“The TV show Ally McBeal really gets me going… because it had the potential to portray strong, badass women, but completely lost track.
The Concept: Ally McBeal is a lawyer and the series follows her as she takes on both serious and crazy legal cases. So far, so good. But then the show had to focus on her love life… Literally every episode was about her romantic feelings towards someone. “Does he really like me?” was all her character worried about.
Okay, but were the other characters good back then? There were many female lawyers in the series, and most of them were described as the best in their field. That’s all well and good until you realize that this meant they were all portrayed as cold, heartless machines driven by the desire to win the case no matter what. However, they all had one weakness: men, and these ice queens warmed up immediately when given the chance to go on a date with someone.
This show had the potential to explore cool topics. Ally could have been a great character, growing from a man-obsessed weakling into a strong, independent, working woman and teaching her daughter to be independent too. Well, so much potential is lost…”
—u/TeamTywinAllDay