Love, Laughter, and Lesbians

‘The L Word’ goes for five. Plus Gloria Steinum and ‘The Wire.’

by Nancy Ford

Season four’s finale of The L Word, Showtime’s hit tribute to all things lesbian, left us wondering if season five might open with a Dallas -like shower scene, rendering the whole previous year just a bad dream.

Poor Alice (Leisha Hailey). She no sooner loses one love to breast cancer than she has to say goodbye to her new soldiergirl love, Tasha (Rose Rollins), who is headed back to Iraq.

Poor Tina (Laurel Holloman, who we liked so much more as the cute little tomboy in The Incredibly True Adventure …). Momentarily straight, Tina’s all better now and sniffing around Bette’s door again. That can’t bode well for the budding relationship between Bette (Jennifer Beals) and Jodi (Marlee Matlin).

Poor Jenny (Mia Kirshner). She’s adrift, literally and metaphorically, after going to unimaginable lengths to exact revenge on a book reviewer, the unfortunately named Stacey Merkin (Heather Matarazzo).

Poor Papi (Janina Gavankar). The perpetual playa finally found love with Kit (Pam Grier), only to be reminded that straight girls who play gay generally end up going straight back to their boyfriends.

Poor Helena (Rachel Shelley). Her fall from financial grace after being cut off from family funds at the end of season three landed her at the end of season four with her hand in Catherine’s (Sandrine Holt) cookie jar—all the way up to her elbow, if you will.

Probably The L Word ‘s sole L who can’t accurately be labeled “poor” is Shane (Katherine Moennig), who last we knew was happily headed to the suburbs with wife and child. Like that’ll last.

Stay tuned.

Premieres January 6 on Showtime. Details: www.sho.com/lword.

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‘The Wire’ begins final season

One of HBO’s best-kept secrets stays gay (or, at least, gayish) with its inclusion of two pivotal characters on opposite ends of the moral spectrum. Omar Little (played by Michael K. Williams), a thug fond of burglarizing drug dealers, and Detective Shakima “Kima” Greggs (played by Sonja Sohn) both return for the Baltimore-based crime series’ fifth and final season. Premieres January 6 , 8 p.m. on HBO (www.hbo.com/thewire).

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Gloria Steinem guests on ‘InnerVIEWS’
Erudite interviewer Ernie Manouse had a sit-down recently with that long-term beacon of equality for women and founder of Ms. magazine, Gloria Steinem. Listen in on that chat, in which Ms. Steinem talks about “critics of her idea of inclusion,” says Manouse, by tuning in to PBS Houston Channel 8’s InnerVIEWS, January 31, at 10 p.m. or February 3 at 5:30 p.m. Details: www.ernieontv.com.