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Save the Jungle!
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NBC is threatening to cancel Lipstick Jungle. Brooke Shields and Candace Bushnell on why they deserve another chance.
This weekend, while most of Hollywood was out in the streets either protesting Prop 8 or putting out wildfires, Ilene Rosenzweig was sending out frantic emails to her friends, urging them to buy cosmetics. She wasn’t moonlighting as an Avon lady—rather, the former New York Times Sunday Styles editor-turned-Lipstick writer was making a last-ditch effort to save her beloved show, NBC’s Lipstick Jungle.
Last Thursday, industry trades reported that NBC Entertainment co-chairman Ben Silverman intended to fold the hour-long ladydrama after this Friday’s episode due to dismal ratings. Producers sprang into action—and the cast and crew solicited fans to mail tubes of lipstick directly to network headquarters.
“There is power in this show,” Shields told The Daily Beast.
According to Lipstick star Brooke Shields, who spoke to The Daily Beast from the set yesterday, the NBC mailroom now looks like the beauty aisle of a supermarket. “NBC is now flooded with lipstick,” she says. “Women are in uproar over this…they’ve tried to kill us before and we have refused to die. If we were meant to be off the air, we wouldn’t have made it as far as we have. Everything that could possibly go wrong with a show has happened with us.”
From the beginning, Lipstick Jungle has had it rough. When the show, based on the book by Candace Bushnell, was revealed at the 2007 NBC upfronts, it immediately spawned a flurry of blog rage. The show follows the lives of three very successful New York women in their late 30s/early 40s. But on the heels of HBO’s Sex and the City, the idea of another show about high-powered femmes clomping through Manhattan in expensive shoes perhaps felt excessive—and the ratings were weak.
Lipstick managed to just scrape by, winning a second season—with little help from NBC. The show has changed time slots more than a delayed flight out of JFK, confusing viewers and hurting its chances for a stable audience. “But this is how it has been since the start,” says Shields. “They recast us, they reshot the pilot, and we changed showrunners. We had our second season premiere up against a presidential debate, and then, when they moved us to Friday nights at 10 [a typically doomed time slot], our first night at the new time was Halloween. Of course those numbers were down.”
The traditional numbers for the show are admittedly poor—averaging just 5 million viewers an episode this season (and dropping down to 3.3 million the Friday before cancellation). But the producers have more ammunition to work with than just Maybelline: The Nielsen scores do not reflect the number of people who TiVo episodes or watch the show on websites like NBC.com or Hulu—where Lipstick has a cult following. If these numbers were included, Candace Bushnell told The Daily Beast, the network would be crazy to talk cancellation. "These kinds of serial shows tend to be what people TiVo and then watch all in a row on a Saturday morning," she says. "Over 50 percent of our audience is not accounted for in the numbers."
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Newsflash. The reason no-one watches the show is because it is b-o-r-i-n-g. There you have it. I watched the first couple, and the characters are cardboard, the clothes, like SATC, are hilarious and real women couldn't possibly relate to these boobs. Gay guys don't even like it and they were the backbone of the SATC numbers.
It sounds like the show has put in a tough place, but is it really the implied sexism of execs or the show's creative?
I don't have a single friend who watches the show, and it's not for a lack of trying because the premise is fantastic.
It felt to me that the producers were really hesitant to go for something new or let the characters be more than really great gals who happen to be gorgeous.
The stories and the characters are so flat -- LJ reminds me of the old Judith Krantz tv movies (which were never as dark, sexy or entertaining as her novels). Making 'successful woman problem of the month' magazine essays come alive is not great tv.
The women of Mad Men are far, far more interesting to watch in every way. Dialog, clothing, characters, story lines...my friends and I talk about those women all the time.
LJ, where is your buzz?
That's my pet peeve - a network moves a show to a new time slot and then kills it because it's getting poor ratings. That almost happened to 30 Rock and isn't NBC glad it came to its senses? Lipstick Jungle definitely needs to amp up promotion online and on TiVo. There are great women's social networks out there - use them! I missed the first two episodes of the season (and I was watching out for the season premiere) and had to go watch them online. The only way I knew the show was moving to the Friday time slot was from my TiVo season pass. It's a fun show with powerful and gorgeous, yet likable characters and real working mom/woman issues. Keep the show in the lineup, NBC. In fact, I'd put it on Thursdays after 30 Rock and move e.r . to Friday.
I could not agree more. After all the hype we expected some excitement. We gave the show two opportunities to entertain us, it did not!
We gave up midway through the second episode. We were left wondering why we gave it that much time.
The network had to give it some time because of the hype but now that the hype is worn off and forgotten they need to let it go.
I've seen good shows go and hoped this one would.
I do not deny women need shows to watch but hey NBC they have whole networks exploring the same issues except the shows are interesting.
Kill it please.
I like the show, but I do feel it's been drifting lately because of its focus on weaker characters Nico and Victory.
It's a common creative mistake to assume that the unmarried characters automatically have more draw. But Victory is too flighty (and leads too charmed a life) to be very interesting, and since Nico's moral quandary was solved by the deus ex machina infidelity and death of her husband, she's not terribly compelling either.
Wendy deals with a family along with a high-powered career, and it's a hard enough path that she doesn't always make the right choices doing it. Her storyline offers the most interesting peek into a world that's familiar enough to be recognizable, but different enough to be intriguing.
I hope LJ returns, but also finds its focus.
What *is* Brooks Shields talking about? The season premiere was on against a Presidential debate? Since NBC carried all the debates, this is simply not true. Or does she think the show airs on The CW?
whatever. i love this show; i am definitely part of the "unaccounted for" audience... i watch online whenever i get the chance b/c i don't own a tv. yeah, it's kinda vapid. so? i hope it sticks around!
I LOVE this program!!!! KEEP IT, PLEASE!
I have never seen this show, nor will I ever. Never seen SATC, and never will. Never seen Desperate Housewives, and never will. These types shows display women acting stupid & awful in expensive/slutty outfits. How far we haven't come.
Then Brooke and co. have people go out and buy and mail lipstick? Are you freaking kidding me! All of those women could have taken that money and donated it to a battered women's shelter, or a program that helps young women learn about workplace equality. But I guess a vapid, mindlessly wasteful show deserves a vapid, mindlessly wasteful gesture in a vapid, midlessly wasteful TV culture.
I love this show and really look forward to it every week. I can relate to this age woman and the daily struggles and joys that life brings with careers, friends and family. There's not a lot out there, other than CSI, that captures my attention, so I would be really bummed if this show gets cancelled. I was hooked on SATC and this is a good replacement for that "one" show a week.Women who have full time careers and families don't have a lot of time to watch TV, so I'm one of those that Tivos a few select shows throughout the week and then watches them on Saturday or Sunday afternoon while my son naps. Please keep it!
I agree with bryanlevi. I've never seen this show nor wanted to. It's stupid mindless entertainment geared toward the soap opera crowd that don't get enough between 1:00 & 4:00. Besides, if I read this right the original was called Sex and the City. Why would you want a sequel? Maybe Hollywood should do something original for once, instead of recreating (and destroying) original concepts from the past. Are all of the writers in Hollywood uncreative today? Good-bye and Good Riddance.
This show is a guilty pleasure for me. I watch it on Hulu and try not to let my husband catch me! But this whole business of buying and mailing lipstick is ridiculous. This show is saving no one's life. TV is not important enough for me to spend money on. I only watch things that are 100% free.
I dont know if this means anything to you,
but my boyfriend and I live in Australia,
and we loved it.
We thought it was going to be a crappy shallow show like 'cashmere mafia' (which was AWFUL).
But it had quite a bit of depth, and I thought it was clever.
The performances were really great.
And I dont usually watch these kind of shows.
Its stood out.
best of luck! I want to see the next season!
To hell with Lipstick Jungle!
Save Pushing Daisies!
Please keep the show. No wonder there aren't any viewers. It comes on, on a Friday night on the West coast at 10:00. it's a clean show, move it to an earlier time slot, and not a Friday night. I love the show, but have to tape it. Don't let this show end!
I absolutely love this show....have seen every episode...it just gets better and better! I never catch it on Friday nights (hello, its Friday night!), so I watch it online at nbc.com. I really hope they don't cancel it...it truly is an excellent show. For the record, this show is NOTHING like sex and the city. I hated that series...
Lipstick Jungle has characters and plot lines that are complex, rich, and believable...worth watching a few episodes before you go bashing it. I think you might change your mind.
I am 4 yr old professional woman, mom of a teenager and wife of a professional exec. II live in a large metro area & am one of those women that has disposable income. I LOVE this show & it is the ONLY show that I watch on NBC every week regularly. Actually I DVR record , so unfortunately I'm not in the numbers either I guess.
To me Lipstick has a plot & a story line & my husband & I watch it together. We watch TV to be entertained, to laugh, not to be grossed out & not to be shocked. We are both SO SICK of reality T.V. I read the book, and liked it but I LOVE THE show. All of the 3 leading actresses are super! Andrew McArthy in HIS role? Amazing! If it is cancelled, I am boycotting NBC. NO KIDDING!
I LOVE this SHOW! I can relate and appreciate all the characters and the story line/plot of this show. You don't have to be a business exec. to understand and like it. I think it addresses many REAL issues of today's society: cheating, teenage strife, staying together in a traveling/separate relationship, the female is the bread winner, starting/running a business, loosing money in today's economy, dating a younger man, being in a love triangle, and a family being meshed to blend with another. I am not in a suit day by day, as I am a teacher but the characters in Lipstick Jungle aspire me to be the best I can be and want more out of life. It is NOT a soap opera and is MUCH better than Sex and the City. The show has juice but does not revolve around sex. It talks of mothers who have to balance work and a family, how REAL is that? I hope the executives at NBC will read all the clips of those that do want to SAVE the show, because it is WORTH saving. AIR on LIPSTICK JUNGLE! WE LOVE YOU!!!
I love Lipstick Jungle, I really would hate to see it go. I look forward to watching every week, and due to my schedule I watch it online sometimes as well. SAVE LIPSTICK JUNGLE!!!!
Thank you.
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