Peak TV hasn't worked out so well for women in comedy trying to land their own shows

The New York Times

Lena Dunham, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Jenji Kohan and Jill Soloway are among the non-male voices who've found success with their own TV shows this decade. Yet the number of female-created TV series have remained at roughly a quarter despite the proliferation of shows in the TV era. The New York Times' Noam Scheiber spent time with Kate Micucci and her writing partner, Felicia Day, to illustrate the challenges female writers face. For instance, they pitched a show with the premise of “manic pixie dream girl grows up" -- what if the "quirky-but-adorable" female leads of Amélie and Garden State were pushing 40? Yet when they pitched the show, they were told it would be better off with a male point of view to broaden its appeal. "For all the ways that the Netflix era has expanded opportunities for certain auteurs, the entertainment industry is still a forbidding place for many women show creators," says Scheiber. "That’s because the economics of streaming are starting to resemble traditional broadcast television more than most highbrow viewers realize...Publicly, the networks and streaming platforms stress their interest in attracting diverse talent. Some have even put money into grooming it. But privately, many executives are leery of shows that break new ground on gender."