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[[quoteright:260:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/theLword.jpg]]
->''Over the seasons, the show has shifted from earnest lesbian soap opera, to high-camp melodrama, to whatever Season 4 was supposed to be, to completely self-aware farce. It's the kind of show where continuity is a rarity, where diorama construction can take the place of character development, and where plots and subplots were probably pieced together by dumping a magnetic poetry kit on the ground and then vacuuming up [[WordSaladTitle three words at random]] ("Incest Carnival Memory," "Silent Yoga Kidnapping," "Betty Jacuzzi Cruise," etc.).''
-->--'''''The Hater'''''

A {{Showtime}} series running for six seasons, from 2004 to 2009. It followed a group of lesbian (and bisexual and transgendered) friends who hang out together at a queer-friendly coffee shop in Los Angeles.

DistaffCounterpart to ''QueerAsFolk''.

----
!!Provides examples of:
* AbsenteeActor: For most of Season 5, Helena is missing after running away to escape [[MyBelovedSmother her mother]].
* TheAlcoholic: Kit. PlayedForDrama.
** Kit's kid sister Bette slips into this during Season 2, after Tina dumps her over her infidelity.
* AllGaysArePromiscuous: Most of the cast tends to [[AvertedTrope avert]] this, but Shane is this trope distilled into human form.
** Most of Bette's problems over the course of the series are caused by her poor judgement and self-control when it comes to sex. Sooner or later, she cheats on every partner she ever has, and [[DeadpanSnarker Alice]] even [[LampshadeHanging calls her out on it]] at one point.
* AllGirlsLikePonies: The characters [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] this trope at a party, specifically the fact that almost all of them [[AvertedTrope avert]] it.
* AllLesbiansWantKids: Bette & Tina's decision to procreate, and all the resulting drama which ensues, is one of the major plot threads throughout the entire run of the series.
** Averted with pretty much all other characters who frankly have enough problems as it is
* AlternativeForeignThemeSong: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YfN-qAjbRw "Virgin Cat"]] by Anna Tsuchiya is the theme song in the Japanese version.
* AsYouKnow: This is usually Alice's job.
* TheAtoner: Mark, in the last few episodes of Season 2. Judging from [[PutOnABus his absence from the series]] from Season 3 onward, it doesn't seem to have worked.
* AuthorAvatar: Jenny, probably.
** [[http://www.afterellen.com/TV/2009/4/abbott-greenberg Confirmed]]. Jenny and Dana were based loosely on the other two creators of the show, Michele Abbott and Kathy Greenberg. The subsequent treatment of both characters over the course of the show's run could be interpreted as a TakeThat (see EvilFormerFriend below).
* BatmanGambit: It probably would have been more difficult for [[spoiler:Adele]] to get her [[MagnificentBastard Magnificent Bastardry]] on if she couldn't count on S5 Jenny acting selfish, irresponsible, and just plain terrible at every opportunity.
* TheBeard: In Season 1, Dana and her tennis partner Harrison act as beards for each other, since neither one is out of the closet.
** In Season 5, Niki's agents insist that she use her male costar as a beard, as damage control after Alice outs her on national television. She caves under the pressure, which drives a wedge between her and Jenny.
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. Some of the most attractive characters (in-universe) are the most mean, spiteful and intolerable. Yeah, we mean [[PsychoLesbian Jenny]].
* {{Bifauxnen}}: Shane [=McCuthcheon=].
* BiTheWay: Max. Kelly.
** [[PsychoLesbian Jenny]] starts off straight, until a kiss from Marina [[Webcomic/QueenOfWands makes her see the lesbian side of Sears]]. After spending the better part of a year wrestling with her sexual identity, she admits to having had lesbian tendencies (which she tried to suppress) all her life. A girlfriend or two later, she winds up involved with [[{{Transsexual}} female-to-male transsexual]] Max. After their relationship implodes, she swears off of men altogether.
** Tina had only ever been with men before she hooked up with Bette. Several years later, she found herself craving male companionship again, but less than a year after that she drifted back to women. Her stated "regrets" about going back to men were social rather than sexual; she missed her place in the lesbian community and felt betrayed when those lesbian friends ostracized her. She has maintained and enjoyed multiple on-screen relationships with both women and men. So it's likely that Tina is a bisexual woman who rounds herself up to "Lesbian" for political reasons.
** Alice [[InformedAbility gives lip service]] to being [[ButNotTooBi bisexual]] in Season 1. The one actual relationship (as opposed to casual hookup) she had on-screen with a male-bodied character was the "male-identified lesbian" Lisa, who, as Alice described, "did 'dyke' better than any dyke [she] had ever met" (it was not [[LezBro a compliment]]). After the first season, no heterosexual relations involving Alice are seen or described, and in Season 5, Alice claims under oath to be a lesbian.
** It was never clear whether Cherie Jaffe was actually bisexual, or [[IfItsYouItsOkay just gay for Shane]].
* ButchLesbian: Candace. Dusty. Jamie. Robin. Tasha.
** Moira appeared to be one until he came out as Max.
** Shane arguably qualifies as butch. She doesn't think of herself as one, as evidenced by her bemused but slightly puzzled reaction in an episode where she and Max help carry some luggage for the others, and Max refers to both himself and Shane as "butches."
* ButICantBePregnant: [[spoiler: Max.]]
* ButNotTooBi
* ButNotTooBlack: Both Bette and Kit have biracial parentage, but Kit is darker-skinned.
** Bette and Kit had different mothers. Kit's mother was- presumably- black, as evidenced in the first episode: during an introduction at a party, Bette makes it a point to mention that Kit is her half-sister, to which Kit replies, "Guess which half?"
* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler:Dana. Jenny.]]
* ByronicHero: Female version in Shane.
* CaliforniaDoubling: Inverted - The series took place in Los Angeles, but was filmed in Vancouver. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] at one point in Season 5, when Jenny is scouting locations for ''[[ShowWithinAShow Lez Girls]]'', and loudly proclaims that "Vancouver can't pass for L.A.!"
* TheCameo: The series was brimming with them, from a surprisingly wide variety of actors, usually playing [[AsHimself themselves]] or [[TheDanza thinly-veiled versions thereof]]. Notable examples include Gloria Steinem, Eve Ensler, Arianna Huffington, Guinevere Turner, Ossie Davis, Eric Roberts, Dana Delany, Margot Kidder, [[BattlestarGalactica Michael Hogan]], [[{{WTH Casting Agency}} Snoop Dogg]]...
** Between Tigh, Cally, Helo, Leoben and D'Anna, half the cast of BattlestarGalactica showed up at one point or another.
** Cobie Smulders had a 4-episode run in Season 2, before [[HowIMetYourMother her big break]].
* CastFullOfGay: The whole point of the show.
* CharacterDevelopment: Helena probably got the most of it on-screen.
* ChewingTheScenery: After 3 seasons of relatively understated peformances, Jenny started leaving bite marks on the sets in Season 4. And as the series continued, [[ItGotWorse it only got worse]].
* ChildrenRaiseYou: Shane in Season 4.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Lisa, the male-identified lesbian, vanishes without a trace after Alice dumps him. He is never mentioned again.
* ClubKid: Shane. Particularly in the first season, where another character actually mistakes her for a (male) club kid.
* TheComicallySerious: Shane.
* ComingOutStory: Several of them, most notably Jenny's.
* CoolOldLady: Peggy, [[MyBelovedSmother except to Helena]].
* CostumePorn: There's as much of this as there is any actual FanService.
* CountryMatters: So very, '''very''' much.
* CreatorBreakdown: After Dana dumps Alice between Seasons 2 and 3, Alice's radio show begins to suffer.
** At one point, a commercial for Alice's show plays on a nearby radio, consisting of little more than Alice [[{{Narm}} screaming Dana's name at the top of her lungs]].
* CureYourGays: When Jenny & Shane are interviewing potential roommates in Season 2, one of them makes this offer, and she is shown the door.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: The physical and sexual abuse Jenny suffered as a child is explored, but never defined, in one of the major plot threads of Season 2.
** Shane's dark past is not focused on as much, but is still mentioned. In Seasons 1-2, we learn that she was once forced to work as a (pretending-to-be-male) prostitute, that she was essentially abandoned by her parents, has various drug addictions, etc. These events are strongly implied to be the reason she is such a loyal friend, but terrible with relationships/commitment - she feels the need to please others, is satisfied with very little for herself, but is afraid to commit to anyone or anything. The later seasons continue to add heartbreaking details - Shane is thrilled to simply have her own, tiny little room because she's apparently never had her own before. (In Season 6, Jenny, of course, promptly converts Shane's room into a study one day when Shane is out, assuming that since they're now sleeping together, she'll just move into Jenny's room with her!)
* DeadpanSnarker: Alice. Helena. Bette. Billy in Season 3.
* DemotedToExtra: In Seasons 1-5, Kit was one of the main characters. In Season 6, she existed primarily to say "''Girl''!" about once per scene.
** After two seasons of being a core member of the cast, Jodi also fell into the background during Season 6.
* DidNotDoTheResearch: That is not a Manatee! iPhones don't work that way!
* DragQueen: Sunset Boulevard in Season 6. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] because [[spoiler:he's straight]].
* [[DroppedABridgeOnHim Dropped A Bridge On Her]]: [[spoiler:Dana. Jenny.]]
* DrugsAreBad: Mostly [[AvertedTrope averted]]; most of the cast is shown using some form of marijuana at various points, and Shane even dabbles in harder drugs, to no ill effect. However, this trope was played straight in a Season 1 subplot involving a friend of Shane's who wound up consumed by his addictions. Unlike Shane, he couldn't handle his drugs. Niki using drugs is alluded to.
* DyingAlone: [[spoiler:Dana]].
* DysfunctionJunction: Just try to find one character on this show that isn't massively screwed up, even the successful and wealthy ones.
* EnsembleCast: Bette, Shane, Alice Jenny and Tina all get significant amounts of screentime.
* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: Shane.
** But kind of a moot point in a CastFullOfGay.
*** But even the ''straight'' girls [[MemeticMutation go gay for Shane]].
*** Interestingly, Shane's based off a real woman named Sally Hershberger, also a hairstylisy for celebrities- though her clients include far more 'big names' than Shane's, including multiple Presidents. She's also known for making even straight celebrities feel the urge to experiment a little, so perhaps the portrayal isn't that unrealistic.
* EverybodyHasLotsOfSex: And '''how'''!
* EverybodySmokes
* EvilFormerFriend: Ilene Chaiken convinced [[ExecutiveMeddling Showtime]] to boot [[http://www.afterellen.com/TV/2009/4/abbott-greenberg her two co-creators]] off the show after the second episode. Over the course of the series, the two characters based on them were [[spoiler:the only characters to die]].
* ExecutiveMeddling: In-setting, this trope comes into play at least once a season, costing just about every character their job at some point, and totally ruining ''[[ShowWithinAShow Lez Girls]]''.
* FaceHeelTurn: Jenny makes one somewhere between the end of Season 3 and the beginning of Season 4, with no real explanation given.
** Arguably, her SuddenlySexuality in Season 1 overlaps with this - Jenny seems like the perfect girlfriend at first, so it's a surprise when she turns out to be so willing to immediately cheat on Tim when she realizes her attraction to girls.
*** Don't forget all the times she lied to and manipulated both Tim '''and''' Marina over the course of the affair and the aftermath, alternating between [[WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou trying to convince them that it was their fault]] and [[WoundedGazelleGambit playing the victim]] while she bounced back and forth between the two of them like a rubber ball.
* TheFashionista: The show [[UnlimitedWardrobe doesn't spare any expense]] for any character's wardrobe, but Alice and Helena are the only ones who regularly talk about it.
** Bette doesn't have the fashionista attitude, but she certainly dresses the part, even relative to her castmates. And the one holiday gift we see her purchase for her father is a $500 necktie.
** Niki has a hissy fit because she doesn't think her character's clothes in ''Lez Girls'' are fashionable.
* FemmeFatale: Marina.
* FilleFatale: Nadia was legally an adult, but her position as Bette's student and employee made their affair professionally and socially inappropriate. Despite (or [[ForbiddenFruit because of]]) this, Nadia pursued Bette relentlessly (and sexual self-control wasn't exactly one of Bette's defining traits).
* FishOutOfWater: Jenny in Season 1, when she first arrives in L.A.
** Max in Season 3, when Jenny picks him up in her hometown and brings him back to L.A. with her.
* {{Flanderization}}: Much of the cast, but ''especially'' Shane.
** Bette went from "classy yuppie who knows how to cut loose every now and then" to "stick in the mud so uptight it's a wonder any of her friends bother with her at all."
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the pilot, they mention that a longer ring finger than index finger makes someone a lesbian. On Jenny, they are exactly the same size. Alice mentions that this might mean she's bisexual. Just a few minutes later...
* {{Gayborhood}}: West Hollywood. For "[=WeHo=]," this is TruthInTelevision.
* {{Gaydar}}: In the opening scene in Season 5.
* {{Gayngst}}: Dana during most of Season 1, when she was still in the closet, mostly on account of her conservative parents and SmugSnake manager. As it turned out, said closet was even more [[TransparentCloset transparent]] than she realized.
* GenreShift: Apparently what this primetime lesbian soap opera really needed to do in its final season was introduce a murder mystery.
** ...Which [[TheUnreveal never got solved]].
* GirlOnGirlIsHot: Exploited. Due to featuring ''a lot'' of sex scenes between women, the show has a ''very'' large male fanbase whose primary motivation for watching it is... yeah. The show got often accused of PanderingToTheBase because of said MisaimedFandom. Writers eventually performed a TakeThatAudience with Mark's attitude towards Shane and Jenny to a mitigated reaction from the audience.
* GoodLookingPrivates: Tasha, who is outed and has to leave the military because of her relationship with Alice.
* HandWave: In Season 3, Bette's inexplicable conversion to Buddhism (reportedly to get pregnant actress Jennifer Beals out of Bette's wardrobe of snappy power suits and into bump-concealing kaftans and shawls for the duration of the season).
** The Alice/Dana/Tonya love triangle was an important (and well-executed) subplot from the latter half of Season 1 through the first half of Season 2. The conclusion was a poorly-written anticlimax that came ''way'' out of left field. A superb performance by Erin Daniels only served to highlight the awful writing.
* HasTwoMommies: Bette & Tina's daughter Angelica.
* HeelFaceTurn: Helena, somewhere between Season 2 and Season 3.
* HeelRealization: By the end of Season 2, Mark ''finally'' has some understanding of the depths to which he has sunk.
* HerCodenameWasMarySue: In the first season, pretentious, weird Jenny Schecter wrote a series of implausibly well-received stories about pretentious, weird Sara Schuster. Yes, the AuthorAvatar had an AuthorAvatar.
* HeroAntagonist: Helena Peabody in Season 2. She was a villain from Bette's point of view. But giving money to charity isn't evil just because you're not giving it specifically to the [[PointOfView [=PoV=]]] character's company. And it's not "stealing your girlfriend" if your girlfriend already broke up with you, because you cheated on her. In Season 3, Helena quickly makes [[HeelFaceTurn the transition]] to full-fledged protagonist, a status she maintains for the rest of the series.
* [[MrFanservice Heterosexual Brigade Bait]]: Most of the prominent male characters are conventionally handsome. There's also [[FetishFuelStationAttendant Shane]], the [[TallDarkAndHandsome dark-haired, androgynous]] {{Bifauxnen}} with the deep voice, the DarkAndTroubledPast, [[{{Harem}} admirers lining up around the block]], and as many [[ShirtlessScene shirtless scenes]] as any other two characters on the show put together.
* HighHeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Dawn's lover Cindi *AHEM* '''Cindi Tucker''']] in Season 5.
* HotTeacher: Jenny's creative writing instructor in Season 2 (played by [[TruthInTelevision real-life lesbian]] Sandra Bernhard) is pretty much the opposite of this.
** Bette becomes this trope in Season 4, when she joins the university faculty. It does not end well for her (see [[TeacherStudentRomance Teacher/Student Romance]] below).
* IDontPayYouToThink: In "LGB Tease," Jenny delivers this line rather awesomely after Marissa brings back her dog wearing the wrong color ribbons:
-->'''Jenny''': (''regarding her dog'') What's this on his head? This is Mauve. This is not orange.
-->'''Marissa''': Well, the groomer ran out of orange, so we thought we would...
-->'''Jenny''': No. No, no. I don't pay you to think. (''to the dog'') Do I, Sounder? Do I pay her to think? (''to Marissa'') He hates you. So take him back to the groomers now and get orange ribbons so that he can like you again. That's it.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Tina helping Bette get (and stay) back together with Jodi in Seasons 4-5. [[spoiler:She wins in the end, though.]]
** Shane chasing [[spoiler:Molly]] away at the end of Season 5. A particularly tragic example, since she was one of only two women Shane had ever really loved. And unlike Carmen, [[spoiler:Molly]] actually accepted Shane for who she was.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Every single episode title in the entire run of the series begins with the letter "L."
* [[IfItsYouItsOkay If It's You, It's OK]]: [[{{Bifauxnen}} Shane]] tends to bring this out in straight women.
* ImportantHaircut: Shane gives two of them in Season 2. Jenny asks for the first one, since she's tired of [[LipstickLesbian being read as "straight."]] Shane offers Mark the second one, as a symbolic gesture of [[LezBro friendship and inclusion]] (which, as she finds out later, he totally didn't deserve).
* IncompatibleOrientation: Mark's fascination with Shane obviously includes lust.
** Helena's affection for Dylan in Season 3 appeared to be unrequited because of this, but as the season progressed the situation proved to be a '''lot''' more complicated than that.
** Season 5 introduced Molly, the one straight girl on the planet who won't go gay for Shane...[[spoiler:until she '''does''']].
* InTheBlood: Shane's father is also a womanizer, but unlike [[LookingForLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces Shane]], he's consciously and actively [[{{Casanova}} malicious]]. Yet he still manages to convince her that they're the same, which winds up ruining her relationship with [[spoiler:Carmen '''and''' Paige]].
* IntrepidReporter: Alice. Gets her in trouble when she [[IsThisThingStillOn inadvertently]] outs a celebrity athlete.
* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: Papi tries to get everyone to say her name correctly.
* IvyLeagueForEveryone: But not for Shane.
* KarmaHoudini: Mark. When he's rooming with Jenny and Shane, they find out he's hidden cameras all over the house and has been secretly recording every aspect of their lives. Somehow, he avoids being stabbed or thrown in jail. They do tell him to leave, but within the same episode, Jenny changes her mind and dares him to stay and [[TheAtoner atone]]. Because, y'know, a real woman would do that..
* LampshadeHanging: The ''[[ShowWithinAShow Lez Girls]]'' subplot of Season 5 was [[UpToEleven a lampshade cannon on full-auto]], aimed primarily at Season 1.
* LesbianVampire: [[SdrawkcabName Uta Refson]].
* LethalDiagnosis: [[spoiler: Dana]].
* LezBro: Mark to Shane in Season 2, before his betrayal was revealed.
** Lisa the male-identified lesbian is introduced as Shane's LezBro before he starts dating Alice.
* LipstickLesbian: Most of the cast, quite deliberately. Ilene Chaiken publicly claimed that the show would never have been made if it hadn't pandered to the MaleGaze (and unfortunately, she's probably right).
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: So many they kept coming and going between seasons. [[spoiler:Or breaking up with each other. Or dying.]]
* LookingForLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: While Shane and Papi both appear at first glance to be {{Casanova}}s, they've both [[HiddenDepths revealed themselves over time]] to be incredibly caring and empathic people, who feel almost ''obligated'' to please everyone around them. And they've both genuinely fallen in love, and had their hearts broken, without turning bitter or predatory.
* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Kate Moennig has stated at every opportunity that the biggest difference between her and Shane is that Moennig isn't a super-promiscuous compulsive cheater.
** Mia Kirshner, despite playing the selfish, narcissistic and pretentious Jenny, runs a charity intended to help people in third-world countries.
** Eric Lively passed up a spot in the main cast of [[Series/TwentyFour 24]], one of the most popular and longest-running network television dramas of all time, for one season of a niche-market premium cable show. He did this because he believed in what ''The L Word'' was trying to do in general, and specifically with Mark's subplot, and thought the more important cultural contribution trumped fame and [[MoneyDearBoy fortune]]. He's pretty much the polar opposite of Mark, who is (justifiably) the most hated character in the history of the series (and [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished what the viewers will always remember him for]]).
*** Incidentally and several years later, Lively did end up appearing in [[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'s "Redemption" TV movie as [[spoiler:President Taylor's son Roger, who is [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident "murdered"]] by the eventual conspirators of the forthcoming season.]]
* MoneyFetish: Helena and Catherine play with their winnings from gambling, which leads to fetishistic sex with it.
* MrsRobinson: Peggy Peabody. Holland Taylor is practically typecast in this role.
** Phyllis Kroll.
* MisterSeahorse: Max gets pregnant while transitioning to male (and looks quite masculine due to the hormones he's been taking).
* NegatedMomentOfAwesome: When Jenny and Shane find out about Mark secretly filming them, he tries to tell them how much he's "grown" since he set up those cameras. Jenny retorts, "You think that's what I'm here for? For some fucking man to chew up and spit out so he can 'grow'?!" It was actually pretty badass (and this was ''Jenny'', for God's sake) and could have been a CrowningMomentOfAwesome if she hadn't decided at the end of the episode to fold and give him another chance.
* NiceGuy: Surprisingly, most of the male characters.
** In Season 1, Tim seemed like the perfect boyfriend at first. After walking in on his so-called friend fucking his fiance, he acted like a huge jerk. But most people would consider that a reasonable response. And even at his worst, while standing next to Jenny, the woman who spent half a season deceiving, manipulating, humiliating and cuckolding him during her journey of sexual self-discovery, he looked like a saint.
** In Seasons 3-4, Angus played this trope ridiculously straight. But when he finally did fall off his pedestal, he fell '''hard'''.
** [[DragQueen Sunset Boulevard]] is not only [[spoiler:a straight guy]], but he's also probably the only genuinely decent [[spoiler:man Kit has ever dated]].
** Even Mark wasn't entirely bad. While what he did was unbelievably sleazy, he at least felt remorse about it and recognized that he probably wasn't going to be forgiven and accepted that. Its also pretty clear he hated himself as much as Jenny hated him.
* NobodyOver50IsGay: [[AvertedTrope Averted]].
* ParentalAbandonment: Shane's absentee junkie parents screwed up her ability to form and maintain functional romantic attachments in a big way. And when [[DisappearedDad Dad]] finally did come back into her life, he only managed to mess with her head even more.
* [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]]: Alice, for the most part.
* PostscriptSeason: [[SeasonalRot Season 6]].
* PsychoLesbian: Jenny Schecter.
* PutOnABus: Marina, Robin, Carmen, Lara, Paige, Papi, Catherine...The show pruned away at least one or two characters every season.
** Carmen was a case of RealLifeWritesThePlot. Sarah Shahi was cast in a starring role on the network TV [[PoliceProcedural cop drama]] {{Life}}.
** Male characters were particularly susceptible to this: Tim, Gene, Mark, Billy, Angus...
** Dylan was PutOnABus after Season 3, but then ''returned'' to become a major character of Season 6.
* ReallyGetsAround: Where do we even begin here? Oh, that's right: Shane.
* TakeThatAudience: What Mark's character eventually ended up being.
* TheRival: The Planet vs. She-Bar. [[spoiler:Planet wins.]]
* SaltAndPepper: Kit and Angus. Also, Tasha and Alice.
* SassyBlackWoman: What Kit ended up becoming.
* SchoolgirlLesbians: Appeared in one episode, which [[TheReveal turned out]] to be the set for a [[GirlOnGirlIsHot porn film.]]
* SelfHarm: In one episode Jenny is found cutting her legs by her roommate, Shane.
* ShellShockedVeteran: Variant; Tasha is very closed off and defensive about her experiences in Iraq.
* ShowWithinAShow: ''Lez Girls''.
* SmugSnake: Catherine. Dawn.
** Dana's manager in Season 1.
** [[TakeThat Ilene Chaiken]]. "Smug?" Run a Google video search for an interview with her. '''Any''' interview. She couldn't act more self-satisfied if she tried. As for the "Snake" half, see EvilFormerFriend above.
* SpicyLatina: Papi is this trope to a T.
* StripPoker: In "Lesson Number One," Helena plays strip gin against Catherine in an attempt to clear her gambling debts.
* SuddenlySexuality: Jenny. Phyllis.
** Tina getting together with Bette can also be seen this way, as her coming out story during an episode in Season 1 mentions explicitly that Bette was the first, and at the time of that episode, the only woman Tina had ever been with.
* TakeThatAudience: Unsuccessful. Despite trying to dodge the virulent accusations of [[PanderingToTheBase pandering]] to a straight male demographic by featuring an in-show betrayal from Mark towards Shane and Jenny who only got with them because he thought GirlOnGirlIsHot, the ''true'' lesbian audience remained unconvinced.
* [[TeacherStudentRomance Teacher/Student Romance]]: Bette's brief affair with her assistant [[FilleFatale Nadia]] in Season 4. Phyllis fires Bette over it at the beginning of Season 6.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Jenny & Shane, from season 2 onward.
** Tasha & Alice, from season 4 onward.
* TomboyishName: Shane.
* {{Transsexual}}: Max is a rare (for media attention) FTM example. [[spoiler:He becomes pregnant, too.]]
** [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Depending on your interpretation]], Ivan is either a drag king or a non-operative transman.
* TriangRelations: Alice, Tasha & Jamie.
* TruthInTelevision: Leisha Hailey, Clementine Ford, Tammy Lynn Michaels, GuinevereTurner, Jane Lynch, AlexandraHolden, Kelly [=McGillis=], Kristanna Loken, Daniela Sea, Karina Lombard and HeatherMatarazzo are all lesbian or bisexual in real life, as well as playing lesbian or bisexual characters on the show (and Mia Kirshner has hinted at bisexuality in interviews).
** Kate Moennig is fiercely private about her personal life and refuses to comment on her sexual orientation. But Jennifer Beals may have accidentally outed Moennig in [[http://lesbianlife.about.com/od/lesbianactors/a/BealsOutsKate.htm an interview]] she did with ''The Advocate''. And there have been rumors of Moennig being involved with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesca_Gregorini Francesca Gregorini]] and her co-star Clementine Ford (which Ford denies).
** She's been pretty blatant about her involvement with Holly Miranda on Twitter.
** More recently, suspicions has also arisen about Rose Rollins, who played Tasha, and is now in another show where she will play a lesbian role.
* TheTwink: Niki.
* TwoPersonPoolParty: The swimming pool in Bette & Tina's backyard existed primarily to provide these scenes.
* TheUnreveal: What really happened to [[spoiler:Jenny]], obviously.
* TheWarOnTerror: Becomes an issue with Tasha and Alice.
* WhereEverybodyKnowsYourFlame: The Planet. [=SheBar=]. The Hit Club.
* WhoWouldWantToWatchUs: ''[[ShowWithinAShow Lez Girls]]''.
* YuriGenre
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19th Jul '12 11:19:26 PM love1993

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* EvilFormerFriend: Ilene Chaiken convinced [[{{Executive Meddling}} Showtime]] to boot [[http://www.afterellen.com/TV/2009/4/abbott-greenberg her two co-creators]] off the show after the second episode. Over the course of the series, the two characters based on them were [[spoiler:the only characters to die]].
* ExecutiveMeddling: In-setting, this trope comes into play at least once a season, costing just about every character their job at some point, and totally ruining ''[[{{Show Within A Show}} Lez Girls]]''.
* {{Face Heel Turn}}: Jenny makes one somewhere between the end of Season 3 and the beginning of Season 4, with no real explanation given.
** Arguably, her {{Suddenly Sexuality}} in Season 1 overlaps with this - Jenny seems like the perfect girlfriend at first, so it's a surprise when she turns out to be so willing to immediately cheat on Tim when she realizes her attraction to girls.
*** Don't forget all the times she lied to and manipulated both Tim '''and''' Marina over the course of the affair and the aftermath, alternating between [[{{Why Did You Make Me Hit You}} trying to convince them that it was their fault]] and [[{{Wounded Gazelle Gambit}} playing the victim]] while she bounced back and forth between the two of them like a rubber ball.
* TheFashionista: The show [[{{Unlimited Wardrobe}} doesn't spare any expense]] for any character's wardrobe, but Alice and Helena are the only ones who regularly talk about it.

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* EvilFormerFriend: Ilene Chaiken convinced [[ExecutiveMeddling Showtime]] to boot [[http://www.afterellen.com/TV/2009/4/abbott-greenberg her two co-creators]] off the show after the second episode. Over the course of the series, the two characters based on them were [[spoiler:the only characters to die]].
* ExecutiveMeddling: In-setting, this trope comes into play at least once a season, costing just about every character their job at some point, and totally ruining ''[[ShowWithinAShow Lez Girls]]''.
* FaceHeelTurn: Jenny makes one somewhere between the end of Season 3 and the beginning of Season 4, with no real explanation given.
** Arguably, her SuddenlySexuality in Season 1 overlaps with this - Jenny seems like the perfect girlfriend at first, so it's a surprise when she turns out to be so willing to immediately cheat on Tim when she realizes her attraction to girls.
*** Don't forget all the times she lied to and manipulated both Tim '''and''' Marina over the course of the affair and the aftermath, alternating between [[WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou trying to convince them that it was their fault]] and [[WoundedGazelleGambit playing the victim]] while she bounced back and forth between the two of them like a rubber ball.
* TheFashionista: The show [[UnlimitedWardrobe doesn't spare any expense]] for any character's wardrobe, but Alice and Helena are the only ones who regularly talk about it.

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* HerCodenameWasMarySue: In the first season, pretentious, weird Jenny Schecter wrote a series of implausibly well-received stories about pretentious, weird Sara Schuster. Yes, the {{Author Avatar}} had an {{Author Avatar}}.
* HeroAntagonist: Helena Peabody in Season 2. She was a villain from Bette's point of view. But giving money to charity isn't evil just because you're not giving it specifically to the [[{{Point Of View}} [=PoV=]]] character's company. And it's not "stealing your girlfriend" if your girlfriend already broke up with you, because you cheated on her. In Season 3, Helena quickly makes [[{{Heel Face Turn}} the transition]] to full-fledged protagonist, a status she maintains for the rest of the series.
* [[MrFanservice Heterosexual Brigade Bait]]: Most of the prominent male characters are conventionally handsome. There's also [[{{Fetish Fuel Station Attendant}} Shane]], the [[{{Tall Dark And Handsome}} dark-haired, androgynous]] {{Bifauxnen}} with the deep voice, the [[{{Dark And Troubled Past}} dark and troubled past]], [[{{Harem}} admirers lining up around the block]], and as many [[{{Shirtless Scene}} shirtless scenes]] as any other two characters on the show put together.
* {{High Heel Face Turn}}: [[spoiler:Dawn's lover Cindi *AHEM* '''Cindi Tucker''']] in Season 5.
* HotTeacher: Jenny's creative writing instructor in Season 2 (played by [[{{Truth In Television}} real-life lesbian]] Sandra Bernhard) is pretty much the opposite of this.
** Bette becomes this trope in Season 4, when she joins the university faculty. It does not end well for her (see [[{{Teacher Student Romance}} Teacher/Student Romance]] below).
* [[{{I Dont Pay You To Think}} I Don't Pay You To Think]]: In "LGB Tease," Jenny delivers this line rather awesomely after Marissa brings back her dog wearing the wrong color ribbons:

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* HerCodenameWasMarySue: In the first season, pretentious, weird Jenny Schecter wrote a series of implausibly well-received stories about pretentious, weird Sara Schuster. Yes, the AuthorAvatar had an AuthorAvatar.
* HeroAntagonist: Helena Peabody in Season 2. She was a villain from Bette's point of view. But giving money to charity isn't evil just because you're not giving it specifically to the [[PointOfView [=PoV=]]] character's company. And it's not "stealing your girlfriend" if your girlfriend already broke up with you, because you cheated on her. In Season 3, Helena quickly makes [[HeelFaceTurn the transition]] to full-fledged protagonist, a status she maintains for the rest of the series.
* [[MrFanservice Heterosexual Brigade Bait]]: Most of the prominent male characters are conventionally handsome. There's also [[FetishFuelStationAttendant Shane]], the [[TallDarkAndHandsome dark-haired, androgynous]] {{Bifauxnen}} with the deep voice, the DarkAndTroubledPast, [[{{Harem}} admirers lining up around the block]], and as many [[ShirtlessScene shirtless scenes]] as any other two characters on the show put together.
* HighHeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Dawn's lover Cindi *AHEM* '''Cindi Tucker''']] in Season 5.
* HotTeacher: Jenny's creative writing instructor in Season 2 (played by [[TruthInTelevision real-life lesbian]] Sandra Bernhard) is pretty much the opposite of this.
** Bette becomes this trope in Season 4, when she joins the university faculty. It does not end well for her (see [[TeacherStudentRomance Teacher/Student Romance]] below).
* IDontPayYouToThink: In "LGB Tease," Jenny delivers this line rather awesomely after Marissa brings back her dog wearing the wrong color ribbons:

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