Brooke Shields stars in 'Lipstick Jungle' on NBC

The Plain Dealer - cleveland.com - Cleveland, OH, USA - "Sex and the City" fans have a date for Friday, May 30. That's when the long-anticipated movie about Carrie Bradshaw and her pals is scheduled to hit the theaters. With the date less than four months away, you may have noticed the broadcast networks trying to lure you with their updated versions of that 1998-2004 pop-culture phenomenon.

So don't be confused by Thursday's 10 p.m. premiere of NBC's "Lipstick Jungle." You're not suffering from deja-view. This is the second series of 2008 trying to summon both the Manhattan gal-pal magic and the sitcom-soap opera vibes of "Sex and the City."

ABC's "Cashmere Mafia," which premiered Jan. 6, stars Lucy Liu, Frances O'Connor, Miranda Otto and Bonnie Somerville as friends balancing careers and personal lives in the Big Apple. The writing and acting are rotten to the core.

"Lipstick Jungle" stars Brooke Shields ("Suddenly Susan"), Kim Raver ("24") and Lindsay Price ("Beverly Hills 90210") as three friends balancing demanding careers and personal lives in the Big Apple. The writing is suspect here, too, although the acting is considerably better than on "Cashmere Mafia."

Any resemblances to "Sex and the City" might be purely intentional -- and natural. Like that fabled HBO series, "Lipstick Jungle" is based on a book by New York author and sex columnist Candace Bushnell.

And there is a bit of a soap opera behind the soap opera. "Cashmere Mafia" was created by Darren Star, the original executive producer of "Sex and the City." Former creative partners, Bushnell and Star wind up at different networks with similar shows (and, reportedly, a busted friendship).

"Well unfortunately I haven't seen the other show," Bushnell told TV critics during a telephone conference. "We've been so busy working on our show. One thing that I absolutely love about our show is I think there's a real truth there. I think there's a poignancy and a reality to the show."