Note to Ilene Chaiken: Fire the writers

The last two episodes of The L Word might just as well have been called "Kill Jenny" and "Kill Alice For Good Measure, " but since all episode titles have to begin with the letter "L," perhaps "Let's Destroy Jenny" and "Let's destroy Alice, Too" would be more appropriate.

Alice has always been a mere breath away from obnoxious, but she had enough smart and cute going on to make us like her. No more. Now she is hideously intrusive, inappropriate, crude, and aggravating. When I see her, I want to stuff a sock in her mouth.

As I pointed it out in another post, Alice had become bisexual in name only, and sure enough--in the season opener--she said she had "come to my senses" and now considers herself a lesbian. That's okay, but there was no reason to change everything else about her.

What the writers have done to Alice pales, however, compared with what they have done to Jenny. Jenny has always been edgy--very edgy--a troubled young woman with no clear sense of self, sexually or otherwise, who is filled with anger. But Jenny was growing (too fast, when you consider that six months of psychotherapy wiped out all of her severe problems--just like that), and now, in this new season, she has regressed to a point that she no longer resembles any Jenny we have seen.

Jenny would not viciously attack Tina for being in a relationship with a man. Jenny would know the definition of the word "political." Jenny would not pull a modified Bill Frist with a pound dog. I hate this Jenny, and I really liked the old one.

One of the good things about this season is the addition of Cybill Shepherd to the cast, and an even better thing is the addition of Marlee Matlin, whose character Jodi is totally charming. My jury is stil out on the new character Papi, but so far, okay.

It is hard for me, as both a viewer and a writer, to imagine what is going on in the minds of this show's writers. Last season, they made Bette and Tina suddenly stupid, and this season, they have made Jenny and Alice people with whom I would find it painful to have even a cup of coffee.