Women's Film --> Women's TV?

In class, we have been discussing "women's film" as a specific cinematic genre, focused on a female lead, featuring more than one woman, and centering on the psychology, feelings and actions of women. "Women's issues" are often confronted or brought to attention through a male character, and spectator identification is proffered by a female point of view. This has got me thinking about not only some films I have seen that would fall into this "women's film" genre, but how they can be taken into consideration along with not only other genres, but other medias. Similar to this "women's film" category, I feel that there is a "Women's television" genre that is not only historic, but is infinitely popular on today's networks. Examples of this genre span decades, from "I Love Lucy" all the way up to Courteney Cox Arquette's new series "Cougar Town," with diverse shows in between. Women's television includes not only these comedic programs but also includes many dramatic programs, such as "Ally McBeal" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and even children's shows and cartoons such as "Pepper Ann," "Kim Possible" and "iCarly" and "Hannah Montana." 

Not only is the diversity of these shows, and of their cinematic counterparts, interesting, but also the way that such shows and movies function in multiple genres is equally fascinating. For example, "Cougar Town" can be compared to similar comedic programs centered on male protagonists. The short-lived "Joey" comes to mind. While this show starred Matt LeBlanc, a "Friends" alumni like Arquette, from its commencement it was considered a mediocre program, disappointing many old "Friends" fans. The show lost a vast female audience when it chose to follow Joey as opposed to one of the leading females in that they lost a psychological point of identification. 

Similarly, "Buffy" meshes the "women's television" genre with both a fantasy and an action genre. However, far from objectifying women as fantasy and action genres usually do, these elements serve to further empower Buffy as a physically and mentally strong, independent female functioning in a manner that will ultimately, at the end of the series, save the universe.