Quote:
However, the network was encouraged by the young male viewers the show was able to draw in the face of competition from "The Bachelor" and "Fastlane."
"We believe 'Birds of Prey' proved there's a fantasy audience there and a male audience there," WB Entertainment president Jordan Levin says.
I cannot express how angry that makes me to read. It would seem that all of a sudden the young male (12-21) viewer demographic is THE audience to woo when it comes to TV shows, and I don't understand why.
This is going to be a big angry rant, so apologies to any male readers of this list...the lot of you are sensitive, intelligent, and not the people I am referring to when I say the following:
Boys in that age group are emotionally immature. It is mostly not their fault. They are driven by major chemical/hormonal changes going on in their bodies, and when seeking out entertainment sources, are most often NOT looking for quality plot development, fine acting talent, and well rounded, developed characters. They are looking for big explosions, cool special effects, and naked women. In my opinion, this is why most film/television critics who are successful are upwards of age thirty, instead of 17.
Now, take shows like Birds of Prey, Buffy and Charmed. The core, the foundation in which these shows SHOULD be (and once were) built on are strong, savvy, feminist, independent female characters. These kinds of women are mostly very threatening to the young male 12-21 demographic. Can someone tell me WHY WHY WHY a producer of a show would choose to alter the makeup of a show in order to cater to said demographic, rather than stay true to the orginial idea of strong female heroines, which would be appealing to both a younger and older demographic of female viewers. Is there some reason why the female viewing demographic is becoming LESS IMPORTANT than its male counterpart? Does anyone else recall that comment last year by Marti Noxon in which she cheerfully reported that although the ratings were clearly down in season six, there was a huge increase in the young male 18-21 audience of Buffy? Connect the dots here, people!
It reminds me of Sarah McLachlan talking about the Lilith Fair, and how she was told over and over by fincial backers that an all-female show would never sell tickets. For some reason, execs seem to think that a female driven show with truly empowered characters who have inner strength and are not overly sexualized and objectified are both non-interesting and non-marketable. Bullshit. Look at CJ Craigg on the West Wing; she is by far the most popular character on the show, if not on prime time television shows across the board. Likewise for Marg Helengenberg and Georgia Fox's characters on CSI. It makes me furious that the characters on all three of these female heroine shows don't have nearly the level of complexity, strength and dignity that other non feminist shows are allowed. Overcompensation much? Granted, each of the three shows, Buffy, BOP, and Charmed have had times when the female characters have been allowed to be true heroines, but time is passing and we know what happened to BOP, and Charmed and Buffy are on a downward spiral.
BOP fell victim to network execs/writers who sacrificed the strength of the characters in order to entice younger [male] audiences interested in sex appeal and a boyfriend. This needs to stop. I think I'm starting a new round of letter campaigning. I have to do something.
at: 11/27/02 12:48:30 am
at: 11/27/02 1:10:59 am
It was a fun little revelation at the end of the episode - and it made up for the evil murdering gay baseball player we got on Law & Order later that night. 
, but last time I checked their site, there was an interview with two of the BoP actresses scheduled:
).