The Death of the Television Wife

It’s a strange but true concept seen across the ages of TV: shows killing off female leads to empower and strengthen male-dominated plotlines. This trend has been at the forefront of many of today’s hit shows, prompting the Washington Post to speak with Director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture Robert Thompson about the issue.

“It is true that when the casualty list starts to be devised, the females are more likely to be on it,” Thompson said. “That’s because you’ve already got built into the equation a gender preference for male characters.”