Question of the week: which TV shows would be more interesting re-gendered?

11 January 2012 Rob Buckley TMINE 3 Comments

Suits on USA

So I’ve recently been watching Suits with my lovely wife – it’s coming to Dave in the UK on the 17th and I heartily recommend you watch it. But as I was watching it, a thought came to mind: it’s essentially about two blokes. Then another thought came to mind: is there any good reason why it couldn’t have been about two women? In fact, wouldn’t it have been even more interesting with two women in the main roles? Okay, Gabriel Macht’s fantastic but all the same, there are plenty of strong actresses who could have been Harvina Specter.

Guys – everywhere. Women? Not so much – at least not in these kinds of roles (don’t mention Ally McBeal anyone).

So this week’s question is a simple:

What TV show with primarily male leads would be more interesting with female leads? Or vice versa?

There are some shows that really need male or female leads – 2 Broke Girls, Man Up! and New Girl are all about situations specific to a particular gender. Even Suburgatory would have changed subtly if it were less about mean girls than mean boys.

But would Terra Nova have sucked less with a female lead? Would A Gifted Woman have been more interesting than A Gifted Man or just the same? Would Grimmin have been better – or just Buffy again? Would Boss have worked better with a female mayor?

What do you think? Answers below or on your own blog, please!

Author

  • Rob Buckley

    I’m Rob Buckley, a journalist who writes for UK media magazines that most people have never heard of although you might have heard me on the podcast Lockdown Land or Radio 5 Live’s Saturday Edition or Afternoon Edition. I’ve edited Dreamwatch, Sprocket and Cambridge Film Festival Daily; been technical editor for TV producers magazine Televisual; reviewed films for the short-lived newspaper Cambridge Insider; written features for the even shorter-lived newspaper Soho Independent; and was regularly sarcastic about television on the blink-and-you-missed-it “web site for urban hedonists” The Tribe. Since going freelance, I've contributed to the likes of Broadcast, Total Content + Media, Action TV, Off The Telly, Action Network, TV Scoop and The Custard TV.

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