Forget cosmos, one-night stands and raunchy sex talk. Think overworked women, emasculated husbands and shameless product placement. Candace Bushnell, the writer who inspired HBO's "Sex and the City," has turned her attention to the 40-and-older set with a new Web series called "The Broadroom." The series, which stars Jennifer Esposito of “Samantha Who?" and "90210's" Jennie Garth, kicked off Thursday with a webisode cutesily titled "Husband Hijinks."
Enter Natasha, Garth's character, who delivers a frantic monologue directly to the camera about her obsessive worries -- "Will I get stuck in traffic? Will I still have my job tomorrow? Will the world be destroyed by global warming? Will I have to wear a name tag in the meeting later?" -- and concludes with: "I know, I'm crazy." Then we're treated to a gabfest in the office bathroom, during which series sponsor Maybelline New York gets a heavy-handed plug for its shade of lipstick,"Caramel Kiss." Behold the comedy that follows: "When did they start naming lipsticks after food?" The punch line: "Maybe when food became more interesting than sex" -- badum-ch!
There is griping about laid-off hubbies, one of whom spends his days e-mailing his breadwinning wife photos of their cat, and loser guys who live in their parents' basements and are "trying to start up their comic book company." Then, before you know it, this six-minute tour of the middle-aged female psyche ends: But not before one of these unhappy working women dispenses with a bit of advice: "When you're having a bad day, just lower your standards."
And that's exactly what this series seems to have done when it comes to women's lives after 40. If you're into lowered expectations, though, feel free to watch the clip below or check it out on "The Broadroom" Web site -- although, be warned, the site turns your cursor into a tube of lipstick, of course.
Shares