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Minority Report Card: New Girl, Sleepy Hollow and more.

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“Sam? Where?” – Cece Meyers
“Yes, he’s right over there. He’s talking to a woman whose sexuality I won’t jump to conclusions about.” – Jess Day

In this column I watch all of the new network premieres and see if they pass the Bechdel test, a test which asks if a work has two women who interact with each other. I then modify the test to apply to people of color (the “Troy and Abed test”) and to queer people (the “Will and Jack test”).

Dancing with the Stars (ABC)

This reality show pairs celebrities with professional dancers in a competition. It returned for its 17th season this week.

Bechdel test: Pass
Troy and Abed test: Pass
Will and Jack test: Pass

Notes: Other than their use of the awful song “Blurred Lines”, I have no complaints here.

Sleepy Hollow (Fox)

This drama retells the legend of Sleepy Hollow as a Biblical apocalypse story. It premiered this week.

Bechdel test: Fail
Troy and Abed test: Pass
Will and Jack test: Fail

Notes: This show has excellent racial representation, although the main character is white, but only one major character is female.

Bones (Fox)

This detective procedural returned for its 9th season this week.

Bechdel test: Pass
Troy and Abed test: Pass
Will and Jack test: Fail

Notes: This show has some of the best representation on TV, although I wish they would add a second queer character.

Dads (Fox)

This sitcom about two men whose fathers move in with them premiered this week.

Bechdel test: Pass
Troy and Abed test: Fail
Will and Jack test: Fail

Notes: The network claimed that while they admit the pilot is racist, the rest of the show will not be like that. Two notes about that: 1. The ads for the show explicitly said that it includes racial stereotypes. The network was not only aware of this, but actually bragging about it and expecting it to be a draw. They only backed away from that after groups complained. 2. Even if they had to air the pilot to get the exposition (as if people would have that any trouble catching up on the concept of “their dads had to move in with them”), they could have at least aired the second episode the same night in a two hour premiere to try and assure people that they’re capable of making a non-racist episode. Their response to people’s rightful criticism wasn’t even half-hearted.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Fox)

This sitcom about cops in Brooklyn premiered this week.

Bechdel test: Fail
Troy and Abed test: Pass
Will and Jack test: Fail

Notes: This show probably has the best representation of this season’s new shows. Although the pilot didn’t pass Bechdel or Will and Jack, the 3 female characters and 1 gay character are well-defined and have a strong roll in the action and comedy.

New Girl (Fox)

This sitcom about a group of roommates returned for its third season this week.

Bechdel test: Fail
Troy and Abed test: Pass
Will and Jack test: Fail

Notes: The fact that an episode of a show with a female lead whose female best friend is also a major character failed to pass the Bechdel test points to a major issue with this show– Cece has been reduced to simply being Schmidt’s love interest. It’s bad enough that they’re not giving her an inner life of her own, but now they’re not even allowing her to fill her role of Jess’s best friend (after Cece’s wedding was called off, Jess’s phone rang with a call from Schmidt, not from her best friend).

Survivor: Blood vs. Water

This reality competition returned for its 27th season this week.

Bechdel test: Pass
Troy and Abed test: Pass
Will and Jack test: Pass

Notes: I’m not aware of any major complaints with the representation on this show.

Last Man Standing (ABC)

This family sitcom returned for its 3rd season this week.

Bechdel test: Pass
Troy and abed Test: Fail
Will and Jack test: Fail

Notes: This show generally does a good job with female representation and writing people with different view points equally well– even if you can’t stand the Tim Allen character’s xenophobic views, you can still enjoy the show for his more progressive daughters. So, I’m generally a fan, but the treatment of their Latina maid in this episode was a touch condescending– though she did get more lines in and came across as an overall stronger character than most of the Latina maids I’ve seen on network TV.

The Neighbors (ABC)

This family sitcom returned for its 2nd season this week.

Bechdel test: Pass
Troy and Abed test: Pass
Will and Jack test: Fail

Notes: This isn’t necessarily a dealbreaker, but it’s probably worth mentioning that all of the people of color on this show are aliens (the only Earthlings on the show are one five person family). This premiere introduced the detail that Abby and neighbor Reggie have been in a romantic relationship for months and have barely even held hands. I’m curious to see how they’ll use this human/alien relationship to explore the idea of asexual romance.

Shark Tank (ABC)

This reality show where people compete to get their businesses funded returned for its 5th season this week.

Bechdel test: Pass
Troy and Abed test: Fail
Will and Jack test: Fail

Notes: Aside from The Bachelor/Bachelorette franchise, I find reality competitions usually have better racial representation than scripted TV, but this episode was noticeably lacking in racial diversity.

The Mindy Project (Fox)

This sitcom about a doctor returned for its second season this week.

Bechdel test: Pass
Troy and Abed test: Pass
Will and Jack test: Fail

Notes: The character of Tamra seems to have been promoted to series regular, so there’s a second woman of color in the cast.

Next week we’ve got premiered up the wazoo, so check back here next Monday for reports on Grey’s Anatomy, The Big Bang Theory and much more.


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