‘Cashmere Mafia’ Gets January Debut

Yet another Sex and the City-style series/retread/ripoff (take your pick depending on your viewpoint) is headed our way. ABC has announced that the one-hour dramedy Cashmere Mafia will finally premiere at 10:01pm EST on Sunday, January 6. The newbie executive produced by Sex and the City writer and producer Darren Star will then move into its regular Wednesday-night, 10pm home on January 9.

I say “finally” because the series was originally supposed to debut on November 27, in the same season as all the other fall rookies. The merciless writers strike got in the way, however, and the show was bumped aside to help the network keep new episodes on the shelf for future broadcast. As a result, series stars Lucy Liu (Kill Bill, Charlie’s Angels, Ally McBeal), Frances O’Connor (Windtalkers, Artificial Intelligence: AI), Miranda Otto (War of the Worlds, The Lord of the Rings), and Bonnie Somerville (Kitchen Confidential, NYPD Blue, Friends) had to wait indefinitely for Cashmere to receive another launch date.

NBC also has its own Sex and the City-style series/retread/ripoff, Lipstick Jungle, which will premiere on Thursday, February 7 at 10pm. That show is based on the best-selling book of the same name by Candace Bushnell, who also penned the magazine column upon which HBO’s Sex and the City was based.

Some industry watchers were salivating over the possibility of the related shows going head-to-head in a death-match battle for viewers. They can pretty much mop up their drool now, though, since ABC’s announcement means Cashmere will arrive a full month before Lipstick gets underway. Thus, with just seven episodes reportedly in the can, Cashmere will be half over before NBC breaks out its rival.

Read on for the official description of Cashmere Mafia.

Four ambitious, sexy women who have been best friends since business school — Mia, Zoe, Juliet and Caitlin — try to have it all. They aren’t just powerful and intelligent as singular executive sensations in today’s corporate battlezones; they’ve bonded into a formidable unit a “Cashmere Mafia” — to support and counsel each other through good times and bad. How better to climb up the corporate ladder than with your buddies at your side? Whether it’s coping with rocky marriages, fending off scheming colleagues or just trying to find themselves in the midst of their chaotic lives, these compelling women use their valuable friendship to keep centered.