In this week’s Wednesday 5: Women behind the lens at the recent Tribeca Film Festival; TV shows that hired no women writers in 2011-12; Jenna Lyons takes J.Crew from “ugly duckling to fashion arbiter”; a centenarian, Kathryn Wasserman Davis, dazzles us; and Saudi Arabia launches its first anti-domestic-violence campaign.

When a woman is the main character, it makes the show all that much harder to resist: part of me is still in mourning for Geena Davis’s short-lived 2005 ‘Commander in Chief’. Which is why, despite some misgivings, I’m actually looking forward to the return of Julia Louis-Dreyfus in HBO’s ‘Veep.’

Season 6 of “Mad Men” is set in 1968. But how can they jam it all in? The Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy assassinations, Apollo 7, protesting feminists, the antiwar movement, the musical “Hair” . . . ?

By Alexandra MacAaron

Netflix’s 13-episode series “House of Cards” can be a little heavy-handed (Spacey turns directly to the camera with a wry observation at least a few times every episode). But it’s also extremely addictive. My name is Alex and I just came off a two-day, 13-episode bender.

The Americans, the hot new TV show on FX, might seem an odd fit for us boomer types. It’s heavy on gritty action (also known as violence) and almost-explicit sex. It’s often compared with that “other” spy story with a young cast, Homeland. Might the show not be for us?

By Eleanore Wells

I am puzzled by those who protest the show “Scandal” as sending the wrong message about women. The name of the show is “Scandal,” not “Saint.” It’s supposed to incite. It’s a failure if it’s not scandalous.

Lily Tomlin’s back. Now we really can believe spring is coming.

Where are the women on Wikipedia?; a riveting image of stillness in a time of war; a campaign for one million men to rise up against violence against women; Picasso’s never-before-exhibited “Portrait of A Lady”; and Dame Maggie Smith talks aging.

Pining for the good ol’ days when the Oscars were family-friendly; ruminating on poems that share a love for books; redefining what 21st-century feminism looks like; noting the notable black women in literature; and applauding one young woman who dares to educate Afghan girls.

Diane Nash, Gloria Steinem, Sandra Day O’Connor, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Madeleine Albright—and many other trailblazers for women’s rights—provide, through their blunt remembrances in tonight’s documentary, a click of recognition and a shiver of dismay about the way things used to be.

Of a City University professor who retired at 60 with no plans for the future—and suddenly discovered that she had talent as an actress.

Snide talk: Alexandra MacAaron, a mere American, dares an interview with Lady Grantham, the Dowager Countess of Downton Abbey.

Judith Ross reminds us that holiday traditions aren’t just for kids; notable women who have died are less likely to make the obituaries than notable men; a reminder that Jane Austen’s novels were about women’s empowerment; Susan Brownmiller reflects on changing the discourse on rape; and Barbara Walters asks Hillary Clinton about her hair.

Data on how women and girls are stereotyped on screen; a new literary site focused on authors first published when they were 40 or older; a call for action to improve women’s reproductive health in Nigeria; Jill Peters’ s portraits of women living as men in the Balkans; and artist Candy Chang asks us to consider the one thing we would like to do before we die.

The media-created smackdown between the “wily temptress” and the “boring, betrayed wife” in the Petraeus scandal; is television annihilating women over 40?; men speak out on roles for women over 40 in Hollywood; the multiple jeopardy of being an African woman; and the Thanksgiving table as a work of art.