TV Talk - The Women Who Walk With Me

I don’t watch a lot of TV. But when I do, I find myself drawn to the same thing over and over again: strong women. Some are funny, some are fierce, some are flawed. All of them speak to something inside me, maybe something I wanted to be growing up, or still want to be now.

These are the shows that have reminded me of what it means to be powerful in a world that often doesn’t make space for women to be that way.

---

Hacks
Starring Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder, Carl Clemons-Hopkins

Jean Smart’s Deborah Vance is a powerhouse: funny, sharp, self-made, and unwilling to fade quietly into the background. Paired with Hannah Einbinder’s Ava, a messy and ambitious young comedy writer, the show becomes a study in generational push-pull and female resilience.

I loved Hacks from the start. Deborah is exactly the kind of woman I admire: someone who fought her way to the top and keeps evolving. But in the 2024 season finale, Ava blackmailed Deborah into making her head writer on a new late-night show. That betrayal shifted the dynamic, and Season 4 lost me for a while.

It wasn’t until the final three episodes—when their relationship snapped back into focus—that I felt the show again honored what made it great: two women challenging each other, needing each other, growing because of each other. That’s a kind of strength we don’t often see, especially between women across generations. I’m glad it’s coming back for another season. Maybe the next season will fully repair what the last season broke.

---

The Bionic Woman*
Starring Lindsay Wagner

I was 13 when The Bionic Woman first aired, and Jaime Sommers was like nothing else on TV. She wasn’t there to be rescued. She was the rescuer. She was powerful, kind, smart, and human. And Lindsay Wagner had a way of bringing vulnerability and depth to the role that still holds up.

The show itself didn’t always hold up. By the third season, the writing had veered into strange territory - bionic dogs, aliens, Big Foot, and too much clumsy action. Jaime stopped being a grounded, thoughtful character and became more of a plot device.

But even with all its flaws, I’m glad I rewatched it. Jaime was one of the first TV women I saw who didn’t shrink from power. She didn’t have to be loud to be strong. That stuck with me.

---

The Gilded Age
Starring Carrie Coon, Morgan Spector, Louisa Jacobson, Denée Benton, Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon

On the surface, this show is about money - old money versus new money in 1880s New York - but beneath the corsets and chandeliers, it’s about women asserting themselves in a world run by men.

Marian Brook is supposed to be the emotional heart of the story, but the series has drifted toward the Russell family’s rise, especially Carrie Coon’s formidable Bertha Russell. She’s ruthless, clever, and refuses to be dismissed just because she wasn’t born into the “right” class.

There are quieter forms of strength here, too. Denée Benton’s character, Peggy Scott, is a Black writer and activist navigating racism and sexism with extraordinary dignity and drive. I admire all these women, but I do wish the show would slow down a little. There are a lot of characters, and I crave a deeper emotional connection with a few instead of quick glances at many.

Still, visually and thematically, The Gilded Age reminds me that female strength doesn’t have to be loud to matter. It can be strategic. It can be quiet. It can be dressed in silk.

---

M*A*S*H
Starring Alan Alda, Loretta Swit, and ensemble cast

This might not seem like a “female strength” show at first glance. After all, it’s about a bunch of male doctors in a Korean War field hospital. But watching MASH again, I’ve been especially drawn to Loretta Swit’s portrayal of Major Margaret Houlihan.

When the show began, she was little more than a punchline, "Hot Lips," a caricature of the uptight Army nurse. But over the seasons, she evolved into one of the show’s most grounded, complex, and admirable characters. She found her voice. She questioned authority. She led. She cared. And she never stopped fighting to be taken seriously.

That transformation - the writing, yes, but especially Swit’s performance - is what I’ve appreciated most on this rewatch. In a setting dominated by male egos and wartime absurdity, she became a woman with backbone and compassion. Watching her reminded me that growth is its own kind of strength.

---

Xena: Warrior Princess*
Starring Lucy Lawless and Renée O’Connor

Xena was the first time I saw a woman on TV who could save the world and look like she meant it. She wasn’t just tough. She was dangerous, complicated, funny, and constantly trying to be better. Paired with Gabrielle, who started out innocent and grew into a warrior in her own right, Xena became a show about transformation, redemption, and partnership.

The series was campy and mythological, full of gods and monsters and moral dilemmas. But beneath all that, it was about two women finding purpose - and strength - in each other.

I was deeply involved in the original Xena fandom. I wrote episode synopses for Whoosh magazine under the name Bluesong, Spoiler Princess. We had a C-band satellite dish and could catch episodes before they aired. That community meant something to me. It was a place where women (and some men) shared their love for a show where the women weren’t sidekicks. They were the story.

---

Looking at this list, the pattern is clear: I’m drawn to strong women, especially those who fight for something bigger than themselves. Some do it with humor. Some do it with grace. Some, like me, probably do it because no one else would do it for them.

Maybe that’s what I’m really watching for: proof that strength takes many forms - and that women have always had it, even when the world refuses to see it.

---

*I’ve watched or am watching these shows while walking on the treadmill.*