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STUDIO: Showtime Ent.
MSRP: $36.98
RATED: Unrated
RUNNING TIME: 532 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
•The National Gay & Lesbian Winter Party with Pam Grier
•Live Lounge Reunion
•Auditions
•Green Screen Behind-The-Scenes Footage
•The Ladies’ Bios
•Photo Gallery
The Pitch
Follow around some very high-powered lesbians in LA as they play with very small dogs. All of the time.
The Humans
Rose Garcia
Jill Sloane Goldstein
Mikey Koffman
Whitney Mixter
Tracy Ryerson
Nikki Weiss
The Nutshell
If you were gonna make a lesbian version of Jersey Shore without the Jersey or the Shore or the guys or the whole “living in one house” thing but with the annoying relationship and dating drama (as if it were the most important thing next to breathing), this is the show you would inevitably produce. And enough made-up words and slang to choke a horse. And make that horse blush like an awkward teenager slow dancing. Or something.
I knew sex between two women was different, but this is ridiculous
The Lowdown
I suppose that based on the popularity of their show The L Word, which was essentially a female version of Queer As Folk (a British show first, then a US show of the same name) they thought it only necessary to let the lesbian fun continue after that show ended. This brings us to the show at hand, which is a look into the lives of 6+ lesbians in and around Los Angeles. They all have different types of situations when it comes to careers and love lives. But make no mistake, these women have money. They have nice houses and apartments, drive BMWs, and dress like they fell out of a magazine. Most of them are actually bound to shatter your expectation of what a lesbian might look like. Hell, if you go by this show, every single woman in Los Angeles looks like a model or fashionista. Except the ones wearing baseball caps. Oh dear…
Two of the women, Jill and Nikki, are trying to organize their wedding, which of course is really a commitment ceremony due to the ban on same-sex marriage. We see them trying on wedding dresses, speaking to wedding planners, and having a genuinely fun time doing it. They are the probably the most serious of all the ladies. They are not out partying and being irresponsible; they want to build a life together, damn all the naysayers, and they want it now. They even talk about their plans for having children at some point.
I don't even....yeah, i've got nothing for this
Rose is a bit of a party animal. She loves her girlfriend Natalie but she also likes to have fun, and is often out partying 4-5 nights a week. She is in real estate finance and lives a considerably flashy life, as do all the lesbians. She hasn’t talked to her mother for months, who does not approve of her lifestyle, and is constantly urged by her dad to try and make contact. They are both similar women, apparently, and are both too stubborn for their own good. This matters to Rose, but it almost seems secondary as a priority when put next to her life of having fun and doing what she wants.
Tracy lives off and on with her girlfriend Stamie, who has 3 kids from a previous relationship. The chemistry between the two of them is pretty good and is a nice break from the other stuff, especially because it’s cool to see them interacting with the children. I had to laugh when Stamie, who is a comedian, made a joke during one of her sets about her kids having 4 mothers (her and Tracy, her ex and her new girlfriend) and how expensive Mother’s Day would be for them. One interesting occurance in episode 8 has Tracy’s mom visiting and meeting Stamie for the first time. The situation is actually pretty awkward, especially because she brings her mom to see one of Stamie’s comedic performances and doesn’t warn her that the word “cuntface” is about to be used. I hate when that happens, don’t you?
Mikey runs a public relations and marketing firm, primarily dealing with the fashion industry, and is probably the least flashy of the group when compared to the other girls but she’s also probably the toughest. She’s a take no bullshit kinda girl and while she does like to have a good time, she’s probably a lot more responsible and serious than some of the other girls. She has a business to run and that’s her main focus, which often gets in the way of her relationship with her girlfriend Raquel. Since they both have demanding jobs it leaves little time to foster their relationship and puts a strain on things. Mikey is always traveling, and in episode 6 she travels to a fashion convention in Las Vegas. Raquel is set to fly out to meet her there and Mikey decides to surprise her by having an impromptu Las Vegas commitment ceremony, but unfortunately Raquel misses her flight which kills Mikey’s hopes of surprising her.
The gang stops by Britney Spears' house
And then there’s Whitney, who is the “player” of the group. She’s seemingly out trying to meet a different woman every night, and cares little for the feelings of the girls who then get attached to her as a result of her promiscuity. That is to say, she cares, but not enough to refrain from having sex with a girl using a strap-on at a party being attended by several girls she has been with. I was actually very surprised that a person like this exists within this sort of community. That mostly comes from me being naive, I suppose. But she’s probably the girl I liked the least. I mean, she’s crass enough to drop one girl off at the airport and immediately afterwards pick another one up. In the same trip. Kinda ridiculous, and it might have been staged for the show, but I wouldn’t exactly be surprised to learn that this was completely unscripted.
This show doesn’t exactly appeal to me, and I guess it isn’t really supposed to. But if this show does anything, it certainly opens your eyes to the way a certain group of people live, and the various things they must go through. Several of them still do not talk to family members or have strained relationships with them since their coming out. And that goes a long way to show us that this society is still very much not ready to accept people of different sexual orientations, even if they are family members. I’m not gay, and I don’t actually know anyone who is, but I was raised to accept everyone no matter what. And I do, and believe that if they want to get married officially in the eyes of the law (again, a topic that comes up a lot in this show) then who the hell cares?. That might be just me, though…I have no clue. What I do know is that this show is at times frustrating and annoying but also more watchable the longer it goes on and the more you get to know the women. It isn’t appointment television, and i’m not even sure that it’s worthy of being in Showtime’s lineup when you weigh it against their other excellent original programming. But it certainly has its moments and can be interesting enough at times. I just wouldn’t make it a point to watch it the way i’d watch other stuff. For what it is, though, it has merit, and I can certainly see how people would enjoy it.
At this point, people stopped wondering what kept Clinton interested in Haitian relief efforts
The Package
It has a reunion special with the girls which lasts 33 minutes and is basically a question and answer with fans from Facebook and everything else a reunion would entail. There are audition tapes of the girls before they became cast members, behind the scenes footage, bios, and a photo gallery. There’s also a very brief look at the National Gay and Lesbian Winter Party that Pam Grier (who appeared on The L Word) speaks at.
Rating: 
Out of a Possible 5 Stars