Good Series For Female Characters

[havocthecat]

So, in light of the recent wanking about mysogyny and gender (and also in light of recent discussions with cat_latin), I'm looking to make a list of good series for female characters. I've tried to include series that don't have any - or maybe not too many - skanky racial or gender issues (sorry Heroes and Gateverse), and which have well-done CoC as well

Comments

[wiliqueen]

Kate Lam (why, hello there, potential Stargate crossover)

Oh, good, I'm not the only one.

The primary effect of this post is to make me miss Witchblade something fierce. Not that I don't in general, but it's suddenly very acute. And oh, I'd all but forgotten about Vicky! :: is ashamed ::

Wordy McWord on Tricia Helfer. I love beyond words that the ex-Victoria's Secret model has quite possibly the most jaw-dropping acting chops on the show. I'm weird that way. ;-D

I'm thinking there are shows I want to add, but I must ruminate on what they are and what I want to say about them...

[wiliqueen]

And in my rumination, I've just realized: You know who's right up there with -- and possibly even exceeding -- Joss in the "Mama must have raised him right" stakes? Shaun Cassidy. Let's review...

American Gothic: Okay, the whole Gail/Lucas thing was just all kinds of squickworthy. But when he was the only person in the entire town she didn't steamroller at will, and she did get his ass dead to rights on more than one occasion? Um, yeah. Selena was...sad and twisted and weird, but she made her choices and stuck to them. And, not incidentally, stuck it to Lucas pretty well herself a time or two. In fact, if I were to do a tally of the characters -- regular or guest -- who managed to score against the mortal incarnation of the devil himself? I'd bet good money the women would come out well ahead. And let us not forget Merlyn kicking ass literally from beyond the grave.

Brimstone: Ash. I don't really remember what the guest women might have been like, but Ash? Burned into my brain forever, whether as loyal kickass partner

[wiliqueen]

Aaaaaan, in checking IMDb, Brimstone was not his. Weird. I've been positive for ten years that it was. O.o

But Ash was still awesomecakes.

[amyheartssiroc]

Catlin started out very token-y, but she definitely did get awesome, and I'm sure it would have only continued if the show went on. I just wish the writers had done the same thing with Tully. He never got past the stage of "we need a Token Minority! ...Okay, what do we do with him?"

[thelastgoodname]

Rita! I loved Silk Stalkings.

[havocthecat]

I know! I'd have normally hated a show like that, to be honest, but Rita made it so much better.

ahem.

[suricattus]

You left out X-Files. WTF? Ignore everything wrong with the mytharc, Dana Scully rocked the world at a time when we didn't have many strong, smart (smarter than the men, and the men acknowledged this) females.

And Momma Scully, and Melissa Scully -- an entire family of women who knew where their feet were planted, even if Melissa's were a bit woo-woo.

Yes, Carter screwed the pooch, and the rest of us, at the end. But Dana Scully still rocked the world.

Re: ahem.

[stef94]

I second all that :-)

Wasn't Scully pretty much the only strong female character on tv at the time? And pretty much the first of a generation of smart, capable female leads?
Not sure, cos I only get a selection of American tv with huge chunks being left out, but I remember reading more than one article to that effect at the time..

Anyways, the Scully women have always rocked my socks off..

Re: ahem.

[havocthecat]

To be honest, I didn't include X-Files for a number of reasons, even though I adore Scully and Reyes both

Re: ahem.

[azarsuerte]

*nod* Pretty much everything you mention here (and a few other things) were the reason why the Harem of X-Files Other Women Defenders was created. Aside from Scully, the female characters in that show were so marginalized that the instant one of them appeared on screen, unless she was related to Scully, she was instantly hated by the fandom as a "threat" to the MSR. To me, that does not indicate that the show was *at all* empowering of women, especially since so often they justified the fans' hate by turning the characters evil in the end (a la Marita and Diana, although Marita actually *didn't* die--she was alive in the series finale).

[ceridwyn2]

Witchblade looks like it will be coming to dvd. Check out this news.

[wiliqueen]

ZOMG! I'd given up hope, because they've been rumored so many times, but this looks way more promising than anything yet!

[havocthecat]

Witchblade the TV series was amazing. But I do mind the comics, and because of the "men aren't any less ridiculously characterized than the women and the expectations are just as stupid" part, I'm going to just refer you to the Anti-Feminist Comics Bingo Card and refer you the explanation page, especially as regards two particular squares: "But sexism is a convention of the genre!" and "But men are drawn unrealistically too!"

And I didn't put XF in there, but I explain that choice here. I love the show. But I, personally, didn't feel right putting it in there.

I totally left out the entire Trekverse because I didn't have time to deal with it, and sort which series should go on there, and which shouldn't. Plus I zoned on Bab5, which I'd intended to put in there, but again. Time constraints. I spent all my free time on Friday involved with this, y'know?

[chelseagirl]

We're rewatching Farscape at present; my love for Aeryn, Zhaan, and Chiana knows no bounds, and I find Sikozu fascinating, though personally I think Jool is some kind of a weird throwback. Grayza I'm not so sure about -- on the one hand she's a page straight out of the Servalan Book of Powerful Women, but on the other hand is the whole control through sexual fascination thing overdone? But Aeryn alone would make this show a win for me, and it's far from being just Aeryn alone