Debra Messing Runs Off [The Air] With A Good Thing

Just when I started to give a rat’s ass about Debra Messing and her comic shtick, let alone more than simply tolerate her presence on a show, I find out tonight that next week’s episode of “The Starter Wife” is the series finale! It’s a shame too because I’ve waited over a month now for the very untalented Stephen Moyer (Sam) to be out of the picture and tonight my wish came true when he dumped Debra Messing’s character.

Alas, Mr. Darcy aka smelly Sam comes back next week to try and woo Debra Messing’s Molly back, as does the resurrected Joe Mantegna as Lou.

Will Molly choose passion (Sam) or privilege (Lou), the previews ask us.

Um. This is Joe Mantegna we’re talking about. It’s a no-brainer. Better yet, it’s TV. Why settle for either/or when we can have both!

We all know in the end, Messing/Molly will choose herself and opt out of both relationships for the sake of female empowerment, independence, liberation, etc. That’s all very well and fine. After all, what ever would we do without a woman scorned? Lifetime and Oxygen programming would cease to exist. Personally I’d rather the USA network just give me two more months of diversion in the way of my hokey guilty pleasure TV or at the very least have ABC throw me some “Lost” re-runs.

All this cyclical season stuff has my head and heart reeling a bit.

Starter Wife Redeems Itself After Near Miss

Half-way through my new favorite Summer indulgence, “The Starter Wife,” I was beginning to think my initial impression of the show was premature and that perhaps this show’s momentum would fizzle out after all the first week hype. Luckily 30 minutes into tonight’s Sam-centric episode, the show redeemed itself with the help of Judy Davis (gotta love her even when she’s doing a bad Judy Garland) and Debra Messing pretending to Davis’ sister Bambi to bail her out of rehab.

The show needs to focus less on Sam since Stephen Moyer isn’t a very polished actor or maybe hasn’t yet proved himself against the caliber of actors on the show. Still, the show’s strength is in the 4-some ensemble group of friends and if every episode ends like today’s, with the four of them regrouping, we’ll keep coming back to watch.

As my husband said after the show ended, “I kinda like this show.” I’d have to concur.

Thursday Nights This Summer Might Not Be That Original, But They Hold Promise

I’m not a huge Debra Messing fan, but at my husband’s insistence, I decided to give “The Starter Wife” a chance tonight. An hour into the “Sex & The City” meets “Desperate Housewives” show, I was semi-hooked. The show is smart, superficial, and funny and more importantly it works. Debra Messing is likable. Much more so than her character in “Will & Grace,” but like that show, “The Starter Wife” features an ensemble cast of four with Judy Davis (as the Samantha-ish character) and two others (including a naive Blonde and a gay guy) rounding out the cast. There’s the “Desperate Housewives” James Denton/Mike working-class love interest named Sam that acts as the mysterious lifeguard courting Debra Messing’s Molly.

So given that it’s on USA and not HBO, the show doesn’t do explicit scenes (so men might be less likely to watch) and the substitution of the word “crotch” for “Australia” is a little irksome, but hey, it’s entertaining.

Bittersweet Thursday night news: “Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip” aka The Sorkin Show That Could & Would (if it got the chance) is back, but only for a last hurrah before it’s officially pulled. This means another four weeks of bliss before we all must move on and get a new er…show. And if my excitement over Debra Messing is any indication, I suppose anything is possible and/or replaceable.

Hey, she’s a cut and then some above Sarah Silverman anyways.