BY SARAH SHAW
To men, women may be hard to figure out. To other women, women may be hard to get along with, but to advertisers, women are extremely profitable. And they are funny.
It seems that now more than ever, prime-time comedies are filling the screen with leading ladies in roles they deserve as Hollywood finally gets the message that laughing ladies equals high ratings.
With the success of Bridesmaids this past summer and Saturday Night Live producing such comediennes as Tina Fey, Kristen Wig and Mia Rudolph, it was only a matter of time before female stand-up made its way from the tiny stages of New York’s dingy clubs to the glamour that is the small screen.
This season features multiple shows from the perspective of women, without them being projected as whiny, materialistic or simple background noise.
Here are two great shows to tune into:
Whitney, a show based on the stand-up routine of Whitney Cummings, channels everyday ups and downs women face while working and living with their boyfriends in a big city. Spawning from real-life scenarios and shot in front of a live studio audience, Whitney is honest and forthright in discussing relationships as they truly are. Featuring everything from the nit-picking women do to the awkwardness that role-playing in the bedroom can result in, Whitney shows the honesty that happens when a couple has been together for years.
Two Broke Girls, a show written by Michael Patrick King (writer of Sex and the City; the ultimate girls’ show) and produced by Whitney Cummings, had the highest fall premier rating of any comedy since 2001.
Based out of Brooklyn, Two Broke Girls tells the story of two young women of different economic backgrounds struggling to make a life for themselves.
Both in their early 20s, the women (played by Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs) try to sort their way through the challenges of being on their own for the first time.
As the only show on mainstream television right now detailing the lives of 20-something single women, it serves its purpose well while being funny and believable.
Both shows share enough similarities and enough differences that they allow for different audiences to appreciate them.
The actresses, who are truthful, honest and hilarious, are receiving laughs from both genders. It’s about time.