FACT: Guys like girls. FACT: Television networks like money. FACT: The person who first put two and two together to make a softcore sexual, lesbian based television drama must now have enough money to pay God to do his gardning and housework. So it's no surprise that after much controversy, media attention and general outcry from conservative, white housewives who go into automatic outraged-mode when their neighbours hairdresser tells them about a nipple they heard was visible through the top of an actresses blouse in a photoshoot; that The L Word managed to become a success. But wait, I hear you cry out from deep down in your caves of cultural ignorance, what is The L Word? Well it's time to get comfy knuckleheads as I move on the paragraph two and make some sense of my introduction.
So The L Word is set in L.A. and follows the lives and dramas of a handful of young women, most of whom are lesbian, as they eat at trendy cafes and engage in sexual acts that are filmed with gratuitous detail and scored with popular music and panting. The variety amoungst the main characters is there to ensure every single gay achetype is present like some sort of lesbian (and by that I mean, of course, MORE lesbian) Spice Girls. There's sporty lez, boy lez, bisexual lez, pretentious accent lez, husband and wife lez and, everybodies least favourite, might-be-lez-might-not-be-lez. All we need are wheelchair lez and asian lez to complete the rainbow but then this is only the first season, there are 5 more and no doubt some new ones will wriggle in.
At this point you probably think I'm being pretty cynical and in a way I suppose I am. The L Word can be overtly pretentious and trendy like a hipster reading Jaymes Joice beside a Japanese koi pond and the way the show was launched off the raunchiness of the concept was also shamless and predictable but underneath the thin shell of apparent shittiness is a show that's actually pretty decent and engaging. In my younger years I found myself occassionally dipping my feet in the shallow waters of The L Word as a masturbatory aid but actually found that the show was actually deep enough to swim and dive in. After the first few episodes the characters actually become more than just archetypes with names and start developing and becoming, dare I say it? Endearing. Of course the variety and wide focus in the cast means that everyone will pick out their favourite lesbian and have one that irks them horribly and not wanting to get too presumptious, I think most of you will hate Jenny. But I guess that's what The L Word is all about. It's supposed to give us a varied cast with challenging plots. I particularly like some of the later episodes in season one when one of the main cast is personally attacked for being partly responsible for the organisation of a controversial art exhibition. I actually felt quite angered by the fictional protests of these conservative, Christian bastards and not because the show lacked quality; not because I have my own personal gripes with conservatives, but because the show had managed to engage me.
So in conclusion I have to say that after one season I think The L Word is pretty good. It's got drama and complex issues woven amoungst a tapestry of mostly likeable characters if you're willing to take the plung. Plus it's got tits and girl-on-girl panting if you're just looking for something to do with your dick.
