TV and its impact 70’S style, Part II – KICK ASS, CRIME FIGHTIN’, LIBERATED WOMEN RULE!

Whether it was a result of women’s lib or the feminist movement, no one can deny that 1970s TV had an abundance of kick-ass women on the tube. Wonder Woman, The Bionic Woman, Police Woman, Charlie’s Angels – badass babes taking out the bad guys and making the world a safer place for you and me. Oh, yes, these crime fightin’ foxes could take on you, me and all the fumbling villains that crossed their paths. Girl Power!

And then there were the smart, hard working, fast talking, take-no-shit women of prime time – Maude, Alice, Ann Romano of One Day at a Time, Rhoda, Phyllis. Most of these characters were women trying to make their way and find their own voice in a new world – a world where economic times were hard and being an independent woman was, at the very least, a challenge. These characters inevitably showed girls and women throughout the USofA that we really could make it on our own – complete with sassy dialogue.

As a testament to the draw of girl power on TV, three of the top five TV shows during the 1975-76 season were The Bionic Woman, Maude, and Laverne and Shirley.

Given, there was a lot of T&A involved in the success of some of these shows. But inevitably, for a young girl like myself, watching these empowered women kick butt and make it on their own gave me the notion that I too could take on the world – maybe not in the same manner as The Bionic Woman – but none-the-less, I believe ultimately they were positive roll models.