It is increasingly rare for a television series to manage to get to their fifth season. Even more difficult is for a show to maintain any semblance of quality over a period of five years. The challenges can be compounded if the series is on a premium cable station where viewers expect to be shocked with every episode. One series that has made it is ‘The L Word’. The only thing that made this series about four upscale lesbians possible is the fact that there is a niche market effect on the high end cable stations. Most regular broadcast networks have to come up with shows that have as broad a demographic as possible. Their ratings translate directly into fees for commercials and that is how they make their profit. With a network like Showtime people pay directly to watch their programming. This has a two edged result of feeing them from pandering to the sponsors and gives them a ton more latitude in the subject matter of their shows. They can get by with a smaller audience and still call the show a hit. It is almost certain that even with the more liberal attitudes that are afforded to Showtime many would have imagined that a lesbian soap opera would have been such a hit. The answer is simple; quality will win out and people will tune in. This is just one of the more intelligently written, smartly directed and well acted series around. Even if you are straight you will be pulled into the lives of these women. Sure, this is a soap opera but one of the reasons the series works is they embrace this fact. There is a reason why soaps have lasted so long as a TV format; it pulls people in to a grander and more exciting live then they live. There was some talk that season five would be it for the show but now it looks like there will be an abbreviated sixth season to wind up all the strings left here. Distribution of the fifths season of ‘The L Word’ has been handed over to CBS Paramount. Besides Showtime they release some of the best that television has to offer. Not a month goes by without several really great titles hitting the stores thanks to them. This was a tumultuous season and offers some very good entertainment.

‘The L Word’ is obviously not about middle class lesbians any more than other night time soaps like ‘Dynasty’ were about a middle class family. These are power brokers and women very successful in their respective fields. The ad hoc alpha female in this group is Bette Porter (Jennifer Beals). She had once been a successful buyer for a well respected museum but now she has given that up for the world of academia working as a dean for the California University School of the Arts. At the start of the season Bette is fairly comfortable in her relationship with a noted sculptress Jodi Lerner (Marlee Matlin). Since Jodi is hearing impaired Bette took the step to learn American Sign Language. This are not meant to stay on course for the lovers since Bette is still carrying a huge torch for her former partner Tina Kennard (Laurel Holloman). The two remain in contact ostensibly for the child they share. It isn’t long before they return to a sexual relationship which puts a strain on Bette’s life with Jodi. When Tina tries to break it off and date another woman Bette begins to lose it culminating with a very loud dinner party. After a suitable amount of deception and lying the truth comes out. Jodi creates a new work that humiliates Bette who winds up returning to Tina.

The drama with Bette and Jodi isn’t the only thing that is troubling Tina. She is a movie studio executive who is assigned to produce a movie written by her friend Jenny Schecter (Mia Kirshner). Jenny was once an unassuming and insecure young woman who recently has become a diva. She has shed her sexual ambiguity and is now out as a lesbian. Helping to push this decision is the success of her first published novel ‘Lez Girls’. He film rights were bought by the studio Tina works at and Jenny has flirted her way into the good graces of the major source of funding. This gives her too much power and control over the production of the film. Jenny quickly becomes super diva making increasingly unrealistic demands. Finally she wrangles her way into directing the film even though she doesn’t have a clue what to do. Jenny also hires a personal assistant, Adele Channing (Malaya Rivera Drew). When she first meets Jenny she tells her that she is ‘her number one fan’. That should be a tip off right there but then again Jenny hasn’t seen a lot of movies. The danger signs continue but go unnoticed by the clueless Jenny. Adele colors and cuts her hair to look more like Jenny and then starts to dress like her. I guess Jenny didn’t see ‘Single White Female’ either. Jenny begins a highly sexual relationship with one of the stars of the film, Niki Stevens (Kate French) who is playing the Jenny based role. This is actually a great little twist since Jenny is so in love with herself this allows her in some twisted fashion to be her own lover. Adele shows her true colors when she hides a camera in Niki’s dressing room and makes a sex tape of Niki and Jenny. She uses that to grab the director’s chair.

One of the fan favorites for this series is Shane McCutcheon (Katherine Moennig). She is hedonistic and close to being a sexual predator. She fills her emptiness with a series of one sexual conquest after another and is the poster girl for fear of commitment. At one point Shane tries to swear of sex but considering her emotional makeup this doesn’t last long. Shane has an affair with a realtor Paige Sobel (Kristanna Loken). They connected through Paige’s son and Shay’s half brother Shay (Aidan Jarrar). Shane even fantasizes about having a normal relationship with Paige but that relationship, like all of Shane’s quickly falls apart. She also has an affair with the daughter of Bette’s boss helping her explore the young woman’s lesbian fantasy. The one affair that has the most impact on her friends is when she has a threesome with a Dawn Denbo (Elizabeth Keener) and her girlfriend Cindi (Alicia Leigh Willis). They own a nightclub that is a rival to the Planet, owned by Bette’s sister Kit (Pam Grier). After Shane goes one on one with Cindi Dawns initiates an all out war to destroy the Planet. Last there is Alice Pieszeck (Leisha Hailey). She has turned her chart of lesbian inter-relationships into a very popular radio talk show. Ultimately she is up for a regular role on a daytime talk show much like ‘The View’. Alice finds herself confronting the Army when her lover, Tasha Williams (Rose Rollins) is charged with homosexual behavior and is about to be kicked out of the service.

The overall theme of this season is the downside of success. All of the women in the main group have achieved many of their goals yet they have difficulty in maintaining any happiness in their personal life. The drama is realistically presented and the story lines are complex and interwoven to perfection. This is also a showcase for some of the best acting seen on television. As always CBS Paramount does the best possible job in bringing this show to DVD. This goes beyond a niche series to great television.