Previewing The Starter Wife

Who knew that USA had other programs than wrestling? Apparently a lot of people who made the network’s mini-series The Starter Wife a hit. But it is safe to assume the people turning in to see Rowdy Roddy Piper were not the core audience of The Starter Wife. But hey, all characters are welcome on USA.

Thanks to the high rating and the Emmy win The Starter Wife becomes a full fledge series with another ten episodes added to its legacy. If you missed the series, it doesn’t seem you missed much as the mini series is summed up in a quick minute and a half. So Debra Messing (The Wedding Date) wakes up one morning to find her husband wants a divorce, naturally because she is on the wrong side of forty and he wants a younger model, making her a starter wife (natch). In returns she dates his boss and a homeless dude. No seriously. And at the start of the series she is ready to swear of men all together.

Being Los Angeles, Messing is of course flanked by Judy Davis (The Ref), an alcoholic friend and Chris Diamantopoulos (State of Mind) a gay interior designer. The show plays like an older, west coast version of Gossip Girl with Messing unexpectantly plays the gossip girl when she loses her diary that just happens to have sordid details of the socialites she runs into throughout it.

It may not have been the best idea in these economic time to start a show off with a person telling how she kept the economy strong by shopping at places like Golden Sachs. But then again I am a young(ish) straight dude from middle America who would rather watch The Iron Sheik put the Camel Clutch on other dudes. Although before I scare off all the guys out there, The Starter Wife does have gratuitous female nudity. Or at least as gratuitous nudity can get on basic cable.

The show does some entertaining parodies of movies like Mission Impossible and Davis’ work at a rehab center creates some decent laughs. But really, The Starter Wife is perfect for all the women out there that want to watch The Hills but think they are too old for it, well The Starter Wife should be right up your alley.

The Starter Wife airs Fridays at 9:00 on USA. You can download The Starter Wife on iTunes or on Amazon Video on Demand: