A Woman’s Touch

By: Jamie Steinberg

I recently had the opportunity to co-author an article about seven female bosses in television, so you can imagine my surprise when today news broke about a series based off of the book series Nancy Drew that failed to launch due to testing “too female.” Huh? I could have sworn it was 2016! I mean, I don’t remember going back in time in a DeLorean. With so many shows currently on air that are about the lives of women, how could any show test as too female?

The new Nancy Drew series was based on the premise that our favorite girl detective (who would have been played by Sarah Shahi) had grown up and working as a police officer for the NYPD. This was what was determined to be “too female.” Women have been playing police officers for years (I’m looking at you Detective Benson on Law and Order: SVU – the longest running series on television). Remember when sweet Southern belle Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson of The Closer ran around LA bringing down bad guys? Kyra Sedgwick took our TV’s by storm! In fact, that series transitioned into the Major Crimes, which is also a female driven program starring Mary McDonnell. Plus, CBS, you may not know this but NBC had a hella popular show with a similar premise called The Mysteries of Laura! And on that series Laura Diamond (Debra Messing) was an NYPD homicide detective who is also a single mom raising two unruly children and dealing with her immature ex-husband. Couldn’t Nancy Drew have made a go at it, too?

The CW has widely popular female focused shows such as Jane The Virgin, iZombie and My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. They also have the show Reign about Queen Mary. All of these are successful programs focused on females. Fox has “New Girl” starring Zooey Deschanel with a focal point on the single life of a goofy gal making her way in LA. Furthermore, HBO has the series Veep (currently airing Season Five) where Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays the President of the United States.

New this season ABC added the show Quantico to their list of programs with badass babes with lead Priyanka Chopra tackling terrorism as an FBI candidate. Even better, ABC has THREE MEGA HIT shows in Grey’s Anatomy, How To Get Away With Murder and Scandal that all boast female phenoms as the lead. Try telling Olivia Pope she can’t make it in politics because she’s a woman. Explain to Meredith Grey she couldn’t be a top notch surgeon because she’s a woman. Don’t even try to tell Annalise Keating she can’t run a law firm as a woman. Moreover, could you look Shonda Rhimes in the eyes and tell her that she if she pitched you one of these shows today you wouldn’t put one of them on air because it “tested too female?” Doubt it.

Netflix has the series Jessica Jones where a superhero takes on a new identity as a private detective and the show Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt where a woman attempts to start a new life after escaping a cult that has kept her in a bunker for years. Orange Is The New Black is about life in a women’s prison. Wynonna Earp is a recent edition to the Syfy network that follows Wyatt Earp’s great granddaughter as she battles demons and the supernatural. The popular BBC show Orphan Black has powerhouse Tatiana Maslany playing EVERY female clone! I know the Clone Club (the Orphan Black fandom) wouldn’t put up with you referring to their show as “too female.”

The Bravo network has made their mark on television with The Real Housewives franchises! More recently, they have expanded by giving greater attention to their female audience with new programs such as There Goes The Motherhood, Odd Mom Out and The Girlfriend’s Guide To Divorce. Try telling Andy Cohen that his network is “too female.” I’m sure you’d be quick to hear him respond, “Girl, bye.”

Web series are even going full force with women-centric programs! “All For One” is a female take on The Three Muskeeters. “Carmilla” is about a vampire and her roommate finding love as they fight to take down the evil dean of their university. “High’rd Help” centers around a female guardian angel seeking to sort out a high school girl’s love life.

In fact, CBS already is the home for two important female centered shows The Good Wife and Madam Secretary. Hardly false advertising, right? I wouldn’t consider these shows skewed “too female.” One storyline focuses on a tough attorney who is bouncing back after her husband’s (the District Attorney of Chicago) cheating scandal. The other surrounds the Secretary of State for our country. Both hold high positions of power in their field and both ARE WOMEN. Would you deem them “too female?”

In 2016, women can be a surgeon, an author, a firefighter, a detective, a lawyer and so much more. Heck, we’re on the cusp of even possibly having the first female President of the United States! So, it’s hard to imagine that a series could even be labeled “too female” anymore as it is a concept so beyond antiquated that it shouldn’t be given a second thought. It should have no merit. It just should be ignored. Some of the greatest television shows we have seen and are currently seeing have a woman at their core.

It shouldn’t go without saying that the CBS network is also the hub to series Person of Interest, which featured Sarah Shahi in an integral role where she kicked ass and took names. Clearly, she’s a force to be reckoned with already! Additionally, she would have been the first woman of color to take on the role of Nancy Drew. You would think in this day and age that this would be more celebrated! Shahi may have kindly and humbly taken to Twitter to thank fans for their support and said “some things just aren’t meant to be,” but she shouldn’t have had to make that statement. We should be cheering her on at the success of her new series instead of having to trend “too female” to express our disdain.

Doesn’t Melissa Benoist put the “girl” in Supergirl? In fact, also on that series character Cat Grant is the head of a media conglomerate! If Gilmore Girls were to be released for the first time in 2016, would it get passed over for testing “too female?” Women still may not yet make the same pay as men do, but we are just as bad ass and have just as many people that support our endeavors. With all due respect, CBS, maybe you might want to reconsider your testing panel.