The Return of Jezebel James

According to Michael Schneider at Television Verite, The Return of Jezebel James is one of the only female-led half-hour sitcoms left. And I’m not sure I agree with his conclusions.

So where did all of the roles go? For one thing, family sitcoms went away…

Also, the nets spent much of the early part of the decade chasing down those elusive young men… Young men, the conventional wisdom goes, will not watch female-centered sitcoms. But young women will tolerate laffers starring dudes…

Fox casting chief Marcia Shulman has another theory: Actresses these days are too afraid to appear too slapsticky…

Shulman also cites the modern backlash to feminism, which originally gave rise in the 1970s to the spate of female-driven shows like “Maude.”

Then, of course, there’s the obvious answer: Female-centered comedy didn’t disappear, only half-hour female-centered comedies did. They’re still thriving on the hour-long side…

There’s lots more in his article, about how female comedy leads are disappearing.

But I’m not sure I agree with his premise, that the female lead is disappearing. Going down my list of current and upcoming half-hour comedies, here’s what I have for comedies with a strong female lead character:

1. 30 Rock (returning to NBC after a season)
2. Notes from the Underbelly (returning to ABC after its first season)
3. Miss/Guided (coming to ABC)
4. Sam I Am (coming to ABC)
5. Girlfriends (returning to the CW for its eighth season… lasted longer than Gilmore Girls)
6. The Game (a spin-off of Girlfriends returning to the CW after a season)
7. The New Adventures of Old Christine (returning to CBS)
8. Rules of Engagement (dating comedy returning to CBS after a season)
9. ’Til Death (married comedy returning to Fox after a season… in the same time-slot Jezebel James will occupy)
10. Back to You (coming to Fox, Patricia Heaton plays opposite Kelsey Grammer)
11. The Big Bang Theory (coming to CBS, “A woman shows two brilliant physicists how little they know about life,” starring Kaley Cuoco.)
12. The Return of Jezebel James (coming to Fox… Yeah, we know about this one.)

That’s 12 on network TV. I didn’t count any of the new shows coming to cable networks, like Lifetime and Oxygen.

Of course, maybe Michael’s definition of a “female-led” comedy” is different than mine. I would include any comedy with a strong female lead character, regardless of whether there are also strong men in the cast. Maybe he can’t do that, because it’s not politically correct.

Like Roseanne, I’d rather make political in-roads.

(Update: On the other hand, Paul Harris reports, Strong women dominate new US TV shows.)

But Michael and I are both men. I’d like to think that in my years on earth, I’ve learned a little more about women than Eddie Stark. Still, I’m frequently wrong on the subject.

So I’d like to hear from a woman. What do you think? Does the female-led comedy need a revival? (Leave your comments below.)

-TimK