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A guest post from intern Margaret Johnson:
Sam, I was psyched to watch Being Erica Thursday night after your glowing recommendation, but I was on a plane at the time, and JetBlue's 36 channels of Direct TV apparently do not include the Soap Network. Guess I'll have to wait for next week.
But speaking of girl crushes, last night Showtime aired the series finale of The L Word. And while I won't be so sad to see Jenny (Mia Kirschner) finally go, I will miss the rest of cable's loveliest lesbians. Sure, their creators have made some missteps over the show's six seasons, including some criminally bad writing—the debut episodes of Seasons 4 and 6 come to mind—and the carnival flashbacks that terrify for all the wrong reasons. The show has also taken heat for casting only a few real lesbians and for making the whole cast so—gasp—pretty! (Creator Ilene Chaiken's response to the latter criticism: "You wouldn't have watched the show if they weren't.")
In my book, though, the L Word's accomplishments far outweigh its shortcomings. First of all, it brought Jennifer Beals back into our lives. Secondly, one word: Carmen. The show also deserves kudos for clarifying points sometimes misunderstood elsewhere—see Season 2's endearingly awkward discussion between the cast and Gloria Steinem on how not all feminists are lesbians, and vice versa—and just for some moments of great television, like the tragicomic chaos of last week's baby shower for Max.
Rumor has it we're in for a spinoff that has quirky Alice (gay golden-girl Leisha Hailey) in prison. (Can she really have murdered Jenny? Discuss.) I wouldn't put it past her to smuggle in a dry-erase board and some expo markers and link everyone in the pen into one happily charted family.
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