20something column: Why are women on TV so weak?

Published in The Post-Star (G2)
5/10/07
By AMANDA BENSEN

Where have you gone, Clair Huxtable?

I have to agree with a New York Times article I read recently critiquing the lack of strong female characters in current TV fare. There are plenty of women with powerful careers -- doctors, lawyers and cops -- but they've got some powerful neuroses, too. Do scriptwriters
believe viewers only like women with obvious vulnerabilities?

In "Grey's Anatomy," it's easy to forget that the leading lady, Meredith, is actually a doctor -- she's the one who usually needs to be taken care of. Her self-centered fragility has quickly morphed from endearing to annoying. Another main female character, Izzie, defies the stereotype of "dumb blonde," but seems to have the emotional impulse control of a 2-year-old.

And now Addison, the red-headed Ob/Gyn who showed signs of developing real character strength as she coped with the disintegration of her marriage, is crumbling into the kind of chick who talks to herself in elevators.

Rumor has it that she'll be the star of a new spin-off, and if last week's episode was a prelude to that drama, I probably won't be watching.

In that episode, Addison faced her own fears about ending up in middle age without a family, and tried to get pregnant by artificial means. When she couldn't, she wept that she was "all dried up."

The underlying message is: It doesn't matter if you are a highly skilled doctor with a shiny red convertible, good friends and posh jobs falling into your lap. As a woman, you need a baby to be fulfilled.

And if you can't have a baby -- because, in Addison's case, biology refuses -- well, you can settle for having sex appeal. That's right, her midlife crisis was miraculously resolved by a kiss from a handsome near-stranger in a stairwell. (To give her some credit, though, she turned him down when he offered a repeat performance later).

That will only work for another decade or so, maybe more if she gets some help from her ex-lover the plastic surgeon. But someday, Addison, and the rest of us women, are going to get old. It would be wise to base our self-worth on something less transient than sexiness.

And that's just "Grey's Anatomy." Don't get me started on "Desperate Housewives."

I don't mean to downplay the importance of motherhood, of course. Let's go back to Clair Huxtable for a minute, on "The Cosby Show," played by Phylicia Rashad.
She never experimented with drowning herself to get attention, although with five kids, her personal life was at least as challenging as Meredith Grey's. And although she was a warm, loving character, her brain had just as much power as her heart when it came to decision-making.

She embodied the marvelous notion that a female could be strong and successful -- and still be likable.

-- Amanda Bensen is a features reporter for The Post-Star. She thinks her mother deserves her own TV show.