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 Once regarded as the step child to Hollywood
movies, A-list actors like Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and
Susan Sarandon are flocking to TV series, and jostling for this
year's Emmy awards.
And there is more to come. Oscar winners Julia Roberts and
Penelope Cruz have their first big TV series lined up for next
year, while five-time Oscar nominee Amy Adams is due to return
to the small screen for the first time since 2005 as the star of
HBO's "Sharp Objects."
"There is no stigma attached to doing TV anymore, given the
opportunities and the writers who are working in television,"
said Debra Birnbaum, executive editor of television at Variety.
"There is great storytelling with multi-layered, dimensional,
rich characters and real women," she said.
While women have long complained about the paucity of good parts
for women in Hollywood movies, this year's female Emmy nominees
read like a Who's Who of acting.
"Feud: Bette and Joan," starring Jessica Lange and Sarandon as
Hollywood rivals Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, is seen by
awards pundits in a close race for the limited series Emmy in
September with "Big Little Lies," a murder mystery against a
backdrop of wife battering, adultery, rape and gossip.
"This was a great year for women's stories on television," said
Ryan Murphy, creator of "Feud," after the show won 18 Emmy
nominations on Thursday.
"Big Little Lies," stars Emmy nominees Kidman, Witherspoon,
Shailene Woodley and Laura Dern in a tale of rivalry and
sisterhood in which men take a decidedly back seat.
It was picked up and produced by Kidman, 50, an Oscar winner for
"The Hours," and Witherspoon, 41, who took home the Academy
Award in 2006 for "Walk the Line," as their first starring roles
in series television. The show has 16 Emmy nominations.
"There is an incredible audience for stories about women in
different places in their lives, and not necessarily about their
definitions of themselves in romantic ways," Witherspoon told
Reuters on Thursday.
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She said she and Kidman chose to make "Big Little Lies" for
television rather than as a movie because of TV's ability to connect
audiences with longer stories.
"The idea that the only prestige content is in movie theaters is a
fallacy," she added. "Our show was watched pretty much equally by
men and women, so the idea that men don't want to watch stories
about women is completely false.
"If anything it felt that you were pulling back the curtain on
female behavior a bit for men, showing their interior lives, how
they communicate and how they withhold."
This year's best actress contenders also include Elisabeth Moss in
the chilling TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's
Tale," Claire Foy as a young Queen Elizabeth II in "The Crown," and
Viola Davis as a flawed criminal attorney in "How To Get Away with
Murder."
Madeline Di Nonno, chief executive of the Geena Davis Institute on
Gender in Media, said it was "inspiring to see such a full spectrum
of female characters that are flawed and very relatable."
That's partly a result of the sheer number of television programs
now on offer -- around 400 scripted shows -- and the creative
freedom offered by disruptors like streaming services Amazon,
Netflix and Hulu, who have upended the traditional broadcast model
with bold, commercial-free content.
Di Nonno said it's also due to concrete steps by veteran TV
showrunners like Murphy, Shonda Rhimes, and Melissa Rosenberg to
hire more female writers, directors and women behind the camera.
"It excites me to see such rich roles for women on television," said
Birnbaum. "Emmy voters definitely have their work cut out."
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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