L Word Spin Off -- You Decide

Word on the street is that there will be a spin off to the L Word focusing on one of the current characters. I think we can assume that it won't be Beals because that would be, well, the L Word in its current incarnation. So, who would be the best choice to carry a spin off successfully? Let's face it, teevee doesn't have a great track record with successful spinoffs (Seinfield, Friends, etc., etc.). I know everyone will hate me but I choose Jenny or maybe Jenny and Shane together. What do you think? Vote in the poll in the column at the right of the page.
Yeah, I know this picture is a few seasons old, but it's pretty great, huh?

Summary Judgment: Cybill Shepherd on the L Word

I've had mixed feelings about Cybill Shepherd's presence on the L Word. At first, I thought, Cool , since I'd liked her on Moonlighting eons ago. And you can never forget her part in Taxi Driver back when she was the ingenue (oh, to be the ingenue again):
But then, like so many characters on the L Word, hers was uneven. One minute a comic foil, one minute a mouthpiece for the exposition of other characters, one minute clinging desperately to her sliver of a subplot. In the end, I'm glad she's been around. As the series has relied more and more on camp, she's been very much at home. Here's an interview where she talks about working with her daughter who plays Shane's love interest, Molly:

Is Alice Pieszecki coming to your town?

Well, she's coming to mine. She'll be here in DC at the 9:30 club on May 14 with her band Uh Huh Her.

Click here to find out where else she'll be.

Interesting L Word Season Five Review

This article is from Entertainment Weekly -- here's the key graf:

Of course, once you strip away the sex and gender polemics, the R-rated melodrama can appear pretty, well, bare. It's largely an endless loop of girl-meets-girl stories. Dramatic resonance and plot continuity apparently aren't a high priority in the writers' room. Characters are sometimes given new personalities (not to mention orientations) from one season to the next, story arcs are half constructed and left abandoned (what the heck happened to Papi, the Latina limo driver?), and cliff-hangers are elaborately set up only to be nonsensically resolved before the show's end. I'm no Aaron Spelling, but they're supposed to be left hanging, right? Otherwise they're just...cliffs.

Hmm ...

Lauds and Gripes and Big Butch Prison Daddy Dykes – Episode 5.3 -- Part 1

So, before the L Word started Sunday night, the girlfriend and I caught the last coupla minutes of this L Word thing right before it. Apparently, L Word held a fan fiction contest and some chick named Molly won it by writing a scene. I was, like, "Whaa ... Chaiken can't even be bothered to write her own show anymore? Fan fiction! Puh!"

Then it started.


I actually feltl my adrenaline ramping up and then I figured out who that little honey in the middle is ... OMG! OMG! Kate Moennig as Kate Jackson! Shane as Sabrina! OMG! Kate Moennig is a TOTAL femme. I had NO idea. Sabrina was NEVER that femme ...

... evah.

Ok, full disclosure -- Sabrina was my favorite angel. In retrospect, I'm not entirely sure if I identified with her or was responding to certain (unintentionally?) coded images:


Let's face it, the only thing missing from that outfit is the crop.

Molly, whoever you are – I love you and your damned fan fiction! Ilene Chaiken – watch and learn!

The whole opening sequence was a little much to take in and then the girlfriend in a panicked, strangled voice says, “Who ... is ... that? Who is that in the glasses?”


My brain tumbled over a few times. “Wait a minute, wait a minute ... I know who that is ... Ahghh!!! It’s Tina! It’s Tina! It’s Tina totally channeling Randy Dean – Yayyyy, Randy Dean!


And maybe a little Roy Orbison, too.


I thought the business with the guns was kinda stupid but who cares?!?! Kate Moennig IS Kate Jackson. Maybe next week will bring a Scarecrow and Mrs. King parody.


If Max rips off his soul patch, he can play the dude. (And what the hell happened to Bruce Boxleitner anyway? He was cute!)

Part 2 to come -- there was WAY too much going on in this episode to handle in a single, lowly post.

Tasha in the MSM

Rose Rollins in The Daily News.

You can just hear Chaiken's hard drive whirring to life when she thought about casting a new black character -- Hmm, she could be a basketball player ... [she actually considered this].

Well, that didn't happen -- Tasha was destined for the battlefield instead of center court. Chaiken must have put a finger to her lips and said, Hmm, we could really make this current ... Iraq war ... don't ask, don't tell ... hmm.
Key graf:

"When we created the character of Tasha, one of my writers said to me, we should do a lesbian who serves in the military, somebody who serves in Iraq," says series creator and writer Ilene Chaiken.

There are those in life who refer to the people who work under them in the possessive -- my staff, my writers, etc., etc. -- I don't know about you, but I'm guessing that these are insecure people who never expected to succeed and, now that they have, won't let anyone, ANYONE DAMMIT, ever forget it.

Just remember this is from a woman who initially envisioned a show about lesbians called Earthlings where Pam Grier would wear a sailor's cap.
2nd key graf:

Since launching on Showtime in 2004, "The L Word," has earned favorable critical notice for strong dramatic writing and sizzling sex scenes.

Ok, I follow the MSM fairly closely -- where exactly are these "favorable critical notice[s]"? I've trolled Lexis and as far as I can tell no respectable news organization has reviewed the new season. If anything, the silence is deafening.

Lauds and Gripes (and black, black bras) -- Season 5 Episode 2

Wow -- this episode blew 5.1 out of the water. Being privy to Ilene Chaiken's personal fantasies has its perks. Imagine having your own show and a stable of hot actresses: you get to sit around at night thinking, Hmm, wouldn't it be hot if Bette and Shane made out? Yeah, that would be hot ...
If your not Ilene Chaiken, this is pretty much your option:



Or if you're in the pre-school set:



Or if you're Sounder:



My five favorite things:

1. Bette and Shane together at last

2. Shane and Tina together at last

3. Bette and Helena together at last
4. Helena in prison -- keep her there!
5. Pam Grier strutting it like it like the old days:


My five least favorite things:

1. Cardboard characters -- Tasha's superior in the military is such an unrealistic tool -- one second he's friendly and the next he's acting like, Ooo, get away from me, you nasty dyke with your icky, yucky, dykey cooties -- AWAY!


2. Wasting Wallace Shawn -- I mean, c'mon! It's Wallace Shawn! He's not just window dressing -- were all his scenes cut or what?


3. Wasting Marlee Matlin. She was reduced to dinner companion this week. (Too, too many characters to manage, huh, Ilene?)


4. Chaiken Message of the Week: I wasn't paying much attention but I'm pretty sure there was some gays-in-the-military propaganda with those really boring Alice and Tasha scenes:


5. Aww, forget 5 -- I really liked this week.

Lauds and Gripes -- Season 5 Episode 1

Okay, I know I'm posting this late and that is no way to develop any regular traffic but I WILL be better.

If you need a full recap, go here.

5 reasons I loved the season premiere of the L Word

1. The obvious -- it had just been too, too long.

2. The incredible sexual tension between Bette and Tina -- when are these two girls going to get it on? Even they know it's inevitable. Here's Bette scoping out Tina who has just removed her bikini top



-- who knew Tina's back could cause such a stir (I must admit, though, she does look good).

Sorry, for copyright symbol -- I'm really bad with the images :-(

3. Mia Kirshner. I love Mia Kirshner even if she is Jenny. Here's my argument for her:

She's gorgeous.
She's Canadian.
She went to McGill in Montreal.
She studied Russian literature.
She's gorgeous.



'nuff said.

4. Subplots that put our favorite characters in jail especially when they are Bette and Helena.



5. It had been way too long. Yeah, I know I already said that but I have some criticisms on this episode.

5 reasons I hated the season premiere of the L Word

1. Inconsistancy of tone. Sometimes I get the feeling that Ilene Chaiken thinks this is her only shot to express every creative idea she's ever had.

2. Every now and again Chaiken feels the need to introduce an element of camp. So, we get Cybill Shepherd's character camping it up while everyone else in the cast is supposed to pretend that she's a real person or, on occasion, they cross over into the camp world with her -- Alice does this best. Jane Lynch's character has long performed a similar role and she is brilliant at it but these scenes are completely out of context and make the audience feel like they are shifting gears as Chaiken jumps around amongst the various genres of television.

3. Too many characters. I'd be hard pressed to say who I would cut -- Max, Cybill, Tasha -- ok, maybe I wouldn't. Take a series like Lost which has a huge cast. It has 24 episodes to develop its characters. The L Word has WAY too much going on for only 12 episodes.

4. Propaganda. This really bothers. As a friend of mine said, she'll be watching and then, BOOM, it's like a public service announcement hijacked the show. For some reason, Chaiken has a thing about preaching to the choir (unless she thinks loads of straight guys are watching that she's going to educate) -- this week we got lectured to about transgenderism. All I have to say is if you have effective writing you never need to go all didactic -- it isn't pretty and it sure ain't art (or even good teevee).

Here's Max thinking about computer searches and delivering the Chaiken Message of the Week:


5. I have a few more gripes but I'll leave it off for now 'cause I'm really, really glad it's back.