Just read this section and tell me you haven't heard this sentiment dozens of times this year:
"On the one hand, never have so many television shows focused on female lead characters... But many women in television complain that the medium remains a male-run preserve, both behind the camera and in front of it. Precious few women run these new shows. And often, they say, the characters still hew to male stereotypes of women"Or this one:
Ms. Mandabach said: ''What I'm bothered about is that most of the women you see happen to be victims of some kind. There's still very little diversity of characters.''The most notable, and upsetting quotes, though, would probably not be repeated these fifteen years later in print, but I'm sure they're still floating around certain offices and in certain showrunners' and executives' heads:
- Bonnie Turner, on Sally in "Third Rock": "She's a warrior and a woman. Really, nobody would believe this of a woman on television if she wasn't an alien."
- Steven Petermen, on women in the writers' room: ''The view is that women won't write the hard jokes. It's not true, but there is that perception."
- Steve Levitan, creator and executive producer of ''Just Shoot Me,'' said he felt the male-female differences were real. ''If we had more woman writers, I think the humor would be toned down,'' he said. ''I think a woman will watch a man's show... but a man will not watch a woman's show, and we have to remember that.'' [Uhhhhh... Barf.]
- Theresa Rebeck, on her work on "N.Y.P.D. Blue": ''A lot of people wonder how a woman like me can write for a show that's macho, but you know the question is never asked the other way around.''
Will this ever change? For minorities and other underrepresented groups in addition to women? I certainly hope so!
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