The Price of Misogyny

In addition to the Murphy Brown sequel, there's going to be a Designing Women sequel in the works soon. Sure there are too many reboots and revivals lately, but this feels like a good resurgence of feminist shows. When I was growing up there were many successful TV shows created by women like Susan Harris, Linda Bloodworth Thomason and Diane English. They were so popular for a while and then suddenly they were gone, replaced by more masculine-oriented shows. I thought it was some kind of cyclical backlash or even due to misguided chasing of the 18-49 demographic. Later, I even thought the dearth of quality shows was due to the decline of scripted shows in the face of the rise of reality shows. All sorts of reasons were given for the changing TV landscape.

But no, some of this change was deliberate misogyny. Linda Bloodworth Thomason's scathing op-ed about how Les Moonves sabotaged her career, along with talk that Les Moonves repeatedly tried to destroy Janet Jackson's attempts at a comeback post-Superbowl (while forgiving Justin Timberlake), point to how fucked up Hollywood can be. That one mogul could have that much power to fuck over people he doesn't like, apart from the separate sexual abuse allegations, is what's wrong with the terrible good ol' boys' network. People against diversity always complain about "quota systems" and insist that "the best person for the job" should be hired on merit alone. But the problem with that is that the gatekeepers are deliberately keeping out people who have genuine merit and talent, for the sake of a whim at best and malevolent revenge at worst. That's WHY the system needs to change, in Hollywood and everywhere else. It's not fair when "the best person for the job" is almost always a white guy due to the inherent unfairness of power brokers rigging the available choices. Equal opportunity needs to be available to everyone, not just a handful of favorites deemed acceptable.

I'm glad more women came forward, forcing Moonves to finally step down, and I'm glad Linda Bloodworth Thomason is getting her long overdue revenge. Yes, ABC, this is the kind of nostalgia trip you should be pursuing instead of holding onto The Conners out of desperation