Plum Sykes to Write NBC Comedy ‘Mogulettes’It will be about sexy, well-dressed twentysomething women who are already captains of industry, but still have rollicking social lives. You know, a farce.
gossipmonger
Predictably, ‘Lipstick Jungle’ Star Used to Lust After Andrew McCarthyLipstick Jungle’s Lindsay Price had a childhood crush on her co-star Andrew McCarthy. Tom Hanks walked past Eliot Spitzer’s apartment building on 79th and Fifth, but no one recognized him. A Madonna look-alike ran across the second-floor balcony at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction at the Waldorf-Astoria, providing some levity to an otherwise boring event. Fashion Week will relocate to the Tenth Avenue rail yards after 2010. The Queens livery driver who faked the baby rescue weirdly will appear on an upcoming episode of The Real Housewives of New York City. A documentary about storied Tribeca nightclub the Wetlands opens Friday. Marc Jacobs’s boy toy, Jason Preston, got punched in the face outside Hiro after trying to get a guy who had thrown a drink at a girl to apologize.
in other news
‘Cashmere Mafia’ Tries On the Cement StilettosUnlike the Greatest Show of Our Time, it looks like Cashmere Mafia isn’t going to make it to a sophomore season. When we read last week on Fashionista.com (that venerable expert in network reporting) that the show was on the chopping block, we didn’t pay it much heed. Sure, the show had dropped from something like 10 million viewers at its debut for 5.7 million now, but at least it’s a good scripted series with a following. But then on Thursday Bloomberg reported that Cashmere writers still weren’t sure what was going on, a few weeks after the strike ended. And now today Ben Widdicombe’s “Gatecrasher,” which is a reliable source for TV gossip (particularly the type that involves divas and failure), says it’s probably true: The show is on its way out. This is too bad; we kind of like the show, which wasn’t particularly smart or realistic, but at least involved main characters who smiled every once in a while, unlike the ones on rival series Lipstick Jungle. Who knew the only enduring show about happy, well-sexed fortysomethings in funny clothes this year would be Rock of Love?
‘Cashmere Mafia’ Might Be Taken For a Ride [NYDN]
gossipmonger
For ‘Lipstick Jungle’ Star, Life Imitates ArtLipstick Jungle actress Lindsay Price met LSV Advisors’ David Tisch at the Cynthia Rowley show last week, and they’ve been dating since. Scarlett Johansson refused to talk to an Us Weekly reporter because of the plastic-surgery cover they did of her. Bruce Willis hung out with Victoria’s Secret model Emma Heming at Marquee for Lauren Kucerak’s birthday party, where he tipped $100 a drink. Justin Timberlake was spotted shopping at Tiffany & Co. Natalie Portman showed up 45 minutes late to a vegan-shoe launch she was doing in Soho and only answered questions for five minutes.
in other news
Blaine Blogs!This has been a big week so far: a huge Super Bowl surprise and today there will certainly be a lot of excitement, if not surprises, as much of the nation votes. Much of the day tomorrow will be spent examining and analyzing today’s results. But what happens Thursday, when the country comes down from its dizzying highs? What will keep us going? Lipstick Jungle, that’s what. In case you weren’t thinking of taking Candace Bushnell’s Sex and the City 2.0 very seriously, actor Andrew McCarthy has taken to the keyboard to explain just what a weighty enterprise the new series is. McCarthy, who plays “Joe Bennett — the billionaire who has the world by the tail” (though, duh, you know him better as Blaine from Pretty in Pink and various other Brat Pack roles), has a new blogweek-long diary on Slate.com. (Best moment: During the first reading, Candace Bushnell looks McCarthy over and says, “I wouldn’t fuck you in those shoes.”) Below, we’ve selected some of his words of wisdom about his difficult craft.
• “The vanities of film and television acting — and more specifically, my inability to let them go, to get past them — I continue to find very disquieting. But there is not an actor I know, male or female, who is not at the mirror’s mercy.”
• “When we shot the pilot, [Lipstick love interest and former 90210 star Lindsay Price] and I discovered that we had an easy, workable chemistry, which is something you have no idea of until you’re on the spot.”
party lines
Leven Rambin: ’Mo Ho?Leven Rambin, the 17-year-old soap star, has landed a role in the new Lipstick Jungle series. She plays an actress, so it couldn’t have been much of a stretch. At the Saks party celebrating the new show, she said she prepared for her role by studying all her gay best friends. “They were like, ‘This girl’s over the top! She’s dramatic, she’s mood-swingy, she’s bitchy, she’s out of control!’ And I was like, ‘Hmmm who do I know?’” So, who does she know? “I have one person in mind, but I don’t want to say his name. I already told him he was my inspiration, and he’s very, like, proud of that,” she said. At this point, Rambin left us, dashed across the red carpet and wrapped Über-dandy Patrick McDonald in a hug, and exclaimed, “Patrick! You better work!” Aha! Did she base her character on McDonald? “No, no no! This one is, like, she’s flamboyant,” said Rambin. “She’s like, all over the place.” Wait, “she”? Leven, we wondered, are you a fag hag? “I would say so. He says I’m the youngest one he knows.” —Bennett Marcus
intel
‘Cashmere Mafia’ vs. ‘Lipstick Jungle’: The Official Obsessed MatchupOkay, like every fight between tough bitches, the battle royale between Cashmere Mafia and Lipstick Jungle could only remain buried underneath rumor, speculation, and outfit comparison for so long. Next week, Jungle debuts on NBC. Its stars, Brooke Shields, Kim Raver, and Lindsay Price, as well as its creator, Candace Bushnell, have been gearing up for a showdown against the similarly themed Mafia since the announcements of both shows last year. Now, it’s no secret that the two series are trying to inherit the viewership gold mine that was Bushnell’s Sex and the City. One has four sexy, powerful New York women who have fabulous lives and wardrobes, and one has three. But how do they really compare to one another? Short answer: Cashmere sucks, and Lipstick merely gives you an over-the-pants hand job. But how do they handle the legacy of their grand, Jimmy Choo–clad matriarch? Only time will tell. Or, you know, us. Because we got our hands on the first couple of episodes of Jungle, and we thought you’d like to know how each of them fare against one another when dealing with the subjects that Sex and the City held so dear. Which show will truly inherit the Dolce & Gabbana sequined underpants that Carrie was wearing on the runway when she fell, in the best episode of any television show, ever?? Below, a tale of the tape.
gossipmonger
Brooke Shields Shares the Love on ‘Lipstick’Lipstick Jungle may top Cashmere Mafia because Jungle star Brooke Shields is nicer to her castmates than Mafia star Lucy Liu is to hers. Details editor Dan Peres says he’s going crazy and putting on weight because wife Sarah Wynter is pregnant. Kid Rock paid a busboy at Southern Hospitality $1,000 after he returned a $200,000 watch found on the floor of the bathroom that belonged to a Rock posse member. Val Kilmer was spotted running around town with Chad Lowe’s girlfriend, Kim Painter. Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce refused to use his credit card at Tenjune and left to go find a club where he could use cash. Donald Trump is hosting a Celebrity Apprentice party at Tenjune during Fashion Week. Uma Thurman and boyfriend Arpad Busson were all over each other at lunch at Lever House.
new york fugging city
The Fug Girls: A New TV Diet for Spring!With Hollywood’s warring writers and producers seemingly spending more time on PR statements than negotiations, it’s going to be a long, wretched winter for television fans. To patch scheduling holes, networks are rushing out “mid-season replacements” (everything from game shows to reality hours) — essentially, shows that are handy in a pinch, but weren’t good enough to debut in the fall. It’s the idea that if there’s no water at the oasis, we’ll just drink the sand; too bad for them we’re not so easily satisfied. However, we ARE easily bored without our stories, so if our holiday wish for a speedy, fair strike resolution is impossible, then it’ll take some crafty TV-diet substitutions to get us through the drought.
Here are a few simple swaps:
American Gladiators. The show that brought us such spandex-wrapped warriors as “Turbo” and “Zap” obviously occupies its own vital place in TV history. But it also ably replaces the absent 24. Think about it: Jack Bauer runs a lot. He sweats. He does things to America, for America. And he likes to hit people with blunt objects. If he’d had the wherewithal to do it all with a Speedo and a tennis-ball cannon, you’d never even know the difference.
