The Starter Wife - Series premiere
Starring: Debra messing, Judy Davis, Chris Diamantopoulos, David Alan Basche, Danielle Nicolet, Hart Bochner, Brielle Barbusca
Created By: Josann McGibbon & Sara Parriott (executive producers)
Premieres: Friday, October 10, 2008 at 9:00 PM ET on USA
When I heard that USA was turning The Starter Wife into a full series, I wondered how the miniseries would translate into a week-to-week show. If you haven’t seen the miniseries, it centers on Molly Kagan, a hard working mother and wife to Kenny Kagan, a rich and successful movie producer. She works hard not only to keep their household running and raise their daughter Jaden but also to keep Kenny’s career on track. Then one day after years of marriage he decides he wants a divorce. Upon splitting up with Kenny, Molly is shut out from all of her social circles, dropped from every A-List in L.A. and most of the people she once considered to be friends turn their backs on her. The story follows Molly as she picks of the pieces of her life and figures out a way to start from scratch with her own career as a writer. It ends with her in a relationship with a once-homeless guy and ready to publish her first book.
When the TV series picks up, Molly’s single again and swearing off men, deciding that it’d be best for her if she focus on her daughter and her career for a while. One of the most intriguing plot-points in the first two episodes is the journal she begins to keep after attending a writing workshop. She starts jotting down all of the juicy gossip she hears from the few friends she has, including Joan and Rodney (Judy Davis and Chris Diamantopoulos, both reprising their roles from the miniseries) as well as one of her few new friends, Liz Marsh (Danielle Nicolet), the wife of a LA pro-baseball player. When the journal is lost, Molly scrambles to find it only to learn that whoever got hold of it is selling the secrets to a popular blog for all of LA society to read. Not good (for her anyway, it’s totally entertaining for us though since this is sure to cause some major drama.)
Meanwhile, Joan is continuing down the path of sobriety and has taken a job at rehab. Kenny, Molly’s ex is having some major money troubles as he put almost everything he has into his latest picture. It should be noted that for the role of Kenny, Peter Jacobson (who played him in the miniseries) has been replaced with David Alan Basche.
From what I’ve seen of the first two episodes, which will air back to back on Friday night, I think The Starter Wife has a lot of potential to go far as a TV series. I can’t say that I was a huge Debra Messing fan prior to seeing the miniseries but she really shines as Molly Kagan. Molly is a woman who has spent years becoming accustomed to a certain lifestyle and although she’s had to let go of a lot of the perks that she once took for granted, she’s a strong, intelligent woman who will surely reclaim some of the status she once held when she was a “Wife of.” As she stands now, Molly is on the outside looking in and that gives her a unique and often humorous perspective on the world she was once a part of. I’ll be adding The Starter Wife to the growing list of USA series that I watch regularly.
If you’re excited about this new series, enter to win a luxurious gift bag full of Starter Wife goodies in our giveaway here!.
