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| Available at Amazon.com |
When Darren Star created the television series Sex and the City for HBO 10 years ago, it wasn’t exactly an instant hit, but it got better over time and became one of the most popular shows ever for HBO. Now that the show has come to the end, we have seen numerous copy-cat shows trying to cash in on the success of Sex and the City. Darren Star, himself, has been the executive producer for similar television shows in the past few years with Miss Match, The $treet, and Kitchen Confidential among others. But all of them have failed to capture the same kind of magic that worked his HBO hit. His latest attempt was Cashmere Mafia on ABC.
Cashmere Mafia follows the lives of four ambitious women, who’ve been longtime best friends since their days at business school. They try to balance their glamorous and demanding careers with their complex personal lives by creating their own boys’ club called “The Cashmere Mafia” to protect each other. The club consists of Mia (Lucy Liu), an aggressive magazine publisher and creator of the Mafia; Caitlin (Bonnie Somerville), a tough-talking serial dater and cosmetics executive who spends less time at her job than she does contemplating whether she’s a lesbian; Juliet (Miranda Otto), the Chief Operting Officer (COO) of a hotel group, and who is never taken seriously and has to deal with a cheating husband and bratty daughter at home; and Zoe (Frances O’Connor), a busy mother of two who is always doing business on her bluetooth cell phone device. Along the way in their club, as you might expect, they also discuss their personal ups and downs as they try to have it all in New York City.
The cast of this show does a decent enough job with what they are given. Lucy Liu is a good lead for a show like this, and Frances O’Connor is also a veteran of many TV shows. Miranda Otto and Bonnie Somerville are not as good as O’Connor or Liu, but they both get passing grads for their performances. Peter Hermann is really the only male that gets any reasonable screen time and he can be good, but none of the male characters are that developed. This series is definitely all about these four women, which could be a good thing, if we actually cared about these characters.
But really all four of the women in Cashmere are almost exact carbon copies of the four women in Sex and the City. Mia is obviously Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Caitlin is a cross between Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Samantha (Kim Cattrall), and Juliet is Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) right down to the red hair. Zoe is really the only character that doesn’t fit into a Sex and the City character mold, because she is a mother. However, that doesn’t mean her character is any more interesting since she is your typical cliched working mother that we have seen countless times in previous television series.
You really can’t blame the actors too much, though, as they can only do so much with generic writing. Every storyline and line of dialogue seems ripped straight from the pages of the Sex and the City script. Of course, everything on Cashmere Mafia has to be watered down more to a degree, since this show is not on HBO. So what you get is forced humor that is not that funny and predictable story arcs, which include cheating husbands, not being taken seriously in the working world, and women having to choose between their careers and their love interests. About the only positive thing you can say about this show is that at least it looks and feels like Sex and the City. Of course, it looks and feels exactly like that series right down to the music and slow-motion camera shots of the women walking down the street or red carpet.
The “hard knock life of career women” has been explored extensively on TV since the end of Sex and the City. Last year alone, there were two similar shows in Lipstick Jungle (created by one of Darren Star’s former Sex and the City partners) and Cashmere Mafia that premiered. But only Lipstick Jungle will get a chance to “shine” in a second season on NBC. That’s probably because NBC can afford to stick with a not-so-good copycat new show and ABC can’t since most of their new shows from this past year were 10 times better than Cashmere Mafia. This series is a blantant rip-off of Sex and the City in almost every way. Due to the writers’ strike, this show probably wasn’t given much a chance, but then again it didn’t show much potential in the 7 episodes that did manage to make it to ABC. Hardcore fans of Sex and the City might be the only ones who can even think about enjoying Cashmere Mafia, but why watch a less edgier and less creative clone when you can still watch the original on DVD.
Episodes:
Disc One:
Episode 1 – Pilot
Meet the members of the Cashmere Mafia: Mia, Juliet, Caitlin and Zoe. Friends since business school, these successful career women live and work in Manhattan where they try to juggle their work life with rocky marriages, family crises, rival colleagues, and everything in between.
Episode 2 – Conference Call
Juliet is transformed from ice queen to seductress for a hot date with a man from her past. No sooner is Mia appointed publisher of Barnstead Media Group than she is ordered to fire her mentor, Grant Normandy. Meanwhile a battle of wills ensues between a sexy stay-at-home supermom and working mom Zoe, who discovers that her rival has propositioned Eric with a no-strings-attached offer that he might find hard to refuse. Caitlin and her new girlfriend, Alicia, surprise their friends when they announce that they’ve taken their relationship to a new level. Couples counseling for Juliet and Davis takes a turn for the worse, and Juliet decides to make some changes herself.
Episode 3 – Dangerous Liaisons
Juliet struggles with her feelings about Davis as she contemplates a down-and-dirty tryst with a seductive charmer from her past. Meanwhile, Mia butts heads with the new male editor she hired to re-launch “Modern Man” magazine. Zoe is caught in the middle of a messy office affair between Clayton, a fellow managing director who is married, and Katherine, her young research analyst. A nervous Caitlin must deal with being outed by a gossip blog run by Cilla Grey.
Episode 4 – The Deciders
Caitlin and Alicia attend a lesbian bridal shower, where an overwhelmed Caitlin finds she still can be attracted to an incredibly hot guy. Mia’s parents fix her up on a blind date with an Asian neurosurgeon who, to Mia’s surprise, doesn’t call her afterwards. Upon discovering that her ex-fiance Jack, who has recently hooked up with an attractive news anchor, will be at a group brunch hosted by a mutual friend, Mia decides to bring the good doctor with her to make Jack jealous. Meanwhile, Zoe is called on to save Clayton and Katherine during a meeting with an important client, after they conspired to keep her out of the meeting. Juliet struggles to trust her husband, Davis, after catching him in a questionable meeting with his former mistress, Cilla Gray.
Disc Two:
Episode 5 – Stay With
Zoe and Eric struggle to find time to celebrate their tenth anniversary, as Zoe meets up with a ruggedly handsome colleague in Southampton. Meanwhile Juliet and Davis, whose marriage is already under fire, discover a provocative photo of Emily on the Internet; Alicia drops a bomb on Caitlin that may change their relationship; and, under mounting pressure at work, Mia is anxious about a new relationship with Jason, even as Eric and Zoe’s sexy new manny, Adam, becomes a tempting distraction to her.
Episode 6 – Yours, Mine and Hers
Mia and Caitlin search Jack’s apartment for a revealing sex tape Mia made with him, even as the ex-couple continue to fight their feelings for one another. Just as Caitlin warms up to the idea of being a mother, Olivia, Alicia’s ex-partner, stings her by telling her there is no room for another “mother” or a bad role model like Caitlin in the baby’s life; Zoe battles to land a new billionaire client, but her unappreciated efforts force her to make a life-changing decision and quit her job; and the nasty divorce battle for property ownership heats up between Juliet and Davis.
Episode 7 – Dog Eat Dog
A charming multi-billionaire pursues Juliet, both personally and professionally, in an attempt to take over her company. Caitlin’s job is on the line as her boss, cosmetic’s titan Lily Parrish, puts mounting pressure on her to produce a big publicity splash during Fashion Week, and Mia falls for a foster dog but is unable to pass the ownership test for pet adoption. Meanwhile stay-at-home mom Zoe struggles to be the perfect mother, much as she once aspired to be the perfect executive.
The video is given in anamorphic widescreen color with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, which is enhanced for 16X9 TVs. The transfer is great with minimal grain. ABC shows always look great on TV, so you wouldn’t expect anything but greatness for the DVD’s video quality. No problems at all.
The audio included is in English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound. There are subtitles available in Chinese, Korean, and Thai as well. The dialogue and music come out loud and clear. No major problems here either and the overall quality is a little better than your average TV on DVD set.
“Revenge Sex: You Get As Good As You Give” Featurette –
This runs 2 minutes and it’s all about the topic of “revenge sex”. This means that after your husband or wife cheats on you, you get “one free ticket for guilt-free sex” basically. The cast and crew talk about this subject. Nothing insightful about the show at all, but it’s a little more insight into the character of Juliet.
“Move In Or Move Out” Featurette –
This runs 2 and a half minutes and it’s about..well I’m not sure. It has something to do with the character of Mia dating the “manny”. You really don’t want to know, and this featurette is not worth your time.
“Kiss My Glass Ceiling” Featurette –
This runs 2 and a half minutes and it’s all about the topic of women being executives in a man’s world, so to speak. The cast and crew talk about this subject. Nothing insightful about the show at all, but it’s a little more insight into the character of Zoe.
“Pick A Team, Any Team” Featurette –
This runs 2 minutes and it’s all about the topic of “a woman deciding if she is a lesbian or not”. Yep, you guessed it, nothing insightful about the show at all. But every other main character got their featurette, so this one is all about Caitlin.
If you are looking for the next great version of Sex and the City, keep looking. Cashmere Mafia pretty much just changes the names and the faces of the lauded HBO series and hopes that it’s good enough to get people to watch. It wasn’t as this series is now dead and buried. It’s not even worth digging it up for a rental, unless you are a hardcore Sex and the City fan or Lucy Liu fan and you want to simply enjoy the scenery with the “mute” button on.
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Sony Pictures Home Entertainment presents Cashmere Mafia – The Complete Series. Created by Kevin Wade. Starring Lucy Liu, Frances O’Connor, Miranda Otto, Bonnie Somerville, Peter Hermann, and Julian Ovenden. Running time: 315 minutes. Rated: NOT RATED. Released on DVD: September 23, 2008. Available at Amazon.com.
About Josh Clinton
