Women & Hollywood: Liz Lemoning of TV

Talk TV World is excited to welcome Melissa Silverstein as a featured blogger.  Silverstein's blog Women & Hollywood has become a respected site for issues related to feminism and pop culture. 

In 2008, it was named by More Magazine as one of the "blog to watch," and in 2009, it was named "Best Hollywood blog" by totalfilm.com. Featured posts from Silverstein's blogs will appear here on TalkTVWorld.com. Visit WomenandHollywood.com for more from Silverstein.

It's that time of the year when spring is in the air and we all shed our dreaded winter coats and look into out closets and check out the spring/summer apparel with a fit of excitement and dread. (Will that one fit after this particularly cold winter?)

It's also the time when movie watchers like me start to get excited thinking about some things that are on their way to the theatres. Winter is particularly brutal for movies about women but the early spring thaw has brought us two good flicks The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Runaways.

One thing I am excited about is the new Tina Fey-Steve Carrell movie Date Night. I am hoping (and who knows if I am right cause I haven't seen it) that maybe, finally we could get a comedy that both men and women will like and can go to together that won't demean women.

I mean it's all about Tina Fey. She is our savior, right? She's on the cover of Vogue, Esquire and Entertainment Weekly. I can't think of another woman who has moved the dial in such a positive direction on TV since Roseanne and Candice Bergen. Roseanne was never able to take her brand of comedy and make it work in the movies, but Tina has. While I want to see more films with her in the lead, I'll take Date Night because I want to see more of her.

The reason why I so over the top about Tina is because she is everywoman. While Feministing wrote a great piece about how beautiful women on TV are made to look ugly like Betty, on Ugly Betty and Rachel on Glee, to me the fact that we have women on TV looking normal is a huge boost. One thing that all those "uglified" characters have in common in that they are all strong, bold and feminist women. I for one am thrilled that Tina looks like a normal woman on her show. I think that when she gets dressed up for award shows, that's when she looks uncomfortable. She works with her friend and 30 Rock costume designer Tom Broecker on her red carpet looks and understands that she is a role model for all of us who hate on stockings. He told Vogue: