The L Word - The Complete First Season

So how does one write a show about lesbian's in a city as tough as LA? While I've never been there, it seems as though the writers of this show haven't either--nor have they ever met a lesbian--or completed an undergrad course in creative writing. The constant comparisons to S&TC are valid in that this show attempts to link these characters and their lives with the same humorous and sentimental string we saw work so well for our favorite NY daters. The problem? The L Word proves painfully disjointed and overwhelmed with its own attempts at supporting such a large cast--so much so it often slips into terrible cliché patterns that almost destroy the enjoyable aspects of the show. One cannot help but cringe at the site of Tina's pout and whine combo, Bette's (and Shane's, and Dana's) out-of-no-where obsessive love attractions or Jenny's completely bizarre breakdowns over the most insignificant events (and the poems--eek!). Relationships come and go with almost no explanation either way--plot and character development is cast aside and you often find yourself groaning at the screen, "Why?!!" or "not another breakdown, please." If this show were about portraying women with coping mechanisms of a five year old, then I could understand--Girl Interrupted was an interesting film I guess. But I thought I was renting something smart, challenging and explorative. I thought "The L" was about strong women, their relationships, their lives, their missteps--but it ends up a kind of schizophrenic jumble of grossly sentimentalized floss-thin plots, faucet-like love affairs and embarrassingly bad dialogue.

Okay, so that said (I know, how can I redeem myself from here?) there are good parts of the show. The soundtrack is fantastic, the women themselves are great to look at, and when the writers let go of their pretense and let the "camp" out, it's funny, mildly witty and somewhat engaging. The premise has potential and the casting phenomenal--but there is just too much happening, too many divergent themes and stories and too little development to make it really POP the way Sex and the City did. I feel bad for the cast because their talent is really lost in the convolution. I hope that some of the mistakes of the first season are mended as the series goes on and the writing tightens up a bit. Will I watch? Yes--my crush on the cast makes me retain hope that Showtime will recognize the flaws and fix them. We'll see when I rent season two. And while I know the writing will never be on par with HBO, I'll keep holding out that the script will grow up, Jenny will stop being so scary and Shane and Alice will spend a little more time on screen.

I really enjoyed watching this DVD Set. Its serious, funny, and provactive. i liked the way the stories developed and how the producers intertwined the stories together. One thing i really liked were the featurettes that begin some of the later episodes and provide a framework for the episode and its characters. The best one being the one featuring danas mother in epeisode 9.

The characters seem real enough and the relationships that develop over the course of the season are believeable. I especially like the story lines that followed Shane, and Alex and Tina. What started well but got more boring as it went on was the marina 7 jenny storyline. it got to weird with the introduction of characters later on and some ofthe twists weren't really believable.

The BIGGEST tragedy of Season one was the relationship between Lara and Dana. This was the greatest story of the entire season. it was so romantic and they seemed so good together. you wanted them to be together, but the story ends strangely. Theres words and feeling left unsaid and not acted on. lara wants dana to be herself and once dana is herself she never trys to reconnect with lara. And in the remainding episodes dana goes on about lara was the best thing she ever had...but she doesnt go back to her.

I never saw so many gorgeous "lesbians" in my lifetime. There is not an unattractive one in the whole lot. Okay, this is a TV show so I'll pretend I'm okay with the beauty factor. The show was well-made, very pleasing to the eye for the most part and I enjoyed seeing the seedier neighborhoods of LA. On the other hand, both Jenny and Marina (especially Jenny though) got on my nerves quite a bit and I wanted to slap Tina around frequently. I agree with the reviewer who said Pam Grier's talents were wasted. Jennifer Beals plays an annoying character (Bette) but it is mostly realistic and she is so beautiful you want to watch her all day long. Dana and Alice are type-cast as providing the lighter side and the comic relief. As for Shane, I am not quite sure what to think. All in all, it had me sitting in front of the TV for a long time so it's worth giving a try.

A few years ago, it would have been outrageous to think about a show focused on a group of lesbians. The gay community have been able to achieve, one step at a time, more and more ground and the area of entertainment and showbiz is no exception.

Writer Ilene Chaiken brought us The L Word. A story about a group of very different women who have to face their lives upon the fact that they're gay or bisexual.

The main characters presented are the 7-year old couple, Bette Porter and Tina Kennard, played by Jennifer Beals and Laurel Holloman; the writer-to-be, Jenny Shecter (Mia Kishner), along with her boyfriend Tim Haspel, played by Eric Mabius; the athletic, and closeted Dana Fairbanks, interpreted exquistely by Erin Daniels; the funny and charming Alice Pieczeski, played by Leisha Hailey, and last but not least, Karina Lombard plays Marina Ferrer, who will have a very interesting role along with Jenny and Pam Grier who plays Kit Porter, Bette's sister.

The lives of this women living is Los Angeles is quite diverse, and we'll learn about romance, deceptions, lies, lovers through the eyes of lesbian characters. The reality and the pains, the discrimantion and the acceptance, whether its by family, coworkers or complete strangers.

The story is quite good, and fortunately, if you are yet to explore this world , you can enjoy both seasons 2 and shortly, season 3.

This first season includes 13 episodes:

Pilot
Let's do it
Longing
Lies, Lies, Lies
Lawfully
Losing it
L'Ennui
Listen up
Luck, Next Time
Liberally
Looking Back
Locked up
Limb From Limb

Also included are photo galleries and audio commentaries.

The DVDs feature English and Spanish audio. I really must say that the only downside of this is the Spanish audio, it's absolutely hideous. The quality is poor and the spanish accent is horrible. This is quite a disappointment, because The L Word is a show that's getting quite popular among the Latin American audience and many people won't understand English audio. I would have wished that there would be spanish subtitles available, unfortunately this doesn't apply for any of the seasons so far released.

I heard about TLW when it first came out a few years back, but since I don't have ShowTime, I had no idea what it was about until about a year later when my aunts let me watch s1 on DVD...I was hooked instantly!! (Tina's my fav!) They're a great cast, great plot, and most of all it represents gay & lesbian life in a positive light...
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