The big C eats "The L Word"

This season on "The L Word," Dana Fairbanks' battle with breast cancer is a thoroughly noble awareness-raising story line that, thanks to some seriously bad writing and directing, lands firmly in the clumsy territory of Afterschool Specials and those Very Special episodes of "Moesha." While we heartily support the cause -- who hasn't known someone with breast cancer? -- we can't help wishing they'd find a way to make these scenes a little less excruciatingly awkward. With Dana's health on the decline, though, there's sure to be lots of melodramatic weeping and tearing of hair to come, followed, of course, by more bumbling scenes like this one.