The L Word

This emotionally daring show centers not only on gay issues but a bit more to a relationship than sex… All the characters are complex but instantly likable…The nudity is not exhibited in a gratuitous manner, it is shown as part of the thoughts and feelings of the characters…

The main characters are:

Bette and Tina, a life partners who have been together for seven years… They have the best relationship of anybody gay or straight… They are about to do an incredibly major thing…

Into this mix comes Shane, a girl with short black hair who doesn't get involved with anybody; Alice, the bisexual writer who has one conviction that we're all connected through love, through loneliness, through one tiny, lamentable lapse in judgment; Dana who refuses to accept that whether you're gay, or you're straight, or you're bisexual, you just go with the flow; Jenny who has her world turned upside down when she met, at a party, the most stunning woman she had ever seen; Marina the owner of the little café who doesn't think she has done something wrong; and Kit, the lady with the flashing eyes, who has always wanted to have a place where musicians could come and jam and get much love...

As Bette, Jennifer Beals is a very well-rounded individual... She keeps replaying it over and over again in her head, just trying to figure out the exact moment when she could have stopped herself...

As Tina, Laurel Holloman gets the feeling from Bette that she's so proud to be with her, and she makes her feel really safe and loved…

As Shane, Katherine Moennig is amazing… She is an unattainable beauty who practices sex with no emotional entanglements...

As Alice, Leisha Hailey is constantly complaining about feeling sluggish… She ends up with the most complicated interpretation of sexual identity she's ever encountered…

Mia Kirshner gives the picture of togetherness and sanity to Jenny… She's beautiful and that compensates for a multitude of sins… While she is truly in love with Tim her increasing fascination with Marina permits her life to be wrecked with supposition…

Karina Lombard is definitely beautiful, sophisticated and hot as Marina… The really thing about her character is when she focuses on Jenny we truly feel that Jenny is the only human being that exists for her…

Erin Daniels knows that she is gay but is indecisive to reveal it…

Lolita Davidovitch is not exactly an innocent bystander… She tries to make others jealous in order to find the others desirable…

Rosanna Arquette never felt more alive than she has in the last 20 years of her life… But would she leave her husband, her child, her houses, her trips to Paris, her black-tie galas to run to some rank little love nest with a nice assistant hairdresser who barely has her foot in the door?

Much could be said about every character… Each actress takes on controversial subject while still injecting true different feelings

This artistically well-done Showtime-made TV series primarily focuses on portrayal of lesbians in their 20s to 40s as urban professionals and deals with their everyday issues; at the same time, thematic materials such as working on relationships or struggling against temptations have universal qualities so that any open-minded persons, regardless of gender and sexual orientation, can associate with the happenings in the show. Also, dramas without males' chauvinistic nature create a uniquely comfortable mood, which even the straight audience may feel refreshing. Gaining a wide range of supporters and fans beyond the lesbian community must be a big factor of the show's success, which made it possible for the series to continue to Season Two.

Speaking of the show's success, one cannot overlook its artistic merits, which are extraordinary as a TV show's. Many incidents are interwoven into one compelling story; a lovable ensemble cast that consists of a variety of personas engages in acting; and the director of photography Robert Aschmann takes full advantage of his skills and creativity in amazing long takes, aggressive crane shots, and illuminative lightings. There is inconsistency among episodes on writing, directing, and editing due to the fact that several different artists have worked on each episode; this drawback may be inevitable for a TV series. Among writers and directors, Rose Troche, the legendary director of Go Fish, writes believable dialogues and directs intimate scenes with crafts, while Lenka Svab stands out among editors, dazzling and mesmerizing the viewers with a deliberate disorientation. Some writers make homage to historic filmmakers such as Godard, Cassavetes, and Soderbergh by having the characters refer to them; this is a tiny detail but certainly amuses film fans.

I think that some people are so used to watching 1 or 2 dimensional garbage they wouldn't know a really good show if it jumped up and slapped them.

This show is EXCELLENT. Nuance, subtext, the characters (particularly Jenny - like her or not) are so real... they breathe! I've read a lot of comments in different forums about how these women don't look like "lesbians". I'm not sure what "lesbians" they've been looking at but the ones that I know look a lot like these women. Progressive, professional, feminine, sexy and proud of it. Keep up the good work Chaiken and crew!

i checked out the show, to be honest, for the reason you might expect. and for that purpose i was pretty disappointed. but i'm not entirely crass and i continued watching. now i'm a cinephile who doesn't make a lot of time for TV shows, but this was a truly terrific achievement.

this is a top shelf, highbrow, a-class, quality show for intelligent people almost exclusively. the characters are well-developed, and backed by nuanced performances. the dialogue rings true, never TV-like at all. and the story arcs are present without that pesky soap-opera feeling.

on top of that, the shot selection and cinematography are freewheeling and experimental(sometimes to a fault-as in the rotating camera in the Chinese restaurant-but no matter). the show is more than worth an hour out of my week.

that damn theme song however is the worst. so ham-handed and silly, ugh. it practically undoes all the subtlety of the show when it wails "this is the way that we live!!" not to mention that awful list of verbs in the middle. and such a long song too! that and the sometimes equally obtuse selection of music for the soundtrack is the worst bit.

...and by seeing it, I mean watching more than just one episode, particularly a pilot which automatically alerts someone to the fact that a show is just starting out and hey, give it some credit or a chance before you blow it off.

that said, obviously I'm a huge fan of the show. While it does have a somewhat shaky start (and what doesn't?) the show really hits it's stride during the middle of the season as the characters and, I'm led to believe, actors really begin making and displaying the bonds they share.

While it may a lesbian show, an hour long, a drama, a comedy, a creative reflection of real life, it is ultimately a television show and I personally think it's brilliant for what it is. Some argue that the characters aren't believable, the plots too 'out there', the lesbian characters too beautiful or glamorous and I don't agree with any one of them for the simple reason that it's a TELEVISION SHOW, television itself being the epitome of glamour and idealization, and a damn good television show at that. Television is, as I said above, a creative reflection of real life, it's not meant to actually be real life.

Erin Daniels, in particular, is amazing as Dana Fairbanks. She has you laughing hysterically one minute and in sympathetic tears the next. Not to mention the rest of the cast, who neither under or over play their characters and sort of allow their characters to come through them instead of being forced. It's hard to explain, but there's something about the dynamic of this cast, of this show, that just draws you and doesn't let you go.

I recommend you give it a watch, and a chance and if at the end you still don't enjoy it than it's fair enough, at least you tried. However, I do believe the show is strong enough and that well put together that you can't help but like it, you can't help but care what becomes of these characters, and you can't help but want more.

on a side note, Lauren Lee Smith who plays a guest character called Lara is so adorable it's not even funny. As Leisha Hailey. And Jennifer Beals. (who are both mains)

(as you can see, the show also makes it hard to have and hold onto a favourite character, they're all appealing and all wonderful)