The Writers’ Strike Chronicles–Final Installment(s): The ‘Sex’ Effect

The Writers’ Strike may be over and our favorite shows may be coming back to a boobtube near you in about 3-4 weeks, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have to wait. Isn’t waiting just simply the worst? I think it’s even more upsetting that we KNOW that it’s finally over yet we still don’t get the majority of our shows back. For example, new episodes of the beloved 30 Rock don’t start until April 10th–I’d sooner wait for the new Sex and the City movie. Then again, it’s not like the withdrawal from our favorite ladies has been bad: it’s been syndicated and dramatically edited on almost every channel and now from the minds of those writers we so greatly appreciate and cherish, we have two new Sex and the Cities to deal with during the week.

With their catchy feminine-yet-masculine names, Cashmere Mafia and Lipstick Jungle have arrived and revived the dead spirit of guilty pleasure in viewers everywhere. Shockingly similar storylines and characters make for a formula that has proven itself time and time again to be a hit. ABC has even tried the formula but instead of adding a dose of estrogen, it unsuccessfully used testosterone. Big Shots premiered sometime last year starring former big shots Christopher Titus (I forget what he was in), Dylan McDermott (from The Practice), Michael Vartan (who had a good run on JJ Abram’s Alias alongside Jennifer Garner as Sydney Bristow’s spy/lover), and some other forgettable name. But with a pitch like: “Same city, different sex,” it was bound to hit a snag (as it did) with the men finding themselves in rather outrageous situations to compensate for the fact that the troubles of men don’t make good plots–we have little to none.

Christopher Titus’s character has a psychotically controlling wife, “shockingly” revealed to be a less-than-charismatic Charisma Carpenter (from Buffy) in an awkward role play scenario. McDermott’s character is the ladies’ man (the not-so-subtle male version of SATC’s Samantha) who–in a move George Michael would be proud of–receives a “knobber” from a tranny at a truck stop; the consequent scandal leaving him without the same high ranking job and wife-less. And then there’s Vartan’s uninspired character–he is better as a spy–who constantly struggles with his affection for his coworker after his wife cheats on him with his boss. So yeah, bad idea ABC.

But on the other hand, the recipe with all the estrogen intact was more than a delectable little morsel. Where the women are more cutthroat and the guys are bigger douches than Mr. Big himself, Cashmere Mafia and Lipstick Jungle break the glass ceiling, giving their leads executive to corporate jobs. These women are the true big shots–at the top of their game (well, some anyways) and bringing to mind Samantha’s “You see us New York–we have it all!” comment from SATC. Higher up on the career food chain, most of the women have two major deterrents: children and emasculated boyfriends and husbands.

In the premiere of Cashmere, Lucy Liu (representing the Asians) has her engagement called off by her sore loser fianceé when she got the promotion they were both vying for. She then goes on to date an Asian brain surgeon and has a brief makeout session with a cougar-bait photographer/manny played by musician Val Emmich (who lately, seems to be a little typecasted–also playing an underage boy toy for 30 Rock’s Liz Lemon (Tina Fey)). In this week’s episode, Liu’s character (Mia) has a nasty run-in with her former flame’s television anchor girlfriend, who spitefully wears Mia’s scarf on air. Miranda Otto (War of the Worlds) plays the red head (as Cynthia Nixon does in SATC) who is in an equally nasty divorce unaided by her husband’s mistress. Frances O’Connor is Zoe, who this week quit her corporate job after being snubbed a promotion (which went to a MAN no less) that she sacrificed precious family time for (boo-hoo). Finally, Bonnie Somerville is the adventurous and sexually confused bi/les/straight blonde who finds out that her girlfriend is pregnant and the girlfriend’s snipey ex returns and doesn’t want the baby to have three mothers. Somewhat provocative, Cashmere stays on the mild side showing minimal skin and only has the lesbians occasionally kiss (which probably won’t be happening anymore).

Lipstick Jungle, though, pulled out all the shameless hits, especially in the promos where they constantly showed clothing-challenged Robert Buckley (from MyNetwork’s Fashion House and their failed attempts at telenovela serials) dropping trough for a married Nico (played by Kim Raver from 24 and The Nine). Like his Cashmere counterpart, Buckley (who plays Kirby, also a photographer something) serves as cougar bait for the sexually starved Nico. Surprisingly enough, I believe this is Kim Raver’s first “sexy” role with her stint on the now defunct The Nine being sexually uneventful and everyone knowing that the only one getting action on 24 is Jack Bauer. Brooke Shields is Wendy, the head-honcha of a film production company who, this week, discovers that a tell-all book by her nanny is being published by a vindictive rival that might reveal her subpar mothering habits. Finally, Lindsay Price (who kinda looks Asian) is the designer who, running out of steam, is betrayed by her assistant who steals her designs claiming them as her own. You can’t get anymore cutthroat than that.

Stylish, racy, and very sexy, Cashmere and Lipstick fill the void of Sex and the City, adding to the mix stonger women (no offense to Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, or Samantha) and believably outrageous soap-like stories. From the studio that brought us SATC (Darren Star), Cashmere Mafia can be seen Wednesdays at 10pm on ABC. Based on Candace Bushnell’s other novel (besides SATC), Lipstick Jungle can be seen Thursdays also at 10pm on NBC–fitting in nicely after the LOST timeslot.

Written on February 17, 2008 in Entertainment by Vu Le. TrackBack URI.