If you've got Netflix, then "Cagney & Lacey" almost definitely passes the Bechdel Test every week, since every episode I've seen (admittedly not all) focuses on their different careers and different approaches to their jobs and their lives. The entire series, as well as several TV movies, are all streaming and you can watch them any time. You'll be glad you did. It makes me wonder if "Rizzoli & Isles" has a similar vibe, though I'm not optimistic enough to check.
Never cared for it, but I imagine "ER" passed fairly often, and this makes me want to tweak Bechdel's rule a bit: her suggestion that women talk about something "other than a man" is mostly designed, I imagine, to eliminate romantic comedies and other sorts of shows where the man is the main character and there just happen to be two women talking about him. Personally, I've mentally adjusted Bechdel's rule to say "a conversation between two female characters that is not about a man ONE OF THEM IS INTERESTED IN ROMANTICALLY OR SUBSERVIENT TO OR WHO IS NOT OTHERWISE ESSENTIALLY IRRELEVANT OR INTERCHANGEABLE." Anything else just gives mere male presence too much power to fuck up a movie/show, IMO. If the female star is examining a male corpse (or a helpless male patient) or arresting a male perp as part of her job, there's no question who's in charge, and I say it passes the test. The problem with "Bones" is not the male corpses; it's that Bones is supposed to be flawed (not traditionally feminine) and Booth's job is to teach her what normality is.
Also: "Powerpuff Girls"!
P.S. Lots of love for Gilmore Girls and Roseanne in this thread, so I just thought I'd remind everybody that Amy Sherman-Palladino was behind both. God bless her!
If you've got Netflix, then "Cagney & Lacey" almost definitely passes the Bechdel Test every week, since every episode I've seen (admittedly not all) focuses on their different careers and different approaches to their jobs and their lives. The entire series, as well as several TV movies, are all streaming and you can watch them any time. You'll be glad you did. It makes me wonder if "Rizzoli & Isles" has a similar vibe, though I'm not optimistic enough to check.
Never cared for it, but I imagine "ER" passed fairly often, and this makes me want to tweak Bechdel's rule a bit: her suggestion that women talk about something "other than a man" is mostly designed, I imagine, to eliminate romantic comedies and other sorts of shows where the man is the main character and there just happen to be two women talking about him. Personally, I've mentally adjusted Bechdel's rule to say "a conversation between two female characters that is not about a man ONE OF THEM IS INTERESTED IN ROMANTICALLY OR SUBSERVIENT TO OR WHO IS NOT OTHERWISE ESSENTIALLY IRRELEVANT OR INTERCHANGEABLE." Anything else just gives mere male presence too much power to fuck up a movie/show, IMO. If the female star is examining a male corpse (or a helpless male patient) or arresting a male perp as part of her job, there's no question who's in charge, and I say it passes the test. The problem with "Bones" is not the male corpses; it's that Bones is supposed to be flawed (not traditionally feminine) and Booth's job is to teach her what normality is.
Also: "Powerpuff Girls"!
P.S. Lots of love for Gilmore Girls and Roseanne in this thread, so I just thought I'd remind everybody that Amy Sherman-Palladino was behind both. God bless her!