'Late Night' makes late night look bleak for women. So we asked how bad it really is
In the movie "Late Night," which opened in limited release Friday, Mindy Kaling plays Molly Patel, a woman plucked from obscurity to help revitalize a long-running but creatively stagnant late-night show.
As the only woman or person of color on the writing staff, she is not exactly welcomed with open arms: On her first day on the job, she resorts to sitting on an overturned trash can because there are no available chairs, and her male colleagues keep barging in on her in the ladies' room, which in the past was always empty.
For many women in late-night television, this depiction of a male-dominated workplace rings true, with one glaring exception: The show Molly works for is hosted by, of all things, a woman. Played by Emma Thompson, Katherine Newbury has been around late night so long she's had the chance to grow out of touch - a character with about as
