A few more words about The L Word

When I wrote about The L Word recently, I commented on how unlikeable I find most of the characters, but conceded that emotionally unhealthy characters are what make a soap opera tick. Having covered the women, I now want to add that the show also goes out of its way to display men in the worst light possible, but again, that is soap style. The men on The L Word are wimpy (the toads who work for Bette), menacing (Tim), totally nuts ("Lisa," the man who wants to be a lesbian), or conmen (Shane's friend from her former life; Kit's new man, Benjamin Bradshaw; and Shane's and Jenny's totally creepy roommate who spies on the women in order to make a film, and who is so dishonest that he has even conned himself into believing it is a "documentary").

Another interesting thing about these supposedly worldly and hip lesbians is that--other than Kit, who is Bette's half-sister--they have no straight friends. How hip is that? Even Alice, the bisexual character, and Jenny the not-yet-labeled character, are never seen with straight friends. Which brings up another interesting subject: When does Alice work? I'd like to be a journalist, too, if all I did was hang out with my friends and go to parties. And as for Dana, if the producers are going to give her more tennis scenes, she's going to have to do something about that insipid swing.

In the show's defense, Camryn Manheim may be the best guest star yet.

One of the things I like best about The L Word is that it comes on right after Desperate Housewives , another over-the-top soap that manages to be both campy and on-target at the same time. By simply changing the channel, you get two hours of lurid, entertaining mockery of "enviable" lifestyles. The difference is that Desperate Housewives knows what it is, while The L Word can't seem to decide whether it wants to be melodramatic, silly, or just plain provocative.