No matter your gender or age, it's clear that this is an unoriginal, bland, unfunny, Sex and the City rip-off.
By TODD ORODENKERlipstick jungle 224 88(photo credit: Courtesy)
Sometimes when you watch a television show, the creative brilliance and originality behind it can't be mistaken. It's too clear. It's there. You can see it. It's something you've never seen before, something new, something different.
Then sometimes, there are shows like Lipstick Jungle.
Now, let me preface this by saying that as a regular guy in his 20's, perhaps I'm not the typical viewer this show has in mind. I understand that.
What can't be mistaken, no matter your gender or age, is that this is an unoriginal, bland, unfunny, Sex and the City rip-off. What can't be ignored are the mindless plots, bad dialogue, poor acting and baseless characters. That, my friends, applies to everyone.
The show is about three high-powered women roaming around New York City trying to juggle their hectic personal lives with their hectic work lives. It stars Brooke Shields (coming all the way back from The Blue Lagoon) as the working mom, 24's Kim Raver as the power-hungry adulterer, and Soap Opera actress Lindsay Price as the hot fashion designer caught up in her never-ending search for Mr. Right.
As you can see, they've got themselves some real unique characters.
Rounding out the cast is Shield's husband (Brit Paul Backthrone), Raver's booty call (Robert Buckley) and husband (Julian Sands), and Price's current man, the rich and powerful Joe Bennett (Andrew McCarthy, one half the all-time classic Weekend at Bernie's duo).
Candace Bushell, who wrote the book that spawned Sex and the City, also wrote the book that became this show. So while an author pretty much writing the same book over and over again might fly in the paperback world (see Grisham, John), it doesn't cut it in the fast-paced and quickly changing world of television.
Viewers seem to always have their hand on the remote, always waiting to turn the channel when what's on doesn't please them. For Lipstick Jungle, it's more of a case of "been there, done that" than the show simply boring the viewer. Pretty faces, witty banter, lots of sex scenes, all those things keep viewers engaged and people interested. It moves fast, it features plenty of flashy and catchy music; the show does a lot of things to keep your attention.
But, the end result still isn't good. It still stinks. And that's why this show should be ignored, forgotten, done away with.
Unfortunately, it was given a second season after the show performed fairly well in a difficult timeslot without much promotion. Perhaps this is a telling sign of a critic's distance from what the general public is actually thinking. Perhaps it's just a coincidental occurrence of seven million people all forgetting to turn their televisions off.
Or, more logically, perhaps people are simply entertained by the show. Maybe they see past the lack of bite one normally expects a script to have. Maybe they don't mind traveling down the same road with the same plots show after show after show. Maybe this pleases them, maybe they long for living the life they see on screen.
That's what turned Sex and the City into such a cultural phenomenon. People saw those four women, sipping fruity drinks at swanky clubs while wearing great clothing with terrific shoes, and longed to be Carrie or Samantha or Charlotte or Miranda.
That appears to be the appeal of Lipstick Jungle. It's the same kind of appeal a poorly executed show like Entourage has amongst guys, in that they long for that life, they want to be who they see on screen. They want that.
Television is an escape, a way to step away from our crummy, boring office jobs and watch attractive people do fun things. People don't want to see the harsh realities of the world (look at the audience for the masterpiece that is The Wire), they want to see the good and the fun and smiles and the laughs.
Lipstick Jungle offers that. It offers wealthy, pretty people sleeping with each other in the most famous city in the world. No, it's not good. It's not well done, it's not well acted. It's an escape, a way to relax for an hour. And, that's why television shows are there, so even though this one isn't something to go crazy for, it's more than understandable to take it in.
Lipstick Jungle airs on YES Stars 1 Sunday through Monday at various hours. Check listings.
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