REVIEW Bravo’s scripted dramedy Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce is fun, sexy, intelligent and mature

It was first announced back in August of last year that Bravo would be making its first foray into scripted programming with a new show titled Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce from veteran TV writer/producer Marti Noxon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Mad Men) inspired by Vicki Iovine’s popular book series Girlfriends’ Guide… The series, which initially began as a half-hour project for Showtime before moving over to Bravo and expanding to an hour, is set to premiere Tuesday, December 2 at 10/9c with the first of 13 episodes.

I was lucky enough to catch a screening of the first episode Saturday night as part of the Austin Film Festival (along with 80 or so other similarly odd folks who had opted to watch a Bravo TV show instead of several other films screening at the same time) in the small-but-packed Hideout Theatre. (Showrunner Noxon was scheduled to be in attendance to present the show and participate in a Q&A session afterward, but unfortunately she was unable to attend due to a rather nasty staph infection.)

I REALLY wish Noxon had been there because I desperately wanted to express to her what a fantastic job she and the rest of the cast and crew had done in producing a television show that was a rare combination of funny and sexy, but also dark and mature. We were encouraged to tweet the laid-up Marti with our reactions, and that’s what I did:

@starcasm @Bravotv OH man — THANKS YOU. *cries*

— marti noxon (@martinoxon) October 25, 2014

I wish I could talk about GG2D without mentioning another similar four-letter acronymous series (SATC), but given a list of similarities that include a female main character who is a rather successful and well-known author who has VERY attractive female friends who love to talk sex, all of which live together in the city of Los Angeles, I feel that wish is a rather unrealistic one.

That being said, the most important thing to point out when comparing Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce and Sex and the City is how they are different. While SATC (which I am a big fan of) seemed focused on the surface of things (fashion, dating, etc) from the viewpoint of a well-spoken single young woman, GG2D fast forwards ten or fifteen years and gives us a more complex, more mature take that adds marriage, divorce, children, careers, and more into the equation.

The show’s main character is Abby McCarthy (played by House actress Lisa Edelstein), who has made a very successful career writing a series of Girlfriends’ Guide to… books that have established her as a bit of an expert on love, relationships and family. But Abby’s personal and professional lives come crashing down as she and husband Jake (Paul Adelstein, Private Practice) separate.

Initially Abby and Jake try to keep up appearances with fans of her books, their friends, and their families — including the couple’s two children: teenage daughter Lilly (Conner Dwelly) and scene-stealing grade schooler son Michael (Dylan Schombing). But their attempts to deceive those closest to them fail, and it’s not long before the public finds out as well after Abby cracks during a major book signing event and reveals the truth with drug-induced brutal honesty.

Looking for support and understanding, Abby finds herself with a new circle of friends who are no strangers to the realities of divorce, including hardass entertainment lawyer Lyla (Janeane Garofalo, The Larry Sanders Show) and former model Phoebe (Beau Garrett, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior). Lyla and Phoebe’s relationships with their exes are a bit extreme to say the least, but provide a hilarious sandwich for Abby’s emotional struggle as she tries to desperately keep her marriage together.

^ Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce pals (from left to right) Lyla (Janeane Garofalo), Abby (Lisa Edelstein) and Phoebe (Beau Garrett)

However, Abby’s desperate attempts seem futile as she finally decides to move on and reenter the dating (or at least the sexing) pool, which her husband Jake had been swimming in from the moment they separated.

(Unfortunately, show star Necar Zadegan, who plays Abby’s attorney Delia, did not make an appearance in the pilot.)

The real success of the show (at least in the pilot episode) is how successfully the script and the actors (especially lead Lisa Edelstein) are able to keep things funny while at the same time keep things very serious. Achieving humor with depth is a real art, and a rare thing to see handled on the small screen as well as it is in Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce. Abby is smart, successful, proud, and strong yet also (like all of us) dumb sometimes, humble and weak. In other words, very human and thus very relate-able.

As a pop culture blogger I watch A LOT of television, and I would to say this series is among my favorite new shows of the year — right up there with Transparent and Broad City. It brings both halves of the dramedy equation with tear-jerking dramatic moments (young son Michael asking, “What is divorce?”) and non-jokey comic moments (I may never have experienced a more genuine crowd laugh than that of the mostly female audience at the screening when Abby’s first post-break-up sexual encounter tells her, “I am going to give you the younger man experience.”)

You can see both of those, although a bit out of context, in the extended Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce trailer:

We here at Starcasm rarely write reviews, but there are occasions where we feel motivated to raise awareness and get the word out about something great (or rarely, something horrible) that we feel you may have otherwise been unaware of. In other words, don’t be late jumping on the inevitable Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce bandwagon by being on board when it leaves the station Tuesday, December 2 at 10/9c!

Don’t believe us? Well how about some big names that have already gotten on board the GG2D bandwagon in the form of guest appearances, like Carrie Fischer, Bernadette Peters and Orange Is the New Black star Laverne Cox! Bravo announced in July that “Tony Award-winning actress Bernadette Peters will…be playing the role of Annie, the mother of Layla (played by Janeane Garofalo) who comes to town to help her with the kids.” Meanwhile, Carrie Fisher can be seen in the pilot episode playing Abby’s motherly (only when it comes to business) editor, and Laverne Cox will reportedly play war journalist and LGBT activist Adele Northrop.

Oh, and a HUGE congratulations to Bravo and their Vice President of Scripted Development, Andrew Wang, for their AMAZING debut in the world of scripted TV. With GG2D they seem to have instantly become a major player in the current scripted cable television revolution!