“All the [network] TV executives in LA were going, ‘Women are not interesting,’ Nurse Jackie co-creator Linda Wallem told me of the post-90s climate. “And you see what happened to television. Shame on them.” Not everyone was so unimaginative.
It’s not easy to get someone actively working in television to speak so frankly about what’s wrong with the industry, particularly when it comes to women and representation. It’s too easy for anyone who does to get unfairly pegged as the bitch or the whiner. But Wallem doesn’t mind burning bridges: “I don’t care if I ever work in Los Angeles again for another network,” she said. That’s because she and co-creator Liz Brixius say they have complete creative freedom on cable — which, generally speaking, has become an escape from television’s limited formulas for women. Showtime, in particular, has staked its claim on portrayals of complex, flawed women who take center stage, a move for which, in a joint interview, Wallem and Brixius repeatedly credited their boss, Showtime president Bob Greenblatt.
No surprise that the two co-creators, executive producers and writers on the show would give props to the boss. But there’s real proof behind the talk: Nurse Jackie and The United States of Tara, which return for a second season on Monday; Weeds; The Big C, the forthcoming Laura Linney vehicle (co-starring Gabourey Sidibe!). Even Dexter has two female executive producers and interesting female characters. All showcase brilliant actresses, many of them over the age of Hollywood’s usual sell-by date, as well as the writing and ideas of women. “In a world where there’s so much rehashing it can get boring to keep playing the wife, the mother. I never thought I’d be working in TV,” Toni Collette told The Wall Street Journal‘s Amy Chozick in a story published today.
Wallem, for one, is all too familiar with that rehashing, having worked in the TV trenches on shows ranging from Cybill to That 70s Show. She told me she thought there was a backsliding that took place after a relatively strong period of interesting roles for women in the 90s.
“Something kicked in — I don’t know if it was a new breed of television executives,” she said. “I don’t know. It just felt like, we’d go into pitch meetings and it was the 60s. I didn’t just want to only write about women but all of the sudden it was, the only female part in this pilot is going to be the wife, and oh, she’s long suffering. Fear kicked in, and laziness. All of the sudden there was an idea -– demographic bullshit, that guys 18-49 are not going to watch a women-driven show.”
“I happen to love John Stamos, but before I know it I’m working on a show on him dating,” she griped.
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