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So I’ve been thinking a bunch about characters lately (clearly now that I don't have schoolwork to occupy my brain I have to analyze something else) and what makes me like one more than another. I think what I like best in a character is the same thing I like best in stories, which makes sense because I’ll love almost any story if I love the characters enough. I like stereotypes that don’t quite fit. That’s my favourite. And I think that even more than that I like the dumb jock who isn’t. So Daniel Brady from Shadow Unit, Colby Granger from Numb3rs, Tony DiNozzo from NCIS, Dean Winchester from Supernatural, and even to a certain extent Arthur from Merlin. This is probably why I like TV so much actually, since most of the good shows that last take stereotypes and then make them more interesting. I have no problem with this because I like it.
But most of my favourites are all men, I realise. So I got to thinking about why. Part of it is that there are usually way more men than women in the shows I watch. I like SciFi and Cop shows the best so that makes sense because there are more men than women in the military and the police. But even the women they do have just aren’t as interesting most of the time. Sometimes they’re just there to be pretty, sometimes they’re around to be love interests (which is almost invariably lame), and sometimes they’re there to be the strong female character who can do everything and do everything well because women are clearly as good as men at all these things (also remarkably lame). And I understand where the writers are coming from, because people (and not just women) have been sidelined so much in television until recently. A lot of new shows have over-arching storylines and character development and that is awesome. But women are hard because people are hard, and I think a lot of TV writers are more comfortable writing men than women – I’m more comfortable writing men than women.
Anyway, instead of going on and on about gender!fail and depressing everyone - not in the least myself because I’m not sure I approve of all this binary gender business anyway – I decided to make a list (with reasons) of some of my favourite female characters in TV. Here is a celebration of doing things right.
Abby Scuito – NCIS – played by Pauley Perrette
Abby is a goth forensic scientist, but she’s also happy and bubbly and fiercely patriotic. She works wonders in her lab and worries a lot about her team when they’re in danger. She loves Caf-Pow (a very red large caffeinated beverage) and science, and is on a bowling team with nuns. She definitely fits my favourite category of stereotypes who don’t fit.
Aeryn Sun – Farscape – played by Claudia Black
The ultimate in kick-ass women. She looks ridiculously good in leather and can do anything except understand John Crichton – which, let’s face it, is really understandable. I loved watching her melt throughout the seasons of Farscape. She is fantastic.
Amanda Darieux – Highlander: The Series – played by Elizabeth Gracen
Classic thief. I love her sticky fingers and how much she loves Duncan even if he is a boy scout. She’s another one with a quick sense of humour, a sharp mind and awesome loyalty despite her profession. Also it’s hard to get to 700 years old without having some good stories.
Beka Valentine – Andromeda – played by Lisa Ryder
She’s a ship Captain and a smuggler. She keeps trying to run away and ends up doing the right thing anyway. She kinda reminds me of Han Solo. She’s one of the gems that kept me watching this ridiculously campy (and yet wonderful – but how could Hercules in Space be anything less than wonderful?) show.
CJ Cregg – The West Wing – played by Allison Janney
Tall, beautiful, powerful, smart. I love how she takes control in the press room and challenges all of the powerful men in the White House. She’s wicked cool. And the stuff with Simon Donovan was heartbreaking.
Kaylee Frye – Firefly – played by Jewel Staite
I would have loved to have had more Firefly if only to have explored more of Kaylee. I really like the mix of engine-geek, cute girl, and innocent but sultry. Pretty awesome.
Laura Roslin – Battlestar Galatica – played by Mary McDonnell
President Roslin is awesome. I think she’s maybe the only female leader who has been well done in TV. She’s strong and she has lots of faults and feelings, but she’s still a good leader. And they don’t do that tension between being in a leadership position and being a woman thing, because that’s not one of her many problems. I really hate her sometimes, but I also love her.
Martha Jones – Doctor Who/Torchwood – played by Freema Agyeman
She’s almost a doctor, and I love how she uses her knowledge in the middle of all these bizarre alien situations. The OMG-I-love-the-Doctor plot line got old really fast, but the end of series three and the stuff she’s done in Torchwood and later Who is awesome. As much as I love her on the show I think she really needed to get over the Doctor in order to reach her proper awesomeness. She saved the world you know.
Megan Reeves – Numb3rs – played by Diane Farr
She’s an FBI agent and really smart. Good at taking control when Don (the boss) isn’t around. One of the coolest things about her is that she fell for the geekiest of the geeks on this show. Her and Larry make an awesome and really genuine couple despite the fact that it doesn’t fit the normal way that relationships work on TV. But the best thing about Megan is that when the job gets too tough and she’s seen too much, instead of powering through and being miserable she gets a transfer and does what’s best for her. And the chick they got to replace her is really annoying, and actually one of the main reasons I’m not really watching Numb3rs anymore.
Morgana – Merlin – played by Katie McGrath
Morgana is the bitch Queen – but she totally has to be in order to deal with Arthur on a daily basis. I love her reactions to her prophetic dreams, and the way she insists on bossing Arthur around and going to help fight to protect Merlin’s village. That episode with her wielding a sword is hot and wicked cool.
Original Cindy – Dark Angel – played by Valerie Rae Miller
The spunky best friend of our hero. She tells it like it is and is always true to herself. Also she’s gay and no one cares – it’s fantastic, especially in a show that came out back in 2000.
Roxy Harvey – Dead Like Me – played by Jasmine Guy
Roxy is a hard-assed meter-maid and a grim reaper. She’s always the grumpy one, but then again she’s got a good reason for that, since she was murdered and that’s how she ended up as a reaper. But she’s not all bark, she was a dancer when she was alive, and she still likes to bake. She’s really cool.
Sam Carter – Stargate SG-1 – played by Amanda Tapping
Stargate is not actually that great with women. It’s not that they’re bad per se, but the male characters are generally way more interesting than the female. And in this case I think the awesomeness of Sam has as much or more to do with Amanda Tapping than it does with the writers of the show. It also clearly helped that she had ten years to show them how it’s done. Sam is ridiculously smart and strong, and awesome despite her apparent perfection.
Susan Ivanova – Babylon 5 – played by Claudia Christian
Tough, Russian, wicked sense of humour. I would never cross her. Also I would put her in charge of anything, 'cause that shit would get done.
Ziva David – NCIS – played by Cote de Pablo
Ziva is a Mossad Officer from Israel on loan to NCIS. She also kicks major ass, and we’re not quite sure whether or not she’s worked as an assassin – she certainly seems to like keeping things confusing for the boys with whom she works. But I also love her faults, how she finds it so hard to express her feelings and the ways she mangles English expressions.
Zoe Washburne – Firefly – played by Gina Torres
Zoe kicks major ass. Let’s face it she rocks really a lot. She is a loyal soldier, and has a wonderfully dry sense of humour, and probably best of all – she married Wash. And no one who marries Wash could be boring.
But most of my favourites are all men, I realise. So I got to thinking about why. Part of it is that there are usually way more men than women in the shows I watch. I like SciFi and Cop shows the best so that makes sense because there are more men than women in the military and the police. But even the women they do have just aren’t as interesting most of the time. Sometimes they’re just there to be pretty, sometimes they’re around to be love interests (which is almost invariably lame), and sometimes they’re there to be the strong female character who can do everything and do everything well because women are clearly as good as men at all these things (also remarkably lame). And I understand where the writers are coming from, because people (and not just women) have been sidelined so much in television until recently. A lot of new shows have over-arching storylines and character development and that is awesome. But women are hard because people are hard, and I think a lot of TV writers are more comfortable writing men than women – I’m more comfortable writing men than women.
Anyway, instead of going on and on about gender!fail and depressing everyone - not in the least myself because I’m not sure I approve of all this binary gender business anyway – I decided to make a list (with reasons) of some of my favourite female characters in TV. Here is a celebration of doing things right.
Abby Scuito – NCIS – played by Pauley Perrette
Abby is a goth forensic scientist, but she’s also happy and bubbly and fiercely patriotic. She works wonders in her lab and worries a lot about her team when they’re in danger. She loves Caf-Pow (a very red large caffeinated beverage) and science, and is on a bowling team with nuns. She definitely fits my favourite category of stereotypes who don’t fit.
Aeryn Sun – Farscape – played by Claudia Black
The ultimate in kick-ass women. She looks ridiculously good in leather and can do anything except understand John Crichton – which, let’s face it, is really understandable. I loved watching her melt throughout the seasons of Farscape. She is fantastic.
Amanda Darieux – Highlander: The Series – played by Elizabeth Gracen
Classic thief. I love her sticky fingers and how much she loves Duncan even if he is a boy scout. She’s another one with a quick sense of humour, a sharp mind and awesome loyalty despite her profession. Also it’s hard to get to 700 years old without having some good stories.
Beka Valentine – Andromeda – played by Lisa Ryder
She’s a ship Captain and a smuggler. She keeps trying to run away and ends up doing the right thing anyway. She kinda reminds me of Han Solo. She’s one of the gems that kept me watching this ridiculously campy (and yet wonderful – but how could Hercules in Space be anything less than wonderful?) show.
CJ Cregg – The West Wing – played by Allison Janney
Tall, beautiful, powerful, smart. I love how she takes control in the press room and challenges all of the powerful men in the White House. She’s wicked cool. And the stuff with Simon Donovan was heartbreaking.
Kaylee Frye – Firefly – played by Jewel Staite
I would have loved to have had more Firefly if only to have explored more of Kaylee. I really like the mix of engine-geek, cute girl, and innocent but sultry. Pretty awesome.
Laura Roslin – Battlestar Galatica – played by Mary McDonnell
President Roslin is awesome. I think she’s maybe the only female leader who has been well done in TV. She’s strong and she has lots of faults and feelings, but she’s still a good leader. And they don’t do that tension between being in a leadership position and being a woman thing, because that’s not one of her many problems. I really hate her sometimes, but I also love her.
Martha Jones – Doctor Who/Torchwood – played by Freema Agyeman
She’s almost a doctor, and I love how she uses her knowledge in the middle of all these bizarre alien situations. The OMG-I-love-the-Doctor plot line got old really fast, but the end of series three and the stuff she’s done in Torchwood and later Who is awesome. As much as I love her on the show I think she really needed to get over the Doctor in order to reach her proper awesomeness. She saved the world you know.
Megan Reeves – Numb3rs – played by Diane Farr
She’s an FBI agent and really smart. Good at taking control when Don (the boss) isn’t around. One of the coolest things about her is that she fell for the geekiest of the geeks on this show. Her and Larry make an awesome and really genuine couple despite the fact that it doesn’t fit the normal way that relationships work on TV. But the best thing about Megan is that when the job gets too tough and she’s seen too much, instead of powering through and being miserable she gets a transfer and does what’s best for her. And the chick they got to replace her is really annoying, and actually one of the main reasons I’m not really watching Numb3rs anymore.
Morgana – Merlin – played by Katie McGrath
Morgana is the bitch Queen – but she totally has to be in order to deal with Arthur on a daily basis. I love her reactions to her prophetic dreams, and the way she insists on bossing Arthur around and going to help fight to protect Merlin’s village. That episode with her wielding a sword is hot and wicked cool.
Original Cindy – Dark Angel – played by Valerie Rae Miller
The spunky best friend of our hero. She tells it like it is and is always true to herself. Also she’s gay and no one cares – it’s fantastic, especially in a show that came out back in 2000.
Roxy Harvey – Dead Like Me – played by Jasmine Guy
Roxy is a hard-assed meter-maid and a grim reaper. She’s always the grumpy one, but then again she’s got a good reason for that, since she was murdered and that’s how she ended up as a reaper. But she’s not all bark, she was a dancer when she was alive, and she still likes to bake. She’s really cool.
Sam Carter – Stargate SG-1 – played by Amanda Tapping
Stargate is not actually that great with women. It’s not that they’re bad per se, but the male characters are generally way more interesting than the female. And in this case I think the awesomeness of Sam has as much or more to do with Amanda Tapping than it does with the writers of the show. It also clearly helped that she had ten years to show them how it’s done. Sam is ridiculously smart and strong, and awesome despite her apparent perfection.
Susan Ivanova – Babylon 5 – played by Claudia Christian
Tough, Russian, wicked sense of humour. I would never cross her. Also I would put her in charge of anything, 'cause that shit would get done.
Ziva David – NCIS – played by Cote de Pablo
Ziva is a Mossad Officer from Israel on loan to NCIS. She also kicks major ass, and we’re not quite sure whether or not she’s worked as an assassin – she certainly seems to like keeping things confusing for the boys with whom she works. But I also love her faults, how she finds it so hard to express her feelings and the ways she mangles English expressions.
Zoe Washburne – Firefly – played by Gina Torres
Zoe kicks major ass. Let’s face it she rocks really a lot. She is a loyal soldier, and has a wonderfully dry sense of humour, and probably best of all – she married Wash. And no one who marries Wash could be boring.
