The L Word

The L Word is a television drama series that portrays the lives, loves and learnings of a group of lesbians and bisexuals and their friends, family and lovers in Los Angeles.

The show airs on Showtime in the United States, Living TV in the United Kingdom, Pro7 in Germany, Showcase Television in Canada, Catchon in South Korea, Network 7 in Australia, 2nd Avenue in the Philippines and yes+ in Israel.

The show was created and is executive produced by Ilene Chaiken (Barb Wire, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air). Other executive producers include Steve Golin (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and Larry Kennar (Barbershop). Besides Chaiken, writers of the show include Guinevere Turner (Go Fish, American Psycho) and Rose Troche (Go Fish, Six Feet Under). The L Word is filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia at Coast Mountain Films Studios, which was formerly Dufferin Gate Studios Vancouver and originally owned by Dufferin Gate Productions, the sister company to Temple Street Productions, the Canadian producer of Queer as Folk (U.S.). The pilot episode premiered on January 18, 2004, and since then three seasons have aired; the fourth began on January 7, 2007, with the fifth scheduled for broadcast early next year.^[1]

The show is primarily set in the trendy L.A. neighborhood of West Hollywood.

Cultural implications

The L word has been part of the mainstreaming of gay culture on major television shows.^[2] Other shows that have also qualify for this distinction include Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Queer As Folk.

Cast and characters

Main article: List of The L Word actors

Main article: List of characters from The L Word

In the first season, the main cast was composed by Jennifer Beals (Bette Porter), Erin Daniels (Dana Fairbanks), Pam Grier (Kit Porter), Leisha Hailey (Alice Pieszecki), Laurel Holloman (Tina Kennard), Mia Kirshner (Jenny Schecter), Karina Lombard (Marina Ferrer), Eric Mabius (Tim Haspel), and Katherine Moennig (Shane McCutcheon).

For the second season, the characters played by Karina Lombard and Eric Mabius were written out. New cast members included to the show were Eric Lively (Mark Wayland), Sarah Shahi (Carmen de la Pica Morales), and Rachel Shelley (Helena Peabody).

The third season saw a new storyline of a Female to Male Transgender with the character Max Sweeney, portrayed by Daniela Sea.

Besides the exclusion of the characters played by Erin Daniels and Sarah Shahi, new members for the fourth season's main cast were Marlee Matlin (Jodi Lerner), Rose Rollins (Tasha Williams), Janina Gavankar (Papi), Cybill Shepherd (Phyllis Kroll) and Kristanna Loken (Paige). Karina Lombard reappeared as Marina for several episodes during the season.

Episodes

Main article: List of The L Word episodes

Season Synopses

Season 1

Main article: The L Word (season 1)

Season 1 was first aired in the United States on January 18, 2004, and featured 13 episodes. Several entwined storylines are presented. Set in West Hollywood, the series first introduces Bette Porter and Tina Kennard, a couple with a seven-year relationship who want to have a child. Tina eventually becomes pregnant through artificial insemination but has a miscarriage during episode 1.09: Luck, next time. Later in the series, Bette develops an affair with Candace Jewell, which Tina discovers during the season finale. ^[3].

During the pilot, a coming out/love triangle storyline is introduced in the show, which involves Tina’s and Bette’s next-door neighbor, Tim Haspel, his new-in-town girlfriend, Jenny Schecter, and Marina Ferrer. Marina is part of Tina and Bette’s circle of friends and also is the owner of neighborhood café, The Planet, which as the group's hang-out, serves as a focal point for the show. The season also presents Shane McCutcheon, an androgynous, highly sexual hairstylist and serial heart-breaker; Dana Fairbanks, a professional tennis player who is still in the closet and torn between pursuing her career and finding love; and Alice Pieszecki, a girly, bisexual journalist looking for love in any way she can.

Season 2

Main article: The L Word (season 2)

Season 2 began airing in Showtime on February 20, 2005. It starts by unveiling to the viewers a secret Tina is keeping from everyone: she successfully became impregnated after a second insemination. Tina begins seeing Helena while Bette’s life is portrayed as a wreck: alcohol abuse, problems with her job, the death of her father in episode 2.11:L'Chaim, and getting fired during the season finale. Tina and Bette reconcile during the final episode. Since the character of Marina was written out from the show, the Planet is bought by Kit Porter^[4].

Introduced in the second season are Carmen de la Pica Morales, a confident DJ who becomes part of a love triangle with Shane and Jenny; Helena Peabody, the daughter of a wealthy supporter of the arts and who later becomes Tina's temporary love interest; and Mark Wayland, a documentary filmmaker who moves in with Shane and Jenny. Mark makes them part of his latest documentary, by setting up hidden cameras in the house to videotape them. During episode 2.09: Late, later, latent, Jenny discovers Mark’s tapes and also Carmen’s true love.

Season 2 also presents insights into Jenny’s past as an abused child in episode 2.11: Loud and Proud along with episodes of self-mutilation that climax in the season finale. Also, the storyline covers a developing affair between Alice and Dana which becomes a public relationship in episode 2.07: Luminous.

Season 3

Main article: The L Word (season 3)

Season 3 first aired in Showtime on January 8, 2006. The storyline is set six months after Angelica's (Tina's daughter) birth. Tina's and Bette's relationship as a couple is decaying^[5] and finally ends when Tina settles a heterosexual relationship on episode 3.10:Losing the light^[6].

New characters in this season include Moira Sweeney (a working class butch who is Jenny’s girlfriend for most of the season) and Angus Partridge, who is Angelica’s male nanny and who further on becomes Kit’s lover^[7]. Sweeney later starts the process of transitioning from female to male, switching his name to Max. With respect to Shane and Carmen, the relationship that had started in season 2 is kept and the further advance of it leads Carmen to face her family and reveal her homosexuality to them in episode 3.09:Lead, follow or get out of the way^[8].

Concerning Alice and Dana, during the first episode of the season the viewer is informed they are no longer dating and that Alice is having a hard time dealing with it. Dana is later found to have cancer and is ultimately written out of the show in episode 3.10: Losing the light, dying of a heart failure^[6]. This death triggers Shane to ask Carmen to marry her in the following episode. Carmen agrees, but in the season finale Shane does not show up to the ceremony.

Helena's character storyline is switched from being Bette's rival into a new member of the circle of friends, paired mostly with Alice. During episode 3.01:Labia Majora she buys a film studio^[5] and later in the series Tina starts to work for her^[9]. Further in the season, Helena meets a documentary producer with whom she has an affair: Dylan Moreland, portrayed by Alexandra Hedison. A sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Dylan during episode 3.09:Lead, follow or get out of the way^[8], along with Helena’s prodigal behavior puts her family business in jeopardy. During the season finale, her mother Peggy (portrayed by Holland Taylor) decides to cut her off financially.

Throughout this season, each episode begins with a short pre-credits vignette of two individuals meeting romantically or sexually. As the season progresses lines from Alice's chart (see below) connect one member of each vignette with a new individual in the next. Beginning in the early 1970s with a housewife named Marilyn, these connections eventually wind through several of the series main characters showing scenes of their earlier lives until it ends with Lara, alone in Paris. A much older Marilyn is introduced in the season finale, showing once again the interconnectedness in all of their lives.

Season 4

Season 4 is expected to have 12 episodes. The season premiere, Legend in the Making, aired on January 7, 2007.^[10] Filming began in Vancouver, on May 29, 2006.^[10] Showtime announced renewal of the series, in a February 2, 2006 press release^[11]:

Joining the show's fourth season are Academy-Award winner Marlee Matlin,^[12] three time Golden Globe winner Cybill Shepherd,^[13] Kristanna Loken,^[14] and Janina Gavankar.^[13] Karina Lombard will reprise her role as Marina Ferrer for a few episodes throughout the season.^[15]

Season 5

On March 9, 2007, Showtime announced the pick-up of a fifth season of The L Word, for 12 episodes, claiming the show to be "a signature franchise", and one of its most popular series.^[16]

The Chart

A notorious aspect of the L word is its constant reference to The Chart, which is a recompilation of the affairs that go around Alice's surroundings. In its origins, The L Word was to be based around Pam Grier's character Kit Porter, who was initially written as a lesbian with The Chart tattooed on her back.^[17] When Kit Porter was changed into a straight character, The Chart was given to the character of Alice instead.

According to the storyline, Alice first started the Chart on the back of a napkin. In Season 1 it was moved from the whiteboard stretched across one wall of her apartment to an internet site of Alice's own creation. It would be impossible to reproduce the whole Chart into a simplistic network, since its lines cross and tangle, reflecting the changing sexual liaisons of the series itself.

The Chart's popularity among the lesbian community within the show grew as the network became public. During episode 1.02:Let's do it, Alice attempted to write an article about the chart in L.A. Magazine. As she was unable to convince her supervisor editor of the validity of such an article, she opted to publish the Chart on the internet instead. The network was then enriched by the visitors, and was one of the resources used in season 1 when Lara's sexual orientation was in question.

Late in season 2, the Chart regains plot relevance in the show when a disturbing encounter with Alice's former girlfriend Gabby Deveaux prompts her to put it up as a topic during an interview at KCRW. In the story, the producer was amazed at the complexity of the affair network and granted Alice a section for its public discussion. The program's low popularity is mentioned during episode 2.11:Loud and Proud, but by the third season it is pictured as a hit among the lesbian community, even heard at public places (Dana is forced to listen to an ad of the program while visiting the hospital in episode 3.04:Light my Fire).

From Alice's point of view, the Chart is about her and how she is connected to everyone else on it. Any of the main characters can be connected to Alice in less than four moves. In fact, in episode 2.08:Loyal, Alice claimed she could connect almost anyone to her in less than six moves. However, in episode 1.02:Let's do it it is established that the major contributor to the Chart is Shane, which is later confirmed during episode 1.12:Locked up by a comment in which she points out her connections could sum up to about twelve hundred. A larger "hub" in the Chart is found during episode 4.01:Legend in the making. As the series advances, the Chart becomes bigger, being enriched by the relationships every character develops. During Season 3, the Chart serves as a marginal storyline that advances through each episode and concludes in the season finale.

A more recent online version of the Chart is a presented in the fourth season premiere. It is available online at www.ourchart.com.

References on Pop Culture

• The show has introduced several neologisms:
  • In the pilot episode, while checking out a girl they've never seen before, Dana coins the word "Cris-pay!"
  • During the first episode of season three, Labia Majora, the phrase "Panty Hamster" was introduced as a euphemism for "vagina."

• Several shows have referenced the The L Word:
  • On the medical drama House Dr. Gregory House said he watches The L Word, but only on mute.
  • On the dark comedy series Weeds, after finding her daughter Isabel kissing another girl, Celia Hodes asks her to focus on the L word for lesbian role models.
  • News satire program The Daily Show, which features news headlines altered to reflect pop cultural gags, referred to its coverage of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict as "The L War" on the July 24, 2006 episode. Host Jon Stewart is a close friend of L Word actress Jennifer Beals, and has previously invited her on to promote The L Word.
  • On Chapelle's Show:The "Lost Episodes", Dave Chapelle mentions "watching the L Word On Showtime, BYAAAAH!!" in his impersonation of Howard Dean's famous outburst in the election runnings. Dave (as Dean) - "I like lesbians. BYAAAAH, I watch The L Word on Showtime, BYAAAAH! *Smells his finger* BYAAAAAH!!!"
  • In the US version of The Office, when Michael Scott feels he is being accused of discrimination toward homosexuals, he cites watching The L Word as evidence to the contrary.
  • The fourth season Gilmore Girls episode "Scene in a Mall" features a scene where a germophobic Paris Geller is trying to keep her shared dorm room with an ill Rory Gilmore clean (including spraying Lysol on the doorknob), and mentions she'll be sleeping with the other girls in the dorm in their room that night, causing Rory to joke "How very The L Word" at the sleeping arrangement.
  • In the "South of Nowhere" episode "Girls Guide to Dating," when giving Spencer the "Are you hot for girls?" quiz, Ashley offered the first two seasons of "The L Word" on DVD as the prize.

Trivia

• The original code-name for the project was Earthlings, a slang word for lesbians.^[17] The Planet, the name of the group's main hangout, is a pun on the original title.

• Though not displayed onscreen, each episode's title (except the pilot) begins with the letter "L".

• The use of the phrase "the L word" to avoid saying lesbian is first recorded in the 1981 play My Blue Heaven, by the lesbian playwright Jane Chambers, where a character stammers out: "You're really...? The L-word? Lord God, I never met one before."^[18]

References

Wikipedia information about The L Word This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "The L Word". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.