# Why aren't there more TV sitcoms with women leads? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 3, 2010, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-more-tv-sitcoms-with-women-leads/523499 "2010-01-03T07:47:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![deedeeknowit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@deedeeknowit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deedeeknowit)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-more-tv-sitcoms-with-women-leads/523499/41 "2010-01-04T22:11:23Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > To quote any number of male comedians over the ages: > > “Chicks ain’t funny.” > > As a percentage of the population of comics and comic actors, females are a definite minority. It would therefore be logical to assume that there would be fewer sit-coms starring said female comics/comic actors. Yes, but (of course) it’s male comedians making the comment. Plenty of chicks are funny and plenty of dudes aren’t. I submit Tina Fey as a much more well-rounded entertainer-comedian than say, Charlie Sheen, who basically memorizes lines from a script loosely based on his crappy-ass life. Of course there’s a chance he’s paid more for his efforts but that’s a given in Hollywood. You lost me on the pseudo-logic of “chicks ain’t funny”, dude. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-more-tv-sitcoms-with-women-leads/523499/42 "2010-01-05T01:31:50Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Traditionally there have been several ways women get their own sitcoms: > > Be a standout supporting star of another show (Mary Tyler Moore, Tina Fey, Patricia Heaton) > > Have a successful standup career (Ellen DeGeneres, Roseanne, Brett Butler) > > Be on the downside of a movie career and reinvent yourself for TV (Lucille Ball, Donna Reed, Barbara Eden, Candace Bergen). If that’s how women get their own sitcoms, in what ways other than the above do men get theirs? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Baldy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Gary\_Baldy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Baldy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-more-tv-sitcoms-with-women-leads/523499/43 "2010-01-05T01:49:25Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > If that’s how women get their own sitcoms, in what ways other than the above do men get theirs? He did leave one other way off included in my list of shows. I won’t mention what it is, but I’ll give a hint by including another show that I’m surprised nobody has mentioned yet since it was a staple on TV for years… The Patty Duke Show. ---
**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:** [January 5, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-more-tv-sitcoms-with-women-leads/523499/44 "2010-01-05T02:10:31Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > If that’s how women get their own sitcoms, in what ways other than the above do men get theirs? Men get theirs pretty much the same way, but the topic is about women. > [@Gary\_Baldy](#): > > He did leave one other way off included in my list of shows. I won’t mention what it is, but I’ll give a hint by including another show that I’m surprised nobody has mentioned yet since it was a staple on TV for years… The Patty Duke Show. Be a supremely gifted teen-age actress with an incredibly cruel manager? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Baldy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Gary\_Baldy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Baldy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-more-tv-sitcoms-with-women-leads/523499/45 "2010-01-05T03:05:59Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Be a supremely gifted teen-age actress with an incredibly cruel manager? Well, it could be expanded to “incredibly cruel manager and/or parent(s)”, but yeah you got it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-more-tv-sitcoms-with-women-leads/523499.md?page=2)