Rapid Rant: TV is Made Only for Women?

I wish that I hadn't taught an acquaintance the term 'TV-boyfriend" because she proceeded to repeat this to her husband ( "I never heard this phrase before Andrea was talking about the fact that she won't watch Off the Map even though Zach Gilford is on it"), and her husband proceeded to 1) ask me to explain the term (which I think is odd, seems pretty straightforward to me) and 2) tell me how TV was made only for women and aside from sports there wasn't anything on TV made for men.

Who to the what now?

You must be kidding me!

This happened over the weekend and I have tried to just forget the incident as stupid shit people say sometimes. Obviously I've failed in this attempt, and partially that is because his main argument in support of his ridiculous statement was "even on procedural shows there always has to be some stupid love story."  Ugggggg.  I hate hate hate this argument.  (And this instance wasn't the first time I heard it, hence my breaking down into bitch mode.)  Please tell me how "smoking hot female law-enforcement agent falls for brilliant but damaged middle aged boss/co-worker" isn't blatant male wish fulfillment (or in any way remotely plausible)?  Please explain to me how men who have chosen to get married, and thereby pledge their love and fidelity to one woman for the rest of their life, dismiss any romantic storyline as "only there because women need it."  Strangely I've never heard a guy make any complaints about male characters who are womanizers; no one seems to be bothered by those whose copious coupling is devoid of emotion and little more than recreational sport.  Take the former common complaint along with the later telling silence and what you get is a fictional landscape where love is negated from the human experience, leaving you with flat characters, stagnant stories, and limited insight.  Basically, you have Cops.  (Which is fine if that is what you want.)  But of course, on bad shows you have all those deficiencies plus romantic plots.

But how about the fact that many shows airing now/recently are thematically structured around the father-son relationship or the brother relationship?  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that women are excluded from these types of shows, and in fact some, like Fringe, Sons of Anarchy, and Supernatural, are among my favorite-st of favorite shows.  I'm just saying that their very existence attests to both the creative and marketing desire for male viewers.

And I'm not even bothering to mention the flood of bromances on TV.

I grant that women watch a great deal of TV (and some of us are damn proud of it), that there are shows designed with a predominantly female audience in mind, and that there are shows that have an added bonus for me because of attractive male leads.  I also openly admit that I get super attached to the romantic pairings on my shows.  But it is wholly disingenuous to, um, REALITY to say that the only thing for men on all of network, basic and premium cable TV  is sports.

The TV Girl