The L Word

NoH8 · September 2007

Showtime has 6 of the season 4 shows on demand for any fans. I've been waiting for this ever since I got my free year of showtime. I hope/wish they put the rest on demand, like they did for Weeds. I had a minimarathon last saturday and watched all the episodes. I love Cybill Shepard's character.

Anonymous · September 2007

Oh Amy, it just gets better and better! I sooooooooo can't wait for January when the new season starts!

Enjoy!

~Marin

NoH8 · September 2007

Do you have your showtime back Marin???? I really hope they put season 3 up so I can see the breast cancer story line.

Anonymous · September 2007

No Showtime until the next L Word season. I really can't afford it, but I'm saving my pennies for the 3 months I'll subscribe. You absolutely MUST see the bc story...it's a little scary, but also seems somewhat far-fetched. Sad though....definitely sad....

~M

NoH8 · September 2007

Marin you need to talk to your cable company and get it for free. Ask if there are any specials for a free or reduced trial-- particularly if you have comcast. I did mine in person when I had to exchange a cable box and I KNOW she went out of her way to make sure I got the best package. She bundled all the free things together for me when you're only supposed to get one (like HBO or showtime) for 3 months.

NoH8 · September 2007

Showtime put the rest of season 4 on comcast demand so I got to see those yesterday--a 6 hr marathon for me. I REALLY hope they put the older seasons on, particularly the breast cancer story line.

Anonymous · September 2007

Amy....Why don't you rent the DVDs for the earlier seasons? That's how I got caught up. Then you can watch as much or as little as you want at once. And we all ready for the upcoming season!

~Marin

NoH8 · October 2007

Laziness -- but i probably will do it eventually.

peggee · October 2007

my gf and i are in season 3 - - just watched the bc episodes. they could have done a better job with the topic - - it seemed like they rushed through it

NoH8 · December 2007

I just read this-- especially for MARIN if you don't have your showtime yet:

Season 5 of The L Word will premiere on its companion online social network, OurChart.com, for free a week before its Jan. 6 Showtime debut.

Anonymous · December 2007

Oh YAY, Amy...I'm fainting with excitement (I really need a freakin' life, huh?)! I love the website and will be sure to catch it early. The season comes just in time for me to re-up with Showtime. I need to catch up with this past season of Weeds too. Oh so much to do and not enough time!

~Marin

Anonymous · December 2007

BTW, are you all caught up? I'm curious to know what you think of Jodi (Marlee Matlin's character)? I adore Bette and really wanted to see her back with Tina or at least with someone a bit sweeter than Jodi. Jodi scares me and her attitude towards children...?!

~Marin

NoH8 · December 2007

I adore Bette too. She is my type. On one hand I love the Jodi character and Marlee Matlin is a marvelous actress. On the other hand I don't like Jodi if that makes sense. I don't want her back with Tina-- unless Tina stops being so confused.

I really like Shane-- I've seen her on Law and Order and think she's hot. I like Cybill shepard's character too.

I only got to see last season- I never rented the other seasons-- or at least haven't yet.

Anonymous · December 2007

Well, Shane seems to be the very favorite of the majority of women (lesbians) I know and, frankly, I don't get it, but perhaps that's because I'm straight..? I mean i love Shane and would love to have her as a friend, but I think she looks like a skinny little boy ragamuffin. Bette, on the other hand, is a class act and absolutely gorgeous! Well, that's my taste, I guess. I actually wouoldn't mind Bette with that new bi-girl who's with Shane...but maybe she's had enough bi's with Tina, huh?

~Marin

NoH8 · December 2007

I can only speak for myself, but I have no interest in being with someone who's bi. Maybe I'd change my mind if I was really attracted to one who was. I think it's a trust issue for me. As for Shane, I think she's sexy for some reason although personality wise I doubt I'd ever date her. I need someone way more together than her. Do you have a screen name on ourchart.com? I just signed up. I'm a lot older than many of the women who post there, I see a lot of college age women.

Anonymous · December 2007

No, I never signed up, but maybe I will now that the season's about to start and there might be more activity. Maybe my daughter has one though...I'll have to ask her. Speaking of that, she just sent me something from AfterEllen (do you go there?) about the theory that Louisa May Alcott was gay and that she was intimating that Jo march (character in Little Women, as you probably know) was gay as well....intriguing thought, huh?

~Marin

NoH8 · December 2007

Wait--- Jo March was gay?????? I must have missed that. Funny, I always wanted to like the character Amy because we shared a name, or to be selfless like Beth or good like Meg-- but I was a Jo at heart.

Anonymous · December 2007

I always identified with Jo. I come from a family of four girls and it's actually astounding how our "characters" mimic the LW ones! Here's the article:

http://www.afterellen.com/blog/locksleyhall/was-jo-march-really-a-lesbian

~Marin

NoH8 · December 2007

Hmmm-very interesting article, but I can't help to agree with some of the comments that it's "lesbian wishful thinking" and not really based on known fact. Even the quote from Alcott "'I am more than half-persuaded that I am a man's soul, put by some freak of nature into a woman's body ... because I have fallen in love in my life with so many pretty girls and never once the least bit with any man" to me isn't convincing, because during the period when she lived, gender expression was clearly defined in clothing and role. While she may well have been a "man's soul" she may just have been more progressive in women's roles in society and Jo did end up with the prof if I remember correctly. I wish it was clearer because I'd be thrilled if Jo was for sure.

Anonymous · December 2007

Not to belabor the issue, but didn't you assume that Jo married the professor for intellectual companionship more than anything? It certainly never seemed romantic or, god forbid, sexual??! Surprised

~Marin

NoH8 · December 2007

No, I enjoy the debate. I find intellectual companionship incredibly sexy. It's one of the biggest turn ons for me. I don't think Alcott could have written about "sexual" in a mainstream book during that time period, though she could have written about romantic. I think she showed different types or romances between the 3 surviving sister. I'm going to reread the book, if I can find it upstairs. I haven't ruled out that Jo was gay, just that as some on afterEllen called it "lesbian wishful thinking". I reread the article you linked to and the comments. It's impossible to know for sure whether Jo was an early feminist or a lesbian or bisexual or straight. I'd love to be gung-ho she was a lesbian-- I just can't with the information.

I was a big LW fan as a kid and read an autobiography of Alcott for a book report in 5th grade. It was a huge book and I don't remember anything from it, but I might check out a current autobiography of LMA to look for "clues".

Anonymous · December 2007

I was a big fan too. I've always been a voracious reader and used to always get in trouble for sneaking books to the dinner table. My favorites were books about "tomboys" even though I wasn't especially rough 'n tumble myself. Did you read Caddie Woodlawn? How about the Trixie Belden series? And, of course, Nancy Drew was my idol, even though I could have done without Ned (funny how I just love NED now Laughing !).

Let us know, Amy, if you uncover any "evidence"!

~Marin

NoH8 · December 2007

What about Ramona the Pest? She was my alter ego when I was in kindergarten. I liked Nancy Drew too, but also could have done without Ned no relation to NED. I liked the Little House books and The Five Little Peppers. I never read Caddie Woodland or heard of Trixie Belden. The first "lesbian" themed books I read were when I was a teenager and they fascinated me, but I never made the connection probably because in a small town in the 70s I didn't know anyone or have anyone to talk to about it.

NoH8 · December 2007

http://www.louisamayalcott.org/witandwisdom.html

This seems to indicate more about her tomboyishness than lesbianism. I don't think there will be definitive proof, even the quote the article on afterellen used about having falling in love with many women is proported and not proven according to a few things I read today.

BTW, in my website travels today I read that the author of Harriet the Spy was a closeted lesbian who never acted on her impulses.

Little Women was first published in October 1868. Louisa's publisher, Mr. Niles, had urged her to write a book for girls. She wrote:

"I plod away, through I don't enjoy this sort of thing. Never liked girls, or knew many, except my sisters, but our queer plays and experiences may prove interesting, though I doubt it. ... Sent twelve chapters to Mr. N. He thought it dull; so do I. But I work away and mean to try the experiment; for lively, simple books are very much needed for girls, and perhaps I can supply the need."

~Journals of Louisa May Alcott, 1868

Seventeen years later, Louisa was able to write:
"The copyright made her fortune, and the "dull book" was the first golden egg of the ugly duckling."

~Journals of Louisa May Alcott

Anonymous · December 2007

Great job, Amy! It does seem that LMA might have been pretty uncomfortable with traditional female roles and though that may have caused her some pain in her own emotional life, I'm happy that she created Jo as a strong role model for growing girls. She was that for me and reinforced the idea that girls & women could express themselves and aspire to more than becoming only a socially-acceptable wife and mother. The other books did the same for me. I never read Ramona before my daughter started reading them and i liked them too. One day I'm going back and read all of the children's books that I missed and the ones that have come out since! Oh, and Little House on the Prairie? I was SO Laura, even to the point of trying to dress like a pioneer girl!

Were we talking about Bette and Jodi? Wink

~Marin

NoH8 · December 2007

I got one of those prairie sunbonnets when I was a kid so I could dress like Laura Ingalls- lol. I'm a bit younger than you and the same age as Melissa Gilbert, who played Laura on tv. I used to wear sundresses (closest thing I could find to the dresses on LHOP) and the sunbonnet. My mother wouldn't let me wear the cap to school, which in hindsight wasn't as mean as I thought it was back then, since I already got picked on enough! LOL.

Sometimes I go to the kids department at Barnes and Noble and look at all the books. Have you ever been to www.half.com ? They have cheap used books. I got my favorite lesbian one about girls at a boarding school (the lesbian gets kicked out and ostracized) at the site, it's been out of print for about 30 years.

Anonymous · December 2007

Wow, Amy, thanks for the website...I'd never heard of it and the book prices are great! I've wanted to buy Dr. Oz's newest book, but since it's still in hardcover and about $25, I was planning to wait it out, but half.com has it for....you guessed it, half the price!

I'm astounded that there is a book about a lesbian at boarding school that went out of print 30 years ago! I'll have to mention it to my daughter who, as you know, is in grad school for library science and has a special interest in women's lit and, as she calls it, "queer lit"! She may even be familiar with the book you cite.

~Marin

NoH8 · December 2007

I just found the book, it's called Last of Eden by stephanie s. toland and it was less than 30 years because the publishing date is 1980. There's another one called Crush that's been reissued about lesbians at a boarding school, I didn't think it was written that well. Funny, when I was a kid I always wanted to go to boarding school hehe.

I would love to discuss books with your daughter some day. I'm not as knowledgeable as I'd like to be.

Whe the Lword comes out we'll need a new LWord discussion thread because this one has become the lesbian literary thread. Tongue out What's your daughter's take on Jo?

I also wanted to clarify my statement about intelligence being attractive. The area(s) of intelligence have to have some interest for me. I dated a woman with a Phd in Classics (I had to ask what that was) and that is---- reading ancient Greek and Latin works in their original languages-- like the Iliad. I almost fell asleep before she explained to me what it was. She had just finished her degree and was looking for a new job to teach it-- I guess that's all you can do with that type degree LOL.

Anonymous · December 2007

Ah, the Classics! I went to an all girls' Catholic college and Classics was a required course. I recall that I tried to pass off the same term paper for both Ancient Art (art history) and Classics....it didn't go over well!

I understand about intelligence being a turn-on though...as long as it's attached to a beautiful body that is Wink ! I'm just kidding (sorta)...there is definitely something sexy about an exploring mind and the sense that the other has a broad scope of experience and perspective. And, conversely, there's nothing so unattractive to me as someone who is ignorant and close-minded, no matter how gorgeous the physique!

I'll have to ask her how she feels about Jo. I'm guessing that she may consider her a bit cowardly and a sell-out, but I don't know for sure...

Yes, I'm so incredibly excited that the new season is approaching! And we'll have nothing but new episodes to look forward to every week, unlike the regular network viewers who will be seeing just reruns until the strike ends.

~Marin

NoH8 · December 2007

I went to a catholic college for undergrad too- they just started admitting guys as day students and if you had one in your class it was unusual, two it was a miracle except for night classes. We didn't have to study classics, but did have to take 3 religion classes.

Do ask your daughter what she thinks. When I read that you believe she'll consider Jo a sellout I chuckled to myself, ahh youth. I would have probably said the same thing at her age.

NoH8 · December 2007

If you're not watching Gay Usa you should. They often have authors on in the last 20 minutes. There was one woman who came out later in life and has been writing lesbian fiction for 50 years. I wish I could remember her name.

The L Word

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