Cashmere Mafia

The new ABC series, Cashmere Mafia, premieres some time later this fall. The show tracks the lives of “four Manhattan women bonded by their Ivy League educations and executive success”. The show is meant to be (you guessed it) “a thinking woman's Sex and The City”.

Now, my initial response is to squeal with excitement over the possibility of having another Sex-and-the-City-type show to drool over. I mean…seriously! Apart from the shoes and the fashion…just think of all the funny one-liners!!!

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Charlotte: Imagine, being blind and not being able to see a beautiful day like today. Can you think of anything worse?
Anthony: Stonewashed jeans and a matching jacket.

Carrie: I just love Sleeping Beauty! The music, the sets, the costumes. It's so romantic!
Stanford: You only like it because she sleeps for a hundred years and doesn't age.

Samantha: I don't believe in the Republican party or the Democratic party. I just believe in parties.

Miranda: I had often fantasized about running into my ex and his wife. But in those fantasies, I was running over them with a truck.

***

Still, from what I’ve read so far, that Cashmere Mafia business…gives me the creeps. For many reasons, like:

- The fact that it is set in Manhattan, like, there’s nothing worth depicting anywhere else. I dread the fact that “NEW YORK” will be “the fifth main character” in the series. It’s bad enough that Woody Allen made a career out of that…and that Sarica Jessica Parker (TM: Prof. Grady) does not shut about it…

- I hate the fact that the show seems to be trying to correct some of the “mistakes” of Sex and the City. Like, don’t know if you remember, but one of the BIG criticisms about Sex and the City was that it was largely a “white” show. So, what do they do this time? They invite Lucy Liu to play one of the leading parts. Because, you know, having one Asian American woman on a primetime TV show means that the network does not racially stereotype? Puh-lease!!!

- In an effort to create a show for/about thinking women they come up with “four Manhattan women bonded by their Ivy League educations and executive success”. How fucking simple-minded is that?! When are people going to stop measuring women against male standards of success?! Does anyone (man or woman) benefit from that?!

And, yes, I know that I am reading too much into it. And, yes, I know that it is a little bit too early to start bashing the show (given that I have not seen a single episode and all). But the way people talk about it has given me yet another reason to be absolutely amazed with contemporary media’s complete inability to figure out what to do with us women. They have figured enough out: they know they have the power to battle stereotypes. But, unfortunately, in response to one stereotype, they participate in creating another. Some committee in a big conference room somewhere sat down and decided: We need to start showing more successful women on TV. We need to get rid of the stereotype that all women are motherly and domestic. So what do they do in turn—create a show about cut-throat ambitious women in corporate jobs. They don’t want to create a show about quiet women, being subservient wives to their husband. So, instead, they add a lesbian character into a show. Big fucking whoop!

Now, I need your help on this… Am I wrong in feeling that women deserve more options…at least on TV?!