Book 53 of 2023 - ✅! Thank you to NetGalley, Nicole Evelina, Rowman & Littlefield + Rowman & Littlefield Publishers for the ARC of Fierce Females on Television: A Cultural History, in exchange for my honest review.

If you've read my other reviews, or you know me personally, I gravitate to books about the entertainment industry since I work in the business. I did notice 1 mention, which might have already been fixed by the time this book ended up going to print: Buffy's premiere date in 1997 being on the CW - it premiered on the WB, as the CW was not a network until 2006.

To be completely honest, I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting from the book, but it read a bit like a dissertation or a thesis, which isn't a bad thing. I love the dissection of Television, and it's clear that Evelina is a big fan of all of the shows she discussed, going so far as to recommend 3 episodes of each show that stand out amongst the rest. It's like having a conversation with a friend about the shows you're watching and the shows you love when you're so passionate about getting the person you're talking to on the same bandwagon. (I mean...once I start talking about "Six Feet Under" and a few others...good luck getting me to stop.)

Admittedly, it took me a bit longer to get through this book, as I'm simultaneously reading 3 additional books, but this was a short, easy read that I would give a 3/5 ⭐️ . 🚺👯‍♀️

#FierceFemalesonTelevision #NetGalley

I love reading these cultural history books. This one will be the fourth that I’ve read. They make you think about shows and people you have admired and show you even more things to love about them. This book in particular is about women in television who have had an impact on our cultural history through things they’ve done on their television shows and/or movies. I really enjoyed learning about all of these women and will definitely be reading more of these books.

Thank you Netgalley for the ability to review this book.

This book analyzes the way women were depicted in various television shows (Buffy, House of Cards, Agent Carter etc.) and how they handled real world issues. I'd seen a few of the tv series mentioned and was aware of the ones I had not yet watched. I appreciated how episodes from each series were highlighted to show the things they did right and where they could have improved. This book was well researched and enjoyable to read.

I hate describing things as "entry-level feminism" -- sort of because this is reductive, but mostly because we seem to need basic feminism more and more as the world continues to hate women at an increasingly scary pace. That said! This is really solid. Evelina is clearly passionate, and it really comes through in this. You don't have to know anything about the shows reviewed and discussed, which keeps even the least pop-culture savvy among us from feeling left out.

I like this! Evelina has things that are important to say, and they come through beautifully. While I personally wish this doesn't feel a bit beginner-level, it doesn't take away from the larger importance of recognizing women as strong and fleshed-out, recognizing them as whole people.

This book chronically made me wish I have seen more tv shows. Instantly from the synopsis, anything that mentions Charmed will get my full attention. That being said, that chapter was instantly my favorite BUT, coming from someone very detached from pop culture, you definitely do not need to have seen all the shows mentioned to be able to fully appreciate how influential these characters were to women in the past few decades. The episodes focused on were given enough background to so that for those who haven't seen the show, you aren't totally in the dark. Overall though I found the narrative of informative vs character studies to be very well balanced through the whole book and while it wasn't a book I wanted to binge, it was one I looked forward to reading a chapter every day til I finished.

I enjoyed this book. I seriously watched six of the 10 shows discussed and loved them and I feel that Evelina did the shows justice. She conducted great analyses, giving me a new perspective on the shows. For the shows I didn’t watch, there was enough information in the book to give me the necessary background to understand Evelina’s points. There were some points in the episode guide I liked, including why the episode was selected for the guide and Evelina’s own overall opinion of the show and how well it stood the test of time. Thank you NetGalley and Rowman & Littlefield for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I studied Television Communications in college so this title grabbed my attention. I liked how the author examines all the seasons of certain shows and goes into great detail about the female characters. Buffy and Charmed are just two of the series mentioned. There are spoilers so if you haven't seen the shows and think you might, just skip over some. Good, detailed and interesting chapters. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Four stars.