Complex TV Relationships
It's an old TV trope to pit women against each other to fight over a man. This can be detrimental to a series, when all the female characters focus on is the men in their lives and the rivalry that exists because of this romantic drama. But on occasion, this plot device can be used to create some of TVs best female relationships. What starts as a disagreement about a man, turns into life-long friendship for these five female duos:
Paris & Rory: Let's throw it back to season one of Gilmore Girls, when Lorelai was dating Rory's teacher, no one knew who Logan was and Sookie and Jackson were just beginning to date. It was a strange time. But Paris Gellar was still her self-assured, whip-smart self. As Rory and Paris constantly competed in their classes and on the newspaper, they also had boy problems, with Paris pining after Tristan, played by Chad Michael Murray, who was much more interested in Rory. Fortunately, these two smart women realize that Tristan is not worth their time and move on to become continued academic rivals, then college roommates and eventually true friends.
Reba & Barbra Jean: Despite her best efforts, Reba could never shake Barbra Jean. So what began as a tense relationship that mostly consisted of Reba mocking Barbra Jean behind her back (and to her face), soon became a real friendship. These two got into Lucy and Ethel type scrapes and supported each other, even at the expense of Brock (Reba's ex-husband, Barbara Jean's new husband). Sure their interactions often came with an eye roll from Reba, but in the end it came from a place of true affection.
Jane & Petra: One of the many delightful developments over the last four seasons of Jane the Virgin has been the blossoming friendship between Jane and Petra. While their relationship has certainly had its ups and downs, fueled at times by their off-again, on-again flings with Rafael, Petra and Jane always come through for each other. As they both dealt with separate tragedies, they decided to sit down every week for a family brunch. To demonstrate how far they've come, in one of the funniest sequences of the show, Petra dresses up as the tooth fairy to surprise Jane's son, after Petra's children tell him that the tooth fairy doesn't exist. The mark of a true friend.
Emma & Regina: As the Savior and the Evil Queen, a friendship between these ladies was unlikely from the start. Throw in the fact that Regina put a curse on the entire town to keep Emma apart from her parents and things get complicated. In season one of Once Upon a Time, Regina and Emma are also in a love triangle with the town's sheriff. Flash forward a few seasons later and these two are teaching each other magic, battling evil together and being amazing co-parents to Henry.
Haddie & Amber: These two cousins had a rocky start to their relationship. After Amber moved back into town, she and Haddie started to grow closer as friends, until Amber had feelings for Haddie's boyfriend. Conflict ensues, dragging in the entire family. But Haddie takes the high road after Amber runs away from home and these two make up in an especially touching scene. And because it's Parenthood, of course I cried.
As Seen on TV
It's still mid-season pilot time, so I'm bringing you a recap of another new show: Splitting Up Together, which premiered last week on ABC. The sitcom stars Jenna Fischer and Oliver Hudson, who are recently divorced and navigating their way through co-parenting as a non-couple. They decide to split their responsibilities by having one person live in the house and take care of all of the chores and parenting responsibilities, while the other lives in the garage for the week. The pilot starts off pretty strong and lays the groundwork for mishaps a plenty as the season progresses. I didn't realize how much I missed seeing Jenna Fischer, who is best known as Pam from The Office, on my TV screen and she plays the role of newly single Lena with humor and grace. Her chemistry with Martin is definitely still there, so I'm sure it's only a matter of time before these two consider a reconciliation. But for the meantime, Martin is rebelling against the structure that Lena craved in their house, and Lena is figuring out how to address her son's puberty challenges and flirting with his doctor. The show was developed by Emily Kapnek, who also wrote the first two episodes. It's refreshing to have a female voice in the script, as the show plays with but avoids the nagging, perfectionist wife stereotype and gives Lena plenty of dimension to play with. Martin immediately recognizes his role in their divorce as well and begins to reckon with that, as he's living on his own. I'm excited to see the show come into its own over the next few weeks.
Haven't You Heard?
Celebrities hosting their own podcasts is not a new concept. Anna Farris has one. Marc Maron has one. Alec Baldwin, Chelsea Peretti, Lena Dunham, and many more have experimented with this medium. Earlier this a year, Dax Shepard added his name to the list. Thanks to a recommendation from my brother, I eagerly tuned in to his Armchair Expert podcast. Dax sits down with a different celebrity each week to take an in-depth look at who they are as humans. I expected this to be like any other celebrity interview podcast, but when I tuned into the first episode, which Dax recorded with his wife, the amazing Kristen Bell, I was surprised to find an incredibly honest look into their relationship. Right before they began recording, these two got into an argument and decided to go ahead and record the podcast anyway and work through the fight on-air. So prepare yourself. The first 15 minutes or so are filled with passive-aggressive and aggressive comments, which can be truly uncomfortable. It's incredibly honest and very real. What comes next is an honest look into Kristen's life and psyche and a conversation ultimately filled with a lot of love, despite the disagreement that started it all. So far, Dax has also talked with Parenthood co-star Joy Bryant, Ellen DeGeneres, Anna Faris, Adam Scott and many more. Another highlight is his conversation with Jimmy Kimmel, since these two are old friends and have a very natural back-and-forth. Jimmy tells hilarious stories about his fear of tsunamis and passive-aggressive coffee pranks. Dax's humor and genuine desire to learn more about his guests is endearing and I'm looking forward to listening to more episodes of the podcast in the future. Hopefully Kristen Bell makes a return visit as well.
Required Reading
Last week the revival of Roseanne premiered to a staggering audience of 18.2 million viewers (with DVR views bringing that number even higher). ABC quickly jumped on the opportunity to renew the show for an even larger season next year. But amid the fanfare, some who loved the show in its original run 20 plus years ago are struggling to support the its revamp. Roseanne Barr is a vocal Trump supporter and so is her character on the show, and this season's first two episodes leaned heavily on this plot point. As she's made the media rounds to promote the series, many interviewers have asked her about her political views and Trump himself was reportedly thrilled to see the show's high ratings (is anyone surprised?) and called Roseanne to congratulate her. The always insightful Roxane Gay wrote an incredible opinion piece for The New York Times about her take on all of this. She watched the first two episodes and really enjoyed them but struggled to get past the many contradictions and simplifications the show makes to go along with Roseanne's political opinions. She also examines the role of the working middle class in the 2016 election and warns viewers about the importance of their pop culture choices. Our time and money directly influences what shows networks invest in, making it all the more important that we make purposeful choices when we're clicking through channels.
