The Starter Wife
USA | Release Date: May 31, 2007
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Entertainment Weekly
Season 1 Review: This Wife is well worth committing to. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron
Season 1 Review: While it is far from apparent that Friday night is the best place for this smart and stylish show, one can assume USA will move it elsewhere, if necessary, to give it the chance it deserves. Read full review
80
SalonHeather Havrilesky
Season 1 Review: The Starter Wife is fun and clever, but it’s witty dialogue and a great cast, not thoughtful storytelling, that keep this rich-divorcée gaffe-fest rolling along. Read full review
80
VarietyLaura Fries
Season 1 Review: While the characters here haven't yet had the chance to become as interesting as Carrie Bradshaw and company, this great adaptation of Gigi Levangie Grazer's story should help fill the void left by "Sex and the City." Read full review
80
Orlando SentinelHal Boedeker
Season 1 Review: The Starter Wife isn't seamless or groundbreaking, but Messing and her colleagues deliver stylish goods in a threadbare era for comedy. Good show! Read full review
75
USA TodayRobert Bianco
Season 1 Review: The series does what it was designed to do: It stays true to its roots while allowing fans to spend more time with Molly and her friends and the actors who play them. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesRobert Lloyd
Season 1 Review: The new series, to judge by the two opening hours, is better balanced and plays more to the players' strengths. Read full review
70
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray
Season 1 Review: Messing, who, happily, shed most of her "Will & Grace" tics and mannerisms for the miniseries, is as appealing as ever as Molly, whose maneuvering of the shark-infested waters of the entertainment industry remains voyeuristic fun. Read full review
70
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen
Season 1 Review: Disposable as it may be, Starter Wife still has more to recommend about it than, say, NBC's "Lipstick Jungle." Read full review
67
TimeJames Poniewozik
Season 1 Review: Predictable but pithy, Wife takes itself no more seriously than the Hollywood-haves it skewers. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMatt Roush
Season 1 Review: As a weekly series, this predictable but agreeable comedy-soap about spurned Hollywood wife Molly (Debra Messing, her neurotic sitcom mojo intact) is less heavy-handed than the starter miniseries. Read full review
60
PopMattersMichael Abernethy
Season 1 Review: Molly and her friends spend so much time name-dropping and worrying about reputations, we never feel connected to their pain or joy. The show’s foundational preoccupation with Hollywood does produce some humor, most often in film-based fantasy sequences. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan
Season 1 Review: Messing is an appealing actress, and Starter Wife isn't really a bad show, just a victim of bad timing, and of possibly overstaying its welcome. Read full review
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