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Cashmere Mafia: Pilot

By fred | January 7, 2008

(S01E01) Ladies and Gentlemen, here are those who’d like to become the new Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, and Samantha. Of course Sex & The City has to be mentioned when it comes to this new show, which premiered last night and will now move to its regular time on Wednesdays at 10.00

Given its subject and since it is, also, a production from Darren Star, similarities with the HBO classic series are doomed to be found. But before the shoes, the dresses, the drinks and, of course, New-York, what made the success of Sex & The City was that is was simply a good show, one that you loved to come back to.

So, sure, Juliet, Mia, Zoe and Caitlin all have great clothes on and live in the Big Apple as well, but are their stories worth your time ?

Well, this pilot wasn’t actually that bad, but it wasn’t really good either. While it did set a few things in motion for later development, we were put right away into the lives of the four ladies forming the “Cashmere Mafia”, and that fact I liked, although from this kind of show doing it any other way would be a huge mistake, if possible at all.

But in let’s face it : this is nowhere near Sex And The City. One of the great thing about the HBO series was its ability to be fresh, light, funny, and not to take itself seriously. Oh sure, it could and did talk about serious issues, as serous as those in this new show here, but it never did it in a way that would turn the show into a self-involved pretentious thing.

And maybe Cashmere Mafia is heading for a tone that’s a bit more drama and a bit less comedy than what the HBO series had, but that doesn’t excuse the way it did things. Seriously, this show was so obnoxious at times it was painful to sit through some scenes. Rather than putting the characters into situation they had them talk about it and explain everything, with a pretentious that really made the whole things quite ugly.

For instance, early on when the girls are talking about how it’s 2007 and they “can do both” and blah blah blah, I wasn’t that far off from puking. And the little speech of the three girls and how they care about one another during the engagement party, I think I threw up a little bit in my mouth at that time.

Yet, it was clear that during that awul scene that the whole “Cashmere Mafia” thing was put together, it was one of the time when it was illustrated what that expression “meant”. And really, I hate it when I watch a show who thinks I’m a stupid retard who can’t understand anything, and that’s exactly how this show treats you at times, like for instance when they had to explain to us why it was called the way it is called.

Honestly, did anyone need for someone to tell the girls that they were being called “Cashmere Mafia” ? That’s just thinking we’re retards who can’t understand a thing. Especially since I doubt that term will come back often, or at all, during the rest of the show. It shouldn’t, really, because it was would quite a bad idea, and it was only thrown there to explain it to those dumbasses who might be wondering from where the show’s name came from, if anyone wondered about such a thing. Like anyone even cared anyways.

Seriously, how would you have felt if the pilot of Lost ended up by having Hurley to look over the beach at everyone, then go “Dude, I think we are… Lost!” Can you imagine how crappy that would have been ? No ? Just watch this episode, they did it!

About the characters :

- Juliet, what a pain. That one looked nothing like fun, I’m not sure what she does, and she only started to actually do anything by the very end of the episode. Until then, she was just despicable, no wonder her husband is cheating on her. No really, they have to get things started for her or else she’ll just be hated by everyone.

- Mia was nothing very new, her introduction story was incredibly predictable, but she looked quite genuine in the way she wanted both to win and to have a life with the guy, in a house filled with babies, one day. It looked like she’s always been like that, so he should have known when he proposed. But then of course how could have Mia been miserable, had he not call off the wedding and leave her like that ? Because they all need to be miserable, obviously, we need drama!

- Zoe looked to me as if she was out of Desperate Housewives. And, I have nothing against that show, but it’s not that good don’t fool yourself. And while I still enjoy watching it (although, yes, I still have yet to dive into the fourth season…) Zoe had the exact same issues, situations and behaviors as you’d see there. The hot babysitter and the trouble with finding a good one, the call from home while in the middle of of business meeting, and worst of all, the kids playing around and throwing stuff at her during the meeting. Oh, please, make it stop already.

- Caitlin, well, she was probably my favorite character, as apart from her first scene when she dumped her current/ex boyfriend, she looked to be the most fresh and true to herself. And not so much miserable, which is why they had her to tell the audience she was, indeed, miserabe. Still, the priest for a brother looks like nothing new, neither is the fact that he doesn’t follow God’s way to the letter (if you like that, you’re most likely to find Dirty Sexy Money’s priest quite more interesting I’d say), and the “bumping into each other’s heads” scene was pretty horrible.

In the end I think I could sum things up that way : I really liked Sex & The City, and it was really fun to go back and follow the girls week after week trying to get things right with their lives. Here, there’s nothing that makes you want to come back. It’s not fun, they all seem in pain, and quite frankly after watching the pilot, I just don’t care for any of the girls.

To sum up, I think it’s fair to say I didn’t really like it. Will I watch the next episode ? I probably will. Would I have ever even considered watching the next episode, had there not be a writers’ strike going on and nothing on TV ? Hell no, not a chance!

Posted in Reviews
Shows: Cashmere Mafia