Influential Women in Television History
Influential women in television history such as Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, and Ellen DeGeneres have served as idols for girls, young women, aspiring actresses and female comedians. These women have helped to shape the general population of women and their sense of strength and empowerment. Here is a list of 5 examples of strong women in tv history who played powerful roles both in front of the camera and behind the scenes:
- Lucille Ball —> Lucille Ball is often publically conceived as the ditsy house wife on the widely beloved 1950s sitcom I Love Lucy. However, Lucille Ball’s wildly popular and hilarious stage presence through physical comedic style shows Lucy’s characteristics as a smart, funny and talented actress and comedian. Yet, Lucy was not only a strong example of a successful female comedian and actress during a period where comedic television was brand new; but Lucy also accomplished roles of film-studio executive and producer. Roles such producer, director, writer, studio executive are titles that women typically didn’t have the chance to explore.
- Lucy’s initiation into television production roles began soon after she met her husband, Desi Arnaz. The pair took their “I Love Lucy” act on the road after CBS decided against taking on Lucy and Desi’s. But eventually, CBS agreed not only to put “I Love Lucy” on the air. The network allowed Lucy and Desi to create the show with their own vision; and to do so under the couples new created production company, Desilu Productions. Her start in the business and creation side of on-screen broadcasting as a television producer reflected Lucy’s intelligence and strength as a leading lady in television.
- Carol Burnett —> Actress and comedian Carol Burnett continued to pave the way for strong, funny, intelligent women in television. Burnett started her on-screen career in the mid 1950s, and continues to work into today. Among the dozens of roles she took on, one of Burnett's most memorable was on the Carol Burnett show. As Host of The Carol Burnett Show for over 10 years, Carol had total control in producing on her show. Her vision was for The Carol Burnett show to be a variety show, a show comprised up of sketch comedy. That idea was followed through. The Carol Burnett show presented some of her best comedic material and skits. Furthermore, Burnett's content influenced the world of on-screen variety shows.
- Burnett also formed a comedic duo with Lucille Ball in a few episodes of The Lucy Show and Here’s Lucy. Both Lucy and Carol worked so well together because they of their similar comedic style, and the wit and intelligence they employed in their roles as actresses.
- Recently, Carol Burnett guest starred on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. During the interview, Fallon flashed back to a clip of Carol on the Carol Burnett show. In the scene, there was an actual earthquake while on set. But despite the fear and alarm on set, Burnett used her quick wit to push the scene forward and make the audience laugh. She stated, “No visiting, the earth just moved. See what happens when you pay attention?” It is this kind of quick fire reactions that gave viewers the sense of how powerful actresses like Burnett were. She was more than just an actress, Carol Burnett was a visionary in creating as well as executing comedy in television.
- Ellen DeGeneres —> Ellen DeGeneres professional career as an actress and comedian began in the late 1980s. DeGeneres typically stuck to the small screen in television shows that she starred in as well as episodes of other series. But her comedic wit and her love for laughter would empower Ellen to become a writer and producer, as well as a host, of her own talk show.
- Ellen’s sitcom from 1994-1998 was one of the first tv shows to feature a leading female role where the character is gay.
- The Ellen DeGeneres show originally aired in 2003 and still continues with live broadcasts today; with over 10 years later with nearly 2,000 episodes. In which Ellen DeGeneres portrays strength as an actress, comedian, content creator, producer, writer, and host. Her efforts to make television a better place for the LGTBQ community and for women will continue to shape and influence both; as well as impact both groups and their abilities to work in television, in which ever role they seek out. Just as Ellen's fellow female comedians Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett did so elegantly before her.
- Tina Fey —> In addition to her professional career as a comedian and actress for the past 15 years, Tina Fey is involved behind the screen as a producer and writer for both television and movies. Among her most noteworthy works, one includes Fey's positions of Writer and Head Writer on Saturday Night Live from 1997-2006. Fey is also credited as the creator for the series 30 Rock and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; shows that Fey also produced and contributed to as a writer. Fey’s roles in television exemplify her dedication, determination, intelligence, and natural talent to be a leading women in television both on screen as well as behind the scenes.
- Melissa McCarthy —> Melissa McCarthy has established a professional career as an actress since the late 1990s. But it was only within the past 5 years that the audience have had the opportunity to experience McCarthy’s flare as a comedian. Similar to Ball and Burnett’s style of comedy, Melissa employees a physical sense of comedy. Some of the recent movies that she's obtains major roles in include: Identity Thief, The Heat, Tammy, Spy, The Boss. Just to name a few.
- Melissa has accomplished much more than staring in these comedic films. McCarthy plays creative, behind the scenes roles of producer and writer in movies such as The Boss and Tammy. Melissa McCarthy is also working on a film project called Life of the Party, which she also wrote and produce. Additionally, she also has experience directing in a handful of episodes on a show that McCarthy stars in called Mike and Molly.
- McCarthy’s continues to accomplish roles as a successful female comedian. Yet, it doesn’t end there. Melissa continues to follow in the foot steps of great female comedians, actresses, and creators like Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett. McCarthy does this by creating content. She creates humorous story lines and scenes and knows how to capture and execute these comedic moments.
These are just a few examples of the witty, intellectual, determined female visionaries that drastically influenced and shaped t.v. history. What women in television do you idolize or inspire you? Let us know in the comment section below.
[Review] Spy
After achieving stardom with her standout performance in Bridesmaids, Melissa McCarthy has become a divisive figure, at once a reliable box-office draw while being frequently accused of only being able to play one type of character and one style of comedy. Spy is her third collaboration with director Paul Feig, for whom she will also be headlining the female version of Ghostbusters in 2016. Her work with Feig has generally coincided with her best reviews, with the pair sharing a fondness for subversive, proto-feminist genre spoofs.
Those who have found McCarthy's schtick offputting in the past won't find much to win them round in Spy, an uneven but occasionally amusing bounce through the familiar stable of spy movie clichés. McCarthy's character, Susan Cooper, certainly fits comfortably into the actress' pantheon, exhibiting the expected reliance on pratfalls and foul-mouthed tirades that both fans and detractors have come to expect. What elevates Cooper above the likes of Tammy Banks, of the dreadful eponymous 2014 vehicle which deservedly earnt McCarthy many of her worst notices, is a willingness to allow McCarthy to explore a more outwardly vulnerable, yet secretly competent, side to her familiar persona.
[youtube id="mAqxH0IAPQI"]
Spy
Director: Paul Feig
Rating: R
Release Date: June 5th, 2015
As would appear to be the case with the upcoming Ghostbusters, and was to an extent also true of the previous Feig-McCarthy team-up, The Heat, Spy's most noteworthy trick of genre subversion is casting women in roles typically occupied by men. This idea drives the narrative more than might be expected. Cooper starts out as a highly skilled if unconfident CIA analyst, whose job is to support superspy Bradley Fine (Jude Law) via earpiece with all the information he needs to know to complete his missions, while she watches from the safety of her desk via camera and satellite feeds. When Fine and all the CIA's other agents are compromised, Cooper, the only agent unknown to the enemy, is sent out into the field by her boss (Allison Janney) to retrieve a nuclear weapon before Rayna Boyanov, daughter to a deceased supervillain, can sell it on the black market.
The idea of women taking over a traditionally male game is a rich one, but Spy doesn't offer as much of an original take on the genre as hoped. The movie ventures little towards exploring what unique approaches and challenges a woman, especially a 'plus-sized' woman, might face in the field - the only exception being Cooper having to fend off the advances of Peter Serafinowicz's lecherous Italian agent, which is never as funny as the movie seems to think it is and Peter Serafinowicz seems mildly embarrassed to involved. The female friendship angle is fun and affectionate, but has limited impact on the main plot beyond bringing hero and villain together. Instead, the same spy tropes which have provided easy fodder for spoofs since the James Bond phenomenon came into being in the mid-sixties are dusted off for another airing, even if most of them have long since been left behind in the genre's modern iterations and were already more effectively and lovingly sent up in the first Austin Powers movie. Cooper's competence is very welcome, encouraging viewers to laugh with rather than at, but has been an integral part of creating a likeable goofball spy ever since, to a less obvious extent, Get Smart.
The presence of women in the lead roles does give the movie a novelty value on which it cruises for a while, albeit one which is more the result of the spy genre's near total absence of diversity in its leads than anything much this movie in particular has to say beyond noticing it. Like Kingsman: The Secret Service, the movie promises an anarchic, progressive spin on a typically very conservative enterprise, this time focusing on gender rather than class, but lacks the strength of its convictions to allow its non-traditional protagonist to display anything more unique to them than the standard heroic traits. In fact, it's Jason Statham's Rick Ford who offers the funniest, most determinedly radical spin on the action hero archetype. The character exaggerates Statham's persona by a factor of ten, resulting in a deranged, hyper-masculine doofus with total confidence in his own ridiculous abilities and contempt for anyone, especially women, barging in on his territory. Statham's performances have always carried an undercurrent of self-parody, so it's no surprise to see him shine when given his first chance to play unabashedly comedic material.
That's not to suggest the women fare at all badly: McCarthy is perfectly likeable as Cooper, whose lack of self-belief and frustration at being stuck behind a desk make it all the funnier and more engaging when she's finally allowed to break free of her shackles and start tearing things up. Where a previous McCarthy character threatening to chop a henchman's dick off and stick it to his head (thus making him, to quote, a 'limp-dick unicorn') would've relied on nothing but abrasiveness to get the laugh, here there's a palpable sense of relief as Cooper finally finds the freedom to fully express herself without reservation. Rose Byrne's clipped, arrogant Rayna makes a terrific foil, and her double act with McCarthy allows for some of the movie's most memorable, often seemingly improvised, exchanges. Miranda Hart, likely less familiar to US audiences than UK ones, also does solid work as Cooper's gawky co-worker and best friend, Nancy.
Feig directs with a sure enough hand and shows a reasonable aptitude for action, especially in a one-on-one knife fight in the final act, but there's never any sense of him stretching himself or going the extra distance to give the movie any sort of visual identity of its own. Perhaps symptomatically of the material, his work is functional and fit for purpose, but utterly unremarkable in all respects bar giving McCarthy the freedom to improvise some sparky one-liners into an otherwise drab script, and on the negative side, not immediately vetoing Jude Law's dismal attempt at an American accent, presumably put in place upon realising that three of the five main CIA characters were being played by Brits.
Spy doesn't break as much new ground as it thinks it does when it comes to spy spoofs, and the lack of substance behind its gender-swapping conceit doesn't bode especially well for Feig's Ghostbusters reboot. It is, however, sufficiently lightweight and amiable to be a serviceable diversion at a time when the quality of big screen comedy has taken a slide when compared to that on television. The nuances added to McCarthy's character allow the actress to bring some depth and pathos to her confrontational persona, even if it's Jason Statham's balls-out lunacy which ends up stealing the show as one of the few genuinely surprising and chaotic elements in an otherwise entirely forgettable affair.
[SXSW Interview] Paul Feig and Melissa McCarthy (Spy)
Video by Elijah Alvarado.
To coincide with the film's theatrical release, we are re-releasing our Spy interviews from this year's SXSW.
Paul Feig has risen up as one of Hollywood's best directors for comedies thanks to films like Bridesmaids and his penchant for creating strong female characters in a socially-aware landscape that asks for such positive depictions. It's this specific point that I wanted to hear more of from both Feig and Spy lead actress Melissa McCarthy (who also played a supporting role in Bridesmaids). I got the chance to do exactly that during a roundtable interview with Feig and a short red carpet interview with McCarthy ahead of Spy's SXSW premiere on March 15th.
[Trailer] Tammy
[youtube id="pX1-TNEpQ74"]
Melissa McCarthy always to be so hit or miss with me. For example, her performance on Bridesmaids was hilarious, but I absolutely despised Identity Thief. However, she is a girl of the Chicagoland area, and her overall good natured vibe keeps me hoping she will do more work.
The most recent film she is to star in will be one called Tammy. The description states that a young woman heads out on the road with her alcoholic grandmother after losing her job and discovering that her husband has been cheating on her.
Ben Falcone, the husband of McCarthy, directed the upcoming film. However, the writing of it was a duo collaboration between the husband and wife, and both make numerous appearances in each others' works. Additionally featured throughout the film will be Susan Sarandon, Dan Aykroyd, and a few other buzz-worthy names.
Tammy will hopefully bring some good, hard laughs when it releases in theaters on July 2, 2014.