Cashmere Mafia (2008) User Reviews

Has Potential

[q-rhapsody · 7/10 · 10 January 2008]

I've just watched both the pilot and the second episode.

So far, I like the series. The second episode was better than the first, and the show definitely has potential to do better than it's currently doing.

The four main characters are successful women, but they all have their flaws. Sometimes, the show does make me wonder if these women work - the show is also supposed to be focused on their work lives, but we do not get to see them work very much. (Mostly, it's just been Mia working.) The chemistry between the four best friends could be better, but considering it's only the first few episodes... chemistry can be developed over time. (The actresses are great in their own roles - it's only when they're together that you may question if they're really best friends.)

Basically, while I do like this show, it could be a lot better - and hopefully audiences will give it a chance! (There were several other series that didn't get a warm reception initially, but in the end turned out to be hits.)

has some potential

[cbauman · 7/10 · 7 January 2008]

This show reminds me of Sex in the City- without the warmth and genuine friendships. The pilot didn't quite demonstrate natural chemistry between the characters, although that could come in time. And airing the show after Desperate Housewives was smart; while I am sure that some DH fans will not like Cashmere Mafia, I would imagine that fans of Cashmere Mafia will be viewers of DH.

Thus far (i.e. after the airing of only the pilot), I think the show has the potential to capture the chick-flick audience- provided the plots of future episodes are original rather than predictable rewrites of other women-taking-charge shows.

I just like it

[serpico-25 · 7/10 · 21 January 2008]

Having seen the first three parts I must say I do like this show and I don't wanna miss the upcoming episodes. Somehow I never had a dull moment watching Lucy Liu, Bonnie Somerville and the other cougars.

I think its a great mixture of glamor, betrayal, intrigues and tough business women. It is fast paced, it has good acting and it does have a plot you wanna follow from one episode to the next and you wanna know where these characters might end up.

Even if it's not that realistic (or do you know a group of successful female executives looking that good?) I like being lifted up a little (reality bites) by a show that has the right heart beat. So I'm looking forward to seeing more of the Cashmere Mafia (must have been the Cartwrights in their former life) an I give them 7 out of 10 stars.

Not Good

[citygirlndc · 10 January 2008]

I don't see this show lasting very long. It's just not all that interesting and definitely no where near a Sex and the City. What made SATC good was the presentation of issues that have never been addressed on TV. This show feels old and stale. And the women don't seem confident or believable as friends. Yes, the clothes are great but that's about it. Some of the writing actually seems silly, especially the title. What viewers have been missing since SATC are provocative issues that engage people and get them to think. Hasn't the guilty working mother thing been done already? The cheating spouse? Who cares?I want to see something new.

Same Drama, Same City, Same Characters

[magic-tone · 6/10 · 17 October 2009]

It's a bit frustrating really because I've seen Cashmere Mafia before in somewhere.I've seen it in Lipstick Jungle and Sex & The City. What is the point of trying to duplicate a series only having changed the cast? It's the same drama all the time, wife gets cheated on, husband and wife have marital problems like husband gets offered job to be away all the time, lady turns gay hooray!, breaking up, getting back together, the ups and downs of love lives. Four friends supporting each other. It's such a cliché.

It's also the same city! Sex & The City was set in NYC, so was Lipstick Jungle and now Cashmere Mafia. You know, it doesn't always have to be in the same city, take a look at Desperate Housewives, its set in a quiet place with GREAT story-lines, not usual everyday boring ones.

Come on really, its the same characters!! One who has family problems with children, one who is the smart and educated one, one who is alone and looking for the right guy and one who is witty and a dare devil.

Its just the same thing in Cashmere Mafia with a lot of annoying clichés.

On the positive side of Cashmere Mafia, the idea of them being a cashmere mafia was clever, the clothes were outstanding and the story-lines kind of changed a bit every now and then so it wasn't that boring. But from the minute I watched this I already knew why this was canceled SOOOOOO early. Take a good long look at Lipstick Jungle. Didn't last very long did it? What makes the producers think this is gonna last four seasons or more? But I kind of enjoyed CM, it was a little fun and quite entertaining, the acting was pretty good. To choose between Lipstick Jungle and Cashmere Mafia I would HAVE to choose Lipstick Jungle.

Not that impressive but has good potential, but I just HAVE to give this low score.

5.5/10

Ain't No Sex and the City

[motherknowsbeast · 8/10 · 26 April 2010]

I immediately felt guilty when I started watching this show -- four women, New York City. I couldn't bare the fact that I was cheating on the Sex and the City girls, but I decided to give it a shot. Pleasantly surprised, I found that Cashmere Mafia was even BETTER than SATC. Now before you women hunt me down with pitchfork and flame, hear me out. There are major differences between the two series that people tend to write off when they see the "four women in New York city series". First and foremost, this show is much more modern than SATC. The plot lines are raw because the writers for this show aren't milked dry after writing a million seasons, unlike those of SATC. AND, perhaps what I liked the most, is that these women are actually FASHIONABLE unlike the ridiculous outfits donned on SATC. I could relax while watching instead of sitting on the edge of my seat, screaming WHAT IS CARRIE WEARING NOW? But more importantly, the women of Cashmere Mafia are very different, and a lot more realistic. The show follows them in their professional fields -- you see them at the office, out to lunch with coworkers, etc. This provides better plot lines, context and more dimensions for the characters. However, what I liked about the show the most was that this show wasn't about "FOUR SINGLE WOMEN IN ROUGH AND TUMBLE NEW YORK" like SATC is. These women have real, believable relationships, some married, some not. It isn't a show based on the perpetual hunt for the right man. Overall, I thought it was a thought provoking, fast-paced, great show.

Desperate Business Women In The City

[Speasha8 · 1/10 · 8 January 2008]

Let's see, there are four close female friends who struggle at their private lives, while they're highly successful in their jobs:

Mia(Lucy Liu) who loses her fiancé who couldn't deal with not being able to keep up with her. Zoe (Frances O'Connor)who tries not to neglect her children, while balancing her career. Juliet (Miranda Otto) who has to deal with a rebellious teenage daughter, while her husband has an affair. Caitlin (Bonnie Sommerville) who discovers that the person with whom she might spend her life with, might be a woman.

Poor "Cashmere Mafia" just premiered on ABC and has already to prove itself. With four women as leading ladies and stories which focus on sex, friendship and love, the show draws comparisons to successful cult favorites like "Sex and the City" and "Desperate Housewives", not to mention the upcoming similar themed "Lipstick Jungle".

While "Cashmere Mafia" might look like a cheap knock-off of "Sex and the City" , the show actually tries to achieve something else and differentiate itself from its successful ancestors by addressing real life issues like gender rivalry or successful family/business management. Unfortunately the show suffers from stereotypes and a pretty clumsy execution of a concept that might look promising on paper.

Especially the plot which revolves around Caitlin realizing that she might be gay is executed in the most unbelievable way you could imagine. While it's not a bad idea to include a Lesbian/Bisexual in a show which focuses on four women, the execution of the whole storyline lacks of realism. In the beginning of the episode Caitlin breaks up with her boyfriend just to fall in love with a woman the next morning, who magically appears to be a Lesbian as well. The moment in which Caitlin realizes that she might have an interest in this woman is executed very ridiculously with silly music in the background, a long focus on Caitlin's face with a dorky smile.

The dialogue of the show feels forced at times, especially when the male writers want to underline how close and "female" these four women are. The actresses do their best, but lack of chemistry. So far they don't really feel like close friends, but if you look back at the premieres of shows like "Desperate Housewives", you see that it wasn't there from the beginning either. There is still the possibility that they develop more chemistry over the course of the series.

The show is not really male-friendly. The male characters are pretty much undeveloped in opposite to the women and fall into clichés. There has to be a cheater, a man who can't deal with his girlfriend being more successful than he is and the loyal puppy-husband. It's understandable that they focus more on the ladies, but it wouldn't have harmed the show if they treated the male characters equally well and had made them a little bit more complex.

After watching the pilot, the show feels like an underwhelming mix of "Desperate Housewives" and "Sex and the City". Two characters of the show even strongly reminded me at characters of "Desperate Housewives". Juliet is very similar to Bree since she is the readhead who tried to keep up appearances all the way through the pilot, while Zoe feels like a younger Lynette since she has to struggle with the same issues.

The show definitely has some potential to get better, but so far, the show hasn't really been very impressive nor realistic. It definitely needs a chance to grow and I am not sure whether audiences give the show enough time to get better.

LOVING cashmere!

[starz_in_balla · 8/10 · 18 March 2008]

I think too many people are trying to compare this show to Sex and the City, i myself was a HUGE fan of S&TC, but this show is not supposed to be the same and they should not be put up against each other. I think if you watch this show objectively you will really get into it.. i have! I think its very entertaining and have become hooked. Even better, Cashmere has two Ausie actors in the main roles of Zoe and Juliet! Its always great to see Australians doing well over in the U.S. I would definitely recommend watching Cashmere Mafia, i think it is refreshing to have strong women leads in a TV series and we should be supporting it.

Overall ok

[Laurared-11042 · 5/10 · 6 February 2020]

Saw it and loved this program. The actresses did a good job and the lines are funny. I would watch this.

Smart, witty, and fast paced....

[yossarian100 · 9/10 · 26 March 2008]

So, of course, it got canceled already. I'm not surprised. Good shows get canceled all the time. On the networks. Not so much the cable channels. The cable channels can handle smaller audiences much better. Smart, witty, and fast paced is going to net a smaller audience.

A slower, less witty version of CASHMERE MAFIA is LIPSTICK JUNGLE. Equally as good. Just slower and less witty. It survived to see another season. CASHMERE MAFIA is history. Fortunately, I've got a DVR and I don't mind watching shows over again.

Being a guy who appreciates strong, assertive women, the main characters of CASHMERE MAFIA were exactly my cup of tea, and the metronome scoring for the first episode was a dead give away the pacing of the show was going to be somewhat rapid. It was. Shades of GILMORE GIRLS. I like lots of movement, lots of dialog.

As for the show's realism, I have no idea. The upper East Side is not my stomping ground. However, realism is not why I'm sitting in the balcony. I came to be entertained, and I was. CASHMERE MAFIA is a very, very good show, and a short lived one, too. I will, however, enjoy my own reruns.

I do wonder, though, how a show about four strong, assertive women working at a meat packing plant would do? I mean, I try keeping an open mind about things but I just don't relate all that well to the upper classes. Yachts, corporate jets, and homes in the Hamptons just seem a little irrelevant. Maybe that's just me.

And just like that...

[m-47826 · 5/10 · 5 August 2023]

Another promising 2000s series was canceled, just as the show was growing on you. So many cons to Cashmere Mafia. The stereotypical characters, useless storylines like the lesbian fling, the bad fashion (most of Lucy Liu's outfits were hideous), how it was competing against another Candace Bushnell's novel TV adaptation the same year, and the way the show was a blatant rip-off of every single chick flick series of that time. But somehow, it was entertaining and the script had interesting dynamics and translated the lives of upper class New Yorker pretty well. Just like Gossip Girl, it was a show about wealthy people, only seen through the eyes of self reliable business women. And maybe that's what was so off putting about it at first. They appeared snobbish and belonging to a very closed and impenetrable circle, hence their nickname and the series title. So how were we to relate to such shallow and elitist characters? Their relationship, and to some extent, workplace dramas of course. Nothing special either, but ideas that helped flesh their stories and background out more. And by episode 3, I was hooked. The episodes are easier to follow, and the show's flaws become less distracting. But like they often did in this decade, the show was nicked right away, never to be picked up by another network, or mentioned again. Until the DVD release, in case money could be made off its reputation and names attached to the project.

Cashmere Mafia

[SharonSteward104 · 9/10 · 27 March 2008]

I really Loved the show, I hope they re-think it and give it another chance. Who was the Designer for those HOT HOT clothes. WOW!! I think the show was fun, The women are business savvy. It was a bit like Sex and the City, but with a different spin. Lucy Lu wore the clothes that we call bringing Sexy Back. The story lines were sometimes slow, but it could have gotten better with a little time. However; Can we see one person on a show where one of the girls relationship works. Even with some ups and downs some relationships do work. Every now and then viewers would like to see a loving relationship, so we can ohhh and ahhh. The concept of the show was good. Overall we Loved the show.

Great Series

[AbigailCurious · 10/10 · 18 February 2015]

This is an excellent TV Series. It full of great romance, with a marvelously interwoven relationships. With amazing twists and bends that will leave one thinking and in a trance. It's a feel-good TV Series. It has an amazing cast. Although it had a slow start with a weak storyline but as it develops it leaves spell-binded forcing you binge watch.

A story of high-powered executives who struggle through their personal live and rely on each other for support.

The cast includes the amazing Lucy Liu, from Elementry, Frances O'Connor, a two-time golden globe nominee, from Mansfield Park, Mr. Selfridge and more.

Frothy Fun

[Michellemybell1 · 8/10 · 26 September 2020]

I'm so disappointed there were only 7 episodes. It's easygoing entertainment, not taking itself too seriously. I like all the characters, and the leading men are yummy, even within their cookie cutter man roles. Fun to have watched.

Thursday Morning Ritual

[cligutan · 9/10 · 4 March 2008]

I believe this show has a lot of potential. I think it had a slow start but it's getting better every episode. I certainly like it better than Lipstick Jungle. It really shows that women can have power too and how sometimes men can be intimidated by that. Yes it is like a Sex in the City except it's does not always have to be about sex. Sex is great but there's more to life than just sex and this show displays that. This show really brings out actresses that have appeared in previous works but this can be their chance to really shine through. I think they should have more shows where women can be powerful. Why does it have to be a man's world? Why can't it be men & women?

Has potential - but not sure if it'll last that long

[paper-revolution · 8/10 · 8 January 2008]

Okay, I've just seen the pilot. And in my opinion, I think the show had some potential.

For one, the female leads are all intriguing. Their characters all have interesting, new story lines, and the actresses pull it off rather well (especially Miranda Otto). One thing I might say though, is that while the characters are great in their own respective story lines, they lack chemistry between each other. But considering how the cast of DH and SATC didn't really seem that close to each other in their own pilots, I'm guessing that this might change as time passes by.

Speaking of DH and SATC, viewers might think that this is a bad knockoff of those shows, but it's not. Though the format is a bit clichéd in that it has four strong female leads as in SATC and DH, Cashmere Mafia strives to portray their leads as more ferocious than other shows. To be honest, rather than SATC and DH, I was reminded of a female version of "Big Shots". And while I gave up on BS for lacking sympathetic characters (I only liked Joshua Malina's character), I think Cashmere Mafia somehow finds a way to make their leads sympathetic on top of being strong and vicious.

Though I did like this pilot and the characters, I'm not sure whether viewers will give this show time to grow. Just as people are quick to criticize clichés, they are also quick to criticize the different. And with CM's cast of stronger, more cutthroat, and different women, I'm not sure if viewers will be ready for this. Here's hoping they are.

Drink some Dom

[Christinaruby · 8/10 · 15 February 2008]

Four gal pals living in the Big Apple with successful jobs, fabulous lives, and drama to boot. This show sounds utterly similar to that of another show by Darren Starr, Sex and the City. The hit TV show that has won the hearts of many cosmopolitan drinking fashionistas the world over. And who could replace those four girls and their interestingly hilarious escapades and taboo issues? No one could do Sex and the City better than Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda.

Lucky for Mia, Zoe, Juliet, and Caitlin their show is called Cashmere Mafia. While the TV show hasn't covered issues as that of SATC, it does offer a new insight into the world of women. Not only can women just be portrayed as the sensual, sultry, sexual beings, but something more. In Cashmere Mafia, they show that women cannot only be sexy, but also deeply passionate about work, family, and relationships.

In a constantly changing society, where once women were valued for just their pretty face and social lifestyle, women are reaching new heights. I hope that this show does become wildly successful, but even more, I hope this show empowers women everywhere to strive for more and to set their sights higher.

I was and still am a fan of SATC and while I swear allegiance to it, I am open to something different, something new. While Cashmere Mafia covers similar topics that can be covered in most television shows today, they weave the stories to make them delightfully amusing. So for all the Sex and the City fans, the ones who own every season, who order cosmos when they're out with their girlfriends and wear high heels when they're going to a BBQ, it's time to try something new. Maybe it's time to trade in those cosmopolitans for wine and champagne.

Nice, Sexy, Agresive

[bleuetoile · 8/10 · 7 December 2008]

I was surprised at first to see this NYC Cashmere Mafia... Great team, interesting story.. But - ain't it too soon to make this kind of film cloning of Sex and the city?

Same plot - 4 successful good looking women, Same age group - 35-45 Same place - Manhattan Same intrigue - sex, men, job struggle, to be single or married Same target audience

But finally - why not? I really miss the Sex and the city and really like this new project, although there certainly miss the secret charm of the original, The Cashmere mafia is well done and interesting. I really like the four actresses, the styling, Manhattan and the special serious spice I feel in this film.