Fool me once

[osprey_archer]

A frustrating day. I tried to pick up two things for my mother - a particular fabric from Joann's, a particular cheese from Whole Foods - only I couldn't find either of them. I found the spot on the shelf where the cheese should go and it wasn't there, so at least I know that was out, but who knows with the fleece. WHY IS IT IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND ANYTHING IN JOANN'S. WHY.

Then Julie and I attempted to watch Godless, because we both got suckered in by the promise of a show about a town with no men. Now, we watched the first twenty-five minutes and as far as I can tell this show is nothing but men (I exaggerate slightly), wall-to-wall men, the headstrong widow mentioned in the summary gets like two minutes of screen time compared to the male sheriff.

The male sheriff is sheriff of the town that supposedly has no men. GUESS THERE'S AT LEAST ONE MAN AFTER ALL, HUH?

Even after twenty-five minutes I barely knew a damn thing about any of the characters, which seems like more than enough time to at least sketch in names and motivations for a main character or two. And it's pretty gory, too.

So we dropped that and instead watched a few episodes of Parks and Rec, which has made me feel a bit better about life. We've just started season 5 and April and Ben are becoming concerned that the congressman they're working for is actually a robot.

Comments

[ladyherenya]

I hadn't heard of Godless before today, but I've already seen another comment about it, claiming that women speak 27% of the time in the episode. I couldn't tell if it was a scientific calculation or not. So it sounds like a good show to quickly abandon...

[osprey_archer]

27% seems like a high estimate, but perhaps they talk more later in the episode? In any case, SUCH a misleading summary. A show marketed as being about a town full of women ought to have at least as many women as Stars Hollow!

[sovay]

Now, we watched the first twenty-five minutes and as far as I can tell this show is nothing but men (I exaggerate slightly), wall-to-wall men, the headstrong widow mentioned in the summary gets like two minutes of screen time compared to the male sheriff.

You may wish to try Strange Empire (2015). It was canceled after its first season, but it didn't bait-and-switch its core female cast. Also the gifs that went around Tumblr looked amazing.

[brigdh]

I second the rec for Strange Empire! It does have some significant male characters (including the main villain, who is a brothel-owner and runs a mining camp also mostly composed of men), but the women are certainly more than 27% of the dialogue. Strange Empire also does very well with race, with main characters of Native American, Black, and Chinese descent. And there's a trans character who's handled really well! And a woman who's probably autistic (they don't really have that word in the late 1800s, of course, but that's how she comes across) who wants to be a doctor! And I just really loved Strange Empire okay, it's great. :D It's on Netflix, or at least it was a year or two ago when I watched it.

Here's the link to my tumblr tag about it, if you want gifsets, but spoilers abound.