Last summer I was pregnant and spending my evenings alone, as Mark was already working evenings. So I’m not sure what stopped me from watching “The Starter Wife,” a miniseries on USA. It wasn’t good taste or wise judgment. I know it wasn’t that. For whatever reason, though, I didn’t watch the show.That all changed when I ventured into the world of Hulu.
Based on a novel that is the epitome of “chick lit,” Starter Wife was first a miniseries and, as of this fall, a regular series on USA. It stars Debra Messing as the wife of a movie producer who gets dumped by her husband and then by her so-called friends and Hollywood society perks. But don’t cry for her, Argentina. As with most stories in this genre, our plucky heroine pulls herself up by her Jimmy Choo bootstraps – with the help of her few loyal friends and new love interest(s), of course.
I readily agree with the Wall Street Journal on this one; it is “pure fluff.” And I can’t argue with the Seattle reporter who wrote, “It's probably unfair to say that flanking Messing's character with a rich drunkard and a gay husband is a throwback to ‘Will & Grace’ but how can a person not notice?”
Really, the premise of the show is silly, and the writing was largely clunky and clichéd. But after watching the first three hours of the miniseries last night (and staying up past my bedtime – good job, Photoqueen), I’m pretty sure I’ll watch the rest tonight just to see if the predictable ending comes true.
I’m not sure what about this show has caught my attention. I could be watching Arrested Development or West Wing or any number of shows now available online. I could be doing laundry. (Okay, not really.) I think it might be because I just love redheads. No, not like I want to marry a redhead. More like I want to be a redhead.Anyway. That’s what I watched when I discovered Hulu. Anybody else watch this show? Or read the book? Or have an inexplicable desire to devour fluffy chick lit/flicks like a box of cake donuts? Or want to dye your hair a fiery shade of red? Anyone?
