Television
Desiree Akhavan’s ‘Appropriate Behavior’ Finds Distribution
We’ve been waiting for Desiree Akhavan’s wry, adventurous debut, Appropriate Behavior, to be released since we put the Sundance favorite on our “Most Anticipated Films of 2014” list back in...
Venice Film Fest to Honor Frances McDormand
The Venice International Film Festival (August 27-September 6) will celebrate Frances McDormand’s career by bestowing the 2014 Personal Tribute to Visionary Talent Award to the Fargo actress....
‘Outlander’ Renewed After One Episode
After pulling in more than 5 million viewers — and just as many men as women — the small-screen adaptation of Diana Gabaldon’s beloved Outlander series has been renewed for a second...
The Impossible Girl: ‘Doctor Who’ and the Glass Ceiling
Chelsea Handler Planning a Live, Star-Studded Bash for Her Series Finale
The late night host will depart the airwaves on Tuesday, August 26 — and she’s determined to go out with a bang. Chelsea Hander, who signed a Netflix deal for four “docu-comedy”...
Outlander Pilot Drew Male and Female Viewers in Equal Numbers — And Lots of Them
If there was any question whether Outlander’s reputation as a female-centric historical bodice ripper would attract a lopsided audience, the answer is a resounding no. To quote Orange is the New...
Does Amazon Already Have a Female Creator Problem?
Amazon announced today five new pilots that it plans to debut at the end of the month. Though the two dramas and three comedies have little in common, they do share one similarity — they’re...
Geena Davis Checks Into Grey’s Anatomy
Oscar winner Geena Davis has joined Grey’s Anatomy for its 11th season. Davis’ last series television appearance was as the President in Commander in Chief. Davis will reportedly enjoy a...
Jenji Kohan Talks Equal Pay and Being Told Men Are Funnier
There is an awesome profile in the current issue of The Hollywood Reporter on Jenji Kohan, the creator and showrunner of Orange is the New Black. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say...
The Honourable Woman: Upending the Sexy Spy Drama
Ellen Pompeo Developing Drama for ABC Family
Debt is as much a mainstay of modern American life as potable drinking water or people acting like buffoons on reality TV. Ellen Pompeo is looking to dramatize our indebted condition with a new...
Meredith Vieira Returning to Daytime TV
Former Today and The View host Meredith Vieira will headline her own daytime series starting September 8. The afternoon syndicated show will be a mix of interviews, giveaways, humor, and social...
Clear Your Thursday Nights for Shonda Rhimes
Sometime during Scandal’s feverish sophomore season, Shonda Rhimes became more than a brand — she became a powerhouse. Sure, she was already a known commodity from the wildly popular...
The 4 Best Reasons to Make a Web Series
Let’s start with the number-one reason NOT to make a webseries: To get famous. In spite of the fact that it seems like everyone you meet has one, creating a web series as a way to get a TV deal is...
Showrunner Courtney Kemp Agboh’s Journey from Connecticut “Black Nerd” to 50 Cent Collaborator
The Starz drama Power, about a NYC drug kingpin and nightclub owner played by Omari Hardwick, will wrap up its inaugural eight-episode season this Saturday. Good news is that it has already been...
Amanda de Cadenet on Becoming the Newest Women in Late-Night TV and How Chelsea Handler Opened Doors for Her
British personality and renowned photographer Amanda de Cadenet dives into the late-night talk-show field tonight with her live, half-hour, news- and pop culture-themed Undone with @AmandadeCadenet,...
You’re the Worst: Misanthropes In Love
FX premiered two new sitcoms last week, Married and You’re the Worst. As I sort of expected, the latter is the interesting one. Perhaps Married will get better (as I have heard it does), but the...
Trailer Watch: It’s All About Carrie in Season Four
Homeland has been very good at changing the show’s stakes between seasons, but the Showtime series has practically had to reinvent itself for its fourth year when (SPOILER) it killed off Brody and...
An Open Letter to TV Showrunners: There Are Over 1200 Experienced, Accomplished Women Directors Waiting to Be Hired
Dear TV Showrunners, I haveknown many of you over the years as colleagues, bosses and friends. I know youto be a group of professionals with the highest work ethic and a mindfulapproach to your...
The Resurrection of Don’t Trust the B — — : Score One (More) For Difficult Women
I never really got how beloved Don’t Trust the B — — in Apartment 23 was until Logo announced it will broadcast its eight final, unseen episodes, starting this Saturday at 10 PM. They were...
Patricia Arquette on Why Boyhood is Winning Over Audiences and Why She Loves Network TV
Perhaps best known for playing the title character in NBC’s Medium (2005–2011), Patricia Arquette co-stars in Boyhood (out today), the passion project that director Richard Linklater filmed in...
Orange is the New Black Leads Emmy Comedy Nods
The Emmys nominations are out, and Orange is the New Black leads the comedy categories with 12 nods, including those for star Taylor Schilling, supporting star Kate Mulgrew, and guest stars Natasha...
Halle Berry and Alien Babies: Will Extant Revive the Mystical Pregnancy?
In pop culture, one of the best ways for a female character to get some distance from gender clichés is to literally leave Earth. To wit: Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley in the Alien movies; the...
Trailer Watch: The Killing Has More Killings on Its Fourth and Final Season on Netflix
The twice-canceled, thrice-resurrected crime series The Killing will resume on Netflix starting August 1. In its fourth and final season, lead detectives Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos) and Stephen...
Orange is the New Black Doesn’t Have to Apologize for Not Including Men
Orange is the New Black is a show about women, by women, based on the real experiences of one woman. It’s not perfect, but it’s good. In fact, it’s really, really good! It prominently features...
Lena Waithe to Write BET Pilot Based on Her Webseries “Twenties”
HBO to Air Docs on Monday Night Year-Round
Documentarians better get their HBO pitch ready, because the premium cable channel is in the market to buy a whole lot more nonfiction content. It looks like the parade of boobs and guts on Game of...
Jessica Williams is Leaving “The Daily Show” After Raising Its Game
Jessica Williams: “The Daily Show” Your favorite “Daily Show” correspondent is leaving the late-night program. Entertainment Weekly has revealed that Jessica Williams’ last episode will be...
Jessica Williams: Raising The Daily Show’s Game
Sarah Jessica Parker Eyes Return to TV in Cop Drama
Now that film romantic comedies have gone the way of the dinosaur, and while TV continues to provide rich, substantial roles to women, Sarah Jessica Parker is eyeing a return to the small screen....
Review: The Lost Women of The Leftovers
I’ll say this for The Leftovers: it is equal-opportunity sad. Men, women, children: there is enough existential despair in HBO’s new drama to go around, and then some. Damon Lindelof’s...
Trailer Watch: Maggie Gyllenhaal is a British Arms Dealer in The Honorable Woman
Maggie Gyllenhaal has joined the mass migration of prestige film actresses to television. The Dark Knight and Crazy Heart co-star has finally found a role worthy of her considerable talents in...
Do Colorism Issues Threaten to Stain the Aaliyah Biopic?
After years of rumors, it’s official: Aaliyah is getting a biopic. Lifetime Original Movies announced on Monday that it will adapt Aaliyah: More Than a Woman by former Time music editor...
Chelsea Handler to Take Over Netflix with Talk Show, Stand-Up Special, and Four Docu-Comedies
Late night’s only female host has just signed a new deal with Netflix. Having just departed E!, Chelsea Handler will first appear on the streaming site-turned-mini-network in a stand-up special...
Will the Female-Driven Drama Chasing Life Dare to Get Real About Leukemia?
Cancer is having a definite pop-cultural moment, given The Fault in Our Stars’ recent trouncing of Tom Cruise at the box office. Lucky timing for Chasing Life, the new ABC Family drama that...
Watch: Laverne Cox Talks About the “Transgender Tipping Point”
Laverne Cox isn’t as much on the new season of Orange is the New Black as some (including myself) would like, but fortunately she’s everywhere else these days. Two weeks ago, Cox became the...
CSI Producer Carol Mendelsohn Leaves Show, Joins Sony TV
After 13 years at CBS Television Studios, Carol Mendelsohn will join Sony Pictures TV. The jump from CBS to Sony means Mendelsohn will be giving up her co-showrunning duties at the long-running...
It’s the Little Things That Make OITNB One of the Best Shows on TV
Orange is the New Black is back, and its arrival seems to have elevated the term “binge-watching” to a new level. But when did binge-watching become de rigeur for showing appreciation for a...
Comedy Central Renews Inside Amy Schumer, Greenlights Two More Female-Led Comedies
Sometime in the last year, Comedy Central became the friendliest place for feminist comedy on the small screen. First came Inside Amy Schumer in the spring of 2013, a crass, honest, and of course...
Shonda Rhimes’ Dartmouth Commencement Speech: “Dreamers Often End Up Living in the Basements of Relatives”
This past Sunday, Shonda Rhimes doled out some tough love — and shared a few great anecdotes — at the commencement ceremony at Dartmouth University, her alma mater. Her overall message...
Yaya DaCosta Alafia to Play Whitney Houston in Lifetime Biopic
If you watched the third (and best) season of America’s Next Top Model, you’ve probably also been following runner-up Yaya DaCosta Alafia’s subsequent acting career with some interest. Alafia,...
In Praise of “Go Fuck Y’Self” Women: Lori Petty in Orange is the New Black
Orange is the New Black is back Friday, all 13 episodes of the second season will be miraculously available at 12:01 AM on Netflix. And what a return it is. I’ve only seen the first episode, and...
The Other Women of Mad Men
In a recent Facebook discussion about the awful events of last weekend, and whether or not our sexist cultural landscape was to blame, I was reminded by a brilliant, feminist playwright friend of...
The Mindy Project, The Good Wife, and Orange is the New Black Earn Multiple TCA Nods
Several perpetually overlooked shows when it comes to awards time by and about women were nominated by the Television Critics Association Awards. Robert and Michelle King’s The Good Wife led the...
The Normal Heart and the Erasing of Women
The Normal Heart, Larry Kramer’s critically acclaimed play that was adapted for television in a film produced by HBO, is a dramatic archive of feeling about the profound atrocities of the AIDS...
TV: Angela Bassett to Direct Lifetime Movie About Whitney Houston
Lifetime has greenlit a movie about Whitney Houston, with the late singer’s Waiting to Exhale co-star Angela Bassett to direct. Whitney Houston will focus on the R&B diva’s troubled...
Veep’s Selina Meyer and the Art of the Tantrum
“Temperament” is a word that’s been kicking around a lot over the last week in relation to women and the workplace. But let’s talk about the thing that’s really verboten for female bosses:...
Halle Berry Goes to Space: First Look at Extant
The trailer for Halle Berry’s Extant is here, and it’s mighty creepy. After a 13 month solo space mission, astronaut Molly Woods returns home… pregnant. Piecing together what happened on her...
Trailer Watch: Tea Leoni Is Madam Secretary
Some sources (i.e. the whole world) have speculated that CBS’s new series Madam Secretary will focus on a character loosely based on — or inspired by — former U.S. Secretary of State...
Trailer Watch: Shonda Rhimes’ How To Get Away With Murder
A full trailer has arrived for How To Get Away With Murder right on the heels of ABC’s upfront presentation. Unsurprisingly, it looks very addictive — the legal thriller is co-created and...
Guest Post: “No One Would Ever Say That to Larry David”: Female Showrunners and the Hypocritical Critical Edge
It’s tough out there for female showrunners. Women and Hollywood has been documentingthis for years, and it remains true that the women working in these roles — incomedy and drama, on...