Opinion | HBO's 'Somebody Somewhere' and the Rise of the Female TV Antihero - The New York Times
When we meet Sam, the 40-something protagonist of the HBO dramedy "Somebody Somewhere," she has returned to her hometown, Manhattan, Kan., to care for her dying sister — and finds herself stuck there, single, unhappy, struggling with aging parents and a dead-end job. While her other sister runs a tchotchkes shop and her friend Joel creates vision boards, Sam seems to be moving away from, rather than toward, the objects of middle-class aspiration: marriage, children, job security.
At one point, she tells Joel she's going to spend a Saturday writing up her goals and accomplishments, before chucklingly admitting her real plans: "I like to lay around drinking wine in my underwear."
And why not? It's a relief to see the women of small-screen comedy and dramedy turning their backs on ambition, personal growth and self-actualization. From "Enlightened" to "Broad City," from "Girls" to "I May Destroy You," female protagonists flout expectations that they be hard-working and socially responsible, gravitating instead toward indolence and self-sabotage. They quit their jobs when they get bored; they reject stable relationships, remunerative work and even personal dignity.
Women on TV are getting messier
An unscientific attempt at charting the trend:
Show premiered in the past five years
Having it all
Whitley Gilbert
Murphy Brown
"A Different World"
"Murphy Brown"
Mary Richards
"The Mary Tyler Moore Show"
Monica Geller
Khadijah James
"Friends"
"Living Single"
Leslie Knope
Molly Carter
"Parks and Rec"
"Insecure"
Carrie Bradshaw
Ji-Yoon Kim
"Sex and the City"
"The Chair"
Mindy Lahiri
"The Mindy Project"
Rachel Green
"Friends"
Shirley Feeney
Jane Villanueva
"Laverne & Shirley"
Liz Lemon
"Jane the Virgin"
"30 Rock"
Laverne DeFazio
Issa Dee
"Laverne & Shirley"
"Insecure"
Denise Huxtable
"A Different World"
Samantha Fink
Phoebe Buffay
"Single Drunk Female"
"Friends"
Hannah Horvath
"Girls"
Anna Kone
Maya Ishii-Peters
"PEN15"
"PEN15"
Arabella Essiedu
"I May Destroy You"
Nadia Vulvokov
"Russian Doll"
Sam Miller
"Somebody Somewhere"
Aine
"This Way Up"
Abbi Abrams
Bridgette Bird
"Broad City"
"SMILF"
Ilana Wexler
Fleabag
"Broad City"
"Fleabag"
Losing it all
Women on TV are getting messier
An unscientific attempt at charting the trend:
Show premiered in the past five years
Having it all
Whitley Gilbert
Murphy Brown
"A Different World"
"Murphy Brown"
Mary Richards
Khadijah James
"The Mary Tyler Moore Show"
Monica Geller
"Living Single"
"Friends"
Leslie Knope
"Parks and Rec"
Molly Carter
"Insecure"
Carrie Bradshaw
Ji-Yoon Kim
"Sex and the City"
"The Chair"
Mindy Lahiri
"The Mindy Project"
Rachel Green
"Friends"
Shirley Feeney
Jane Villanueva
"Laverne & Shirley"
Liz Lemon
"Jane the Virgin"
"30 Rock"
Issa Dee
Laverne DeFazio
"Insecure"
"Laverne & Shirley"
Denise Huxtable
"A Different World"
Samantha Fink
Phoebe Buffay
"Single Drunk Female"
"Friends"
Hannah Horvath
"Girls"
Maya Ishii-Peters
Anna Kone
Arabella Essiedu
"PEN15"
"PEN15"
"I May Destroy You"
Nadia Vulvokov
"Russian Doll"
Sam Miller
Aine
"Somebody Somewhere"
"This Way Up"
Abbi Abrams
Bridgette Bird
"Broad City"
Ilana Wexler
"SMILF"
"Broad City"
Fleabag
"Fleabag"
Losing it all
Women on TV are getting messier
A completely unscientific attempt at charting their rise:
Show premiered in the
past five years
Arabella Essiedu
Ji-Yoon Kim
Jane Villanueva
"I May Destroy You"
"The Chair"
"Jane the Virgin"
Samantha Fink
Aine
Monica Geller
"Single Drunk
Female"
"This Way Up"
"Friends"
Leslie Knope
Ilana Wexler
Murphy Brown
Mindy Lahiri
Issa Dee
"Parks and Rec"
"Broad City"
"Murphy Brown"
"The Mindy Project"
"Insecure"
Anna Kone
Losing
it all
Having
it all
"PEN15"
Abbi Abrams
"Broad City"
Nadia Vulvokov
Mary Richards
Phoebe Buffay
"The Mary Tyler
Moore Show"
"Russian Doll"
"Friends"
Liz Lemon
"30 Rock"
Molly Carter
Rachel Green
Fleabag
Denise Huxtable
"Insecure"
"Friends"
"Fleabag"
Maya Ishii-Peters
"A Different World"
Whitley Gilbert
"PEN15"
"A Different World"
Bridgette Bird
"SMILF"
Sam Miller
Shirley Feeney
Khadijah James
"Somebody
Somewhere"
"Laverne & Shirley"
"Living Single"
Carrie Bradshaw
Hannah Horvath
"Sex and the City"
Laverne DeFazio
"Girls"
"Laverne & Shirley"
It may sound dangerous to celebrate all this narcissism, fecklessness and sloth, but it's also liberating: Who among us has not wanted to ditch a boring job and set their wellness plans on fire? We were already exhausted before lockdowns and day care closures; now, nearly two years into this pandemic, "it's as if our whole society is burned out," wrote Noreen Malone in The New York Times Magazine.
"Somebody Somewhere" is a far cry from the single-girl sitcoms of the past, which have generally followed the arc of the bildungsroman, in which the protagonist develops self-reliance and self-respect, ready to meet the challenges of becoming an adult. These new story lines are, instead, versions of what the feminist scholar Susan Fraiman calls narratives of "unbecoming," featuring protagonists who undermine their own growth and education, and are more likely to be mired in failure than striving toward wedding rings and corner offices.
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