Sunshine, Rainbows and Unicorns

I’ve decided to remove the content of this post [in which I told everyone who bitches at me here, on TLWO, on forums and via email that they can Suck It, which I still believe, btw] because I feel it is ungrateful to the thousands of people who have offered me positive support and encouragement, and to all the friends I’ve made through this show and the incredible online communities I’ve become a part of. I don’t ever want to seem that I take you all for granted. Quite the opposite — you’ve become my life. You have become the way that I live. To us — and particularly to Carly & I because the media is our field, so nothing is just a show to us, it really isn’t — we keep it fun even though it is bad right now by critiquing it in a way that we hope is funny. If you don’t think it’s funny, then as I said I suggest you try Two and a Half Men, it might be more up your alley of twat.

My little rant about how this show being bad isn’t just about this show but is about the possibility of future shows can still be found on the TWOP forum and my rant about GLBTQ visibility can be found in the comments of the 606 Recap.

In closing, I would like to share with you my favorite parts of the last few seasons of recapping this show.

I’m putting almost all of my hours & energy & resources right now into making that stuff — the good stuff I’ve gotten out of this show, which is my new friends and connections online and in real life — into a project that I hope will reflect everything positive about our community and encourage intelligent, responsible, entertaining and progressive discourse & art. So you’ll hear more about that next week, and I hope you’ll be as excited about it as I am.

In the meantime, don’t you dare fucking bitch at me, I will cut your fucking tits off.

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Riese

Riese is the 43-year-old Co-Founder of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, video-maker, LGBTQ+ Marketing consultant and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in nine books, magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. She's Jewish and has a cute dog named Carol. Follow her on twitter and instagram.

Riese has written 3279 articles for us.

25 Comments

  1. im glad you do what you do. fuck haters.
    youre fucking hilarious, you put my thoughts into words. so sthanks and dont stop.

  2. Please don’t stop writing recaps!!! I know there’s only 2 episodes left, but your recaps really are the best thing about this show. I can’t imagine there being more than one person on earth who actually thinks this show is still good, so whoever’s bitching at you is probably the same person just doing it repeatedly (it’s probably Chaiken).

  3. you’re recaps are awesome. I always look forward to reading them and realizing so many more hilarious(ly bad) parts to the episode

  4. Amen. If I had to watch this show and then just think about it and keep it all in my head… I would explode. Your recaps=life savers.

  5. My enjoyment of TLW can be broken down to 20% actual show, 70% riese’s recaps, and 10% other ppl’s recaps.
    In other words, if you stopped recapping the show I’d stop enjoying The L Word.
    If there are enough people like me, it means Showtime owes you a share of the profits.

  6. I love you and your recaps, riese! Don’t forget that :)
    L word season 6 isn’t showing here at the moment so I’ve not seen it but I’m 100% sure reading your recaps of the episodes is much better than actually watching them.

    Love, SA anon

  7. I’m sorry people are being tools.
    I can honestly tell you that your recaps are the highlight of my (usually) Mondays.
    thanks for doing what you do

  8. Some people are just stupid. I hate stupid people. Don’t let stupid people (who really can’t spell) get you down. It’s like haters on youtube, they annoy me a lot.

    I’ve given up on watching this show but I’m really dreading the end of it because that means no more recaps and that is quite devastating.

    You’re brilliant, never forget that.

  9. I started out a somewhat fervent fan, but over the years my devotion to the show has slowly died out. At the same time, my devotion to your recaps has only grown. This season I’ve yet to bring myself to watch an actual episode, but I’ve read all of your recaps. I appreciate all of our hard work on our behalf, and please don’t get stuck on the haters. They really do suck.

  10. Oh fuck them. Your recaps are brilliant and they make me LOL. You’re the only one I know of who also laughs/loves it when Shane (oh.Shane) said “I’m fahhhhhhhne”! Would be just WRONG to stop recapping just because of morons.

  11. I agree with everything you say in this post. Thanks for your recaps, and thanks for being honest. Your honesty about the show, about the publicity surrounding it and about it affecting the next show is all so true. You made me realize a perspective on this that I never thought of before. Thanks

  12. Well said, Riese. Don’t let those shit talkers get you down or make you think that it’s not worth it. Those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind right? We love you, and everything you write.

  13. So, I was just watching Battlestar Galactica, which only has 3 episodes left. By all accounts, BSG is a Good Show. Critically acclaimed, cult fanbase, amazing writing and acting. I’m only now getting into it late in the game but am enjoying it immensely.

    I was just on TWoP reading the most recent recaplet from this Friday’s episode, written by the ever-brilliant Jacob, and it ended on this note. I am pasting it here because I think it echoes many of our sentiments about the L Word, which is — for all accounts — a mediocre show on its best days.

    “It’s not out of character because there is no “out of character”: just the show you’re watching. But it’s not exactly enjoyable either, and heading into the home stretch as we are, a little more insight and subtlety in moving the pieces around the board would be appreciated. This just feels like slamming as many square pegs into round holes as possible, the better to make everything fit in the end, as unemotionally and literally as possible. Which is after all why I’ve hated every finale and demi-finale, which is worrisome moving forward. This particular writing team — and thank God as usual for Nankin and the performers, especially Park and Sackhoff — has always been better with plotting and action (and unceasing technobabble) than with believable or even particularly relevant emotion, but this one takes the cake: people doing things for no real reason, to no specific end, whilst yelling about what they’re doing and why. There are some heartstopping moments, and a fair amount of interesting developments, but at this stage in the game it should feel much more like momentum than it does: four more hours, folks. Boom boom boom.”

  14. “In the meantime, don’t you dare fucking bitch at me, I will cut your fucking tits off” That made me laugh out. loud. You’re a comic/literary genius Riese, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

  15. Riese, your recaps are hilarious, your analysis is fantastic and you’re great. I’ve had to stop reading your recaps at work on Mondays because I laugh out loud too often, and I can’t pretend scientific articles are that funny. I derive so much enjoyment out of them, and I will miss them probably more than the show when it’s done. I appreciate all the effort you put into them-thanks!

  16. crap. wish i’d prnt scrnd the other post.

    yay for sunshine! yay for new projects! i’m excited! i’m sexcited! i’m almost 30!

    addition: OMG my word verf is ‘foxyl’, which’s OBVS for FOXY L [ME!]. this is my time to shine!

    [this is green, btw. it’s me! y’know! holla!]

  17. i love your recaps with all my little heart.

    sometimes your recap’ll pop up on my rss feeds before i’ve seen the show and i think really hard about just reading it first, but that’s like eating my favorite cake ever and then getting stuck with tuna or something else that’s really gross last.

    you are the poster child for intelligent and responsible and funny and i am excited. and i’d rather hear you “tell stories” than ilene any day.

  18. I really hope this doesn’t mean there won’t be a 607 (and soon, pretty pretty please). It’s the only reason I make myself watch TLW these days :'(

  19. Your recaps are to the L Word as the Daily Show was to the Bush administration. Please don’t leave us to swallow IC’s delusional drivel straight – we’ve come to depend on your witty, wise and spot-on chaser.

  20. w/r/t said ‘unnamed project’
    if i can be of any assistance, just let me know…
    cool? thanks.

  21. i’m really going to miss these recaps when it’s over. they’ve srsly become the best thing about this show (especially this season).

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