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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Carrie Fairchild" data-source="post: 432030" data-attributes="member: 673">Cashmere Mafia / Lipstick Jungle:Covering these two together, as you can’t really mention one without the other. Back in 2005, Candace Bushnell published her fourth novel Lipstick Jungle, the success of which prompted a bidding war for the TV rights. Bushnell’s friend and previous collaborator Darren Star tried to secure the rights for $200k but was outbid by NBC, who bought them for $500k. In December that same year, Robin Schiff, a frequent Darren Star collaborator, was announced as both writer and exec producer, alongside Bushnell.Lipstick Jungle would follow “three powerful New York businesswomen who will do anything to get ahead and stay on top”. By early 2006, Gina Gershon (Showgirls) was announced as one of the female leads, with future Glee star Matthew Morrison and Scott Cohen (Gilmore Girls) in supporting roles. However, by that March, a revolving door of personnel began. Production was halted when Robin Schiff jumped ship. It was then announced that Melissa George (Alias) would join the show (she’d been handpicked by Bushnell to play Nico). Schiff was briefly replaced by Jill Gordon (My So Called Life) who in turn was replaced by Rand Ravich who came onboard as showrunner in June. Ravich was gone by October, replaced by Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Heline. By early 2007, the decks were cleared again as Gershon, George, Morrison and Cohen were all no longer involved in the project. Brooke Shields was announced as taking over Gershon’s role of Wendy Healy, while Kim Raver (Third Watch) took on the role of Nico (Melissa George had apparently left to take a role in HBO’s In Treatment).At the same time that the “new” Lipstick Jungle was taking shape on NBC, another eerily similar drama about four successful female executives, friends since college, who rely on each other as they juggle the demands of career, family, hard choices and high ambitions in New York City, was announced over at ABC, with none other than Darren Star as producer. Reportedly, it was only after Bushnell had contacted Star to tell him that Jungle had been picked up for a pilot by NBC, that he admitted to selling “something similar” to ABC. And thus began a freeze in the pair’s decade long friendship that had seen both of them rise to worldwide success through their TV adaptation of Bushnell’s Sex and the City.ABC’s drama was Cashmere Mafia, with a cast including Lucy Liu as publisher Mia, Frances O’Connor as financier Zoe, Miranda Otto as hotelier Juliet and Bonnie Somerville as cosmetics exec Caitlin. Despite Lipstick Jungle being in development for over a year longer, it was Cashmere Mafia that made it out the gate first. Originally scheduled to premiere in November 2007, the writers strike saw its launch being pushed back to January 2008, with only seven of its thirteen ordered episodes being produced. Not that an earlier start or a full 13-episode run would have made much odds. Reviewers slated it for being dull and trying unsuccessfully to borrow too much from SATC (which it drew a lot of inspiration from). Launching in a special, post Desperate Housewives timeslot, it pulled in 10m viewers before moving to its regular home of 10pm Wednesday, where ratings halved to 4-5m up against CSI: NY and Law & Order.After various recasts of husbands and supporting players, Lipstick Jungle was finally confirmed to launch in January 2008, with ex-90210 star Lindsay Price rounding out the lead trio. However, the show suffered yet another setback when writers/showrunners Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Heline were let go and production was halted until November 2007. When production resumed, Oliver Goldstick (Ugly Betty) was in situ as the new showrunner (the fifth person to take up the position) and February 2008 would be the new premiere date. Similar to Mafia, the show had originally gotten a 13-episode order which was cut to seven due to the strike. When Lipstick Jungle did finally arrive, it must have given some comfort to Bushnell that reviewers regarded it as the superior of that season’s two Sex and the City clones. It was faint praise though, as Jungle also received criticism for being a poor clone of SATC. It must’ve also given her some comfort when NBC announced in April that they were renewing the show for a second season of 13 episodes, while ABC announced in May that the ratings deficient Cashmere Mafia had been cancelled (its lead Lucy Liu, being transferred to ABC’s other struggling sudser, Dirty Sexy Money).Lipstick Jungle’s second season premiered in September 2008, but ratings struggles saw it moved around three different timeslots in its 13 weeks on air, before its “season” finale aired in early January 2009. Not yet officially cancelled, there was talk of it getting a third season up until the last minute, only for it to be quietly cancelled, with the news being confirmed by Brooke Shields. Both shows were among the many highly stylised, Desperate Housewives / Sex and the City knockoffs of the 00’s. Unfortunately, while they may have shared the fashions of the shows that they were emulating, they unfortunately didn’t share the writing or the ratings.</blockquote>

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