desperate Housewives, apart from Edie Britt, is the fascinating dynamic between husband-and-wife Lynette and Tom Scavo. Lynette is inferred to be the more intelligent, business-minded of the pair, well on her way to becoming the head of her ad firm when she became pregnant, at which point Tom suggests she stop working to raise their kids and he be the breadwinner. Ten years later, Lynette is bored out of her brain and sick of the constant ... READ MORE

Moving On Up: I know I said I wouldn’t do another All Saints article after that hurl-worthy Deanna Richardson storyline, but this is regarding a completely different character, so it doesn’t count. Jessica is one of the youngest nurses on the ER ward, but she’s ambitious. She’s been passed over for the position of Nursing Unit Manager (the Head Nurse in a ward) for All Saints’s ED three times, and has just been offered the position at another hospital. So off she goes. Her best ... READ MORE

Good Story Vs Good Characterisations: I realise this article is very blunt in my opinions and I hope it creates some debate over my quite broad painting strokes. A friend of mine is a screenwriter. We studied similar degrees at uni but he is very passionate about being a screenwriter, whereas my journalistic ambitions have always been tempered by serious feminist tendencies. We’ve had some lengthy arguments about each other’s preferences when it comes to film and television. Basically, as someone who values quality of writing over ... READ MORE

Another One Bites the Dust: Ifritah recently wrote a piece about La Femme Nikita where a perfectly good female assassin got a crises of conscience and wonders if she should act like more of a soft, caring woman. I was thinking of it as I threw beer bottles at the TV screen while I watched an episode of All Saints which did a hatchet job on a perfectly good realistic-if-not-saccharine-sweet female character. And yet another perfectly good tough-as-nails female turns out to be really a softie/insane/pathologically ... READ MORE

Up Shit (Sorry, Dawson’s) Creek: My best friend thinks Katie Holmes/Joey Potter from Dawson’s Creek is the hottest woman to ever exist. But that may be because he’s a guy. Is there a woman out there who really thinks Joey is a realistic portrayal of womanhood? She always seemed like the Ultimate Mary Sue for the X-Generation to me. Her poor background seems to be nothing more than a plot device to have her play the hard-done-by-victim card whenever it’s convenient. She looks down at another ... READ MORE

Stand By Your Man… So Long as He Stands by You: A while ago I wrote a piece about how I respected Julie Cooper from The OC much more then I did her daughter Marissa. But in the last episode I was paying close attention to Marissa’s best friend, Summer Roberts. Yes, I know it’s a soap opera and the characters are often outrageous and over-the-top, not to mention often an embarrassment to women (and men). But occasionally soapdom gives us a reasonably complex, realistic character and I think Summer is one ... READ MORE

The Bitch Pt II: A while ago, I spoke about admiring the bitches over the nice girls because the bitches always seemed to get back on their feet where the nice girls sat down and cried and waited for a guy to pick them up. I can find no better contrast than the mother-daughter team of Marissa and Julie Cooper on The OC. Yeah, The OC is a soap. The characters are over-the-top and the acting isn’t so great either. But I’ve always found ... READ MORE

Surfing the blogosphere: Thanks, Revena, for pointing out a series of TV articles appearing on Feministe lately: Love Hurts: piny’s take on the Battlestar Galactica season finale Ouch: piny on Teri Hatcher’s role in Desperate Housewives Big Love: zuzu’s comments on the HBO polygamy show Dita von Teese, No Less: Zuzu’s response to Dita von Teese’s criticism of Hollywood beauty standards

The Bitch is Back: When I was in my early teens, I loved Melrose Place. Specifically, I loved Amanda Woodward. Amanda was a much cooler character then the other women of Melrose, who were mostly complete nutcases or doormats who sat down and cried and waited for their boyfriends/husbands/fathers to fix things up after something bad had happened, usually Amanda getting the better of them. When I told one of my friends that I thought Amanda was a brilliant character, she gave me this look, ... READ MORE

Well, at least she’s not pregnant and barefoot…: As the World Turns’ Carly Snyder is the show’s favorite schemer, but when it comes to using her talents for good, the poor girl just can’t get a break from her kids. With three children at home and two unemployed parents, you’d think any way to get income would become top priority. Guess not. I mean, of course the once famous fashion designer ‘Carly Tenney’ shouldn’t go back to what she loves when her man gets kicked off the ... READ MORE