Lipstick Jungle

So at last Lipstick Jungle, the lovely, Candace Bushnell's new baby gets its airtime. This new show, which is touted as the new Sex and the City is about three chums who happen to be the biggest players in New York. There is Wendy Healy played by Brooke Shields, a top movie exec who is the bread winner of the family, Nico Reily played by Kim Raver a glam magazine editor who embarks on an affair with a younger guy and Victory Ford played by Lindsay Price, a fashion designer who is trying to pick up the pieces after damming reviews of her latest collection. Now I am sure you all know the details about Lipstick Jungle and Cashmere Mafia, the rival show but in case you need reminding then may I suggest you click here to read my previous blog.

I will be honest and admit that Lipstick Jungle has the advantage as I have read the book and taken a liking to all the characters. My first impression of Cashmere Mafia was not good but seven shows in I have found myself warming to the show and the characters. Ok the dialogue is a bit lame and the jokes few and far between in but Cashmere Mafia does a good job of portraying the way powerful women behave in the boardroom. Lipstick Jungle, on the other hand fares better in the way the friendship of the three women is developed. Unlike the Cashmere quartet, you can really believe that the Lipstick trio are best mates who have known each other for a long time. The way they bicker, reprimand each other, joke together and console each other; very often all over a three course meal, makes you want to buy this friendship. Also the jokes are a lot better and the one-liners are simply sensational. My only quibble is the casting; from what I read in the book Wendy is very tomboyish in contrast to her feminine husband, which is a far cry from the very glamorous Brooke Shields. I also would have had Nico down as a ravishing brunette as opposed to the waspy Kim Raver and Lindsay Price's wardrobe is so so wrong considering the character she plays. Come on, she is supposed to be a fashion designer not a reject from a pantomime. It will be interesting to see which show comes out tops. NBC are really going for it though, they have even produced a real version of Bonfire magazine, the publication that Nico Reily edits. Cool huh? It seems to be a growing trend, FX Networks did the same with Dirt; the TV series staring Courtney Cox in which she plays an Editor of a tabloid magazine .