FINALLY, a show about a family of Italian-Americans sisters who are accomplished, beautiful, smart and hip.
In other words, exactly like my friends, the real-life Fiorentino sisters, of whom I am an adopted and adapted sister.
Right off, “Related” – because it eschews the easy and creepy stereotyping of Italian- Americans – would get a couple of stars in my book for just being honest and not portraying this family as ignorant cafones who eat all day and think education is something you get at the Mob social club down the street.
But my particular prejudices aside, “Related” – which was created by some of the folks who started on “Friends” and “Sex and the City” (as well as the author of the best-seller “He’s Just Not That Into You”) – is a flatout good show.
It’s about four New York City sisters, the Sorellis (Get it? “Sorelli” is Italian for “sisters”) who live and work in the big town.
There’s oldest sis, Ginnie (Jennifer Esposito), an attorney on the fast track to partner who finds out she’s preggers.
Next in line is Ann (Kiele Sanchez), a therapist in her mid-20s who is in the middle of a breakup with her hunk of a restaurateur boyfriend.
Then there’s 23-year-old Marjee (Lizzy Caplan), a Lizzie Grubman-like event coordinator who specializes in dealing with impossible celebrities. She has just been evicted from her illegal sublet and is forced to move in with her widowed dad and his new fiancee – in the house she grew up in Brooklyn.
Finally, there’s youngest sister Rose (Laura Breckenridge), a 19-year-old NYU student who has just switched her major from premed to experimental theater without informing the family.(An upset dad exclaims: “What? Is that like mime? $40,000-a-year tuition for mime?”)
If you are expecting a “Sex and the City” rip-off, you will be disappointed, because “Related” is strictly its own creation – with none of the over-the-top caricatures the HBO show was so fond of.
Sorry, none of the sisters (even the pr/events coordinator) is an out-of-control sexual predator or man-hungry vixen.
And if you’re expecting a sitcom, think again. This show is much more of a drama with some funny lines thrown in (as was “Sex and the City,” which was why I could never figure out how it got listed as a comedy.)
In the first episode, we get to meet the sisters and get to understand their complex lives and equally complex relationships with one another. They alternately love and pretend to hate one another, but like most Italians, are never unsure about their feelings.
You want to know what real women like today? Then give the “Sister sisters” a chance – and chances are good you’ll come back for more.
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“Related”
[***] (Three stars)
Tonight at 9 on WB/Ch. 11