Preview of the show

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2mkKIjKAyL8

The Starter Wife premieres with a special two-hour episode Thursday, May 31 at 9/8C on USA Network.

After being blacklisted from premieres to pilates, Molly Kagan (Debra Messing) searches to rediscover life after divorce. A brief respite in Malibu and some oh-so-Hollywood friends prove to be the perfect cocktail for her transformation from "Starter Wife" to her new life.

Based on Gigi Levangie Grazer's New York Times best seller of the same name, The Starter Wife also stars Judy Davis, Joe Mantegna, Miranda Otto & Anika Noni Rose.

Official Website

http://www.usanetwork.com...arterwife/

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From Denver Post

"Starter Wife" chick beach TV

By Joanne Ostrow Denver Post TV Critic
Article Last Updated: 05/26/2007 12:57:05 AM MDT

Debra Messing plays a wife cut loose by her Hollywood hotshot husband (Peter Jacobson, left). Joe Mantegna, right, co-stars. (USA Network )You know you want it: six hours of divorcée porn, cable-style.

An overgrown chick flick, USA's "The Starter Wife" provides moderately diverting company for the lonely.

Debra Messing, late of "Will & Grace," allows herself to be seen looking round and womanly in this midlife-reinvention fairy tale.

Taking a page from the Aaron Spelling wish-fulfillment book - that is, delivering glamour and riches via the small screen to those who likely will never have them - the film offers champagne, fantastic oceanfront properties and Hollywood parties, weekly from Thursday through June 28.

The first two hours will premiere back to back, 7-9 p.m. Thursday on USA.

The producers have

Bethany Whitmore and Debra Messing in "The Starter Wife." (USA Network)determined that this is neither a feature nor a series nor a miniseries. It is being marketed as an "event," meaning it's a pumped-up version of the old-style movie-of-the- week format.
This short-run, or limited, series is an admirable idea. If only more American networks would endorse the idea of the British short-run series, rather than dragging on, trying to reach the magic 100 episodes needed for syndication.

Memorable British limited runs have included glorious productions of the caliber of "Jewel in the Crown," "The Singing Detective" and "Brideshead Revisited." This project is not to be confused with such lofty fare.

"The Starter Wife" is a limited run that is qualitatively limited too. It's the tale of the studio chief's ex, the Hollywood version of the starting- over woes.

Not as funny as "The First Wives Club" but, well, longer.

In their spa-going, A-list- partying fantasy lives, USA viewers can relate.

Doesn't everyone have to reimagine herself when her film-industry mogul husband dumps her for someone younger?

Isn't every woman aghast when she's snubbed at the country club, shunned by the charity women's luncheon and forced to retreat to her friend's Malibu beach house to recover?

A bit of romantic froth about expensive people and a woman who manages to find her way to a better life, "The Starter Wife" is strictly popcorn TV, the equivalent of beach reading without the intellectual stress of page turning.

As predictable as it is soothing, "Starter Wife" is sweeter than "Sex and the City" when it comes to 40something women on a quest. It's also nicer to the film industry than most unflattering depictions ("The Player" springs to mind).

Messing, the weakest link on the "Will & Grace" chain, is the headliner as Molly, with the fabulous Judy Davis ("Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadow") and Joe Mantegna ("Joan of Arcadia") as supporting pillars.

The punchlines are pointed but feel somewhat used.

"I worship at the church of perpetual upkeep!"

"Of course I'm cranky. I haven't eaten in 12 years!"

And when, finally, there is someone hot in Molly's active fantasy life, she is admonished, "You're thinking with your winkie!"

When Molly strikes up a friendship with the female security guard at the posh beachside community where she's squatting, you know it's because, deep down, she is more aware, honest and real than the rich folks. (The only things that feel "real" here are the script's Prius and Ponds plugs).

Sam, the handsome young man with perfect abdominals who likes to romp shirtless on the beach, senses that Molly is special.

"You look like one of those sleek, pampered women but you have a spark ... something about to ignite!" he says. Combustibly.

The pair seem to have less onscreen chemistry than Grace Adler and Will Truman, but we'll let that slide.

Judging by the first four hours, director Jon Avnet ("Fried Green Tomatoes") had fun peppering the routine story with visually astute fantasies out of movie lore - from a "Wizard of Oz" sendup with Messing as Dorothy to a parody of the famous "my mother/my sister" scene from "Chinatown."

Hollywood presents an easy target, and ultimately the story goes on too long. But there are nice touches in the digs this "Starter Wife" manages at the expense of the stereotypically crass, greedy studio executive.

LIVIN' MY LIFE LIKE IT'S GOLDEN! LIVIN' MY LIFE LIKE IT'S GOLDEN! LIVIN' MY LIFE LIKE IT'S GOLDEN! LIVIN' MY LIFE LIKE IT'S GOLDEN! LIVIN' MY LIFE LIKE IT'S GOLDEN! LIVIN' MY LIFE LIKE IT'S GOLDEN! LIVIN' MY LIFE LIKE IT'S GOLDEN! LIVIN' MY LIFE LIKE IT'S GOLDEN! LIVIN' MY LIFE LIKE IT'S GOLDEN! LIVIN' MY LIFE LIKE IT'S GOLDEN!

Actually, I fear I'll get sucked into this. Due to my pathetic obsessed nightly reruns of Law & Order, I've seen these promos thousands of times and their subliminal messages have infiltrated my cerebrum in dangerous ways. The only other show that's done this to me in the past five years is Nip/Tuck.

i've seen so many damn commercials for this damn movie it's crazy!!! USA is promoting the hell out of this thing!!!

i know i really hope it lives up to the hype as i love Debra Messing and i love the idea of producing an "event" which is a 6 hours of a story that is neither a film nor a series.

please be good

after watching the premier, i'd say it was visually stunning but it bites Sex & The City way too much that it loses the originality it should be gaining.

story-wise, it started very bland untill she got dumped it got interesting but they'll have to be more careful 'cause they could either do a superb job from there or just fail terribly.

being done watching the show, one word: VOMIT.

this coming from someone who loves debra missing to bits