The REAL L Word..
 

new show.. what do you guys think? I know the original LWord got a lot of flack, mostly regarding not using "real" lesbians/ queers. They evidently listened to the "real" part.. maybe still not diverse enough? I dunno.. What do you all think?

http://www.sho.com/site/reallword/home.do

A couple of things leap to mind:

1) In L.A., no less, they managed to find precisely ONE lesbian of color? Really? Honestly? In Los Angeles?

2) If these are supposed to be real-life lesbians why are they all glam and flash? Where's the lesbian moms? Where's the lesbian social worker or therapist? Where's the lesbian teacher? Where's the lesbian IT geek? Where's the lesbian cop? The lesbian firefighter? The lesbian doctor? The lesbian nurse? I'm not saying that there aren't lesbian real estate agents (I know two in Portland alone). I'm not saying that there aren't lesbians working in the entertainment industry NOR am I blind to the idea that this is Los Angeles and therefore, the entertainment industry is the core economic driver (did I mention, btw., that they could only find ONE lesbian of color in the entire L.A. basin?).

3) Where ARE the middle-class lesbians? The ones who get up every day with a job to do.

4) Not a single butch in all of Los Angeles? Now, I will admit, I turned down a very good job in L.A. back in the late-90's because I'd done enough business down there to know that as a black, geeky butch I was looking at a LOT of very lonely, lonely nights if I moved there. But still...

We just canceled our Showtime subscription so I won't be missing this. I'll probably give it a watch when it comes to Netflix but I doubt that this will capture my attention as much as the L-Word did.

Actually, I have friends who looked a lot like these folks ( in their 20's LOL), and I have friends who live in the triple digits ( or at least before they lost their asses in the stock crisis). They aren't "Hollywood" however, and don't live the glamorous ( read: way too much drama) life.

I would think that this is "real" for these characters/ people. Most of America's real dykes however, don't cruise the Rodeo drive circuit.

Hell for me, because this lifestyle is so far removed from my own, this makes for a high drama series. It's a lot like watching Housewives of whatthehellever county, just so removed from reality ( mine) that I HAVE to watch it! ( ok, besides, the wife holds the remote during those shows!)

Thinking about joining the "fan" list to keep up with nationwide scuttlebutt on this show. It will be interesting to see differing viewpoints from all kinds of dykes.

They are most definitely feminine looking lesbians, but that doesn't make any of them a femme!

How could you do that??????? You will be missing Nurse Jackie and The United States of Tara which are on now. Then there is Dexter

(I will confess I cancel my Showtime and add HBO when TruBlood starts and cancel HBO when it's over.......laughin.... and then when Dexter starts it's back to Showtime until TruBlood starts again...........that way I am paying very little for those premium channels)

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There are plenty o lesbians here in the Bay Area that look pretty much like them..........and LA is full of them....I have often thought of going looking for a sugarmamma....laughin....I do clean up pretty good but I am a bit too butch for most of them......

I watch some of the L word and wasnt all that hot over it,im mean come on ..yeah some of us know ppl who could play these parts with more realism than the ones on the original show.I know some lesbians who make 6 figures in income and u bet they wouldnt be doing some of the things that happened on the L word...most folks I know are just regular working folks trying to get by..

I always get a chuckle out of the outrage queers, butches, femmes, andro dykes, etc. through toward shows like this because they don't portray "reality".

If I'm going to plop myself in front of a television the last thing that I want to see is reality.

They are REAL lesbians. Just because they are not like you or people you know doesn't make them less real. Just like The Real Housewives of X are real. I don't know people like that but I don't rail against the show because it doesn't portray the housewives that I know. Granted, I might rail against it for innumerable other reasons - just not that one.

Watch it, don't watch it... but complaining about it because you don't identify with the women who are on it just doesn't make a whole heaping lot of sense. You want to watch people like you? Grab a camera and cajole your friends into starring in your YouTube videos.

Reality shows are by definition stupid, IMHO, so I have no reason to think that this will be any better. Mostly I find it sad that there's an audience for this crap.

I must confess I have a love of the reality show Ice Road Truckers...........I have not missed an episode, it does help it's on demand.......

It is the only one I ever have watched...........

Likely story Toughy, likely story. ;)

They gotta be way more interesting than the lesbian moms i saw tonight in Barnes and Noble. They had two kids, a girl about four and a gender undefined about 9 months. The kids were great. The moms -- one in particular -- were a fright. They discussed at the top of their lungs whether they had brought the teether or a towel instead. They spread their stuff out in an aisle. They shouted to each other across the music area, discussing their schedule. One talked to the baby in a loud, syrupy voice. The kids were never a problem, but the moms needed a time out.

Give me trendy young things any day.

I tend to view television viewing like that also. I mean, you never see regular everyday folks on soap operas. They are YOUNG and RESTLESS dammit! I always saw the LWord as a soap and from the preview, this will probably be the same for me, as they are just so NOT what reflects my life.

High entertainment, mischief and mayhem is what I expect. If it gets "real", then that would be a plus.

I use to think that and also felt that way when Shirley Mcclaine (spelling) wrote a book on metaphysics when so many people had already published so many wonderful books. While talking with straight friends, my sisters, etc. I learned that so many people watched it and although it wasnt "real" they at least could wrap their heads around it enough to pay attention and look closer into the lives of queers. Its not perfect but the more acceptable gay is in the media, the more we'll see and the more conscious the public is.

it's a mainstream TV show...
it's geared to a mainstream audience...
I dunno what 'real' has to do with it, especially since 'real' is an individual view
it's made for 'entertainment'...
it will satisfy, or appeal to, the prurient interests of a target audience...

I don't understand the expectations any one would have of a mainstream, commercial TV show...it makes no claims other than to entertain those who choose to watch it, and (implicit) to make money for those who are financially invested...

it's just a TV show...I have no expectation of socially sensitive, inclusive, or otherwise politically expansive content from mainstream TV...it's a business...and I am under no obligation to watch it...

that's why they invented then clicker...which I will now use on myself !! ;>

I think it's a play on Bravo's The Real Housewives of "enter in the name of this weeks city here". It seems to have the same set up. There's nothing real about those housewives so why should we expect this to be real? Although isn't that one shot at Jackie Warner's Sky?

OTOH, aren't we at least happy that these women have managed to balance their homosexuality with high powered careers? Besides, my experience with LA was lots of lipstick on lipstick and not much use for a butch like me so it kind of is real for there...at least as real as LA gets.