Theresa Basile

[Women’s History Month, Day 29]

All in the Family is another show that is on my to-watch list. I haven’t seen much of it, but I’ve seen enough to add Jean Stapleton to my Women’s History Month celebration. Edith Bunker was a remarkable character, one who could have easily been a cartoonish stereotype in the hands of a less capable actress. Naive and trusting, kind and understanding, Edith was the good side of Archie and a worthy character herself.

There’s an episode of All in the Family where a stranger tries to rape Edith. I wanted to link to that episode because it’s a great piece of acting from Jean Stapleton, but the episode is too visceral and too important for me to talk about in a 250-word post. I will probably write about that episode at another time. For now, I’ll link to a clip from the episode where Edith discovers that her late cousin was in love with a woman – she doesn’t completely understand the larger implications of that relationship, but she understands love and she can convince her husband to exercise his empathy. Everything about it is moving, and Stapleton was just a gem as Edith Bunker.

[Women’s History Month, Day 28]

Between Golden Girls and Girls, there was Sex and the City. I have not written about Girls in this Women’s History Month series because I think everyone knows how I feel about that show by now, and even though I like Zosia Mamet as Shoshana, she’s not influential enough to me to include in my Women’s History Month posts. Golden Girls is a show that everyone tells me is amazing, and I believe them, but I somehow have gone through life without being a Golden Girls fan, and even though I fully intend on becoming a Golden Girls fan sometime in my life, I haven’t seen enough to write about the show yet.

Reruns of Sex and the City, on the other hand, were a staple during my college years. I liked Charlotte and Samantha, I…tolerated Carrie (but liked Sarah Jessica Parker’s acting), and I loved Miranda. Witty and smart, sarcastic and brittle, with a bigger heart than she ever admitted to having, Miranda was the only character I loved on that show.

The following clip is one of the few from Sex and the City that moves me every time I see it. I can’t even care that the bra saleswoman is a little too pushy, because the result – Miranda breaking down in front of a stranger and finding comfort from the same person – is just the best. Cynthia Nixon rocks.

[Women’s History Month, Day 27]

Disclaimer: I don’t usually care for shows and films that cast beautiful actresses as “ugly” characters, because it always seems like the casting people are trying to avoid giving work to anyone who isn’t conventionally attractive.

I make an exception for this next actress, though, because a) we don’t see enough women of color on television, period, and b) she’s so good that she makes me forget that the braces and the wig and glasses are all part of a costume.

For four years on Ugly Betty, America Ferrera played a character who was always insecure about her looks, but never her overall worth as a human being. She had moments of deep insecurity and moments of confidence. She was sometimes hopelessly naive, optimistic, and too trusting, seeming younger than everyone around her, but those were nicely balanced with moments where she seemed wiser than everyone in her circle. She was always a delight to watch, the very definition of a character you love to love, whom you root for in every step of her life. Ugly Betty was my happy show, one that always put a smile on my face, and a lot of that was due to Ferrera.

The first of the next two clips is not one of Betty’s best ever moments, but it still illustrates (to me, anyway) why Betty was just so stinkin cute and huggable. The second clip illustrates why I felt for her in her hopeless crushes (and also why Eric Mabius as Daniel was the other big reason I loved the show so much, because I swear he looks gobsmacked in love with Betty in every damn scene they have together. Brother/sister relationship my butt). Betty, you ARE beautiful, inside and out, and you always were.

[Women’s History Month, Day 26]

I mentioned yesterday that Daria Morgendorffer is one of my heroes. This is true. I admire this fictional cartoon character more than I can say, and I admire Tracy Grandstaff more than I can say for portraying this character for five years.

But I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the other voice actors who made Daria the show that it was. Daria would not have been Daria without the vocal talents of Wendy Hoopes, who did the voices of THREE major characters on the show.

Hoopes was Helen Morgendorffer, Daria’s overly ambitious lawyer mother who didn’t always understand her oldest daughter but really wanted to.

Hoopes was Quinn Mordgendorffer, Daria’s popular younger sister who had more depth than anyone ever anticipated.

Most importantly, Hoopes was Jane Lane, Daria’s cool artist best friend, the friend I always wanted when I was in high school. I was a Daria who badly needed a Jane, and I will always be grateful to Hoopes for voicing Jane.

I couldn’t find any good, long, embeddable clips of Helen, Quinn, and Jane, so we’ll have to settle for this shorter clips. Enjoy.

[Women’s History Month, Day 25]

I’m not sure it’s possible for me to put into words how much this fictional character means to me.

Daria Morgendorffer was my hero when I was in high school. I dressed as her for Halloween in my sophomore year, piecing together an orange tank top, green jacket, black skirt, and black boots, keeping on my glasses and trying to keep my voice as free of affect as possible. Boys in my class called me Daria as an insult (though I took it as a compliment, because Daria is the best.)

But the boys were wrong. I could never completely pull off the Daria impersonation. Despite my affinity with Daria the character, I could never perfectly imitate Tracy Grandstaff’s deadpan delivery that was so essential. That wall of sarcasm was so unique…and whenever the wall came down and Daria allowed herself to be emotional and vulnerable, it got me right in the heart.

Enjoy some of these great Daria moments. I miss her.

[Women’s History Month, Day 24]

Long before Ryan Murphy had an obnoxious after-school special masquerading as a comedy/drama known as Glee, he had…well, another obnoxious after-school special masquerading as a comedy/drama known as Popular. But before Popular became obnoxious, it was pure, delicious camp, and the campiest character of all was the Texan cheerleader, Mary Cherry. Leslie Grossman went all out in her portrayal of this…I don’t even know what to call her. Just watch and enjoy.

[Women’s History Month, Day 23]

I, Claudius is one of the best programs I’ve ever seen. It’s a soap opera set in ancient Rome, complete with Shakespearean dialogue and bloody fantastic acting. The cast of characters is filled with schemers, manipulators, people who want to fight their way to the throne, and a short list of people who were above all that nonsense and just wanted everyone to be decent citizens.

Antonia, played by Margaret Tyzack, was one of those people. Tyzack did not have an easy role in I, Claudius. While the other characters were trying to poison and murder each other for their own selfish interests, Antonia just wanted Rome to stay decent, and was forced to watch the great city crumble in front of her.

Tyzack played a character who was more fundamentally decent than most people on the show, yet couldn’t feel or show any affection to her youngest son. She was noble, decent, and morally upright, but also cold and sometimes unfeeling. The following clip demonstrates her talent in playing Antonia, the good but cold woman who has had enough of this degenerate life in Rome. (WARNING: skip to 1:00 if you just want to see Tyzack. The first part of the clip is pretty bloody and disturbing.0

[Women’s History Month, Day 21]

This next performance affected me even though it was from a show I did not regularly watch.

I’ve been sort-of feminist since I was a little girl, but my understanding of feminism was shallow. I detested signs of weakness in girls and women (even though I was often teased for being a crybaby). As a young teen, I thought girls who wasted their time mooning after boys were stupid and shallow, because boys were stupid and not worth it, obviously.

I was still in this “boys are stupid and I hate them all (except for that really cute smart guy in my class who plays guitar and likes Monty Python)” phase when Felicity first aired. I was thirteen years old, and my babysitter was a college student who worked with an autistic child (my brother), and I thought she was a really cool person. She wanted to watch Felicity on a night where she was looking after my brother.

The whole premise of Felicity was one I should have hated – a really smart girl gives up her future so she can follow some guy to college. Boys were stupid and school was cool and any girl who threw her dreams away to follow some stupid boy was an idiot!

Except I didn’t feel that way about Felicity. I didn’t see a stupid girl who threw her life away over a boy. I saw a smart and lovable girl who made a questionable decision and had to find her way out of it.

Did it help that the babysitter I admired had very similar curly hair as Felicity? Yes, it probably did. But Keri Russell’s warmth and intelligence also contributed to my sudden empathy with the character. She made me think that, perhaps, a girl who made a bad choice about a boy wasn’t worth writing off. Maybe girls who made stupid choices about boys were still smart girls, and one decision didn’t define them for life.