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'Lipstick Jungle' gets a Thanksgiving miracle
Attention, Lipstick Jungle fans! It seems there's life in this little show after all, as it was reported that rumors of the show's cancelation were premature. If this news turns out to be correct, that's a good thing for viewers considering this episode was all about setting up future storylines.
The show starts off with a cute, funny scene of our three favorite ladies preparing for their annual Thanksgiving dinner. Wendy is in charge this year and she's all about going green (which conveniently ties into Universal's Green Week) which involves them having a locovore Thanksgiving by using ingredients found within 100 miles of New York City in order to reduce their carbon footprint. I hope someone makes those little fried onion things within 100 miles of the city, because no true American Thanksgiving is complete without a little green bean casserole. It's vegetables! But still totally bad for you! Nothing is more American than that. Nico jokes about making the turkey this year just to drive Wendy, who has gone a bit over the deep end planning the dinner, insane. For her part, Victory wants to pass on Thanksgiving this year because she's still very upset about Joe and wants to sit at home and wallow by herself instead. Victory, honey. The best way to wallow is to eat a ton of food, drink a ton of wine and go into a food coma. Thanksgiving is the perfect wallowing holiday, in fact, because if you fall asleep on the couch (from too much wine) you can just blame it on the turkey.
Victory is supposed to be making desserts for the big day, but get sidetracked when a new client shows up at her apartment asking Victory to design a wedding dress for his dancer bride. The catch? He was referred by Dahlia, so you know something isn't quite right about the situation. She still meets with him and agrees to get him some sketches by next week. He insists, however, that they have the sketches by this Saturday because the wedding is a bit of a rush job. Victory hesitates because she will have to miss Wendy's Thanksgiving dinner...but in the end decides making a dress is light years better than dealing with Wendy the crazy Thanksgiving Nazi. Victory is hard at work on a gorgeous dress when Dahlia shows up with James Skylar's fiance in tow, and said fiance isn't exactly what Victory expected because she's plus sized. Oh, this is very offensive. How dare a plus sized woman want a pretty strapless dress? Shut up, Lipstick Jungle. You see what happened was Victory assumed that because the woman was a dancer she was skinny. Sigh. To her credit, Victory does a quick and sincere 180 and immediately pulls out a more appropriate sketch which the fiance loves. You're half forgiven, show. After the client leaves, Victory calls Dahlia out on trying to sabotage her again but Dahlia makes nice and then makes herself comfortable at Victory's for the day. Interesting. Victory finishes the dress and the bride is less than enthused about herself in the final product because she has severe body issues. Victory and Dahlia give her a pep talk and their magic words make the big girl happy! Okay, I'm back to being offended by this story. Why couldn't the plus size girl be happy with her body already? SIGH. Dahlia compliments Victory on how she handled the situation and it seems like everything is back on track with them again. They decide to go to Wendy's party after all and show up right at the end with tres leches cake and coconut rum drinks in tow. This show is making me hungry.
Nico and Kirby's opening scene features them doing what they do best: having hot sex. Their blissful day together is interrupted by Megan, who shows up at Nico's door with little Charles, Jr. in tow, freaking out because she is planning on finally telling her parents about little Charlie on Thanksgiving and she wants Nico and Kirby to watch him while she is away. Wow. Megan has some issues, huh? Nico doesn't want to do it, but Kirby encourages her to cut Megan some slack. They decide to give it a go and surprise, surprise, the baby is fussy and they don't know what to do! I've never seen that story on TV before! It turns out, though, that Kirby is great with kids, a quality which Nico notes from afar, and Nico picks it up quickly herself. On Thanksgiving day Megan completely ditches them by not calling when she said she would and Kirby gets on Nico's case for not calling the authorities. Nico finally gets in touch with Megan, who tells her she's not coming back and calls Nico a "better mother than she could ever be." When Kirby inquires about the call, Nico lies and says it was work related. Later she confides to Wendy that she wants to keep Charlie if Megan can't take care of him. Kirby calls her out on her interest in Charlie and she confesses everything to him, and to say he takes the news well would be, well, a lie. His objection isn't to Charlie per se, but to the fact that he's already caused Nico to be dishonest.
As mentioned previously, Wendy is busy preparing for Thanksgiving dinner in that crazy way type A personalities can get when they're in charge of big events. The reason she is so crazy perhaps? Her uber-critical mother (played by Mary Tyler Moore) is attending. MTM immediately rubs me the wrong way by calling the farmer's market "hippie" and saying "you can keep organic, I'll take hygenic." How are added hormones and pesticides hygenic? Whatever, MTM. Right when Wendy's mother arrives, Shane's new manager Josie calls upset because her dog is very sick and Shane decides to invite her to Thanksgiving dinner to cheer her up. When dinner starts, the motley crew starts arriving and it's obvious this dinner isn't going to be nearly as gaffe-free as Wendy wanted. Josie shows up a total mess because her dog just died in her apartment, causing Shane to offer to leave and help her take care of the situation. Shane can't find anyone to pick up a dead dog on Thanksgiving, and things get uncomfortable when he accidentally catches a glimpse of Josie changing her shirt. I knew they were going to go there. Wendy calls Josie's place looking for Shane and lays down the law, saying he needs to be there by dinnertime. Wendy has a heart-to-heart with her mother about her own father's cheating, which definitely makes me believe they're going to go there with Shane and Josie. Don't do it, show! Please! Shane finally decides to take care of matters himself and they bury the dog in Central Park (I think) so of course they get caught and arrested by the cops. He makes it back to the dinner, albeit late, and drops the bomb to Wendy that he wants another baby. Hmm. Could he be overreacting to his sexual attraction to Josie, perhaps?
Here's a bit of reinforcement that those rumors weren't true: Lipstick Jungle is back in two weeks with an all new episode at an all new time, Friday at 9/8 Central. How many time slots are they going to give these ladies, anyway? Everyone who has a DVR, set it to record the show! And if you're a Nielsen viewer, you know what to do.
See you in two weeks, and have a great Thanksgiving.
I think tonight's episode was yet another entertaining adventure with the LJ ladies! Hopefully more fans watched the show on tv instead of waiting to watch it on DVR or online, giving it a boost in ratings. I used to watch it online, but now I try to watch it on tv when I can.
Alli | Nov 21, 2008 8:49:57 PM | #I liked this episode, as Ive liked them all. This show just keeps getting better and better. They're definitely finding their groove. Im not sure what's going on with Dahlia coming back though? I don't know if Id totally trust her just yet. I also hope they dont take Shane down the cheat road either. And why did he all of a sudden out of the blue come up with wanting another baby? It wasnt like he was around the house all day on Thanksgiving, dealing with baby Charlie. He held him twice maybe? Am glad about the new time slot next time. I have absolutely nothing to watch after "Ghost Whisperer"!
SISSERS | Nov 22, 2008 6:59:47 AM | #Love this show! They better not cancel it. I'm really liking the character's storylines.
Katie | Nov 22, 2008 9:24:52 AM | #The part about the dead dog in the house was pretty disturbing. I was wondering what I would do in that situation and did a little search online. I found out there are funeral homes that will help with pets!
http://www.petpassages.com
Marie | Nov 22, 2008 11:56:56 AM | #Such a great episode! I just watched it online since I was out last night. I hope that they don't cancel-it keeps get better and better
Teresa | Nov 22, 2008 12:42:26 PM | #I enjoyed this episode so much. I liked Dahlia being back - she's fierce and loved her comment she made about Wendy preparing a meal and something about it being a skinny white girl something or other; anyway I thought it was hilarious. Glad Dahlia and Victory spent sometime mending broken fences between them. You have to like Rosie Perez and I think she's cool and real. I'm glad Wendy invited Salvador to Thanksgiving (he's cute) and instead of him going home after dinner, he stayed and was paired up with Dahlia. I also liked how Shane (Wendy's husband) greeted Wendy's friends with a "kiss hello" for the ladies and a hug for the fellows; a very nice touch on his part. As for Mary Tyler Moore, although I love the actress and in awe of her and career, but the plastic surgery - meh, not so much. Her face has been pulled. This show is growing on me.
Christopher in ATL-GA | Nov 22, 2008 5:40:55 PM | #Lipstick jungle is the best show on tv, certainly one of the most intelligent and tru to life, and greatly entertaining, I don't understand why shows like pushing daisies would get high ratings and yet LJ is in danger of closing, I guess it says a lot about the north american people.
tony | Nov 23, 2008 12:48:38 PM | #I loved the Thanksgiving episode, and they made Coquito! I used to make my own until I started buying one that tastes just like homemade. It is called Mi Abuela (my grandmother's) Coquito. You can but it online at http://www.mountcarmelwines.com/sku11891.html.
Rosita Sanchez | Nov 23, 2008 6:24:54 PM | #Could have done without the dead dog and Shane away from family on Thanksgiving. Neither added a thing to the story. The rest of the episode was good although everything can always be better. The writers need to focus on depth and quality rather than so much going on. Love the show.
Ann | Nov 23, 2008 6:29:24 PM | #Tony-Pushing Daisies does not get high ratings. In fact, the ratings are so low that the show is almost certainly going off the air for good soon. Also, your insinuation that people are stupid for not liking certain shows is really very rude. Can't you just accept that different viewers enjoy different things, and there is no right or wrong to it?
BTW, LJ sank right back down in the ratings with this latest episode. Maybe the change in timeslot will help. Frankly, at this point the show has nothing to lose by moving. The numbers it's getting in its current slot just plain stink.
Lisa | Nov 23, 2008 6:39:46 PM | #I don't think you understand character constructs very well. Just because a character on a show says or does things that you don't agree with, does not mean that the show also agrees with the character's construct. It'd be a pretty boring show, if all viewpoints were the same.
Kate | Nov 24, 2008 5:59:43 PM | #I'm another who likes the show. I also like Pushing Daisies. Kristen Chenowith is just SO cute and so underrated as an actor. Anyway, the dead dog is something I can relate to. A friend recently lost a faithful companion, a border collie, after 12 years, who was the most pleasant dog to be around. His dog just enjoyed life and made it obvious she was always having FUN. While not quite so affected as Josie, it was an emotional blow nonetheless. However, burying a dog in Central Park is a bit farfetched. I loved the scene with Nico and Wendy when Josie arrived and Nico says: "Who's Max?" To which Wendy whispers, "... ... Dog ... ... Dead ... ...". I too, know a guy who has a magic touch with tiny babies, a trait I envy much since I do not have it. All he has to do it seems is pick them up and they just STOP crying almost immediately! I have actually watched him work this practical magic of his! Still, I like the show and I hear they are moving it up an hour earlier on Friday, so maybe it isn't quite dead after all. Too many good shows have died early and I was afraid this would be yet another in a long string...
xyzzy | Nov 25, 2008 11:43:36 AM | #My Husband and I love this show. Please, please dont cancel it. Keep it on
fridays. Some folks love their fridays shows. Nothing you will replace it with will match this show which already has a big group of followers.
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