I admit, I'm a Debra Messing fan. And I had great hopes for
Starter Wife, the new mini-series on USA channel on Thursday nights. After all, shouldn't it be easy for first wives to identify with Molly, who learns with a sudden shock that she is a 'starter wife'?
Molly's lifestyle is unrealistic compared to mine, but I understand why the producers decided on a Hollywood background: It's more interesting to watch a continuing series about the rich and famous.
While there are some realistic touches (the waffling friends; the change in lifestyle; the constant shocks as the abandoned but perfect wife goes through one situation after another) I was saddened to see the series descend steeply into Soap Hell. Towards the end of the first episode, I felt I had very little in common with the beauteous Molly.
It's too bad that this mini-series didn't stick to a more substantial premise. Last year one young lady told me, "My first marriage is for practice; my second marriage is meant to last." Huh? Is this the new attitude among the young? If so, this t.v. series has missed out on a rich goldmine of topics and an opportunity to delve deeply into this issue.
I'll continue to watch the show for a while, hoping I can relate to it. But I won't stick with it if it remains trite.
This critical
Washington Post article sums the show up best.
Too bad. Starter Wife, which I so enjoyed in its first week, has completely degenerated into an unrecognizable soap opera. Instead of dealing with the issue of divorce and separation in any realistic way (there were at least a few moments of truth in the first episode), we find our heroine falling in love with a homeless man, the head of a movie studio missing, and an odd assortment of people moving into her beach house.
