Debra Messing's Mini-Series "Wife" Returns As Series

Molly Kagan, the ex-wife of a thoughtless movie mogul who dumps her for a younger model, was supposed to be just a summer fling for Debra Messing.

Ms. Messing, casting about for a new challenge after the long-running NBC sitcom "Will & Grace" concluded in 2006, took on the role of Molly in "The Starter Wife," a six-part mini-series in May and June of last year on the USA Network. Ms. Messing's character, informed by cellphone that her husband wants a divorce, soon finds herself rejected by her (fake) friends, her country club and her charities, and seeks to remake herself as a writer and a single mother without cachet in Brentwood and Malibu.

Molly struck such a chord with both audiences and critics, garnering high ratings, good reviews and 10 Emmy nominations, that beginning Friday night "The Starter Wife" is back -- this time as a regular series.

Molly resonated with viewers, Ms. Messing said, because many women (men too) know a thing or two about reinventing themselves because spouses find them too familiar or too (fill in the blank). "The choices you make as a woman inevitably are messy, and no choice brings pure happiness," Ms. Messing said in an interview on a soundstage in this corner of the San Fernando Valley, perched on a tacky sofa squeezed between dangling cords and huge lights, an electric chair (a prop for a fantasy sequence) lurking in the distance. Thin, her auburn hair fluffed around her face, Ms. Messing, 40, was taking a break last month from filming a segment of the 10-episode season.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[mediamarv]

She was really funny on Letterman last night, relating the story of her redoing the Sharon Stone scene in Basic Instincts with panties that said "Say Please" in large fuschia letters, which the crew and director never even noticed!
Letterman nearly fainted!!

[JohnnyBeBad]

I hve always wondered why rich people like her and Celine Deon don't get nose jobs.

[IndyReader]

There's an old 40s actress whose name I keep forgetting that I thing Messing should play before she gets her nose bobbed. Maybe someone knows who I'm thinking of. I think she was in the original "Cheaper By The Dozen".

[Bluejay00234]

YAY!

[Topfeeder]

I can only see her as Grace Adler. Maybe in a few more years. Weird how that happens with some actors, yet others have no problem moving between roles and being accepted. Jennifer Anniston is always Rachel Green for me too.

[gbfilter]

You wrote: "I can only see her as Grace Adler. Maybe in a few more years. Weird how that happens with some actors, yet others have no problem moving between roles and being accepted. Jennifer Anniston is always Rachel Green for me too."

It doesn't happen to actors, it happens to you and others who manage to forget that the actor or actress is a real person, playing a role.

[Topfeeder]

They're real people, really?
It's called typecasting and it does affect some actors and not others.

[poomplet]

OOOH....men are pigs, women have inner strength and they band together (oftentimes with their gay male friends) to find the oh-so-rare men who 'get' them.

YAWN...why isn't this on TVN (The Vagina Network)...er, ABC...along with Ugly Betty, Gray's Anatomy, Private Practice, Lipstick Jungle, Brothers & Sisters, Desperate Housewives, Dancing with the Stars, Dirty Sexy Money and Samantha Who?

MAN...I didn't know how chick-centric ABC is until I researched that list! If it wasn't for Lost...that network would have a single straight man watching it...EVER!.

[Candace8383]

i liked this....not my usual type either but it was /is well done..... i happened across it and my husband and i watch all of the episodes by the way hubby isn't gay

[MidnightRambler]

I don't watch programs starring right wing nut jobs.

[poomplet]

HUH? You have to be referring to Debra Messing, as there are really no other 'stars' on the show (nor mentioned in this article).

She donated to Lieberman in 2003...back when he was on the right team...and Hillary Clinton ever since . Found this site...it shows the political contributions of all kinds of celebs:

http://www.newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations/Debra_Messing.php

[Bluejay00234]

Ugh you have your facts wrong dear? DM a right wing? Please.