The Starter Wife
by Michel Mathew
Sunshine beaches, gleaming black SUVs, wild parties, the Hollywood brat pack and a sneak peek into their hedonistic lifestyles - that’s what TV series The Starter Wife is all about.
Based on author Gigi Levangie Grazer’s New York Times best-selling book, The Starter Wife premiered with a bang on TV3 just as winter was creeping in on Down Under.
The sun kissed beaches of Queensland, Australia (where most of the series was filmed), coupled with a cast of powerhouse performers, must have evoked a heady response from TV viewers when this series aired last week.
Most of them, dog-tired from a daily overdose of reality shows, would have tuned in hoping for something a little different. And they got it.
The Starter Wife did, as promised, deliver on many levels, but it often smacked of repetition and reverted to the ever-so-familiar formula adopted by hit TV series’ such as Desperate Housewives and Sex and the City.
But, saying that, we have learned to love The Starter Wife with its high society Hollywood circuit, porcelain smiles, designer parties and the double lives of its central characters especially Molly Kagan (played by sitcom queen Debra Messing of Will & Grace fame).
Molly’s life falls apart one fine morning after a party, when she finds that her film mogul husband has ditched her and the sudden realisation that she has become a “starter” wife.
And in glitzy Hollywood, a starter wife is a woman who has lost her credibility, along with her husband’s fame and money.
The series’ winning ticket has to be Molly and her attempts at resurrecting her lost lifestyle. And while Molly’s close circle of friends (played by Judy Davis, Miranda Otto, and Chris Diamantopoulos) all add their own unique spin on things, it’s Molly’s increasing closeness to John Mantegna, a studio boss, that adds a dash of colour to the drama.
Quirky dialogue, skimpy costumes and a plot that reeks of revenge make The Starter Wife a series with a difference. And with a atring of Emmy Award nominations under its belt, it looks like this TV series’ success look set to continue apace.