#Television
Women Directed Documentaries on HBO’s Fall Line Up
HBO announced their Fall 2013 documentary line up and it’s ruled by women directed features. They’ll be airing docs from Whoopi Goldberg, Andrea and Sean Fine and Cynthia Wade....
Being Miranda Hobbes: Why Women Really Love Sex And The City
In her fantastic reclamation of the much-maligned HBO sitcom Sex and the City as part of television’s golden age, New Yorker television critic Emily Nussbaum argues this week that Carrie...
2013 Emmy Nominated Women React to Nominations
As we reported yesterday, the caliber, talent and diversity of women nominated for the 2013 Emmy Awards is incredible. We have writers and directors like Lena Dunham and Allison Anders earning...
Cross Post: In Praise of Difficult Women
Fuck off, Don Draper, Walter White, Tony Soprano, et al. The age of the male antihero is over. Sure, you’ve had a good run. And, fuck, look at all those shiny, shiny Emmys. But I’m...
Looking at the 2013 Emmy Nominated Women
Looking at this year’s Emmy Awards a couple of things are clear. TV, like films has changed. Cable had been infiltrating the Emmy’s for years but now there is Netflix, maybe soon...
Guest Post: The Evolution of Women in Comedy: From Mary Tyler Moore to Amy and Mindy
Treva Silverman had spent most of her 30 years wanting to be funny and female — and allowed to do so in public, maybe even collect a buck or two for her trouble. Growing up in the 1950s in...
Jane Campion on Television, Women and Being ‘Untameable’
In a new interview with The Telegraph, Jane Campion talks at length about Top of the Lake–her excellent miniseries which just premiered in the UK starring Elisabeth Moss as a detective looking...
New TV Study Finds Young Female Characters are Sexual Targets
The Parents Television Counsel has released a new television study that looked at teen sexual exploitation on primetime television. They found that the primary target of the sexual exploitation were...
Queen Latifah Hosting Your New Favorite Talk Show
Good news for your daytime talk show viewing habits–our beloved Queen Latifah is hosting a new talk show beginning in the fall. Entitled The Queen Latifah Show, the show will consist of...
Showtime To Make Tig Notaro Documentary
Showtime has greenlit a documentary about comedian, Tig Notaro. The doc, Knock Knock, It’s Tig Notaro, will follow Notaro as she tours the country. The twist is that her performances will be...
Interview with Lindy DeKoven – Author of Primetime Princess
You know when you start a book and you immediately get sucked in and you can’t stop reading? That awesome feeling that’s like no other? That’s what happened with me and...
Guest Post: What Women (and Men) Want: And Why That’s the Secret to Getting Back Together With the All-But-Dead Genre of Romantic Comedy
Dr. Mindy Lahiri has spent her whole life dreaming of a romantic-comedy ending to her love life: Sometime around 30, she’ll be swept off her feet by a Ken Doll of a hunk, he will make a...
Maggie Gyllenhaal to Star in Sundance Channel/BBC Miniseries The Honourable Woman
Maggie Gyllenhaal will be starring in a new miniseries The Honourable Woman, co-produced by the BBC and Sundance Channel. The eight part miniseries will follow Gyllenhaal as...
Watch This: The Evolution of Peggy Olson
It’s no surprise that Peggy Olson, played by the wonderful Elisabeth Moss, on Mad Men is one of our favorite female characters on television. We’ve watched Peggy evolve from a shy...
Whoopi Goldberg Has Gotten Really Busy Lately
I saw Whoopi Goldberg last evening on a post screening discussion at the ESPN Films & espnW kickoff event for the NINE For IX Series following the New York premiere of Venus Vs. which...
Borgen Season Two DVD Now Available Here in the US – Win a Copy
Next week when I head to London one of the things I am going to do is try and find a copy of the 3rd season of Borgen. It’s already played in Europe and I must find it. That’s...
Miss You Can Do It Premieres Tonight on HBO
Miss You Can Do It is a wonderful, uplifting film about a beauty pageant targeted at girls with disabilities. It shows the power these events can have to make girls who are sometimes...
Watch This: Nine for IX Short Film Coach – Directed by Bess Kargman
As we previously reported, this summer ESPN will be airing Nine for IX–a series of films about women athletes directed by women. To say that we were excited would be an understatement. ESPN...
Oprah’s Next Chapter Looks at African American Women in Hollywood
Oprah’s Next Chapter on OWN consists of the iconic Oprah Winfrey sitting down with famous figures and having an intimate conversation. On this week’s episode, Oprah is sitting down...
New Season of Call the Midwife to Be Directed Only by Women
Hurrah. How exciting. One of my favorite shows, Call the Midwife which airs on PBS here in the US is in production on its third season in England. Turns out as they were lining up...
Lauren Graham Adapting Her Novel into TV Series
Actress Lauren Graham (Parenthood, The Gilmore Girls) is adapting her bestselling debut novel, Someday, Someday, Maybe into a television series. Graham recently closed a deal with Ellen...
Trailer Watch: Lifetime’s Anna Nicole – Directed by Mary Harron
The late Anna Nicole Smith has been one of the most fascinating and tragic celebrity figures. And Lifetime is telling her story. Anna Nicole, directed by Mary Harron, documents Anna Nicole...
Trailer Watch: Netflix’s Orange is the New Black – Created by Jenji Kohan
Netflix is continuing to add to their growing original programming with Orange is the New Black created by Jenji Kohan (Weeds) and based on Piper Kerman’s memoir. It’s their first female...
Women in View Releases Report on the Status of Women Working in TV in Canada
Women in View, a national non-profit organization dedicated to revitalizing the Canadian media industry by strengthening gender and cultural diversity both on screen and behind the scenes...
WGA Announces 101 Best Written TV Series – See the Women Written Shows on List
The Writers Guild of America just announced their 101 Best Written TV Series list. There are few women written shows on the list and none within the top ten. (To clarify- we have listed the...
The Hollywood Reporter’s Emmy Drama Actress Roundtable
Last week, The Hollywood Reporter released their kickoff Emmy roundtable–highlighting the achievements of actresses in a drama. Some of our favorite women were on the panel which consisted of...
Jean Stapleton – An Appreciation
All in the Family is without a doubt one of the seminal shows in TV history. It was a sitcom that defined our times. It was about a country that was struggling — and still is...
Watch This: BBC’s Up The Women – Written by and Starring Jessica Hynes
Premiering tonight on BBC Four is Jessica Hynes’s (star/co-writer of the cult hit Spaced) Up The Women–a sitcom set in 1910 about suffragettes. Up The Women is BBC Four’s first...
Book Excerpt: Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted
Treva Silverman is an Emmy winning television writer known for her work on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. You can find more information on Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted here and here. Excerpt from MARY...
Interview with Tassie Cameron – Creator and Executive Producer of Rookie Blue
The summer used to be a void of new TV shows. No more. Now summer has a bunch of series — many that star women like Rizzoli & Isles and Covert Affairs. Another one of those...
Watch This: Lauren Graham on her New YA Novel and Parenthood
Watch the insanely charming Lauren Graham talk about her new YA novel, Someday, Someday, Maybe, about a young woman who is trying to make it on Broadway in the 90s. She talks about...
British Study Shows Older Women are Pushed Off Screen
A British study showed that as women television hosts age, they are increasingly pushed off screen. The study, which looked at BBC, Sky, ITN and Channel 5, tallied that out of 481 presenters at all...
Trailer Roundup: Women Created Fall TV Shows
We’ve been reporting quite a bit about the Fall TV pick ups recently. Only 8 women created shows were picked up among all the networks which is a really depressing number. However, at least we...
Women Created Shows That Have Been Canceled
The last couple weeks have been a bloodbath when it’s come to television cancellations. Great women created shows like Ann Biderman’s Southland on TNT didn’t make it. Here are...
First Trailer: FX’s The Bridge – Created by Meredith Stiehm
Earlier this year, FX announced the 13 episode pick up of Meredith Stiehm’s The Bridge, an adaptation of Bron about the Denmark/Sweden border. Steihm’s adaptation focuses on the...
Watch This: Barbara Walters Officially Announces Retirement
As we previously reported, the rumors swirling about Barbara Walters’ retirement in 2014 were growing. Finally, the journalism legend confirmed and announced her retirement on The View...
Pilot Update: ABC Picks Up 3 Women Created Pilots, CBS Picks Up 1
As the upfronts continue, the television news keeps coming out. ABC has picked up 3 women created pilots, including Super Fun Night from the hilarious Rebel Wilson and Trophy Wife from Emily Halpern...
Olivia Colman, ‘Girls’ Take Home BAFTA TV Awards
Last night, BAFTA handed out their TV awards. Actress Olivia Colman won big–receiving both the female performance in a comedy award for Twenty Twelve and supporting actress award for Accused...
Pilot Watch: The CW Is Clear Early Winner for Women, NBC and Fox Order No Women Written Shows
This is crunch week in TV land where current shows either get picked up for next season or cancelled and some happy pilot writers get a series pickup. As of this morning, NBC, Fox and The...
TV Watch This: Trailer for The Fosters – Executive Produced by Jennifer Lopez
The Fosters, excutive produced by Jennifer Lopez, is a new show on ABC Family that focuses on a lesbian couple who alongside their biological children take in foster children. ABC Family has a great...
Olive Kitteridge Gets HBO Miniseries Treatment with Lisa Cholodenko and Frances McDormand
Elizabeth Strout’s Pulitizer winning novel, Olive Kitteridge, is set for a four-hour miniseries at HBO. Adapted by Jane Anderson, Olive Kitteridge tells the story of a small New England town...
Talking Shonda Rhimes’ Scandal on Melissa Harris-Perry
On this last week’s Melissa Harris-Perry show she devoted a whole segment to Shonda Rhimes’ show Scandal. In the segment she is joined by Andrea Plaid, Heather McGee, Joy-Ann...
Melissa McCarthy on SNL
Melissa McCarthy hosted SNL for the second time this past weekend. While I don’t think that this show was as strong as her first hosting gig, it was far better than so many of the other...
Watch This: Jewel as June Carter Cash in Lifetime’s ‘Ring of Fire’
Singer Jewel will be starring as June Carter Cash in Lifetime’s television movie, Ring of Fire. Directed by the great Allison Anders (director of Gas, Food Lodging), the press materials...
Thank you Barbara Walters
Barbara Walters may be leaving our television screens next year. The legendary television personality is reportedly retiring in 2014, and leaving her co-created show, The View after co-hosting it for...
Watch This: Amy Poehler Interviews Irma Kalish – Pioneer Comedy Writer
For her super smart web series for girls, Smart Girls at the Party, Amy Poehler interviews Irma Kalish, a pioneer female comedy writer, who wrote for iconic shows such as Good Times, All in the...
The Golden Girls on Marriage Equality
We here at Women and Hollywood want to give a shout out in support of marriage equality and we believe that this clip from The Golden Girls appropriately addresses this amazing week at the...
WGA Releases Annual Writing Report And Women Make Small Progress
The Writers Guild West released its annual diversity report on the status of women, minority and older writers. Hollywood continues to make incremental, pathetic, baby steps towards diversity....
Peabody Award Winners Include Switched At Birth, Girls, Southland
The Peabody Awards announced the winners for their 72nd annual awards. The Peabody Awards recognize “distinguished achievement and meritorious service by broadcasters, cable and Webcasters,...
Women Written Pilots Roundup
As pilot season continues to pick up, we wanted to bring to your attention a couple of more women-written and women centric pilots that are getting some excellent talent attached to them. Annie...
Watch This: Awkward Season 3 – Created by Lauren Iungerich
Awkward is hands down one of the best teen shows airing right now. Created by Lauren Iungerich, the show follows Jenna (Ashley Rickards), an unpopular girl, who gains sudden notoriety after an...