Stealing the Show

November 1, 2017

Women like Shonda Rhimes, Lena Dunham, Tina Fey, Amy Schumer, and Mindy Kaling are indeed revolutionizing television, and here's a look at both backstory (Roseanne, Murphy Brown) and current success (Orange Is the New Black, Transparent) from longtime critic/editor Press.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 1, 2018
Women have run successful TV shows for decades, but they still routinely face bias and unreasonable obstacles in the industry, as Press (former Salon entertainment editor) details in this powerful narrative that expertly weaves reporting, analysis, and anecdotes. The author profiles 13 female showrunners and their most notable works, starting with Murphy Brown’s Diane English and ending with Transparent’s Jill Soloway. What comes across in Press’s 30-year timeline is how little has changed: barriers are erected and women clear them time and again. English calmly battled network executives over details (such as how long Murphy Brown was to have been married in the show), while Soloway had to shed a reputation for being “difficult,” which Press notes “is the second-ugliest word for a woman in Hollywood to hear next to ‘unrelatable.’ ” The shows have grown bolder and more complex—as for example in the blunt frankness of Lena Dunham’s Girls or in Weeds’ Nancy Botwin’s flirtation with being “an actively bad mother”—but a troubling culture remains: “The fact that forces of repression are now emboldened and energized,” Press writes, translates to a “vital and urgent” need for “diverse and unconventional voices.” Press’s chronicle of a pop-culture movement should inspire a new generation of women creators.

January 1, 2018
A veteran cultural critic examines the rise of female-centric TV and the pioneering women showrunners behind their successes.Groundbreaking female characters and their stories have become fixtures in American TV in recent years, but their presence hasn't always been welcome. Press (War of the Words: 20 Years of Writing on Contemporary Literature, 2001, etc.)--former TV critic at the Village Voice and entertainment editor at Salon and the Los Angeles Times--draws from decades of interviews, research, and reporting to create a vibrant behind-the-scenes look at the some of the most prominent women creatives in the industry and the role they played in bringing women-focused narratives to the forefront of modern TV and culture. She devotes the first chapter to Murphy Brown and the revolutionary sitcom's creator, Diane English, one of the first female showrunners to prove that a woman could lead a successful show. English set an important precedent for future women showrunners and their unapologetically brazen TV heroines--Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes, an industry trailblazer whose portrayal of unabashedly ambitious, sexually formidable, "unlikable" women of all different races, ethnicities, sexualities, and abilities transformed the TV landscape. Rhimes' "color blind" casting helped her build her Shondaland TV empire and effectively normalized the idea that nonwhite, nonmales can be successful on-screen, behind-the-scenes, and in real life. In the most intriguing and intimate chapter, Press examines Transparent creator Jill Soloway, whose real life served as inspiration for her award-winning show about a family who recently learned that their parent is transgender. With a keen eye and a sharp writing style, the author presents the argument that, despite the limited power of TV and the current political backlash facing women, increased representation on-screen has the potential to inspire a cultural revolution not unlike the current revival of the feminist movement. The author also profiles Mindy Kaling, Tina Fey, Amy Schumer, and Jenji Kohan, among others.An urgent and entertaining history of the transformative powers of women in TV.

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February 1, 2018
Journalist Press takes readers inside the minds and writers' rooms of the pioneering female showrunners who have created some of the most iconic shows in recent memory. In a profession that has largely been dominated by straight white men, female scribes not only had to fight their way into writers' rooms but they also had to persevere with their own projects against networks that primarily sought out shows with male protagonists. Diane English and Roseanne Barr were trailblazers in the late 1980s with their respective comedies: Murphy Brown, which focused on a driven career woman, and Roseanne, which centered on a working-class family led by a caustic matriarch. On the drama side, Amy Sherman-Palladino's 1990s mother-daughter drama, Gilmore Girls, and Shonda Rhimes' thrilling, emotional, buzzy Grey's Anatomy both had a significant cultural impact. Between interviews with the showrunners themselves as well as the writers and actors they employ, and even a set visit to Jill Soloway's seminal Amazon dramedy, Transparent, Press gives television lovers an inspiring, eye-opening look into the way women are creating groundbreaking, original content.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)