There’s a new generation of female stars in our sit-coms and I’m loving it. They’re pretty and sexy, of course, it goes without saying. But they’re also sassy, witty and just a touch weird.
It’s not about looking picture-perfect, at all – on the contrary- Ramona Depares
When I was younger, female heroines tended to be somewhat less, erm, heroic as it were.
Actually they tended to be more like appendages to the real (male) leads as opposed to genuine heroines, with some adorable exceptions such as Fawlty Tower’s Sybil and some other feisty ones, like The Dukes of Hazzard’s Daisy Duke.
In between these exceptions, there was a vast fleet of silly starlets who really didn’t leave much of an impression. Take Friends, for instance. The series was incredibly successful and the female leads every bit as important as their male counterparts but really... what do we remember about Phoebe, Rachel and Monica apart from the crushes they had and the dresses they bought?
Their personalities were all very mundane, with nothing out of the ordinary – apart from their looks – to make them stand out.
Today’s crop, on the other hand, gives new meaning to the term sass. Take Zoey Deschanel’s portrayal of Jess in New Girl, easily one of my favourites of the season. Every nerd’s dream, female stars don’t get more adorable than this.
But what makes her stand out are not her looks – it’s more the quirky character and the fact that she’s not afraid to pull a few funny faces on camera when the occasion requires it.
It’s not about looking picture-perfect, at all – on the contrary. We love Jess even more when she is a mess, which happens practically with every single episode. Oh yes, the fact that her thighs do not look like desiccated branches does help give her a push in the popularity stakes with the ladies. And there you have it, both genders captivated just by giving her a fun, out-of-the-ordinary personality.
Another favourite of mine is Modern Family’s Claire, played by Julie Bowen. Blonde, attractive and with a body to die for (granted, she is overshadowed in that department by her co-star Sofia Delgado, but hey, you can’t have everything can you?) she is also pretty much a walking tornado who isn’t scared of putting people’s backs up by being a pain every so often.
She nags, she’s the tough parent and she is pragmatic... all combined in one hot package. Which is why I prefer her to the more overtly sexy Delgado who, granted, is extremely hilarious but doesn’t exactly bring anything new to the female lead stereotype besides that Latino accent.
On the darker side of television series there’s Dexter and his awesome sister Debra Morgan, played by Jennifer Carter. Fine, so Dexter is the best psycho villain ever, with all female viewers (including myself) under his spell against all odds.
But it’s impossible not to carry an even bigger torch for the sister, who presents the perfect mixture of disturbed female, attractive naiveté and foul-mouthed expletives. In the direst situations, her wry humour wins out and she’s the one you wind up remembering with a smile from a whole cast of pretty strong characters.
Other female leads that make the grade: Liz Lemon in the not-so-new 30 Rock, Robin in How I Met Your Mother, Brenda from Six Feet Under and Regan from Up All Night.
rdepares@timesofmalta.com