The L Word - TV-MA

This word should only be in an adult's vocabulary.

TV Rating: TV-MA Network: Showtime Genre: Drama
Available on: DVDDownload

Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that this mature Showtime drama is a textured, complicated depiction of the lesbian scene in Los Angeles -- which makes for great grown-up TV, but not necessarily family-friendly fare. Sex, foul language, and questionable behavior abound ... but so do complicated, very human reactions and relationships.

Families can talk about what it means to be a lesbian and how difficult it is to exist in a world that has problems accepting people's sexual preferences. How complicated must it be to love someone and have that not be accepted by everyone important to you? Families can also discuss how there are many similarities between heterosexual and homosexual relationships.

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: S. Jhoanna Robledo

Prurient minds may think that this hour-long drama is nothing but a romp-fest of naked women. And, in many ways, it is. Women do have sex -- and lots of it -- in this show, but that's not what it's all about.

THE L WORD depicts lesbian relationships much like straight relationships: Messy, passionate, bewildering, challenging, and, if one should be so lucky to find a stable, solid one, ultimately fulfilling. That's the good part.

Here's the rub: While the series is stylish and its ensemble cast is obviously quite talented, in many ways it panders to the stereotypes it tries so hard to smash. Shane (Katherine Moennig) is a female lothario, going through her list of conquests without an ounce of care. Disappointingly, however, she's caricatured -- as if to say she's just acting like a "man" instead of like someone who's simply unwilling to commit.

Jenny (Mia Kirshner), meanwhile, is the woman awakening to her lesbian tendencies (predictably, she's a poet, as if to say only "creative types" go through sexual confusion). Why can't she be an accountant?

But some of the winks hit their mark, as with Dana (played by Erin Daniels), a female tennis player coming out of the closet (a nod to Martina Navratilova?) in fantastically awkward ways. And there's the delicious/painful rollercoaster of Bette (Jennifer Beals) and Tina (Laurel Holloman), who struggle to make their live-in relationship work.

It's exciting for lesbian relationships to have such a frank forum; for them to be characterized in living color, with all their complications; and for the "L" word not to be a forbidden word anymore. And with the hip L.A. backdrop, it's an exciting and dazzling, even intoxicating, milieu. But it's not perfect, and it's definitely not for kids.

Adult fans may also enjoy Queer as Folk, Six Feet Under, and Big Love.

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Content		CS	adults	kids
Content
Sexual Content Constant innuendo, banter, and simulated sex. The show is intended to be very racy.
Violence Road rage is about as violent as it gets with this drama, which relies more on emotional upheaval.
Language Conversations are peppered with talk of sex and the gamut of swear words ("damn," "s--t," "f--k").
Message
	Social Behavior Lying, infidelity, theft -- like any other place, the world depicted here is riddled with human imperfection.
	Commercialism The show is set in hip Los Angeles, so there's a high awareness of fashion and celebrity-driven trends.
	Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco Alcohol abounds in social situations, as do recreational drugs.