aging

Everyone loves a comeback, the more unexpected the better--and no recent comeback was more unexpected than Betty White’s.

Whenever I see a woman over 40—never mind 50 or 60 or 70—on my television screen, I relax a little. Without thinking too deeply about it, I’m processing a lot of welcome information: Oh, look, women do live past 40! They can often be funny, smart, successful, and wise!

Then, of course, my brain does all those other calculations it has been trained to do: How does she look? Does she look way younger than her age? Does she have wrinkles? What does that mean about my face? Do I look better or worse than she does? Is that good or bad? Am I shriveling away to my death?!

This second round of thoughts might explain part of why television continues to avoid what could be a lucrative and loyal audience to target: older women. They may be affluent and primed for high-priced wrinkle cream ads, but, gosh, they scare the other audience segments an awful lot.

In this two-month-long guest blog, Women of a Certain Age, I’ll be exploring the ways that women outside the target age demographic are a usually neglected on television.

Poor Judd Apatow. He's a marquee name in Hollywood, has a gorgeous wife and adorably precocious daughters, and recently got to guest-edit Vanity Fair's annual Comedy Issue and interview personal heroes like Albert Brooks. The one thing he can't do, it seems, is get everybody feeling the pain of a wealthy white guy's midlife crisis.

The 57th Guinness Book of World Records is out today, and among the parrot who can slam dunk a basketball and Archie the world's shortest bull is Johanna Quaas, the world's oldest gymnast.

What happens when a popular columnist and writer pens a "refreshingly honest--and brilliantly witty--celebration of the joys of getting wrinkly?" Nothing good. Don't let the advance billing fool you--Virginia Ironside's new memoir is a misogynist, anti-sex turd wrapped up in fancy gift box of faux-empowerment.