'Orange' Is the New Face of Women on Television

EMMY NOMINATIONS FRIDAY, JULY 11, 2014 Jessica Miglio/ Netflix TAYLOR SCHILLING is nominated for actress in a comedy series for her performance as convict Piper. ‘ORANGE’ IS THE NEW FACE OF WOMEN ON TELEVISION The Netflix comedy’s inmates are flawed but sympathetic enough to earn 12 nods By Mary McNamara TELEVISION CRITIC n this year’s Emmy race, “Orange Is the and drama series nominees. New Black” embodies the most impor- But with 12 nominations, more than any tant change in television in recent years. other scripted comedy, “Orange Is the New I No, not Netflix. Women. Black” has a much bigger point to prove: “Orange,” with multiple-nominee “House Women, both as creators and characters, are of Cards,” does give Netflix an Atlas-like changing the nature of comedy, and television. stance over the television landscape; HBO is Set in a Connecticut correctional facility, the only other outlet with both comedy series the series was created by a woman (Jenji Ko- Emmy Nominations han), from a memoir by a woman (Piper Kerman) and features, with a few fine exceptions, an all-female cast. A single episode follows more female performers in a wider variety of roles than could be seen a decade ago in all the Emmy-nominated shows put together. Much has been made over the recent increase of female leads in television. Certainly, the great exodus from film to television began with women. When Mark Schafer/ HBO she couldn’t find roles in movies, Sally LENA DUNHAM (with Andrew Rannells) is Field came to television, as did Glenn nominated for actress in a comedy series for her boundary-blurring “Girls.” Close, Holly Hunter, Kyra Sedgwick, Mary-Louise Parker and Geena Davis. Women still working prolifically in film soon followed — Laura Linney, Toni Collette, Anna Paquin, Kathy Bates, Melissa McCarthy. Their presence is not just a question of gender equity. As any good sociologist might have foreseen, this shift has changed how television tells stories, often blurring the lines between comedy and drama, between satire and pathos. There is no better example of this emerg- ing hybrid than “Orange Is the New Black.” Last year its star, Taylor Schilling, was nominated for a Golden Globe for lead actress in a drama series and lost. While some critics were surprised that Netflix considered “Or- ange” a drama, others saw the category switch to comedy for the Emmys as an odds-raising calculation. Compared with “Breaking Bad” and “Game of Thrones,” “Orange,” and its David M. Russell/ Showtime EDIE FALCO (“Nurse Jackie”) is a female-majority cast, could be dismissed as nominee alongside Dunham and lightweight. Taylor Schilling. Certainly it is as funny as HBO’s “Girls” or Showtime’s “Nurse Jackie,” two other Em- This, of course, is the basis of all comedy. my-loved, female-centric comedies that do a The shift is in the nature of the problems. lot of boundary-blurring. Women have historically been able to laugh There is plenty of drama in “Orange,” and at their romantic foibles, their marital fric- the laughter it provokes is often rueful, in tions, their familial imperfections and, more recognition of shared pain and the dreadful recently, their attempts to juggle all the de- absurdity of the personal choices that so of- mands on their time. But the flaws, and prob- ten cause it. Indeed, the humor of “Orange,” lems, of TV’s female leads mostly remained “Nurse Jackie,” “Girls,” or Showtime’s “The skin-deep. Big C” and HBO’s hospice comedy “Getting In this age of broken heroes and fractured On,” sometimes evokes a 12-step meeting. Or worldviews, the women we watch are still a consciousness-raising session in which the held to a higher standard than men. Unfet- first step toward change is not just acknowl- tered by either the whore or madonna tem- edging the problems the characters face, but plate, men can exhibit a far greater range of their universality. “bad” behaviors. Male leads don’t even have to ‘ORANGE’ IS THE NEW FACE OF WOMEN | FRIDAY, JULY 11, 2014 2 Emmy Nominations Jessica Miglio/ Netflix “ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK,” with Danielle Brooks, left, Vicky Jeudy, Uzo Aduba, Adrienne C. Moore and Samira Wiley, is nominated for 12 Emmy Awards, including for comedy series. be likable. In this age of the antihero, TV pre- finely drawn. fers its men broken, complicated, intriguing. Seven years after “Sex” premiered, Ko- Likability can actually be a drawback. han planted the seeds of “Orange Is the New Not so for female characters, for whom lik- Black” with her Showtime series, “Weeds,” in ability remains key. As some less-than-perfect which a newly widowed suburban mom turns female characters — Lori on “The Walking to drug dealing to pay the bills. Although Dead” and Skyler on “Breaking Bad” — have much more traditionally comedic in its ear- proved, women still must display some mea- lier seasons than “Orange,” “Weeds” made it sure of warmth, some degree of compassion, possible for a woman to engage in criminal, or risk audience vitriol. “Mad Men’s” Don and increasingly violent, behavior without Draper can essentially abandon his children alienating the audience. and still be the subject of our empathy, not so Now, as male comedians like Louis C.K. ex-wife Betty. Claire Underwood on “House use humor to prove that men can be passive of Cards” may turn out to be even colder and and bewildered and still be, you know, men, more calculating than her husband Frank, but the women of “Orange Is the New Black” can she isn’t allowed to have nearly as much fun do and say horrible things without being either. defined and diminished by them. As prison Comedy, as viewers discovered with “Sex inmates, they are all considered criminals; and the City,” allows female characters free- some are violent, some are psychotic and all dom not yet found in the “real” life of drama. near-fatally self-obsessed. But the narrative Carrie and company could have lots of diverse leavens their actions and predicaments with and meaningless sex without being consid- humanity — which is also the basis of comedy. ered sluts because the humor thwarted judg- ment, made room for the women to be more [email protected] ‘ORANGE’ IS THE NEW FACE OF WOMEN | FRIDAY, JULY 11, 2014 3.

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