It's all about the shoes

I was listening to a podcast recently (remarkably, not my own), and they were interviewing a comedy writer I know and greatly respect, Claudia Lonow. She has created four sitcoms that got on the air, all with women leads.

She was discussing the pilot development process and made a very interesting statement. I’m paraphrasing, but they were talking about network interference and notes. She said, “If you really want to get a lot of notes, write a pilot with a woman lead.”

Her point was that male leads can get away with a lot more than female leads. Men can slide by with all kinds of boorish, stupid behavior but women doing a lot of the same things are viewed as unlikable and unacceptable.

I hadn’t thought about it, but she’s probably right.

When David Isaacs, Robin Schiff, and I created ALMOST PERFECT our star was a strong female lead (Nancy Travis) and we received very few notes. But that was a different era. It was also when MURPHY BROWN ruled the ratings. Female leads in sitcoms back then were generally stand up comedians. Good luck telling Roseanne or Brett Butler what to do without getting a Coke can thrown at your head (or being called an Asshat).

But as I look at the current landscape, Claudia might well have a point. At least on the network side. I sincerely doubt the writers of VEEP or KIMMY SCHMIDT or BROAD CITY get many notes on their leads’ behavior. And even on the network side, there’s MOM but that’s a Chuck Lorre show. CBS is not going to poke that bear. (And I suspect the show is better for it.)  

In terms of character likeability, I do think there’s a double-standard. A male boss can be firm and viewed as an effective leader. A comparable woman boss is a bitch. I’ve observed focus groups where members had strong dislikes for women characters because they didn’t like their shoes.

It’s really bullshit and it’s really unfair.   And these networks are just hurting themselves.   Remember that KIMMY SCHMIDT was originally developed for NBC with Tina Fey involved and they still passed on it.  

You do see a lot more network sitcoms these days with male leads. Claudia said that one network mentioned they also developed a number of shows with female leads but they didn’t make the grade. It was those damn shoes!

Here’s what networks don’t understand: Audiences may like Matt LeBlanc but they love Lucy.