Last week, we were introduced to the main characters in this show, based on a book by Candace Bushnell, who also scribed Sex and the City. There’s Nico Reilly (Kim Raver), a magazine editor who wants to be the boss; Wendy Healy (Brooke Shields), a movie executive who balances work and family; and Victory Ford (Lindsay Price), a fashion designer who’s trying to get a second wind in the industry.
In tonight’s ep, Nico tries to wrangle a photo shoot with Prince William, but gets flack from his peeps who say the magazine is “stodgy”. She enlists the help of Patty Blume, an Annie Leibovitz-type celeb photographer. Unbeknownst to Nico, Patty’s assistant is Kirby Atwood, a guy she had a hot fling with one time. And boy, do these two have chemistry. I don’t blame her for not being able to resist when he puts the moves on her later.
They make sweet love and then he takes pictures of her, which – excuse me! – not a good idea! Especially since Nico is married! Anyway, the tryst translates into a provocative layout for the magazine, which the readers love, but Nico’s boss hates. “Watch yourself,” he tells her. “It doesn’t take much for a halo to turn into a noose.” What the heck is that supposed to mean?!
Victory is trying to regroup after losing her fashion design company and pink-slipping 15 employees because of a mis-step on last year’s designs. Her assistant, Reese, gets a better job where she can actually design clothes instead of answer the phone. So Victory lets her go, but doesn’t realize that Reese stole a bunch of her designs. It’s just not right. But Victory’s guy, Joe, gives her a little boost in the encouragement department, so it’s all good. Or, at least, it will be at some point.
Wendy is dealing with the fallout of a tell-all book by her former nanny, claiming she’s a bad mom on a power trip. Even worse, Wendy's hubby, Shane (Paul Blackthorne of The Dresden Files), had a few conversations with the nanny about this very subject, which puts him in the doghouse with Wendy. The publisher is Bainbridge Press, headed by Janice Lasher (Lorraine Bracco of The Sopranos). The two have it out, but Janice won’t budge when Wendy suggests putting her on the publicity tour. “You must have me confused with your shrink,” bleats Janice. Ha! Of course, an homage to her role as Tony Soprano's shrink.
I love this show! Even though the women have fabulous careers, we can still identify with them. They seem like real women, in contrast to the Cashmere Mafia girls, who are just caricatures of people we might read about in a celeb magazine.
Everything about the show is good, including the directing (Timothy Busfield on this ep), the music (sassy pop tunes, with a hint of Sex & The City here and there), and top-notch actors who all have some history in the film and TV business. I’ll definitely be tuning in to see what happens with these ladies.
