ABC

With hidden cameras and a hint of pedantry, ABC's primetime series What Would You Do? has tested society's comfort with everything from same-sex parents to public breastfeeding. This week's segment tackles transphobia and reveals what we already knew: No conversation about transgender people is complete without bringing out the Bono.

Ugh. Remember Tracy McMillan's Huffington Post article from earlier this year, "Why You're Not Married"? The one that was designed to piss you off and calls unmarried women shallow, slutty, selfish lying bitches who aren't good enough? Yeah. Well not only did someone at Random House find it so compelling they're turning it into a book, now it's an ABC sitcom too.

My So-Called Life only lasted one season on ABC during the 1994-1995 season. But for a considerable number of folks in my peer group, the critical darling was a huge part of our adolescence, televisual fandom, and nascent feminism.



I never really identified with protagonist Angela Chase (Claire Danes), as she was prone to bouts of maudlin narcissism. I related more to type-A childhood friend Sharon Cherski (Devon Odessa), particularly her struggle to balance advanced course work with a myriad of extra-curricular activities. I also enjoyed Cherski's developing friendship with Deadhead Rayanne Graff (A.J. Langer), who Chase abandons Cherski for early in the series' season-long run. Like Cherski, I wasn't sure what to make of Graff the first few times I watched the show during its initial run on ABC and when MTV re-ran it a few years later. Graff's self-destructive tendencies were frightening, but her creative potential always had me rooting for her.

I’ve been avoiding Grey’s Anatomy for 5 seasons now, but with critics bemoaning the show’s rapid demise (as in sex scenes with a g-g-ghost!) I decided to check it out while I still could. Best case scenario: It’s so bad it’s good. Worse case scenario: It’s offensive enough to warrant a scathing blog post.

But, to my surprise, neither was true...