Cashmere Mafia

I immediately felt guilty when I started watching this show -- four women, New York City. I couldn't bare the fact that I was cheating on the Sex and the City girls, but I decided to give it a shot. Pleasantly surprised, I found that Cashmere Mafia was even BETTER than SATC. Now before you women hunt me down with pitchfork and flame, hear me out. There are major differences between the two series that people tend to write off when they see the "four women in New York city series". First and foremost, this show is much more modern than SATC. The plot lines are raw because the writers for this show aren't milked dry after writing a million seasons, unlike those of SATC. AND, perhaps what I liked the most, is that these women are actually FASHIONABLE unlike the ridiculous outfits donned on SATC. I could relax while watching instead of sitting on the edge of my seat, screaming WHAT IS CARRIE WEARING NOW? But more importantly, the women of Cashmere Mafia are very different, and a lot more realistic. The show follows them in their professional fields -- you see them at the office, out to lunch with coworkers, etc. This provides better plot lines, context and more dimensions for the characters. However, what I liked about the show the most was that this show wasn't about "FOUR SINGLE WOMEN IN ROUGH AND TUMBLE NEW YORK" like SATC is. These women have real, believable relationships, some married, some not. It isn't a show based on the perpetual hunt for the right man. Overall, I thought it was a thought provoking, fast-paced, great show.

So, of course, it got canceled already. I'm not surprised. Good shows get canceled all the time. On the networks. Not so much the cable channels. The cable channels can handle smaller audiences much better. Smart, witty, and fast paced is going to net a smaller audience.

A slower, less witty version of CASHMERE MAFIA is LIPSTICK JUNGLE. Equally as good. Just slower and less witty. It survived to see another season. CASHMERE MAFIA is history. Fortunately, I've got a DVR and I don't mind watching shows over again.

Being a guy who appreciates strong, assertive women, the main characters of CASHMERE MAFIA were exactly my cup of tea, and the metronome scoring for the first episode was a dead give away the pacing of the show was going to be somewhat rapid. It was. Shades of GILMORE GIRLS. I like lots of movement, lots of dialog.

As for the show's realism, I have no idea. The upper East Side is not my stomping ground. However, realism is not why I'm sitting in the balcony. I came to be entertained, and I was. CASHMERE MAFIA is a very, very good show, and a short lived one, too. I will, however, enjoy my own reruns.

I do wonder, though, how a show about four strong, assertive women working at a meat packing plant would do? I mean, I try keeping an open mind about things but I just don't relate all that well to the upper classes. Yachts, corporate jets, and homes in the Hamptons just seem a little irrelevant. Maybe that's just me.

This show reminds me of Sex in the City- without the warmth and genuine friendships. The pilot didn't quite demonstrate natural chemistry between the characters, although that could come in time. And airing the show after Desperate Housewives was smart; while I am sure that some DH fans will not like Cashmere Mafia, I would imagine that fans of Cashmere Mafia will be viewers of DH.

Thus far (i.e. after the airing of only the pilot), I think the show has the potential to capture the chick-flick audience- provided the plots of future episodes are original rather than predictable rewrites of other women-taking-charge shows.

Okay, I've just seen the pilot. And in my opinion, I think the show had some potential.

For one, the female leads are all intriguing. Their characters all have interesting, new story lines, and the actresses pull it off rather well (especially Miranda Otto). One thing I might say though, is that while the characters are great in their own respective story lines, they lack chemistry between each other. But considering how the cast of DH and SATC didn't really seem that close to each other in their own pilots, I'm guessing that this might change as time passes by.

Speaking of DH and SATC, viewers might think that this is a bad knockoff of those shows, but it's not. Though the format is a bit clichéd in that it has four strong female leads as in SATC and DH, Cashmere Mafia strives to portray their leads as more ferocious than other shows. To be honest, rather than SATC and DH, I was reminded of a female version of "Big Shots". And while I gave up on BS for lacking sympathetic characters (I only liked Joshua Malina's character), I think Cashmere Mafia somehow finds a way to make their leads sympathetic on top of being strong and vicious.

Though I did like this pilot and the characters, I'm not sure whether viewers will give this show time to grow. Just as people are quick to criticize clichés, they are also quick to criticize the different. And with CM's cast of stronger, more cutthroat, and different women, I'm not sure if viewers will be ready for this. Here's hoping they are.

I've just watched both the pilot and the second episode.

So far, I like the series. The second episode was better than the first, and the show definitely has potential to do better than it's currently doing.

The four main characters are successful women, but they all have their flaws. Sometimes, the show does make me wonder if these women work - the show is also supposed to be focused on their work lives, but we do not get to see them work very much. (Mostly, it's just been Mia working.) The chemistry between the four best friends could be better, but considering it's only the first few episodes... chemistry can be developed over time. (The actresses are great in their own roles - it's only when they're together that you may question if they're really best friends.)

Basically, while I do like this show, it could be a lot better - and hopefully audiences will give it a chance! (There were several other series that didn't get a warm reception initially, but in the end turned out to be hits.)