# Old TV shows featuring strong independent women **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [May 5, 2021, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tv-shows-featuring-strong-independent-women/941442 "2021-05-05T15:56:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tv-shows-featuring-strong-independent-women/941442/41 "2021-05-06T14:07:28Z")
Despite a few wince-worthy moments of weakness (“Captain… I’m frightened”), Lt. Uhura on _Star Trek_ was pretty tough. Just ask Evil Scarred Sulu. Counselor Troi and Dr. Crusher on _Star Trek: The Next Generation_ were sometimes strong, sometimes not; sometimes independent, sometimes not. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tv-shows-featuring-strong-independent-women/941442/42 "2021-05-06T14:14:44Z")
Has Mrs. Partridge been mentioned yet? ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tv-shows-featuring-strong-independent-women/941442/43 "2021-05-06T14:25:11Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Counselor Troi and Dr. Crusher on _Star Trek: The Next Generation_ were sometimes strong, sometimes not; sometimes independent, sometimes not. Dr. Pulaski was strong and independent. She was also unlikable IMO, mostly because of the way she treated Data. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tv-shows-featuring-strong-independent-women/941442/44 "2021-05-06T14:29:18Z")
Preceding that: Diana Rigg in “The Avengers” 1961-69 > **[The Avengers (TV series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Avengers_(TV_programme))** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > > The Avengers is a British espionage television series, created in 1961, that ran for 161 episodes until 1969. It initially focused on David Keel (Ian Hendry), aided by John Steed (Patrick Macnee). Hendry left after the first series; Steed then became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants. His most famous assistants were intelligent, stylish and assertive women: Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman), Emma Peel (Diana Rigg), and Tar... ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tv-shows-featuring-strong-independent-women/941442/45 "2021-05-06T14:58:15Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Been awhile since I saw the TV show, but the radio series was anything but independent. Brooks was sardonic and sharp-tongued, but she spent many episodes mooning over Phil Boynton. She was also completely financially independent, the sensible, competent person in the show (and generally admired for her brain). She was also the center of the show - not a side character. I think I have a different definition of “independent” than you. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tv-shows-featuring-strong-independent-women/941442/46 "2021-05-06T15:08:23Z")
Her pursuit of Boynton was hardly independent, and in the radio show, despite her sardonic outlook, she was not particularly competent and was just as likely to do something stupid as anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tv-shows-featuring-strong-independent-women/941442/47 "2021-05-06T15:59:06Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Dr. Pulaski was strong and independent. She was also unlikable IMO, mostly because of the way she treated Data. Yes, I should have mentioned her, although she appeared in only a single season. She was so consistently rude to and dismissive of Data - a shipmate, even if an android - that it really irritated me. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tv-shows-featuring-strong-independent-women/941442/48 "2021-05-06T20:21:08Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Dr. Pulaski was strong and independent. She was also unlikable IMO, mostly because of the way she treated Data. It felt, to me, like the producers specifically were trying to make a female version of Bones with Dr. Pulaski – feisty, cranky, emotional, distrustful of techology, more focused on the “human” side of their job. Pulaski’s dislike of Data was like Bones’ dislike of Spock, and of the transporter, all rolled into one. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tv-shows-featuring-strong-independent-women/941442/49 "2021-05-06T22:48:44Z")
And she was polite and pleasant with Moriarty, who had less claim to being a “person” than Data - which suggested that she treated people based on how humanoid they looked. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2021, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tv-shows-featuring-strong-independent-women/941442/50 "2021-05-23T00:03:30Z")
> **[The Doris Day Show](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Doris_Day_Show)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > The Doris Day Show is an American sitcom which was originally broadcast on CBS from September 1968 until March 1973, remaining on the air for five seasons and 128 episodes. > The series is remembered for its multiple format and cast changes over the course of its five-year run. The show is also notable for Day's statement, in her autobiography Doris Day: Her Own Story (1975), that her husband Martin Melcher had signed her to do the series without ... ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2021, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tv-shows-featuring-strong-independent-women/941442/51 "2021-05-23T00:45:24Z")
In 1957 Beverly Garland played Detective “Casey” Jones, an undercover cop, in the one-season TV series [Decoy](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050010/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_136). She worked alone, didn’t even seem to have a regular commanding officer. The only mention in the entire series of a boyfriend was that he had died. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2021, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tv-shows-featuring-strong-independent-women/941442/52 "2021-05-23T03:20:05Z")
Tezuka’s [_Princess Knight_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Knight#Anime_adaptation), from 1967? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tv-shows-featuring-strong-independent-women/941442.md?page=2)