Backlash : The Undeclared War Against American Women

Rating:
Summary: TV in the 1980s--What "backlash"?
Review: While I cannot speak to many of the claims that the author makes in this book other than to say I know many of them have been called into question or debunked by the "New York Times" and other sources and that one should always be somewhat skeptical about anything they read, I can say that her analysis of 1980s primetime television and its supposed "backlash" is highly unfounded. A quick review of any "TV Guide" of those years will yeild a staggering number of programs that aired during the decade that featured a wide assortment of talented, formible, and intelligent women. Consider: "Alice," "LA Law," "St. Elsewhere," "Fame," "Golden Girls," "Valerie," "Hunter" (with the underheralded Stefanie Kramer), "Murder, She Wrote," "Mama's Family" (anyone want to tell Vicki Lawrence's legendary character that she's part of the "backlash"?), "Kate & Allie," "Hill Street Blues" (both Veronica Hamil's and Betty Thomas' characters), "Webster" (with a totally modern mom played by Susan Clark), "Days and Nights of Molly Dodd," "Cagney & Lacey," "Murphy Brown," and "Designing Women," among others. Even "Roseanne" arrived before the end of the decade; she went on the air in 1988. And, lest we forget, the 1980s was also heyday of the primetime soap opera that brought an unprecedented number of powerful female roles to primetime and, at the same time, returned to the public a host of legendary actresses--Jane Wyman on "Falcon Crest," Barbara Stanwyck" on "The Colbys," etc.

Instead of mentioning hardly any of these, Faludi begins her chapter on TV in the 1980s with the proposed sequel to "Charlie's Angels," "Angels '88," a program that never even aired! Her other targets are programs that are either highly short-lived or fully misinterpreted by her (i.e. the lead character, a housekeeper who happens to be a witch, on the quickly cancelled sitcom "Free Spirit," was the savior of the family she worked for, not a slave to her male boss).

Equally off-kilter is the author's take on such early female images as "Private Secretary" with Ann Sothern and "Our Miss Brooks" with Eve Arden. She labels both of characters as "hapless." It's doubtful that she's seen any episode of either series since, if she did, she would have seen that both these women are many, many things but "hapless" isn't one of them. Ms. Faludi also makes mention of a supposed early sitcom called "Ella Miss." But "Ella Miss" doesn't exist in any reference book I've consulted and the source that she sites for it--"Ladies of the Evening" by Diana Meehan--lists no program by that name in its index. Hmmm?

The author's thesis is an intriging one but she should not have attempted to apply it to areas of entertainment/society for which it just doesn't fit.