Felicity Huffman of "Desperate Housewives" talks about the more realistic portrayal of women on TV in the PBS documentary, "The Independent Woman."

Not so long ago, most women on television existed to be the perfect mom or to meekly offer support to male characters. So how did we get from June Cleaver to female characters who are complex, flawed and refreshingly real in shows like Murphy Brown, Nurse Jackie and Desperate Housewives? “The Independent Woman,” the first in a four-part PBS series called America in Primetime, aims to answer that question as it examines how the role of women in television has changed for the better when it premieres Oct. 30 at 8 p.m. ET.

“It’s about the creative process as it pertains to television and how it gets to be created. It’s fertile ground,” says Felicity Huffman, one of several stars interviewed for the program along with Housewives co-star Eva Longoria and Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife), Candice Bergen, Mary Tyler Moore, Sandra Oh and Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie).

Huffman says her perpetually harried character Lynette Scavo broke ground in “coming out and saying motherhood can be a drag. Why is it OK to hate your spouse and your job, but it’s not OK to hate your kids?” asks the real-life mother of two.

In this final season of Housewives, Lynette is more independent than ever, having separated from her husband, Tom. “I think it’s hard to put a marriage back together when it’s been bent along those fault lines for so long,” Huffman says. “We either have to walk away and say it’s over or create it all over again. If they end up back together there has to be a change in both of them.”

We’ve been thinking about the role television plays in society — and specifically its impact on women — since we told you about the Miss Representation documentary. The remaining America in Primetime episodes focus on other archetypes on TV: “Man of the House” airing Nov. 6 traces the evolution of increasingly complex male characters, while “The Crusader” on Nov. 20 examines the gray area between right on wrong that television characters often occupy. “The Misfit,” premiering Nov. 13,  looks at unique characters who defied stereotypes, featuring interviews with Alec Baldwin (30 Rock), Paul Feig and Judd Apatow (Freaks and Geeks) and writer/producer Mitchell Hurwitz (Arrested Development).

Do you think women are accurately portrayed on television today, or is there still room for improvement?

Photo credit: Rahoul Ghose/PBS

Tags: Alec Baldwin, America, Candice Bergen, Desperate Housewives, Edie Falco, Entertainment/Culture, Eva Longoria, Felicity Huffman, Freaks and Geeks, House, Judd Apatow, Judicial Event, Julianna Margulies, Lynette Scavo, Mary Tyler Moore, Mitchell Hurwitz, Murphy Brown, Nurse, Nurse Jackie, Paul Feig, Primetime, Sandra Oh, Series, Television, The Good Wife, The Independent Woman, Tom, writer /producer