io9 has an interesting interview with the produce of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles where he talks about the women on SCC and how they are portrayed.

We actually have another character, played by Busy Phillips [from Freaks And Geeks], a character who lives next Sarah who is 8 months pregnant. The actor actually is 8 months pregnant, she is only in 3 or 4 episodes before she gives birth. We really show her body and show her pregnancy, which for me is a really interesting thing. I’ve taken a lot of flack from people who think she’s too pregnant on the show. We have an episode where she’s wearing a skirt and a bikini top. And you realize, you never see that on television. You never see pregnant women on television. You see fake pregnant women on television. It’s throwing some people off. You see some of the dailies, and people are like, “She’s huge.”

In these scenes with Sarah and John Connor, who are these little dark lean pieces of beef jerky. It’s important for people to see that, if you’re going to put on the sexy robots, you need to put on other representations of women and the female form. Not for political reasons — I do it because it works on the show, and there’s a reason thematically. She’s like the alternate version of Sarah Connor, if Sarah wasn’t Sarah Connor. She’s a single mother, pregnant with a son. She’s Sarah, if everything was okay. That’s kind of what I wanted to do, and really show how full she is of life and how the other characters are death-oriented. I think this show does work for women, I think it should work more than it does, and I’m pretty sure it will.

I watched the whole first season over the weekend, and reading this was interesting. The show obviously goes for the 18-25 male demo, since there are a number of hot chicks and lots of shooting and explosions. But at the same time, it doesn’t objectify or demean women. In some ways it does the opposite of that by giving us strong female characters, one of whom is an object to begin with, but who is developed in the opposite direction. We see her grow from being “thing”, to being “woman”, developing sensitivities and relationships.

I don’t know if the show will ultimately become popular with women, but I hope that it does.