I’ve had some professional studio meetings, and the ones where I really got glammed up, I’ve had questions like, “You didn’t really write that script, did you?” I’ve actually had a couple of producers or executive people ask me that to my face.

Posted via email from F International

The presenters asked him about the lack of women on such shows as Mock the Week (Dennis is one of the team captains) and he responds that although there are “lots of very, very, very funny women but I guess they don’t tend to be, you know, stand ups” which is why they aren’t on the show. Anyway. They moved on to a clip from the special Outnumbered produced for Comic Relief (13th March 2009) to illustrate that women aren’t funny. Dennis (as the dad) does an impression of Eric Morecambe catching an imaginary pebble in a bag and the children laugh heartily. Claire Skinner (as the mum) also does an impersonation of Eric Morecambe by poking her head around the door and being dragged out of sight by her own hand. The children don’t laugh and when she asks why not, the boy says that “…mums aren’t good at being funny”. This is a link to the first part of the whole thing and apparently mums are good at tidying, nagging and saying no.

Back in The One Show studio, Dennis says that in reality “it worked the other way round completely. I did that thing and neither of them laughed. And Claire did her thing and they both laughed”. I think he then says “so it’s cheating”.

Fabulous stuff from Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin that doesn’t at all reinforce stereotypes. And thanks to The One Show for digging out a clip to illustrate something that isn’t true. And look here!

Her earlier series Lefties featured a programme devoted to radical feminists (“Angry Wimmin“) like Julie Bindel and Sheila Jeffreys. I liked it a lot. I could understand some of the rather extreme attitudes from a time when the Yorkshire Ripper was abroad and women were being asked to stay off the streets while men were not, even though no woman was perpetrating the crimes.

Anyway, I rather excited that Vanessa Engle is revisiting the subject of feminism in a new series for my favourite TV channel, BBC Four. The series is called Women and there is more information here.

In addition, I am also excited to think of Helena Bonham Carter playing Enid Blyton and Jane Horrocks playing Gracie Fields.

WARNING: THIS CONTAINS RAMBLING

I have been struggling to find a reason just why Angel just doesn’t engage me in the way that Buffy does. I have some idea: in “Apocalypse, Nowish”,  Angel, Gunn, Wesley and Lorne are trying to decipher the papers from Wolfram & Hart in order to prevent the Apocalypse meanwhile Cordelia and Fred are absent; they are not there as part of the team. OK, Cordelia has a good reason to be missing but Fred is in a café moping about the men in her life and what they did for her.

However, I don’t really mind that Cordelia and Fred aren’t there; it’s more that there aren’t any other women on the show who could be there. The men are in the majority. Of the seven main characters in S4, five are men and two are women.

The question that then popped into my head was, does everything I watch have to be about women? Erm, let’s examine the evidence by considering my favourite recent shows, Mad Men, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Battlestar Galactica.

Mad Men and BSG have more male cast members than female but women are central to how much I enjoy the series. Without Betty and Peggy and Joan and Starbuck and Six and D’Anna, I really wouldn’t be interested.

[I wonder how often I use the word “really”.]

I am bored by John and Derek in T:TSCC while I love Sarah and Cameron. I also liked Riley and Jesse (but only after I got used to Stephanie Jacobsen’s nasal voice and after they were linked together.

Okay, I definitely prefer to watch things with women in prominent and active roles and, if you are like me, I heartily recommend Torchwood: Children of Earth and, no, you don’t need to have seen the previous series (it didn’t stop Andy and I liking it).

Do you think that any men ever wonder at any point why the majority of things they watch are about men? “Oh, my favourite films are Apocalypse Now, The Shawshank Redemption and 12 Angry Men, just why do I like watching films about men all the time?” These two IMDb lists are interesting. No room on the male list for Amelie and To Kill a Mockingbird and no room on the female list for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Goodfellas. I feel a post coming on.

So I do know why I like Angel less than Buffy but it most certainly isn’t the only reason. Angel has clunky dialogue, poor line readings, and character dynamics that I don’t care about because I don’t believe in them due to their contrivance. This list makes me cringe:

* Wesley/Lilah
* Angel/Lilah
* Fred/Gunn
* Fred/Wesley
* Angel/Cordelia

while I only care about Angel/Connor and Cordelia/Connor (spot the connection).

On to the episode: Lilah as Fred was disturbing particularly since at first I thought she was supposed to be a schoolgirl. And having her hair done up in plaits caused Lilah’s hair to be tremendously bouffant later on.

Chocodiles are a real thing!

Satan was rather immobile except when he Springheel Jacked over the rooftops. I don’t dislike slow motion except when it is used in a hackneyed way or to serve no purpose except to prolong a scene and that’s exactly how it was used here.

A bright spot was Lilah (despite her relationship with Wesley) because she gets to call Fred a “Texas twig” (although part of me thinks that is mean to Amy Acker) and summarizes this audience member’s feelings when she says “so let’s say we skip the usual two-step, you threaten me, I threaten you, yadda, yadda, yawn”.

I’m not sure what to think of Cordelia and Connor having sex but I do know that in the Buffyverse sex can only lead to bad things happening. And, by bad, I mean worse than the Apocalypse.

Sigh. Why do I continue to watch it? The obvious reason is that I have watched Angel and Cordelia over seven seasons of Buffy and Angel and I do want to see the end of their journey. And the DVDs are cheap. And there are occasional crossovers with Buffy. And I like Cordelia Chase/Charisma Carpenter. And I like Lorne. And I like Vincent Kartheiser (even if I do have to check how to spell his surname every single time I type it). It isn’t hard or difficult to watch. Finally, I want to work out why Amy Acker can’t sell Fred to me but can do so with her portrayal of Dr Saunders in Dollhouse.

Emma Thompson has been part of my life for over twenty years. In fact, the Thompson family has been part of my life since the day I watched The Magic Roundabout on TV. Not only is she an excellent actress and a great presence but she is also an excellent person. I was going to write a lot of stuff on just why she’s a top person but I thought this list would say it better:

• Action Aid ambassador
• her work against sex trafficking for the Helen Bamber Foundation – I won’t directly link to the video I am Elena because it really upset me
• her support for the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS
• her support for Alone in London
• her willingness to portray herself as a lesbian and an Ohioan in Ellen
• her support for actresses and eating
• naming her daughter Gaia
• she usually sports a short hair style
• writing the best big screen adaptation of a Jane Austen novel, Sense and Sensibility
• being in two of my favourite TV series from the 80s, Tutti Frutti and Fortunes of War
• being absolutely the only redeeming thing in Love, Actually

Why haven’t I seen the Oscar winning film There Will Be Blood? Because a film styled as a “story about family, greed, religion, and oil, centered around a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business” which has “ Less than two women in [it]” is simply not high on my list.

I would probably be more comfortable writing just two men. I do find it hard to write for woman, as do a lot of male writers.

It reminded me of this article by Richard Warlow who is the only male writer on the BBC’s Mistresses who wrote about writing women in a way that irritated me mainly because he couldn’t resist sentences like,

But, well, women are beautiful, aren’t they? And mysterious and confusing.

The way I look at it is if you are writing sentences like that then you already failing. I’m not beautiful, mysterious or confusing. (Confused, yes.)

That got me thinking about the subject. If some men can say that they find it hard to write women then what does that say about the vast majority of literature ever written?

Not every man agrees. Steve Martin says,

I know the feelings, but I don’t know what’s interesting. So it was really hard to pick and choose. What needs to be known? … But it’s easy to be an observer and appreciator of the opposite sex.

which isn’t much different from Warlow’s,

Most men I know, even the gay ones, are obsessed with women. I think that gives us a compelling qualification to write about them.

but less tiresomely expressed.

I found an interesting discussion at Absolute Write (I guess there are dozens of these discussions around the Internet). Some random quotes:

Write a woman like she is a person first, a woman second. She is an individual person with her own hopes, aspirations, and importantly, flaws, and not just some member of a club called “women”. (Toothpaste and agreed with several times)

You have one thing in common with women… you are of the same species.” “Don’t watch sitcoms and dramas to try to figure out women… if I was a woman I’d be pissed about the way they are often portrayed on TV. Watch them in real life. (KTC)

(The discussion deteriorates from page 2 onwards.)

Finally, some great stuff from Marie Brennan,

We’re people. We’re individuals. We’re not Women, and we’re not types, either — the Cold But Brilliant Scientist, the Nurturing Mother Who Sacrifices All For Her Children, the Whore With A Heart Of Gold.

Seriously, I do have to read one of her books.

Ages ago I noticed in my Google Reader a post at The Hathor Legacy with the eye-catching line “Betty really was just a hysterical housewife who needed to get laid”. I immediately thought this was a S2 spoiler and quickly skipped the entry and mentally filed it for reading once I had finished S2. Many months later, I was most surprised to find that was what Jennifer Kesler ’s reaction to the conclusion felt was the message the show was sending at the end of S1. lizriz’s responses are close to my opinion and I never once thought that Peggy was stupid for not realising she was pregnant.

As a feminist my feelings about the show are mixed though I do think it has done a great job most of the time. Only occasionally I felt it has “enjoyed” its portrayal of sexism a little too much with lingering shots of Joan’s ample bottom as she bends over and the sleazy remarks by the ad men in “Babylon” as they watch a lipstick testing through a two way mirror. I am also aware that this is a minute slice of life. This a view of the 60s focused on a narrow privileged closed world that the majority of Americans never lived through.

I could get addicted to Mad Men. I wonder if there is any fan fiction? Duh. (NB: I have not read any of them.)

I read about specialised crushes over at The Anti-Room and I can only agree with the examples of Viggo Mortensen and Jon Hamm. VM as Aragorn is a honeypie while JH with “floppy hair and stubble” is just not the same!

January Jones is in the specialised category too. As Betty she looks fantastic but, as herself now, in any photoshoot she looks generic starlet and doesn’t look beautiful at all.

Despite what this says, this is not an extra scene but was shown in the original broadcast. It has been cut from subsequent showings and it was definitely not on the BBC broadcast. I remember noting that I had read the TWop recap that mentioned this scene. I thought then that it was just the BBC version that was cut but that seems not. And Pete was in his pajamas! Are the DVDs complete? I shall soon find out (once we have got through Buffy and Angel).

This season ender doesn’t have the power of “The Wheel” but it does have the best scene so far when Pete confesses to Peggy that he loves her and she tells him it’s too late.

Pete: I love you. And I want to be with you. What? Didn’t you know that?
Peggy: Pete. I could have had you in my life forever if I wanted to.
Pete: What do you mean?
Peggy: I could have had you. I could have shamed you into being with me. But I didn’t want to.
Pete: I don’t understand.
Peggy: You got me pregnant. I had a baby. And I gave it away.
Pete: What?
Peggy: I had your baby. And I gave it away.

It was utterly gripping and it was this scene (following on from her scene with Father Gill) that has convinced me that Elisabeth Moss is playing Peggy very well indeed. Father Gill is doing his job but I was so relieved that Peggy wasn’t falling for his fearmongering despite the imminent apocalypse.

Father Gill: Hell is serious and very real and unless you unburden yourself you cannot know peace.
Peggy: I understand that, Father, but you’re upsetting me right now.
Father Gill: That is your guilt, Peggy. All that God wants is for you to reconcile with him. Don’t, don’t you understand that this could be the end of the world and you could go to Hell?
Peggy: I can’t believe that’s the way God is. Good night, Father.

Betty spends the whole episode telling everyone she doesn’t want the baby to no avail although the much missed Francine has more advice than most. I love Anne Dudek and I think a re-viewing of The Book Group is required. I also love Lois (Crista Flanagan). She is such a sweet character. I do like how actors in these tiny recurring roles sneak up on you in terms of affection. Pete’s secretary Hildy is another favourite of mine (Julie McNiven – “Stand-in/body double for Lindsay Lohan!” – excellent).

I had written a lot of stuff about casual sex but it doesn’t matter. Betty is pregnant, is confused about her marriage, and is drunk. What would I do?

When Don comes to see Betty at the stables I was in two minds about whether I wanted her to say “it’s okay” or to say what she did say. Damn Don’s charisma. Don’s letter was a marvel and the moment when Joan tells Don that Betty wants him to come home made my heart leap.

What happens next? A jump in time again? I won’t be waiting until 2010 to find out

I’m listening to Judy at Carnegie Hall (1961) on Spotify at the moment. I own this album on vinyl and so I haven’t listened to it in years. It is really rather good. Garland’s voice is still strong and the song selection is fabulous. She recounts a story about a newspaper article that describes her so: “She’s not plump, she’s not chubby, she’s fat.” – I guess the Daily Mail was around then too.

Talking of Spotify reminds me of The Gadget Show and Gail Porter’s recent stint on the show while Suzi Perry was unwell. Gail and Jason did a comparison between Spotify and iTunes but that is besides my point which is that I can’t tell you how fantastic it was to see a bald, large, unapologetic woman fronting a TV show. I admire how Gail has dealt with her alopecia areata.

I thought this recent post over at Sociological Images about Facebook’s neutral avatar was really interesting. It is a man and so not neutral and goes in the face of Facebook’s demographic. The leaflet that has just come through our door (only eight days after the day I thought we were supposed to get one) called Important Information About Swine Flu has two images of people: a man sneezing on the front cover and an avatar type image of a man inside. I don’t think it would have occurred to me that there was something iffy about that before.

The follow up post is interesting too.

Awesome! Feminists have just been told by a feminist to lighten up. Her exact words are “Chill out everyone, it was a bit of fun!”. Bingo! Julie, get lost.