Women’s History Month: 15 most influential women in TV history

As we head into Women’s History Month, 2018 feels like a very empowering year for women.

We’re heading into an era where female-led superhero movies can break records. Female-led dramas can resonate with their female audiences. Women are beginning to find serious representation in media. 2018 is an era where women can organize incredible political marches, where women’s voices can be heard, where women’s work can be taken at equal value.

While we have come far — and have farther yet to go — we have many talented and tenacious women to thank for how far we have come. For Women’s History Month, let’s thank the women in television who made history and those who continue to influence and challenge the entertainment industry. Here are 15 of the most influential women in television history.

Lucille Ball

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Lucille Ball was more than just Lucille Ricardo on the beloved and groundbreaking sitcom I Love Lucy (1951). She was a pioneer of television – making then controversial choices to represent both her pregnancy and her interracial marriage on national television and touch on the issue of women in the workplace.

She was a visionary television executive — the first woman to run a major production company – championing iconic television shows like Star Trek (1966) and Mission: Impossible (1966). She changed the rules of sitcoms and broke the rules governing women in entertainment.

She paved the way for female-driven comedy in the generations that followed. Without her innovation and persistence, not only would the status of women in entertainment be in a very different place, but the entire evolution of television.  

Nichelle Nichols

Nichelle Nichols was a direct beneficiary of Lucille Ball’s support of television shows like Star Trek. Nichols’ portrayal of Lt. Uhura on the USS Enterprise was groundbreaking not only for women in general but particularly for women of color.

She was a trusted member of a diverse crew. She was a woman in the chain of command and considered an equal among her male co-workers. She was a respected specialist in a scientific field. She and William Shatner also shared one of the first interracial kisses on American television.

Early on in Star Trek’s floundering three-season run, Nichols contemplated leaving the show to explore other options. However, her friend Martin Luther King Jr. urged her to stick with it, telling her that Uhura was more important than she knew.

Verity Lambert

The history of women in science fiction runs strong. While science fiction is still an extremely male-dominated genre, it is also where women defy expectations and push boundaries. Verity Lambert was the first producer of the ultimate underdog success story, Doctor Who (1963).

She was also both the only female drama producer at the BBC at the time and the youngest. She took what was supposed to be a children’s educational program and helped turn it into a generations-spanning icon.

The 2013 television special An Adventure in Space and Time dramatized her rise from underestimated outcast to the producer of a national sensation. She went on to produce other British classics like Jonathan Creek (1997) and The Naked Civil Servant (1975) starring John Hurt.

Mary Tyler Moore

While Mary Tyler Moore charmed as Laura Petrie in The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961), she made waves when she starred in the television show featuring her own name. The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970) was about unmarried career-woman Mary Richards — ambitious enough during the 70s — who gains the respect of her male peers and works her way up to full producer of a newsroom.

Moore portrays a woman who was a competent professional in her field and who stayed happily unmarried throughout the entire series. The show also explored delicate issues like divorce, birth control, sexism, homosexuality, discrimination, and equal pay. And when it came to the writing team and directing talent, Moore made sure that women were included – a relative rarity even today.

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah is perhaps the most powerful and influential woman in entertainment. She gained the trust and respect of viewers all over the world through her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show (1984). She currently owns her own network (OWN). She produces media especially for women (Oxygen). She highlights unknown authors through the Oprah Book Club. And she appears as a contributor on 60 Minutes.

According to Forbes, Oprah is the richest African American of the 20th century — and she uses her wealth and influence to give back to others. She campaigned for Barack Obama and used her talk show to spearhead discussions of controversial issues.  She even proposed the bill to Congress that would establish a database of convicted child abusers. And this is only the smallest overview of her amazing accomplishments.

Ellen DeGeneres

Everyone loves Ellen. She’s enthusiastic, fun loving, empathetic, generous, and — most of all — she’s completely genuine. People respond to how genuine she is, how completely herself and how giving she is of herself. Not many people are that comfortable in their own skin and she gives others the courage to celebrate what makes them unique.

More than anything, her decision to come out as gay in 1997 — at a time when her popularity and influence were high and homosexuality considered a taboo subject — cemented her as a cultural icon. The episode of her sitcom (Ellen, 1994) where her character controversially comes out made history.

In the aftermath, Oprah Winfrey moderated a flagship discussion between Ellen and her studio audience in which the issue of homosexuality could be openly debated.

Gillian Anderson

The X-files (1993) was a groundbreaking show in many ways, not least of all in the casting of Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully. Network executives wanted a leggy blonde to play Scully and were skeptical when creator Chris Carter cast short, curvy, unknown Anderson.

Anderson proved executives wrong and taught a generation of young women that they could be as strong, smart, and capable as their male peers. That they could work for the FBI or anywhere they wanted regardless social standards. And while Scully is iconic, Anderson is more than that.

In her latest endeavors, she portrays assertive, intelligent, intuitive, frankly intimidating women. In The Fall (2013) and Hannibal (2013), she is beautiful and cool, with an independent agency and zero cares for the sexism of her male peers.

Kate Mulgrew

Star Trek has always championed equality and delighted in diversity. Back when it floated its first pilot in 1965, it was initially rejected because (among other complaints) the idea of a woman being second in command to a starship was too far-fetched.

Thirty years later, Kate Mulgrew became the first female lead to captain a starship in Star Trek: Voyager (1995). While Voyager gets a lot of flak for its dubious characterization and often mishandled storylines, the decision to have a woman in command was always a boldly confident choice.

Captain Kathryn Janeway enforced the concept that the United Federation of Planets really had eradicated sexism and discrimination from their culture and that women could just as confidently and competently assume command as could their male peers.

Katee Sackhoff

Katee Sackhoff makes a practice of playing strong female characters. From Kara “Starbuck” Thrace in Battlestar Galactica (2003) to Vic Moretti in Longmire (2012). Sackhoff’s characters often challenge our concept of femininity, blurring the lines between traditional masculine and feminine characteristics.

Sackhoff’s characters are often brash, crass, aggressive, arrogant — what might be considered “unladylike” behavior. But what these characters teach us is that these traits can be as much a part of what we identify as ‘feminine” as stereotypical traits. There’s nothing less feminine about being a tomboy except what our socially constructed view of femininity reinforces.

A co-worker once asked me, honestly curious, if I considered myself to be particularly feminine. It’s because of women like Katee Sackhoff that I can challenge constructed gender stereotypes and still feel completely feminine.

Lucy Liu

Since her breakout role as Ling Woo on Ally McBeal (1998), Lucy Liu has transitioned from superstar to respected artist and director. Probably one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood, the Chinese-American actress was able to transcend the cultural stereotyping and under-representation that plagues the Asian community in Hollywood.

While she often portrays characters that acknowledge or are shaped by their ancestry, her characters are rarely defined by it. She has appeared in numerous hit television shows — notably as a genderbent Dr. Watson in Elementary (2012). She’s also appeared in several blockbuster movies.

Liu not only challenges Asian stereotypes, but also traditional gender roles. She opts for strong, rational, and intimidating characters. She utilizes her naturally dry and restrained delivery to reinforce her strength.

HBO

Lena Dunham

Love her or hate her, Lena Dunham is one of the most unique and outspoken voices in modern entertainment. As a writer/producer/director/actor, Dunham uses her popular TV series Girls (2012) to explore controversial issues of sexism, gender roles, and sexuality.

The show portrays young women who maybe don’t have everything figured out yet. Girls who make bad decisions, who aren’t in their best place in life. According to Dunham, Girls is about the place between Sex and the City and Gossip Girls — where realistic women have realistic problems.

It can be gritty and uncomfortable, and a lot of people dislike Dunham for that discomfort and her outspokenness. Dunham is currently writing an adaptation of a British series called Camping. It stars Jennifer Garner and premieres on HBO.

Netflix

Melissa Rosenberg

You might have seen her name in the producer credits for Dexter (2006) or maybe even as the screenwriter for the Twilight series. But for me, Jessica Jones (2015) was a revelation in feminist television and creator/producer Melissa Rosenberg was essential to its making.

I had never seen a female-led television show that resonated with my experience as a woman so completely. There’s so much about how women are portrayed, their relationships with each other, and the representation of their every day struggles that is so relatable.

It explains so much that women have been struggling to say to those who practice even inadvertent sexism. Like why it’s rude to tell a woman to smile.

Mindy Kaling

You probably first knew her as Kelly Kapoor from The Office (2005), but Mindy Kaling is so much more. Not only was she also a writer and producer for The Office, but she was a writer/producer/actor for her own television series The Mindy Project (2012).

She’s also written bestselling books and hit plays and popular blogs. She’s self-aware and open about her rare position in Hollywood. Not only is she a woman but also an Indian American. She knows she’s been called a pioneer, but she refuses to see herself as an outsider.

She’s smart, insightful, and funny, and maybe the hardest working writer/director/producer/actor on television. She makes being a pioneer look easy.

HBO

Laverne Cox

Looking at Cox’s list of firsts and accomplishments is pretty impressive. She’s most famously known for her role as Sophia on Orange is the New Black (2013) and as Sheena on The Mindy Project.

She was the first openly transgender woman to produce her own show, TRANSform Me (2010). She was the first openly transgendered person to be nominated for an Emmy Award and to appear on the cover of Time Magazine. She’s a trans-rights advocated, producing documentaries about the trans community.

She also writes a column for the Huffington Post. She is a true pioneer in an industry that, despite the surging feminist revolution and #MeToo ethos, tends to forget that trans women are women too.

Samantha Bee

Samantha Bee is amazing. For two years she was the only female correspondent on The Daily Show (1996) and was also its longest-running correspondent (2003-2015). She left The Daily Show to host her own late-night political satire show, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (2016).

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For a time she was the only woman in late night. Even now, she’s still one of the few. Her series has received positive critical reviews and even causes some delightful controversy from time to time.

The show has recently been renewed through 2020. Bee was also named one of Times 100 most influential people in 2017. In addition to dishing out sharp political satire, Bee also writes/produces the comedy series The Detour (2016).

DO you have anyone you would add to this list of the 15 most influential women in TV?  Keep the conversation going in the comments section below and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook & Twitter for more on your favorite shows!