Fifteen minutes into last night’s series premiere of ABC’s Cashmere Mafia, I jotted this sentence down on my notepad: "None of these women have any distinguishing characteristics." Alas, by the end of the hour, the same could be said for the show itself. (Look for Henry Goldblatt’s official review of the show in this Friday’s issue of EW.)
Sure, there were beaded handbags and sparkly skirts and little black dresses galore last night, but costume designer Patricia Field (Sex and the City) might as well have been dressing a quartet of department store mannequins, given the dearth of zippy dialogue or fresh plotlines doled out to series stars Lucy Liu and Frances O’Connor (both of whom I liked in spite of the material), as well as Miranda Otto and Bonnie Somerville (um, not as much).
This isn’t to say that the networks shouldn’t be allowed to explore "It’s hard out here for a career gal" territory. But was it really necessary to rehash the mom-rushes-to-daughter’s-dance-recital scene to punctuate the point? Heck, I’d have settled for seeing O’Connor’s character sneak in to her daughter’s basketball game or mathematics competition–anything to shake up a formula that’s been played out repeatedly on both big and small screens. Or how about this idea? Why not have O’Connor conquer her schedule, show up on time, and prove the point that her kids are a top priority; that’s it’s difficult, but indeed possible, to juggle career and family and (whoa!) be mostly happy? It might help the infinitely likeable actress when she has to deliver groaners like, "We’re being held hostage by our help." Oh how woeful to be able to afford an allowance for unlimited texting and subway rides (though not super pricey wine) for one’s live-in nanny!
Other recycled story arcs included O’Connor spotting Otto’s hubbymaking out with another woman on the street (and the gals debatingwhether or not to tell her), and Liu being forced to choose between hercareer or her co-worker/fiancé (both of whom, despite supposedly beingsteely, focused professionals, made out in plain view of theircoworkers. Ick!).
Note here that I’m referring to the actress’s names, rather than theircharacters. (I can’t bring myself to IMDb them.) And that I have yet tomention a single male character from the series. (Ugh, I’m gettingkinda drowsy just thinking about ‘em.)
Yeah, I’m curious to see ifCashmere Mafia improves when its second episode airs in its regularWednesday-night-at-10 pm time slot, but considering I’ve already gotProject Runway and Law & Order slated for that hour, I’m not suresaid curiosity will prevail. What did you think of the series premiere?Did any of the stars or story arcs stand out for you? And mostimportantly, will you be back for a second helping? Holla!
I thought the first episode was okay. I mean I wasn’t expecting much, so I was fine with what I got. I agree with you Slezak that I am also sick of seeing how high-powered women fail at balancing everything when most of us are actually able to balance family and career. What really got me was how Lucy Liu’s character got dumped because she won the promotion and he lost. It’s not like he didn’t know what kind of woman she was in the year that they were together. Then all of a sudden …surprise? Now he is threaten by her success? Please!
Within the first 10 minutes, my three friends and I were blown away by how BAAAAAAAAAAAAD this was. So over the top awful, so stupid — Lucy Lui is a high-powered exec but she can’t cc of her her friends on an email? She has to send the same email to each of them, one at at time? Oh, right! She has to type the email to each character so we can see their professional titles to know they Big Important Business Women. C’mon. It was all downhill from there. The only thing that made me sort of want to hang on was the timeless appeal of Frances O’Connor, but the writing was so bad, we were cringing. We had to turn it off.
It wasn’t a terrible premier, but still quite recycled. It was basically corporate sex & the city. instead of 2 blondes, a brunette, and a redhead, you have 2 brunettes a blonde and a redhead. but still overall, i will probably spend my wednesdays flipping between law & order and this show. I can see it eventually going somewhere.
Not the worst show I have ever seen but it sure wasn’t unique! I kept thinking SATC + The Starter Wife = This? I think Miranda Otto is playing the same character as in Starter Wife. I too laughed when Lucy Lui couldn’t create a e-mail group with her best friends addresses! The whole show was very predictable (including “Am I a Lesbian?” storyline. I like the actors individually but they seem rathing boring as a group. Maybe Lipstick Jungle will be better. I am not holding my breath though…
The thing is- it wasn’t Sex and the City. At least with SATC, there were women you could relate to- single ones, ones struggling to achieve in their law careers, ones mired in debt and couldn’t afford to buy their apartments. The girls of SATC may have seemed a little above our heads, but the women of CM are so far off any regular (or even career-driven) woman’s map, I don’t know what planet they’re on. I am all for a show that features strong women (loved the COO with the coffee bit), but they’d better make it a little less $$$$ and little more fun or I’m outta here.
HELP! I am being held hostage by this crappy series cause of the writers’ strike. Saldy, I was forced to watch this cause all that was left on were re-runs. All I kept thinking was put those damn kids in private school like everyother rich parent and that way we dont have to deal with this stupid plot again. PS I hope you get fired soon.
PSS- Loved your shoes
It was kind of a snore, but despite agreeing with every single point made both in the post and the comments, I’m giving it a couple more episodes. Even SATC needed some time to grow into a killer show. I have hopes. Not high ones, but hopes nonetheless.
In all honesty.. I liked it ! I’m a woman in their age group, with friends that could fit those similar scenarios (without all the glitz of course ) and the message I got was that it was about the friendships these girls have not their income bracket. I too have very close friends like these and what happens to one happens to all.. It was nice to relate on that level.. Nice to have another Sex and the City type show to watch.
Ok first of all, the fact that people actually noticed that Lucy Liu sent the emails seperately is ridiculous! You are supposed to enjoy it people you are not supposed to think that far into it. It is TV!!! I enjoyed the fact that this show has the guts to bring a lesbian character to primetime television. I cant wait to see how Sommerville’s character develops…
Pat Field has lost her costuming edge–the costumes on this show were horrendous. The 4 black dresses were not interesting enough to sustain that little plot diversion. I would most likely never watch this predictable show again if not for the writers’ strike. Unfortunately, it will probably get DVR’ed so that I have something to watch on these long, lonely winter nights without the characters I know and love.
I liked this show better when it was four men, called Big Shots, and was cancelled.
Please, enough with the violin plucking!
This show was lacking any originality and reason to watch again. Predictable from start to finish. Actually, I’ll probably end up watching it again if only because of the strike. The strike aside, I think that this would have otherwise been quickly lost amongst the other quality shows that are out there.
On a side note, Lucy Lui seemed to be not so comfortable with this “nicer” character. Make her a likable b*tch again.
Oh, and her sending separate e-mails bothered me to. Even if she sent each message separately, we didn’t have to see her physically type the message out every time. Showing her once and then each person getting the message would have been far less distracting. And as for it’s only TV – the show must not have been good if something like that was as distracting/annoying as it was.
I actually had more fun watching not so fantastic fire flicker and cough smoke than that television show. From the moment they opened with the proposal until the very end, I was just…bored. I kept thinking of Carrie and the girls, who would have 1.) Puked in the face of an emerald-shaped diamond. 2.) Gotten all sorts of fabulous revenge on the cheating husband, the sore-loser of a fiance, and the frenemy tramp without even scuffing their Choos.
I hope the series can go, and personalities can be fleshed out, but that show was a whole lot of boring! Here’s hoping Lipstick Jungle doesn’t stuck either!
Wasn’t expecting anything more than Writer’s Strike filler, and I think it’ll do that job well enough. It wasn’t horrible. Not sure it’ll last though, beyond the strike. Not many American women can relate to the whole “boo hoo, I’m rich and slim and gorgeous but I just can’t manage to have a solid home life too” bit. Then again, I never thought the horrid Grey’s Anatomy would last, and it’s one of the biggest hits on TV!
I found it more Desperate Workwives than Sex and the City, all it had in common with the latter was Manhattan and 4 women, but it needs alot of work and I guess more time for the characters to be more defined.
On a complete different note, where was Frances O’Connor when they were casting for Sally Fields daughter in Brothers in Sisters (now thats a good charecter driven show, but tock time to grow) don’t get me wrong, I am a hugh Rachel Griffith’s fan (and she was casted before the last minute cast change Sally Fields) but I thought they look soooo alike!