Parents' Guide to Riot Women

This brilliant, smart, funny, heartfelt series loses points with many viewers when they hear it's about post-menopausal women, which is terribly ironic considering its premise. But Riot Women is not Golden Girls or Hot in Cleveland. No cap on either of Riot Women's spiritual predecessors, each of which found an audience during its time on TV (and Golden Girls endures astoundingly in the streaming era), but both always carried with them an element of satire: Isn't it wild that these old biddies are carrying on like this? The women of Riot Women, in contrast, don't inhabit a sitcom world with its hijinks and amusing misunderstandings. These women seem real: imperfect, cranky, occasionally delightful, and incredibly angry at being disregarded by a world that used to value them.

"Do you ever feel like you're living in an alternative universe where women of a certain age become invisible?" Beth, our main POV into the Riot Women world, muses to her clueless younger boss in the show's first episode. He doesn't know and doesn't care; he's just another character who's half-listening to Beth, someone who has a lot to say. It's simply beautiful to watch her band come together, made up of these wounded but powerful women who quickly learn to value both themselves and their part in making a great big beautiful noise everyone can hear. They also value each other, and it's just as lovely to watch a supportive network of friends blossom. Riot Women is a delight, for viewers who see themselves reflected in Beth and Kitty and Jess and Holly, and for anyone who has struggled to show there's more to them than meets the eye. And hey: Isn't that everyone?