Sorry to be that person but it was actually the bros only crowd that caused the lack of women
A lot of newer fans donβt know what happened in the early seasons. Whenever they tired to introduce a female character theyβd get flooded with hate mail and there would be on-line campaigns to get her written off the show
There was so much instant hate for Jo that the network told them to get rid of her but Kripke fought because he loved her. He had to fight the same fight every single season because the execs kept insisting it wasnβt worth keeping an unpopular character. Part of the reason Kripke killed her in season 5 is because he was leaving and he knew the network would make them get rid of Jo once he was gone. He didnβt want someone else handling the death of one of his favorite characters
TV Guide teased before season 4 that 2 recurring female characters would be added to the show. Thatβs it, no descriptions of the characters or even their names, just their gender. The magazine and the network got so much hate mail over this that Kripke had to do a special interview just to beg fans to give the characters a chance. When he lost the fight to keep Bela he did another interview about how devastated the writers were to lose her as a character and all the amazing stories theyβd had planned for her
The actress who played Lisa was sent death threats by fans
This is just a small sampling, but the same thing happened with any female characters who were the same age as the boys
The show became cautious about female characters. They had to, the network wasnβt happy about the hate mail and the show was always on the verge of being cancelled. The hate mail and βwrite her offβ campaigns for female characters didnβt die down until the end of season 7. They still existed, but they werenβt as strong as they used to be. By season 9 we started seeing more female characters, but you can tell they remained cautious. The hate groups still exist, their numbers have dwindled but theyβre not gone. All us old timers have been holding our breath every time a new, amazing woman is added to the show because we know there will be hate mail and we worry itβll be enough to make the network pull the plug on her
You canβt write women into your little show thatβs always on the verge of cancellation if the fans complain every time you add a female character