Channel Surfing with C.T.
February 9th, 2008
When CASHMERE MAFIA premiered, I commented that it felt like a show written by men about women. Well, the same can’t be said for the show its creator was attempting to rip-off before it could even air, LIPSTICK JUNGLE. Everything CASHMERE got wrong is done right on JUNGLE, especially smaller moments. Take, for example, the scene in which ticked exec Nico (Kim Raver) casually over-peppered a rival’s salad while talking to their mutual boss. Once Nico left the table, the victim of her little prank took a bite of the newly spiced salad. Where CASHMERE no doubt would have played this scene big, with a coughing fit and perhaps chugged water, JUNGLE went with a very quick, subtle reaction shot before moving on. And that’s the difference here. The leads feel like people as opposed to caricatures. I wasn’t completely sold on Lindsay Price’s Victory at first, but by the midway point, she’d grown on me. And Brooke Shields hasn’t been this appealing since… well, ever. Sure, there were credibility issues… I mean, would a woman hoping to move up the corporate ladder really allow herself to be manhandled — no matter how hot the man doing the handling — in a public bathroom during a party she was hosting? But when, after pushing the hottie away by proclaiming herself a married woman, Nico went home to a husband so oblivious to her as a sexual being that he failed to notice the phone number written in magic marker upon her thigh… well, you just had to cringe on her behalf. I wasn’t thrilled with Andrew McCartney, who seemed terribly miscast (although someone at NBC was definitely trying to get the most bang for their buck where he’s concerned… the night before the show debuted, LAW & ORDER CRIMINAL INTENT showed scenes for its next episode trumpeting that it starred “LIPSTICK JUNGLE’s Andrew McCartney!”). I’ve tried to get into CASHMERE, but found it tough going. I suspect JUNGLE is going to quickly become a favorite. Hey, what do you know, even with the strike, NBC has managed to turn Thursday back into Must See TV night!
Last week’s episode of LOST left me underwhelmed and convinced that it had originally been part of a two-hour offering, and after this week’s boffo installment, I’d bet cash money I was right. Given the relative debacle that unfolded after the show introduced the “tailies” last season, I was worried when upon hearing so many new people would be coming aboard in this episode. But each and every one of them were welcome additions, adding to the canvas as opposed to the tailies, who seemed designed as little more than a water-treading plot device. Heck, five minutes after we met Charlotte, I was in love with her… which was extremely important in order for the moment when Ben shot her to have an impact. Now some of the people who take LOST a whole lot more serious than I do tell me that the flashbacks in this episode don’t play be previously established “rules” regarding points of view and such, but that doesn’t bother me. I’m not one of the viewers who looks for hidden meaning or freeze-frames shots to figure out who’s hiding out in that freaky-deaky cabin. All I want is a good, exciting story, and even when I can’t necessarily remember every detail of what’s come before, LOST tends to deliver.
Answer me this, PROJECT RUNWAY fans: Was this week’s outing not the funniest ever? I swear, by the time Christian and Sweet P started arm wrestling, I was half convinced the contestants had been slipped some kind of drug. Even dour Jillian cracked a few smiles! During the runway show, it was obvious that Michael Kors and Nina Garcia had no clue what to think of the spandex numbers being worn by WWE divas. “I feel like the pope at a sex club!” said Kors at one point. Christian was obviously disappointed that his leather-and-lace outfit didn’t win, and rightly so. While he’s usually overconfident to the point of being obnoxious, this week, the kid rocked it and was — as he loves to proclaim — fierce. But I’m afraid the judges made the right call: There was no denying that Chris’ leopard-in-a-cage outfit was a total winner. By the way, is it just me, or should Chris totally be cast as Edna Turnblad the next time Broadway is looking to recast Hairspray? And that’s a compliment, people! Heck, I wish he’d played the role in the movie instead of John Rivolta.
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