Pajiba

When I saw the word episode, I had to stop reading. I was under the impression this was to be some horrible miniseries or, as they like to say, "television event" that would go away as quickly as it came. But apparently I'm sadly mistaken.

WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME TV WHEN I LOVE YOU SO?

I'm really hoping this just dies out, alongside the other poor man's Sex and the City.

This sounds unbelievably wretched. I like Brooke Shields too, and similarly, I can think of no reason other than she vaguely resembles my high school girlfriend.

If this is what people think about when they think about successful women, then we've got a lot of goddamn work to do, folks. Because this is goddamn pathetic. I love this conceit that successful, empowered women are either psychologically unstable and cry at every turn, or complete and utter assholes who treat everyone like dirt.

It is possible, you know, for there to exist a kind, self-secure, intelligent, professionally successful, emotionally mature woman who gets what she wants and acts like a fucking grown-up when she doesn't. I should know. I married one. And if I were to treat her like the "Bennett" character in this treats his woman, she'd stab me in the heart while looking me square in the eye.

Frankly, I'd be disappointed if she didn't.

Mrs. Pajiba-Hyphenate and I could probably compare notes on our daily routines. And it sounds like we also both have great husbands .

Based on my last post I guess I'm just gushing with Pajiba love today. I blame it on the presence of babies in my life.

Spot-on take on why shows like this drive me crazy and shouldn't even be considered mindless fun. I guess real women with real lives are just too boring.

Another example of lousy writing put out by people who haven't got a fucking clue of how the world actually works outside of the Hollywood/NYC media culture.
It's laughable and offensive, and I bet you that, once again, the fashion obsessed leads are basically gay males being portrayed by females.

He tells Victory, after sex, that she'll never be a billionaire because she's a woman; Victory cries, runs right out and stubbornly proves all of Bennett's theories on women correct, and then waits for the sexist ass to save her

In all fairness, her parents set her up for a hard life by naming her Victory. Too many unrealistic expectations.

That's why when I have kids, I'm going to give them names like Abdication, Embarassment, and Nonsuccess. This way, they could pump fucking gas for a living and still think they were doing ok.

Everything about this makes me ill:
1) Only really glamorous jobs are worth having
2) The myth of the emasculated hubby of the successful wife
3) My life is so stressful, but I still have time to do full make up in the morning and meet my friends for cocktails every evening
4) I fully feel the pain of the life of the working woman but I still pay the working woman who is raising my children the lowest possible wage and have cocktails with my friends in the evening so she can't go home to her children
5) No successful women are overweight
I could go on and on, but I'm going back to the Daily Round Up thread where hopefully, TK's offer to kill me is still open.

I don't know if you read the study in Maxim, Dustin, but it's been sciematifically proven that women are less intelligent than men, and therefore are actually prone to accepting awards for nothing in particular.

They (women) also refuse to believe that the glittery makeup on your collar is from that time when you had to give mouth to mouth to a fairy that was choking on a peanut.

Hey, doesn't this show sound just like that one show Cashmere Mafia? I guess the new trend in Hollywood is portray women as sex addicted cougars who crave carnal desire and feel dignity by screwing the hunky male intern. Though since this show isn't on HBO, it should be called Less Sex, More City and More Skankage.

Dustin, your desciption of your wife made me grin.

What's making me ill is the fact that Julian Sands has a semi-regular role (that's an assumption based on the review) on a show that I will never, ever watch. I love you, Julian, you know I do, but sometimes love means saying no to bad TV.

And there's no one like her (or the millions of other similar women) on television.

That makes it sound like there are no good, empowered female characters on TV at all, which we all know isn't true. Just from the (fairly few) shows I watch, Tami Taylor and Alison Dubois spring to mind.

And this officially marks the FOURTH time I tried to stab my own brain by shoving both thumbs in my eyes...

In lieu of another blank review, maybe you could've left a direct link to something involving tentacle-fucking...

Yuk. I read this book because a friend recommended it to me (shouldn't have, because I didn't even like Sex and the City (the show)) and found it fairly revolting. The characters were completely shallow and self-absorbed. I despised them. Candace Bushnell IS a woman, right? Why does she require her characters to be neurotic, needy, annoying bitches?

To make matters worse, every time I step foot in a book store, I see a gazillion Candace Bushnell knockoffs, which look like basically the same thing - tales of "career women" that are entirely too obsessed with their love lives. Chick lit sucks.

Kamakazi F:
I thought "cougars" were supposed to be at least 50, but more toward 60 (a la Joan Collins, etc.). As a woman who is the same age as Brooke Shields, I'm not ready to be relegated to the cougar corner just yet.

So it's all the bitchiness, cattyness and annoying qualities of "Sex and the City" without the sex?

Yeah, that's going to catch people's attention.

So if you're a woman here's your apparent role models: neurotic, compulsive, narcissistic, sex-crazed, needy and lonely.

Then again, us guys are either manipulative, abussive, sex toys or neutered pets.

So NO ONE WINS!

Sounds terrible.

Pajiba, I love the snark involved in reviewing these types of shows (Grey's Anatomy, Lipshtick Jungle, etc.), but hows about doing reviews/recaps of some GOOD shows. Like The Wire or Friday Night Lights. It would be great reading and may raise the profile just a little for these terrific shows that are on the fringe.

My ire and complete exhaustion over these portrayals of working women were so perfectly described by Dustin that I have nothing substantial to add...just like the women in this show.

"she's trying to fire an incompetent director; sign Leonardo DiCaprio to a film about Galileo before Dreamworks does; and keep her marriage intact by submitting to her husband's blow-job demands."

GAH. Because a woman can't have a successful career AND a healthy sex life at the same time. God knows every girlfriend I have refuses to give head and only has sex out of duty or during bouts of low self-esteem. Grr.

Aw, Dustin, you so totally love your wife. Sigh.

As for this piece of shit, no thank you. You did make me want to watch re-runs of Married With Children, though, so thanks for that.

Yeah, I was already vaguely pissed about this show when it was called "Cashmere Mafia" and inflicted the low point on the career of the otherwise wonderful Miranda Otto. Eowyn had more empowerment in one little finger than any of these idiots, and she ended up blowing Faramir all the time, just for kicks and giggles.

God knows every girlfriend I have refuses to give head and only has sex out of duty or during bouts of low self-esteem.

Julie, I'm afraid we're going to need a lot more detail.

Julie:
Atta girl! I like to see someone who takes a good idea and runs with it. Way to go hijacking the thread before PissBoy can. I predict this discussion will go down many a twisted path now.

Eowyn could kick the shit out of Nico, Wendy, and Victory, all at the same time.

See, why can't contemporary writers make women powerful, beautiful, brave, wise, and high-minded? Is that to much to ask?

As a male who respects the fairer sex I submit, that the ideally written character SHOULD be a cougar who gives head without feeling guilty and is capable of conducting a hostile takeover while putting on make-up and dressing well for her man.

I'm sure all the skirts here agree with me.

Socalled-hee! Translation: most girls I know are just as sex crazed as you men-folk and don't require begging before heading...ahem. Downtown.

Paddydog: Someone should create a Venn diagram of the dirty-minded digressions of us Pajibans. Or not...do I really want to know how our minds work?

B Slim, now you're just being ornery.

Speaking of whom....is it possible PissBoy hasn't made an appearance yet?

He's still fogging up the Daily Round-Up.

I love the word ornery, I need to use it more.

Kate Winslet is naked in the roundup, I think he'll stay there for the rest of the afternoon.

A Venn diagram? Please no.

And this officially marks the FIRST time I'm thinking about to stabbing my own brain by shoving a couple fine-point Sharpies in my eyes... Gotta give my thumbs a rest, y'know/

Honest to god, some of the things I've read in the past two weeks have made me question whether or not I'm becoming more disturbed, more comfortable with being disturbed, or very, very much at peace weaving in and out of these threads like a gray-pubed spider...

Julie, the answer there is no, you do not.

Are you kidding me with this? I am going to grad school to get that Ph.D. and I think I average one crying jag a year. I have a wonderful husband and I manage to be pretty damn well adjusted. I am also certain that I acted like the women on this show he would run away from the crazy and I would expect him to. Needless to say, I take offense to shows like this.

Sex and the City was nowhere near this damned bad. Carrie sucked, but Miranda did kick ass. I would put $50 on her in a fight with everyone from this show.

Marie, there is some decent chick-lit fluff out there and it is not Bushnell. May I suggest Marian Keyes?

There was a show that featured a hard-working, career-minded woman who, despite avoiding emotional attachment to anyone, remained admirably sympathetic; alongside a two-career married couple (in which the wife was much tougher and more accomplished) who enjoyed a very healthy sex life but weren't above the occasional argument about who wore which pants when, and whether to have kids.
That show, of course, was Firefly. We all know how that turned out.
My guess (and I fervently hope I'm wrong) is that this show will last at least twice as long.
Another little piece of me just died.
Maybe women watch these shows because they need someone to feel superior to? Bear in mind, I'm a guy, and usually don't understand how anyone of either gender thinks, but...could that be why they're popular?

BSlim...so are you saying that a true representation of a fictional woman would be that, or that art should reflect reality - and that women really should behave like that?

Just curious....I laughed either way.

Ooh, Pen Dragon...I forgot about my darling Zoe. Good example.

Skittimus, admit it, you were disturbed before coming here, and have embraced the now steady decline in socially acceptable perception of reality by becoming a full-time Pajiban. Once you start drinking in the afternoons to bits of text, threatening physical harm to directors and actors, and dreaming of the genitalia of equus asinus...it's already far too late.

"...or that art should reflect reality - and that women really should behave like that?"

Posted by: Shadows of Dakaron at February 7, 2008 5:04 PM

-----------------------------------------------

Oooooh I wish that were reality *sigh*

I think I'll watch Eli Stone tonight instead...

Yeah... (sniff), yeah, I g-g-guess you're right (sob)... I was already a little disturbed...

On a side note, I'm planning on going to the "Sex and the City" flick opening night wearing my giant, squirting penis hat and my "No Fat Chicks" shirt. And I'm gonna hit on Every. Single. Person. There.

I'll be piss drunk on Old Grandad, my fly will be open, I'm leaving my cellphone loud as possible, and I'm gonna yell sexist comments at the screen. This movie MUST be destroyed, and I think I just may be the person to do it... Any joiners?

Take no offense, women of the thread - this is strickly against the crowd (hah!) that shows up at this neurotic, compulsive, narcissistic, sex-crazed, needy and lonely shitstain.

Thanks for the quote, BFFredo. I owe you a coke...

Just goes to show that there is no replacement for Firefly.

Skittimus...good luck with that. If I were anywhere near you, I would definately join you.

I strongly suspect that if one were to plot the escalation of disturbedness on these pages, especially since the onset of 2008 (who will ever forget the great Battle of Heigldom in early January?), it would resemble an epidemic curve for a highly infectious pathogen such as Ebola, i.e., climbing higher and higher each day and exponentially infecting more and more people regardless of their proximity to Patient Zero). Epidemic curves for this kind of disease however, usually ebb because they reach a point where everyone is either dead or has fled the area so there's no-one left to be infected. However, I don't think we have to worry about that here since either TK or PissBoy (although I admit to being more and more concerned about Skittimus lately) will have killed us all long before then.

There is another alternative.....we'll develop immunities like all good mutants, and continue to live in our own disease...striving to infect others and bring them into our moist clutches to try to enlighten them...only to be disappointed and upset when they collapse under the strain that is the Pajiba snark.

Barring that...it would be interesting to see if we can make TK and PissBoy go off at the same time....kinda like detonating two bombs simultaneously.

Oh, sure, mock us with your superior epidemiological knowledge. I bet you're sitting in your ivory tower right now, having slept your way up through the ranks of the male epidemiologists, eyeing that final rung at the top of the epidemiological ladder, who's probably played by Dustin Hoffman from Outbreak, then nailing a lowly botanist to feel better about yourself and the neglect you suffer at the hands of your emasculated husband, who only really wants a blowjob, then solving the Ebola crisis in between thong-shopping and crying jags. Yeah, I bet.

PaddyDog, I was under the impression that these women were older, which seeing as they aren't kind of means that cougars is out of the question.

Kamakaze F: Because I had lots better to do (the clients can wait), I googled them: Shields is turning 43 this year, the blonde from 24 is 39 and the other one is 32. Yup! That's what passes as the "older woman" in Hollywood these days.

Socalled: Are you outing me? That's the last time I let you come thong-shopping with me. Honestly, a girl shows you a pube or two and suddenly you think you know her!

Shadows of D:
You know you bring up an interesting point because if there's a chance for alcohol-induced immunity, why we could all live forever while the rest drop off and finally Pajibans would reign supreme among beings.
What am I saying? Then we'd be the status quo and no longer able to feel elite and smug and alternative. Normal: a pathetic existence!

Amy Sherman-Palladino where are you?! Seriously two lame versions of SITC, which was always cringe-worthy and no Jezebel James.
Sigh.
TV sucks.

no Jezebel James

This is the thing with Parker Posey and Claire? Man, I am really fearful that thing is going to suck. The previews looked just abominable. I'll give it a look, cuz I love Claire.

So when does the "Mrs. Pajiba-hyphenate Show" come on? I'd totally watch that.

Barring that...it would be interesting to see if we can make TK and PissBoy go off at the same time....kinda like detonating two bombs simultaneously.

Dakaron... some doors are best left unopened.

I'm not sayin'... I'm just sayin'.

I never really liked Sex in the City, however, most of my acquaintances did watch it quite regularly. I'm never been one for chick lit. or chick flicks... Cosmopolitan or whatever post-feminist texts are out there. But I would not put myself on a highhorse because I never got into these things (or was just the wrong kinda girl for the genre). I mean some of those strong women and mothers you've mentioned love this kind of stuff. And who are we to tell them that it's wrong? If a woman finds pleasure in watching or reading other women succeed (in at least one kind of way), then I think no (especially no male reviewer) should be telling them it's wrong. Maybe I'm just too diplomatic, but I like to think that Germaine Greer is too extreme, but I still see myself as a feminist. I don't know, I'm rambling now. However, some parts of the women's liberation movement were about a joint effort, not about discriminating against women who happen to like chick lit..... so anyone up for that? Men are welcome, too.

Awww....

While much appreciated, Paddydog, I dont think I'm quite ready
to be accepted into the ranks of TK or PissBoy territory (which I imagine to be a foul-smelling abyss of both anger and unbridled rage, with a lukewarm side of Heigl-slaw - but by no means bad!).

I am but a weary soldier of pop-culure and an inmate of long-gone-bad socially acceptable poo-doody. However, I am not only pleased, but honored to be in the presence of several, individual and brilliant commentators, who without, my days of median-payscale and mid-sized office isolation would surely be the end of me.

I've not yet considered myself to be a true "Pajiban", but hopefully as my snark levels build, I can be proud to find solace against Hollywood and celebrity bullshit among the ranks of the fantabulous.

That being said, I will continue to provide any random readers of these disjointed, yet highly entertaining threads an occasional "Holy shit, that's fucking disturbing".

Over 'n out, m'bitches...

Skittimus... what the fuck are you going on about?

I think you give me (and certainly Pissboy) more credit that we deserve. Most of our schtick comes from avoiding work.

And, in cases like right now, being drunk.

Oh, and I forgot to mention this earlier:

Dear Julian Sands:

Your fall from grace has been absolutely breathtaking to watch.

Looking forward to seeing you on Skinemax,

-TK

Wow... I was thinking that was a pretty well-written and emotion-tuggin' entry until I saw "I am but a weary soldier of pop-culure"...

"culure"? what the fuck's that?! "CULURE??!" GODDAMMIT!!! GRAAAGHFUCKITEEFUCK....

Alright, ignore ALL of that previously written bullshit... I'm a douche and am now making my way over to www.aintitcoolnews.com. Pray for me...

P.S. Perez sends his love...

Let me see if I got this right. All these bitches got money falling out of their cunts, and one of them is fucking a billionaire? And somehow they are supposed to be struggling with the challenges of family life, advancing their careers, parenting, and dating? I hope every bitch that watch this shit thinks she can go to New York and open up her legs and turn out like one of these bitches.

Cougardom starts at 35

35 is way old, beeyatches
like geriatric

Cougardom starts at 35

35 is way old, beeyatches
like geriatric

sorry for double-post party foul

I turned 35 yesterday, Plobes.

Let's go.

I too have a sincere fondness of Brooke Shields, but despite the soft spot I hold for her in my heart, there is no way in hell that I would waste one second of my life watching this craptastically absurdly sounding show. Uhg!

BTW Dawg, love the title for the post. It reminded me that I shoudl've added
Welcome To The Jungle by Guns-N-Roses on the Interstate Anthems comments. but it's too late, too many comments on that thread.

Sands was the bomb in Warlock, yo.

I admittedly enjoyed "Sex and the City" (the show), and so thought that somehow by extension I would enjoy Candace Bushnell's books. Holy crap was I wrong. I bought "4 Blondes", read it, and promptly felt like barfing afterward. I couldn't believe it was being marketed as something empowering and funny. Everyone cheated on their partners, and lied, and basically acted like rotten human beings. I'm not even going to go near Lipstick Jungle.

A beautiful "older" woman balancing a difficult job and personal issues with wit and grace?

Great idea. President Laura Roslin wouldn't even wipe her feet on these vacuous ninnies. The women of Battlestar Galactica in general are the most complex and strong characters on tv right now (well - who *ought* to be on tv right now).

Funny how the women in scifi are generally regarded as strong, ideal women. Serenity, BSG...even Stargate, from what I've heard. It's almost like...scifi writers know what their readers want, and know what true empowerment and equality is, and don't talk down to their audience, and the readers/audience get role models and a better understanding of people out of the deal.

It's a good thing scifi is not a real genre, something to be made fun of...or we'd really be in trouble as a race.

Sigh, that was Firefly, not Serenity. I'm starting to merge the two in my mind.

I watched sniplets of this only because IMDB indicated that this dude I went to college with would be playing a character called Josh. I wanted to see what this role entailed and yell at the screan "Hey! It's that guy I went to college with that lived in my building that time who did the singing and the improv and wore the makeup and was friends with my douchey ex-boyfriend and I went to that football game that one time with and once called my current boyfriend a guitar god and went to highschool with my friend, Jeanette." A very peripheral association, obviously. I was surprised to see that he was Brooke Shields' assistant and had scenes with her. I was shocked that he had lines. I was appalled that one of his lines was "You have a piece of muffin on your breast." Anyway, unwatchable show.

My personal pop-psych diagnosis is that Candice Bushnell is one deeply disturbed chick, and that her secondary characters have to be completely over-the-top lame-os in order to make Mary Sue look merely quirky and complex. If my "best girlfriends" were these women (or the women of Desperate Housewives, or Grey's Anatomy, or any of that ilk), I'd feel compelled to join the Witness Protection Program, just for the fresh start.

You couldn't pay me enough to watch this sober.

Don't forget Dr.Temperance Brennan of Bones. She's a strong intelligent woman that doesn't make any excuses. An outspoken atheist as well.

Based on real life Kathy Reichs..

Ditto on Candace Bushnell being deeply screwed up woman. Is it because she looks like a Coulter clone--a bony blonde making a living hawking a f*cked-up screed to a loyal fan base?

If the men in my life treated me like the men in this series treat women, they'd shortly find themselves, well, not in my life.

Not that I can stand any of these women. They're supposed to be successful, yet they never speak up for themselves? Wendy's million dollar, triumphant negotiation is a fucking parlor trick? Victory finds douche-baggery romantic? (Seriously, the dude gets romance points for waiting in the cold instead of the car? Fuck that.) Nico can speak directly to neither her boss nor her husband and simply clearly lay out her wants? She sabotages her rival by SALTING HIS DISH? Ooooh, that's leadership material right there, honey.

It's like a 12 year old from the 1950's watched Murphy Brown, got super-excited, and wrote this script on spec. And some gosh darned fool picked it up!

I...wow...what was that? I'm turning my TV into a fish tank.

You couldn't pay me enough to watch this sober.

-----------------------------

Posted by: Wednesday at February 8, 2008 10:46 AM

'nuff said.

screan was meant to be screen. just wanted to let you persnickety folks know I care.

Dustin - kudos to you and your wife for moving at full speed... but can I just say that your baby will grow up before you know it, and you and your wife will never regret taking the time to stop and enjoy the wonderfulness of it all. No one wants a hairdryer in their ear when they are eating, lest of all a little baby. If a woman chooses to stay at home (forsaking a career) to bring up a child full time, that's okay too (and not a walk in the park either). She will still be as great a success. I really feel that your comments implied that you feel women should have a baby and continue to do it all, and anything less is failure. Big time sexist old man.

Of course I meant 'least' not 'lest'. I was preparing a four-course meal whilst revising for my physics exam and giving birth to my second child so took my mind of the ball.

"Cashmere Mafia" > this shit

"If a woman chooses to stay at home (forsaking a career) to bring up a child full time, that's okay too (and not a walk in the park either).She will still be as great a success. I really feel that your comments implied that you feel women should have a baby and continue to do it all, and anything less is failure."

If you're an Ivy league law student, why exactly would you want to have "anything less"? Just because you have a kid doesn't mean you need to drop the life you earned to spend your days planning PTA meetings and soccer games.
Maybe it's just because I'm a young woman in school myself, but I find women who drop their careers to be unempl- oh, I'm sorry, "stay at home" moms, rather pathetic. And while I suppose a woman who raises a child is successful in a way, she can hardly compare her success to that of her peers who raise their own children yet by some miracle manage to have a career as well.

Lawyer mom > Soccer mom. Hands down.

Stopandsmelltheroses: There's no need to attack Dustin and his wife. You have no idea how much time they spent with their baby so don't assume. Calling someone a bad parent is really a bit low.



Dingles: A woman can choose to have a career, a family, or juggle both. That's her business and not really your place to judge her. I'm a biology student myself, and I've chosen the career path, if and when I want to have a family, I will. But I'm a little offended I'm suddenly expected to do all that and bake a cake at the same time just to be successful. I'm still only human. A career doesn't make a woman any better or more important than having a family. It's the type of person she is that matters, the same as everybody else, male or female.

Oh, deary, deary me. The can of worms has been opened...

Shall I just opine that Stopandsmelltheroses, Dingles, and LittleDead are all right, depending on which segment of the population one examines? What really angers me is that shows like Lipstick Jungle and Desperate Housewives glorify the polarization of American women, thus indirectly contributing to the stagnation of the development of a truly equal society.

Oh, and as far as I'm concerned, Candace Bushnell is a subversive anti-equalitist Anne Coulter hag-clone.

Minty - well said.

Little Dead - I'd just like to point out that I never said Dustin and his wife were bad parents. Nothing of the sort. I just said that babies grow so fast and to enjoy as much time as you can with them as that is what life is about.

Dingles, your views may change if you ever decide to have a child. If you've never had one, you simply cannot know. I'm not advocating staying at home with your child, nor am I saying you must forsake everything for your career. What I would like to say is you must prioritize your baby and accept that you may have to make some changes in your life in order to spend time with the person who needs it and will benefit from it most.

I AGREE WITH YOUR REVIEW BUT FYI: JULIAN SANDS PLAYS WENDY'S HUSBAND NOT NICO'S AND IS WAY TOO COOL FOR THIS SHOW (REMEMBER HIM ON "24")

I became a Julian Sands fan from the moment I saw him in A Room with a View (the only George Emerson for me; none of these cad-like creatures in more recent versions) to Tomorrow Man (which unfortunately never got on the air but it's complete on youtube). He is extremely artistic (his acting is subtle and graceful) but sadly under-rated.

This may or may not be 'his best' but I'll watch all the episodes with him (and only those).

Life is too short to be too critical just enjoy life--enjoy the show----lets face it...lipstick jungle is a CLICK.

I watched about ten minutes of the pilot episode and was bored out of my mind. What I can't relate to at all are these fake female characters who run around all painted up like men in drag and are supposed to represent what real women are like - in what universe? It's so weird.