Oh, now that was just mean. (Spoiler!)

D'Artagnan takes after Athos in his strong attachment to one woman but whereas d'Artagnan gets verbally frustrated, Athos turns to drink.. :)

Like mentor, like pupil.. :)

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Heh. I stand corrected, Laseia. :) Most of those are indeed from shows I don't watch. Though many of them I started watching, but gave up on for some reason. Maybe I should go back and check some of them out again. Except for "Mad Men." "Mad Men," as good as it is, I fled after only a handful of episodes because it gave me too many flashbacks to my 60s childhood when, contrary to popular mythology, it was NOT a good time to be a child. Woo. I do love how they didn't romanticize the period AT ALL. It was just a little TOO good. :D

And I'm with you, Tuppance76! Even the English major in me is fine with the liberties the writers are taking. There's so much more to characters than what we read in the books, and - in the right hands - those characters can live much broader lives than what's between the pages.

Dont forget Kate from Castle

Constance is far less stereotypical, and far more independent than most of the ones you named here, though.

From the series I watch, at least...

Game of Thrones is interesting because it does have a lot of female characters, but they are still heavily influenced by stereotypes, and written from a male point of view (and you can tell). Daenerys (not Khaleesi) may be a strong character, but she's also written as a male sexual fantasy... Cersei is a misogynistic cliché in many ways. Arya is the opposite cliché (she is "cool" because she behaves like a boy, basically). There is no female character in GoT that is as complex as Tyrion can be, for example. And the show reinforces all these stereotypes (in the books, Cersei is still a paranoid, hateful person, but she is more complex).

Joan Holloway is strong and gutsy, but in many ways she's also defined by the men around her. She is also definitely a male sexual fantasy. Joan is a very interesting, well-written character, but she's very constrained by gender roles and she struggles with this. Peggy Olson is far more empowered.

In Downton Abbey, I would probably accept Violet Crawley... Even though she clearly derives her assurance from being an aristocrat. I think Isobel is an even stronger character, though I really love them both.

What is very refreshing about Constance, though, is that she's not stereotypical. She is pretty, but not in a conventional, "male fantasy" way.
She's brave, and she can even fight, but she's no tomboy (unlike Arya). She's clever, but without being the stereotypical "sly" woman.
She wishes to be more independent but she's also very realistic. Her explanations to d'Artagnan about why she cannot simply run away with him and risk losing everything are sensible. In many ways, she's a feminist character, but she's not a stereotype and she is still aware of her social condition and the constraints that come with it.