Wanted: TV Show With Minimal Objectification of Women

[mystweaver]

I'm on the hunt for new TV shows and would really like to find one that doesn't have women cast primarily as titillating sex objects. Any recommendations?

(Bonus points if, in addition to not having woman-sex-toy characters, they actually have well-developed female characters on the show who aren't always needing to be rescued.) :roll:

[Maggie Mae]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

[mystweaver]

Ooo...I was never allowed to watch that one, so it must be good. ;)

[Hane]

Believe it or not--"Breaking Bad.". There are only two main female characters, but they're fleshed-out real people.

[lilwriter85]

On Friday Night Lights the main female character is very fleshed out. I agree with Hane's recommendation of Breaking Bad.

[Hane]

I gave it a lot of thought, and I must add "Mad Men." Yes, the women are part of a pre-feminist world, and their male counterparts objectify them, but no perceptive viewer ever would (notwithstanding their Barbie bouffants, make-up, and spike heels, their "uniforms" of objectification).

[O Latin]

Well, I am not much good at discerning these sorts of things on TV, but I like crime shows, which tend to have minimal objectification of women (unless it is being done by the Bad Guys). At least the ones I watch, anyway.

[Guest Anonymous]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

This. I have all seven seasons on DVD and I often watch them. They're sort of a security blanket/comfort thing for me. Season 2 is probably my favorite.

[keen23]

Any Joss Whedon really. Though I'm more partial to Firefly than Buffy, but whatevers.

Weeds, maybe? I mean Nancy is a total fuckup, but she's a fuckup in charge of her own life. Or Torchwood- both the BBC series and the series currently running on Starz- Gwen is strong and frequently rescues the men.

[Guest Anonymous]

Any Joss Whedon really. Though I'm more partial to Firefly than Buffy, but whatevers.

Weeds, maybe? I mean Nancy is a total fuckup, but she's a fuckup in charge of her own life. Or Torchwood- both the BBC series and the series currently running on Starz- Gwen is strong and frequently rescues the men.

Ehhh, I love Joss with a passion, but Dollhouse squicked me right out. I think he was going for "rape is bad" but it came out more like "rape is kind of sexy" at times. I wanted to like it, but I did a lot of cringing as I watched.

But Firefly is made of win and Season 1 and 2 of Torchwood + Children of Earth are really good. The current U.S. incarnation of Torchwood has been making me sad.

[mystweaver]

Yeah, Dollhouse really squicked me out.

Firefly is on the to-do list. My husband and a bunch of our friends all want to watch it, so we're trying to schedule a couple nights where we can move through it.

O Latin, which shows have you enjoyed? I love crime series.

[Antigone]

Hubby and I watch Warehouse 13, and they have some kick-ass female characters and one of the men is gay, which is pretty cool. Also, I think Bones is pretty good, but i haven't watched any episodes beyond season 4 or 5 so I am not up on the recent seasons.

If you watch reality tv, Kari from Mythbusters does an awesome job on the show, as well as Danielle on American Pickers, and on Ghost Hunters there are a few ladies on the team as well. I'm not into "shore" or "housewives" or anything that smacks of that kind of stuff, but I enjoy some reality tv. :)

[O Latin]

Well, my absolute favorite TV show ever is NCIS, which I think does pretty well with its female characters. Abby does usually end up getting rescued by the rest of the gang in episodes that focus primarily on her, but she is such a different character and I think she defies the smart-women-must-also-be-hot stereotype. I mean, she's good looking, yes, but no one on TV is truly unattractive, and she's not conventionally "pretty." They've done really weird things with Ziva's character lately, but she started out as this totally awesome ninja-superhero-tough girl, who I liked just because she seemed different from most other TV characters.

I also like Law and Order: SVU, which I don't think focuses on the characters as much as NCIS does, but the female cops and prosecutors/lawyers are always portrayed as just a tough and capable as their male counterparts.

Sometimes I like to watch an odd episode of Cold Case or Without a Trace, but I don't watch them enough to really be familiar with any of the characters.

[xDreamerx]

I really liked Charmed and Gilmore Girls. I'm not sure if you will but those are my recommendations.

[pomology]

Parks and Recreations, at least past the first season which is less than stellar in all kinds of ways. But the main character, Leslie Knope, is awesome and is a smart, powerful woman who is portrayed in a positive light.

[mystweaver]

I've seen all of Bones and NCIS-definitely some of my favorites (though I was annoyed with how they changed Bones's character from season 1 to season 6).

Law and Order SVU and Parks and Rec both look promising.

Anyone like 30 Rock? I've enjoyed Tina Fey on SNL, but I haven't heard much about 30 Rock.

Antigone, I haven't heard of Warehouse 13. What genre is it?

[keen23]

Ehhh, I love Joss with a passion, but Dollhouse squicked me right out. I think he was going for "rape is bad" but it came out more like "rape is kind of sexy" at times. I wanted to like it, but I did a lot of cringing as I watched.

But Firefly is made of win and Season 1 and 2 of Torchwood + Children of Earth are really good. The current U.S. incarnation of Torchwood has been making me sad.

I really think the current series of Torchwood is well done. It has been thought provoking. And damn, the sex between Captain Jack and his Italian Stud Muffin was totally hot.

[autumnchild]

Well, my absolute favorite TV show ever is NCIS, which I think does pretty well with its female characters. Abby does usually end up getting rescued by the rest of the gang in episodes that focus primarily on her, but she is such a different character and I think she defies the smart-women-must-also-be-hot stereotype. I mean, she's good looking, yes, but no one on TV is truly unattractive, and she's not conventionally "pretty." They've done really weird things with Ziva's character lately, but she started out as this totally awesome ninja-superhero-tough girl, who I liked just because she seemed different from most other TV characters.

I also like Law and Order: SVU, which I don't think focuses on the characters as much as NCIS does, but the female cops and prosecutors/lawyers are always portrayed as just a tough and capable as their male counterparts.

Sometimes I like to watch an odd episode of Cold Case or Without a Trace, but I don't watch them enough to really be familiar with any of the characters.

I disagree about Abby. Remember the episode with Chip? She had him taken care of before the rest of the team figured out who he was. NCIS is also one of my favorite shows.

[O Latin]

^ True. And I guess in that episode where she gets in the car with the bad guy (the episode with her crazy ex-boyfriend, I think) she has him tasered or something by the time Gibbs and co. show up. I think it's more the rest of the team thinking Abby needs to be rescued more than her actually needing it.

[Kitten]

Rizzoli & Isles (sp?) - detective/crime (TNT)

Drop Dead Diva - summer only (Lifetime)

I don't watch a lot of serial scripted shows, but these two come to mind, along with Bones, which was already mentioned.

[jaelh]

the wire and deadwood

both have the advantage of being awesome

a few minor "sex toys" in the wire

a large number of very badly treated prostitutes in deadwood. BUT firmly not titillating sex objects. More than one are "whole persons".

[Hane]

How could I have forgotten 30 Rock? A show by and starring a woman who gets to be smart AND funny!!!

[Antigone]

Bekah, WH13 is a sci fi show on ScyFy, which I would suppose people get if they have sattellite or cable, it is a pretty common channel in one of those basic packages I think.

It's basically about secret agents who work for the gov't by tagging and storing artifacts in a huge warehouse. The catch is, the artifacts are supernatural, and no one can know about the warehouse or what they do for a living (of course). I think the cast is very balanced- 50/50 on the male to female ratio I think, if you count only the main characters and recurring guest stars.

I forgot about Deadwood. I loved it, but I only watched/bought season 1 on dvd. I haven't seen the other two seasons yet. SVU is great as well, and I don't think women are actually objectified on the show but they do deal with that theme often if I recall correctly.

[Patsy]

A large part of the premise of 30 Rock centres around the concept of not being able to 'have it all', as a woman. There's a number of ways you could look at that, but anyway, I like the show.

[LynnKaboom]

It's a Korean television drama, but you can watch it online, and it's very good. Queen Seon Deok. It's about the first female ruler of Silla (one of the ancient Korean kingdoms) and there's two extremely powerful female characters- Deokman (the future Seon Deok) and Mishil (the villain). Sohwa, the servant/Deokman's adoptive mom is also very important to the plot. There's also some random female characters that play some important roles at times- Seori, Queen Maya, Manmyeong, Boryang, Princess Cheonmyeong.

You can watch it on Hulu with English subtitles! Search for the Great Queen SeonDeok .