Miranda Otto

In addition to learning about two of the leads in the CW's Body Politic, there's plenty of other casting news making me smile today, including:

• Ugly Betty's Ashley Jensen is jumping to the CBS comedy Accidentally on Purpose, which stars Jenna Elfman as a woman who finds herself suddenly pregnant after a fling with a younger man. Betty producer Silvio Horta confirmed that Jensen won't be a regular on the show next year but said she's still "a member of the Ugly Betty family" and could pop up from time to time.
• The ethereal Miranda Otto has been cast as one of the leads in A Marriage, a drama from the My So-Called Life creators about "a marriage that works." Bruce Greenwood will play her husband, with Kay Panabaker and Nick Eversman as their children.
• I was glad to see that Dirty Sexy Money's Zoe McLellan had landed a role in the political drama House Rules, but what's even crazier is who else has a role: Anna Chlumsky, the My Girl girl! McLellan plays a new congresswoman, while Chlumsky plays an aide to the speaker of the house.
• Skeet Ulrich is back on CBS in a pilot called, well, Back. He'll play the lead in the show, in which his character returns to the family that reported him missing after Sept. 11.

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So, is this the end of the line for our lovely cashmere-clad mafiosas? Wednesday's episode of Cashmere Mafia was the final one completed before the writers' strike began, and there's been nary a word from ABC about bringing the show back into production. I guess that's no surprise considering its ratings have been somewhere around the Cavemen level, but it would be a bit of a bummer to go out with last night's episode, which clearly wasn't meant to be the ending of anything at all. Could they end on a note of affair, scandal, financial ruin? Nah — just a couple of professional crises and a random dog. Be sure to check out Fab's fashion quiz, and to read my take on what could be the final Mafia, just read more

Leave it to Cashmere Mafia to usher in Valentine's Day with a hearty helping of heartbreak. It's not like every relationship ended in tatters, but the episode wasn't a great advertisement for swooning, head-over-heels love, either. Unless, of course, we're talking about the love you share with your best girlfriends while devouring a box of chocolates. I'll go character-by-character after the jump, so just read more

"Stay With Me" seems like a particularly apt title for this episode of Cashmere Mafia. With only two episodes to go before the end of this little mini-season, I'm willing to ride it out — but I'm also not sure I would be heartbroken if I never saw it again once these episodes are done.

That said, there are a few things that have kept me going week to week: Juliet's frosty kiss-off of Davis, Caitlin's goofy sexual confusion, and Mia's bizarre styling choices among them. Luckily, all three of those things factored heavily into this week's episode. I'll go character-by-character after the jump, so read more

OK, Cashmere Mafia, you got me. This week's fourth episode was pretty fun to watch — mostly thanks to Caitlin, who gets all the best lines. Mia, not so much; the show is supposedly built around Lucy Liu's character, but I find her stories dull. Juliet and Zoe got some good stuff last night, though, so that helped fill the giant void that Mia has become for me. Read on for my thoughts:

• I continue to be amazed/impressed/intrigued by Caitlin's blase attitude about discovering she might be gay. I'm not sure how believable it is, but I did get a kick out of her proclamation that her lesbian relationship has lasted "twice as long as the last five guys and 29 days longer than Tae Bo, cognitive therapy, and carb-busters."
• Zoe and Juliet are the only characters who seem to be getting equal screen time on both their home and their work stories. That's a good and a bad thing: I like Zoe's work stories much more than her home stories, and I feel exactly the opposite about Juliet. Her suspicion of Davis is much more interesting to me than her failure to properly send a group e-mail.
• Speaking of which, these women don't particularly strike me as tech-savvy. Still, I do like a good automated phone system joke. "I think you said Lake Placid." "Screw you." "I think you said . . . "

Now, for more on what actually happened (spoilers included), just read more

Since we're sadly lacking Gossip Girl for our Wednesday night scandal fix, I'm going to try recapping Cashmere Mafia for a while. Yeah, I know it's been a little disappointing so far, but hey, it's a scripted series that's still airing new episodes! Plus, there are only four episodes left after this one, so it's a pretty low commitment. Anyone with me? Let's get to it:

• So Mia is in publishing, Juliet works in hotels, Caitlin does cosmetics marketing, and Zoe does . . . what, exactly? No, seriously, what's her job? I'm three episodes in, and I know her work involves something about "points" and making sure her scantily clad coworker doesn't sue her boss, but other than that, I'm stumped.
• Also, so much of this show seems like a placeholder they meant to go back and punch up later but didn't have time to fix. Naming a magazine for modern men Modern Man is a lot like naming a fashion magazine Fashion Magazine. As for "Do you know what they call a cosmetics executive with bad skin? Don't make me finish that sentence," I bet they just couldn't come up with a funny way to finish the sentence.

More plot development and slightly less whining if you read more

Cashmere Mafia is back tonight for its proper premiere — apparently ABC would prefer to call the episode that aired on Sunday a sneak preview. But is anyone going to be watching? I didn't expect the highly anticipated series to be struggling in the ratings already, but the news after Sunday's episode wasn't good. The show drew about 10.7 million viewers, which might not be so bad if A) it hadn't lost almost half of the audience that tuned in for Desperate Housewives right before it, and B) 2 million people hadn't switched the show off at the halfway point.

Though lots of you weren't really digging the show on first watch, most of you were either instantly hooked or charitably willing to give the show a second chance. Having seen tonight's second episode, I will say I liked it better than the first — though it still didn't come close to my high expectations. I'm not ready to tune out Cashmere just yet, but I am a little bit afraid for its future — after all, if it couldn't do well with a huge episode of Desperate Housewives as its lead-in, how will it perform when its only support comes from Wife Swap and Supernanny?

Are you still game? You can watch a scene from tonight's episode if you read more

Finally, the moment I've been waiting for ever since Sex and the City wrapped . . . ok, maybe not, but I'm excited that Cashmere Mafia finally premiered. Did you watch?! It delivered all that I hoped for: fabulous women, even more fabulous wardrobes, and a New York City backdrop. If you're not convinced of the Mafia's power, check out the Cashmere Mafia eMagazine to learn about the characters, find out where in NYC the drama happens, and of course, to get specific outfit breakdowns. Trust me Fabbies, it's to your benefit to get to know the Mafia, because as far as I'm concerned, anything associated with cashmere is a sign of luxury.