The Boston Herald:

"Cashmere Mafia" seems designed to distract viewers with the heroines' dazzling wardrobes. But clothes don't make a woman, nor do they make a show.

The Alphabet web trots out another uninspired hour about women attempting to balance fabulous lives and careers with romance, but other than a lesbian liaison, it all feels about as fresh as "That Girl." Each member wrestles with romance, while their frenetically paced careers are wholly nondescript. Beyond the main foursome, meanwhile, the other women in the show are almost uniformly predatory — conniving bitches eager to entice those overwhelmed and emasculated husbands.

"Cashmere Mafia" also feels rushed, as if the creators sensed their material is so familiar, they can't afford any foreplay. Sexual identity crises, insensitive men who do incredibly lunkheaded things, and whispers of spousal cheating all surface in the first episode, as if each character has a checklist of traumas and might as well start enduring them right now. This serves neither the viewers nor the actors.

The biggest problem is that the women populating "Cashmere" seem to be more caricatures than characters. It's as if Starr [sic] was trying to fill out the roster of a reality show with stock types — and various hair colors — and forgot to make them warm, interesting and/or engaging.

It's slick and exquisitely cast. The characters are easy to believe and easier still to look at. Naturally, the clothes are fabulous, too. Most importantly, for those drawn to this kind of melodrama, the stories invite emotional investment.

The clothes are glamorous and the settings are chic, but the lives of these women are parodies of businesswomen, or perhaps stereotypes...For a series like "Cashmere Mafia" to survive, there would have to be practically no other dramas to watch and, whaddya know, that just might be the case, as more scripted shows fall victim to the writers strike.

Earlier: Is It Possible To Make A Show Worse Than Sex & The City?

Sex and the City felt like New York. Its characters were ironic, self-deprecating, and funny... Watching it made me think about an early Sex and the City episode in which Miranda realizes that she's a smart-lady beard for a serial modelizer, trotted out to assure his friends he's not shallow. She's invited to dinner parties and ditched the second Lotus opens. It was about the push and pull between beauty and brains, and a city that values both but sometimes gets confused.

See, I would interpret that situation to not really be about "push and pull" or any sort of "conflict" in values whatsoever, because there's sort of a common theme running through: "appearances", specifically how "they're all that matters in this town." And yeah, that's not totally true, because money also matters, as evidenced from the aforementioned Darren Star-Candace Bushnell feud (and also: Candace Bushnell's entire body of work) but if you think brains really have a place here, Amy, ummmmm, why do you and Robin Givhan consistently seem to be lone two ladies in town capable of intelligently writing about the fashion industry?

Sex & the City Creator Darren Star Returns With Cashmere Mafia [New York]