From Iceland — The Girls League vs. the Boys League

The Girls League vs. the Boys League

Published June 16, 2006

The Girls League vs. the Boys League

The FIFA World Cup, every man’s dream, every wife’s nightmare. At least that’s how some old dinosaurs have stereotyped the sexes for decades, seeing women as nagging “widows” while all the boys are glued to the screen whenever there is a match. But not to worry girls, we got something for ourselves this month. While some lives centre upon football, a certain TV station in Iceland is allowing the girl in us to flourish with a set of TV programmes particularly aimed to please women during these rough weeks.
It could have been a great idea to satisfy those dreading a month of football with other kinds of entertainment but somehow a decision was made in the headquarters to select some of the worst shows available and name the whole package “The Girl-League”, adding the tag line “Just For Girls”. While the football crowd is hitting the bars, enjoying the company of other fanatics, women of all ages can in the meantime take pleasure in something totally different – three-and-a-half hours of brainless material, and on prime-time as well.
I can be a couch potato, easily even, and have often been a sucker for badly written drama shows, but the combination of this so-called girl programming I find a little bit too much of the stupidity. Therefore I have to agree with other irritated voices complaining about the sadness offered to TV viewers of this certain station, including reruns of old teenage shows, episodes revolving around cool kids in Orange County, Tree Hill and South Beach, two kinds of wedding shows, followed by a trying-to-get-married-for-the-second-time programme and a modelling competition. Is this really supposed to interest the women viewers while the guys watch the Cup? Furthermore, is this supposed to entertain anyone? At the same time that there are plenty of women who love football, loads of guys detest it just as much.
Perhaps I’m just not getting this. Maybe my girlfriends and I just aren’t girly enough to understand the entertaining part of these shows. Well, fair enough, but as much as I have liked this certain TV station since it first aired, I will kick the ball back this time and cheer for my men in Central Europe at some local bar instead of hoping Jennifer finds her long lost love – again.
Now someone might advise me to stop complaining, seeing the programme is free and all. Of course nobody is forcing me to turn on the television but I just have to ask: Do we really need all these almost identical episodes? Isn’t it time to get a little more creative? I’ll let you think about that while I watch the game.

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