I agree with OP that the female characters here are bizarre and hyper neurotic (and so are the men) however I have always felt the show was patronizing to women but for an entirely different reason. One thing I remembered disliking about this show intensely was how characters built-up to be near-geniuses would do dramatically stupid and unprofessional things that would surely have gotten them fired.
It's even a running joke with Maggie, how she manages to keep her job but to a totally unbelievable degree. Sloane intentionally reveals off-the-record details live on the air, after getting caught in a nude scandal, then starts dating her boss. Then there's the show's highest ranked female journalist, a tabloid editor who's a blackmailing phone hacker. And the female lead herself is a hysterical nit who can barely contain her emotions. Even what's her face (Meryl Streep's daughter) sends out an extremely insensitive tweet which does get her fired, but then violates everything the show has told us about her by being a) instantly stupid, and b) disloyal by trading in on ACN secrets on her very first day at a tabloid site. I know TV has to generate conflict for its narrative, but Sam Seaborn never threw a drink in the Pope's face. This show does that kinda stuff all the time.
Everyone's either a buffoon or a rat, and yet their aim is to do the classiest news possible. Totally sounds like a sitcom.
btw - the men get similar treatment (McAvoy stoned during breaking news) but more often it's the men seen doing the serious work while the women are more as frantic and mishap-prone. Guess that's what killed the whole ordeal for me, it would volley between silly and pretentiously serious seeming more like 2 separate shows. But hey, a lot of people seemed to love it for that.
reply
share