Lovely Ladies of the L word and the L Word DVD Review!
About the only way you could miss the buzz about the L word is if you were living on a deserted island with Tom Hanks in "Castaway." However, for those of you who have, the L word is Showtime's hot new series featuring…are you ready for this? Lesbians! Shock! Gasp! No, you say?! Yes, it's true. Lesbians have invaded the sacred world of television programming and let me tell you, they are hot! For those of you on that island, here's a recap of who's who on the L word. If you already know this, skip a few paragraphs and read our thoughts on the upcoming season two.

Starring Jennifer Beals, Laurel Holloman, Leisha Hailey, Pam Grier, Erin Daniels, Karina Lombard, Katherine Moenning, Mia Kirschner, and Eric Mabius, the L word focuses on the lives and loves of several women in West Hollywood. The main characters, Bette and Tina, played beautifully by Jennifer Beals (Flashdance) and Laurel Holloman (The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love), are a committed couple of seven years who have been trying, in vain, to have a baby. Their relationship is the envy of all their friends, but cracks lurk beneath the surface of their perfect facade. The fabulous Pam Grier (Jackie Brown) plays Bette's half-sister, Kit, a singer desperately trying to fight the demons of alcohol while attempting to relaunch her career. Jenny and Tim (played by Mia Kirshner and Eric Mabius), are Bette and Tina's next door neighbors. Jenny has come to California as an innocent, wide-eyed writer who is shocked, but drawn to this new world of gay dads and lesbian moms. Tim, as the token male on the show, actually is a great guy and decent character. After you watch the entire season, you'll see why I say that.

Leisha Hailey (who is actually a lesbian in real life) plays bisexual Alice, a writer for an LA magazine, and one of the best characters on the show. She's a great thermometer of reality for the group and funny as hell. Erin Daniels plays Dana Fairbanks, a professional tennis player coming to grips with being outed and being secure with her sexuality. Although Dana was a bit snotty in the beginning, she has become one of my favorites and is arguably one of the most endearing characters.

In true lesbian fashion, you know there had to be the one hot chick who sleeps around, looking like she just rolled out of bed, and the L word doesn't disappoint. Shane, played beautifully by Katherine Moennig, is the resident romeo, sweeping the ladies off their feet with panáche, as well as struggling to leave behind the drugs and other problems she faced earlier in life.

And then there's Marina. What can we say about one of the hottest women we've ever seen? Resident lesbian lothario, The Planet café owner, and one hot babe, Marina is played by the incredibly talented and gorgeous Karina Lombard. Marina has turned out to be one of the most popular characters on the show and justifiably so. Part of it is her incredible sex appeal, part of it the sexy foreign accent she has, and part is just plain hormones. Ladies, this is one beautiful woman!

Arguably, there are those who claim that Showtime is pandering to the male fantasy of two gorgeous women together, and there are factions who claim that none of these women look like lesbians they know. But you know what? Who cares?!?! Ladies, we are visible on TV for the first time in forever (yes, lesbians have been on TV before, but not with our own series like this!) and not only are we visible, but we are intelligent, we are beautiful, we have families, we have jobs, we have struggles, we have joys, we have laughter. All the things that everyday "regular" folk have and this is what we need America to see. We're not a bunch of freaks as the "Religious Right" and Bush administration would like others to believe, but we're just like everyone else. We're born and we die. And in between, we try to have a happy life just like everyone else.

For those of you who have kept up with the show, you'll be thrilled to know the Season 1 DVD set is available! There are several places to buy it, but Amazon.com seems to have the lowest price at the moment. The 5-disc set includes the entire first season, with one disc dedicated to special features, behind the scenes info, and more. Find out what all your favorite ladies are doing or find out what the buzz is and get your "the L Word Season One" DVD set today! And don't miss Season 2, airing on February 20, 10/9 central on Showtime!

Review of the L Word Season 1 DVD Box Set
At long last, the entire first season of the L word is out on DVD! And while fans of the show are undoubtedly thrilled, as a DVD buff, I was less than thrilled with the lack of extras on the set. Any fan of Star Trek or Xena knows the box sets covering those TV classics are chock full of extras such as bloopers, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes interviews with the stars, commentaries, and more. Early reports said TLW box set would have some such content, but it didn't make it into this season's offering.

While the box set does have an extra disc dedicated to special features, most of these features have either been seen on Showtime or available in print-form on the Web. For example, "the L Word Defined" is a special that Showtime aired several months ago while promoting TLW and while it's always nice to watch reruns, once is normally enough. There are some behind-the-scenes featurettes about the fashion designers, and we get to see a little bit of what goes into dressing the character of Dana Fairbanks (Erin Daniels), and the process dressing each of the characters. We get cast bios, some selected fan mail, and a Season 2 preview (which is also currently running on Showtime).

The most original, and probably the funniest, piece on the set is a puppet show created by the cast. A spoof based on Marina and Jenny's first meeting, it will crack you up laughing. Evidently, these ladies have entirely too much time on their hands or have a damn good time hanging out together. Either way, it's pretty darn funny. Kudos to the creators.

Even though it's not as packed full of goodies as we'd like, it's still nice to have all the episodes of the L word on DVD without worrying about someone erasing the TiVo! Enjoy!