My Thoughts on ABC’s Newest Show ‘Mistresses’
Last night, Mistresses premiered on ABC, and it’s a remake of the original version, which was done in the UK and came on BBC. I haven’t watched that one though so this was fresh to me. I also didn’t read up about it nor did I watch previews so I wouldn’t go in with any expectations. The show is slated for 13 weeks, so it’s ABC’s way of filling the black hole Scandal left in our hearts, methinks.
Mistresses is about four friends, Savannah (lawyer), Joss (real estate agent), Karen (psychiatrist) and April (interior design store owner). And each character is either a mistress herself, dealing with her own infidelity, or dealing with a mistress. The show is around the drama in their lives.
So yeah. I watched it and live-tweeted and here are my 5 thoughts on the show. Disclaimer: There are major spoilers so if you haven’t seen it and want to watch, stop here until you’ve watched.
* It’s a very diverse cast. ABC’s scripted shows are now looking like a United Colors of Benetton ad and I appreciate them for it. They get the high fives for managing to figure out that the world isn’t just full of white folks and maybe one latino. And they make the cast look good together so it doesn’t just look like ‘Sex and the City Affirmative Action.’ Now if they could only understand that on “The Bachelor” or The Bachelorette” which are so white that I need shades to watch them. But that’s a different story. Also, why do those shows still exist?
* The Black dude sidekick of the main character is not as fine as Harrison. I’m so petty. His name is Dominic and he’s Savannah’s co-worker. But I’m just saying. Also, he comes across as sleazy to me. By the end of the hour, he’s getting it in on an office desk so he’s seen more action than CoYUMbus has in 2 seasons. Ok I’ma stop with my Scandal comparison now. They’re two VERY different shows. I just wanted to point this out.
* The first 5 minutes felt uber awkward. And it was because the sex scenes were just thrown in our faces and I tried to care but I couldn’t because I wasn’t given time to. It was just opening credits, 3 lines of dialogue and clothes coming off. Ok then.
* The Karen storyline is the one that feels juiciest here. She was sleeping with one of her patients (Thomas), who was married. He died, and she was at his funeral sitting next to his wife, who looked at her for support. And now, her ex-lover’s son (Sam) is crushing on her. Plus, it might come to light that she prescribed lethal doses of morphine to her ex-lover, and it might have played a part in his death. Chile… so much going on.
* By the end of the episode, Savannah has cheated on her husband with Dominic, April found out that the dead calls she’s been getting are from her husband’s mistress (who has a son by him), Joss is living in Savi’s guest house (and her clients are this lesbian couple I give no dambs about) and Karen is having a breakdown about her involvement in Thomas’ life and possible death.
The previews for next week’s show told us a heck of a lot that will happen. Including the fact that Savannah will find out she’s pregnant, conveniently after the one-night stand her co-worker. And since the doctor just told her husband that his sperm is all unable to impregnate her and whatnot. Also, Karen and Sam kiss. I’m like dang. Where’s the mystery at?
Well, I guess maybe the pregnancy won’t be next week’s biggest news. This will clearly a fast-paced show, and it’s something we’re starting to expect from ABC.
My overall thoughts of the first ep is that it was ok. It shows promise. But my attention span was waning by minute 30 and I haven’t started caring about any of the characters. I know that I gotta give it time though so I could get invested in it. Will I be live-tweeting it next week? Not sure but I’ll probably tune in. We’ll see where the wind blows me. It’s not a bad show so It’s worth watching once.
So did you watch Mistresses? Whatcha you think? Anyone watched the UK version?
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35 Comments
Yunjin Kim is in it?
Oh it’s time to get active… gonna have to check her/this out.
thanks Luv
Indeed!
All I got from this post was CoYUMbus. o_O Scandal still on the brain and I’m not really here for Mistresses.
LOL we just can’t stop thinking bout the gladiators.
I decided I will watch it to fill some kinda void scandal left. I agree the first episode was ok but i don’t mind a little spoiler in the previews. Other wise I might not watch next week. Anywho I’ll be watching. You make shows better so I hope u keep watching too.
I hope I do too. Because if I don’t, it means it truly went meh.
First I want to tell CBS, NBC, and ABC that trying to fill our Scandal void is going to be hard. Plus, I think the only person who could do it right is Shonda Rhimes and her team.
Mistresses was a little much for me. I would have loved to see Savi (the lawyer) just have the issue of working things out with her husband. Why oh why did she have to go and have a one-nighter with her co-worker? I had an issue with this story line for two reasons: we could guess that she would become pregnant and she gave in to the pressure of her co-worker.
The mistress showing up on April’s doorstep? No ma’am and no thank you. She should have worked out money issues with the dead husband, not the living widow.
What are we looking at next?
Well, all the extra drama is needed for a good storyline. So I get why they let that happen. It’s just… we shall see.
Umm I seen the pre views but it looked like another slutty sitcom, but since you say its worth watching at least once I will give it a chance….I hope my attention span can survive this nonsense/ foolery…but hey it survives Love and Hip Hop Atlanta so I am pretty sure I will be fine..lol Thank you Luvvie for the info…
I’m not going to watch it but my sister will because that’s right up her alley. However, can we all marvel at how Alyssa Milano looks? Wow!
Yeah Alyssa does look amazing.
I was just remarking to my friend about the deal that Alyssa Milano made with the devil b/c she does not AGE! I’m glad she’s seemed to pick up a lil bit of weight.. when she was on Charmed, she was just a lil too small IMO.. She’s still bite sized but real woman sized at the same dang time 😀
I only watched the beginning of the show and gave up. I was a major fan of the British version of this show and I must say, American copies of British shows are horrible. Do yourself a favor and check out the British version (free streaming on Amazon.com if you are a prime member.)
I loved the UK version and it looks like the US version is following the same storylines. I have yet to see a UK version really turn out well in the US. Even The Office had to make adjustments.
I watched it instead of game 7 between the Heat and Pacers which also had its share of Mistresses… in the stands that is. I gave the show a grade of ‘C’ for I don’t see much room for growth for a storyline centered on ‘Side Pieces’.
I watched the first 5 min and then couldn’t stop channel surfing. I just cant. I watched Charlie Rose on OPB longer than this. Watching 4 women make bad decisions and wonder why their world is messed up is like looking at Facebook. I have been desensitized to the point where I cant get invested enough to care. My timeline is more interesting then this.
“Watching 4 women make bad decisions and wonder why their world is messed up is like looking at Facebook.”
LMAO! I had to laugh at that. Why do some people (especially women) just throw their business out like that on FB?! I got a few of those “friends” as well.
On the night time drama scale from 1 to 10 with Deception ranking about a 3.1 and Scandal a perfect 10 I would give Mistresses a solid ranking of 6.5.
It’s not the best show out the box but it pulled me in better than Deception did with it’s pilot.
Like you, I like the diversity and the reason I stopped to watch it last night was actress Yunjin Kim. I like the Jason George as an actor, too. I think most people are turned off by the title but the subject matter (sex, infidelity) is a night time soap opera staple. If the writers are good they can keep it going and work storylines and plots but they will have to tighten up their characters, but then it is just the first episode.
Hey Luvvie! I watched (read: tried to watch this) and it just doesn’t do it for me. It didn’t keep my attention for more than five minutes.
However, I have a few more suggestions for filling our Scandal void: Suits on USA (LOOOOVE this show – season three starts in July), White Collar on USA and possibly an older show that has gone off the air until fall (I just caught up on nine seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, Shonda’s other show and of course it’s amazing) or another suggestion would be House, M.D. with Hugh Laurie. Eight seasons: totally worth watching.
YES! I thought I was the only one who liked suits. I watched Rectify (sundance channel). Also very good
I heard Suits was good. Might have to check it out.
Suits is AWESOME!!!!! So is Necessary Roughness!
Suits is GREAT.
British version is wayyyyy better! Stumbled upon a marathon of it on BBC America and got sucked in. The American version can’t compete!
I was about to say the same. I watched the the US version and its almost the BBC version, damn near word for word. They changed the names of the characters but I kept seeing the BBC version in my head.
I agree with those above, the Uk version is way better! I haven’t watched the US version but based on your synopsis this sounds like 3/4 of season 1 of the UK version! Why does American TV have to rush stuff? I mean damn, we’re smart people. We appreciate character development too!
But, I will watch the US version because I need a Scandal filler…plus I want to like it so much because I like seeing women on TV in lead roles.
This! I watched the UK version also and thought it was an excellent show. I’ve noticed many US shows that are based off UK versions tend to rush through storylines that took several seasons with their british counterpart and I can’t for the life of me figure out why they continue to do that. Oh well, I may give this one a shot but I’m not all that confident that I may stick around for it.
I’ve seen the UK version…from what you’ve said, not here for the US one so….
Anyway, I got stuck on CoYUMbus…yes YUM YUM,LOL
The BBC UK edition was great, well acted and scripted. But this version sounds like a cheap inferior copy covering up lack of substance with lots of sex.
Count me out.
The one who showed up with the kid had nerve…
The shrink is crazy….
I’m gonna give it 4 episodes.
Y remake such a fantastic show? I loved the original.. DRAMAAAA! Why didn’t they just air the uk version.. It’s not like British accents aren’t intelligible.. I GUESS I’ll take a peek at the new one but given the history of Brit remakes.. Not holding my breath….
Mistresses UK version was a GOOD GOOD TV series! Very interesting and engaging! I totally loved it. When you think it cant get any more complicated IT does. I wish they just aired the original but hey, what do I know.
I highly recommend the UK version. It seems like ABC is trying to stick to the story lines based on your recap, but I can’t bring myself to watch it. ABC has a tendency to Disneyfy or slutty Disneyfy things. The UK version keeps it pretty real. However, the last season was kind of weak. If you want trashy but good, I used to watch Mile High and Hotel Babylon on BBC America, too. And of course, there’s always Footballers’ Wives! They’re old, cheesy shows,but pretty entertaining.
Watched it and loved it! Also watched Devious Maids on Lifetime (Hulu has the pilot) which looks to be another decent summer show. Finally.
After watching the first two episodes I was done with this mini series. I say mini, because surely they can’t possible drag this on for too long. It would just be too painful on any audience. A friend mentioned the BBC version and I love British sitcoms, so I checked it out. Wow! Fantastic! Although I appreciate ABC’s attempt at creating a rainbow coalition of sorts. But the chemistry between the bristish cast was superb compared to the US version. The US friendships just never across as genuine to me, more forced. However, watching the UK cast, you truly believed in the story line and the women themselves. Hands down, BBC Mistresses was a great series with many twists and turns and the characters had so much depth to them. I’ve managed to watch all the seasons (thanks iTunes) and sorry it came to an end. I’m having great difficulty trying to find a summer fling until Scandal returns. Damn, you Shonda, this is the longest summa ever!! #gladiators#waiting#for#action