Mistresses (2013)

Mistresses still passes the Bechdel Test; its strongest moments are when the women lean on each other. [30 May 2014, p.114]

Mistresses doesn’t shoot for profound. It aims to be the “beach read” of television, and it does its job.

While the purpose of all of this is to urge you to skip this version and try to get your hands on the saucy British original, it's only fair to report that one of the four--Jes Macallan as Milano's unrepentantly slutty sis, a real-estate broker having it off with her boss--captures the Mistresses spirit of naughty fun (never without consequences).

Tawdry but lacking a spirit of fun, Mistresses strives to be a guilty pleasure, but it's more likely to induce guilt than pleasure.

ABC's more-silly-than-saucy new drama. [31 May/7 Jun 2013, p.130]

The writing is stock, the acting is hollow, and the direction is perky and workmanlike. It lacks any of the clever stylistic accents and camp humor of the somewhat similar “Desperate Housewives,” and pity the poor viewer who tries to apply logic to some of the plot twists.

Mistresses is more vaporous than vapid; its meticulously styled sex scenes wind up seeming antiseptically dispassionate and too serious by half.