2 posts tagged “glamazons”
Back when I first watched Ally McBeal, as a teen, I was a big fan of The Wacky... the wackier that show got, the more I laughed and loved it. Watching the show again recently, I realised that I was more interested in the human stories, and the characters... in the one episode where Carson's character Renee is allowed a serious bask in the spotlight, she reveals a far more interesting and complex backstory than is really hinted at by her usual fleeting appearances as Ally's down-to-earth, tell-it-like-it-is flatmate. Her main function, throughout the series was to bring some much needed grit to proceedings, but as the audience (me included) grew hungrier for The Wacky, her character was marginalised more and more... eventually disappearing completely, with no real on-screen explanation. There are hints on various sites regarding Carson's off-screen troubles, which certainly may have hastened her departure from the cast, but that's not really any of my business. I can only comment on what I see on-screen, and what I see is a priceless performance. Carson owns every scene she's in, dominating the whiny yuppies around her with strength, sass and sex-appeal to spare! As if that wasn't enough, she can sing too! Her kickboxing scenes suggest that she could even have started a neat side-line in action-adventure flicks, but sadly, it was not to be...
Okay, so once upon a time some bright spark greenlit a thirteen-episode order for a dramedy series called Cashmere Mafia, "following the lives of four ambitious women, who have been best friends since their days at business school, as they try to balance their glamorous and demanding careers with their complex personal lives". It starred Lucy "Ling!" Liu and it died on its arse after just seven episodes, apparently... ending its days in a bargain bin in my local supermarket. The most likely reason for its failure is that it was a hectically-paced hybrid of Desperate Housewives and Sex & The City, without any of the jokes. And that's a damn shame, because the main cast are all very talented, and they look fabulous throughout... and Liu in particular deserves a decent regular gig, after being so consistently funny and engaging in everything from Ally McBeal to Kill Bill... and yes, even Charlie's Angels. Barracuda! Sadly, she also starred in Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever, which is the worst reviewed film ever made, according to aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes! I've never seen it myself, but I refuse to believe that any flick featuring her freckles could be totally unwatchable.
