Network Gives The Farm an “E-I-E-I-No”
Showtime subscribers who also count themselves fans of shower scenes, prison-yard catfights, and sweaty Sapphic cell-sex are "shiv" out of luck! The network has passed on The Farm, a spinoff of the skin-filled lesbian drama TheL Word that would have focused on main character Alice’s (Leisha Hailey) time in a women’s prison.
When The L Word ended on March 8, it left premium cable’s primetime programming schedule with a giant hole in the shape of two interlocking female symbols. Now that hole will remain gaping open.
Adding to the disappointment is the news that The Farm’s pilot featured Famke Janssen, Melissa Leo, and Laurie Metcalf, any of whom could have become a regular rugmuncher.
AfterEllen.com reports:
Showtime has not yet officially commented on the status of The Farm.
Hailey is currently busy promoting her band Uh Huh Her.
With The L Word over and The Farm unlikely to air, there are few regular lesbian or bisexual characters slated to appear on primetime cable or premium TV in the near future. There are currently no lesbian characters in regular roles on primetime broadcast TV, and only three regular bisexual characters.
And to top it off, neither Cagney Lacey nor Xena: Warrior Princess is still in syndication
Hopefully, someone will see the lesbian light and pick up the pilot episode of The Farm and air it with all the girl-girl action intact, rather than leaving it to gather dust alongside other unaired pilots like Dark Shadows 2004, Rules of Deception, and Babylon Fields.
Sappho herself said it best:
Like the sweet apple that reddens
At end of the bough--
Far end of the bough--
Left by the gatherer's swaying,
Forgotten, so thou.
Nay, not forgotten, ungotten,
Ungathered (till now).
