I have known about and been somewhat aware of The L Word for some time now. I haven’t watched it religiously over the past few years—partly because I wasn’t living in California, and mostly because I have never had the money to pay for Showtime. But I had my mandatory crush on the show (Shane, though now, I’m leaning more towards Helena) and I knew enough to talk about it with friends. If you are a gay gal, you almost know about The L Word by osmosis—you just know.
But this year is different. I have friends with Showtime (read: money), and On Demand makes just about anything possible. Sunday night is a big TV night for me anyway—I am a cartoon freak, so I tune into The Simpsons and Family Guy. But when ten o’clock rolls around, the channel is changed to Showtime and I await my hour of lesbian drama.
For those of you who don’t know, The L Word is a show about lesbians, their lives, their loves, and their friends. It’s really the only show of its kind. It is set in super trendy West Hollywood and revolves around a group of friends—kind of like a lesbian 90210 or Sex and the City. The women have very different jobs (hairdresser, writer, artist, trust-fund baby, Web designer, limo driver, coffee shop owner) and desires (to have kids, to be a player, to sing, to love, to cause trouble), but the show centers around their commonalities—a group of women living and loving in Los Angeles.
The “star” of the show is Jennifer Beals, whom you might remember from a little flick called Flashdance. She has traded in the leg warmers for the power suits that her character Bette needs to navigate in the world of high art. Another main character is Bette’s straight sister, Kit, who is played by Pam Grier, the star of Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown. Other notables include Leisha Hailey (Alice), the former lead singer of The Murmurs, and Laurel Holloman (Tina), who played the lead role in The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love.
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