It’s highly possible that Charlie’s Angels, Kill Bill, and Ally McBeal star Lucy Liu won’t return to television on ABC’s underwhelming rich-chicks-with-problems series Cashmere Mafia, which many people, including me, believe will/should be canceled.

Fortunately, the beautiful actress has other things to keep her busy, though. As a Global Ambassador for UNICEF (the United Nations Children’s Fund), Liu was all over ABC Wednesday morning, appearing on both The Martha Stewart Show and The View.

The main focus of her visits was to help promote her latest humanitarian efforts regarding today’s World Water Day 2008. The annual one-day initiative, first observed in 1993, emerged from the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, and this year’s theme is sanitation.

I learned a while ago that Martha Stewart’s show isn’t a good source of brief video clips since the household wiz has guests tackling all sorts of homemaking activities that take forever to finish. Consequently, the interview excerpted after the jump comes from The View, where Liu explains how participating restaurants will play a crucial role in today’s objectives.

Instead of automatically offering water free of charge with meals, some eating establishments will ask diners to donate $1. According to Liu, that tiny amount is enough to provide forty children in Africa and other deprived regions with clean water for an entire day. So, if you eat out today, remember to determine if your chosen eatery is involved with this very worthy cause.

Now on to the clip and Liu…

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Well, this is it, Cashmere Mafia lovers. ABC has finally reached the end of the road with its Sex and the City wannabe, meaning the last episode of Mafia that was produced before the writers strike started (seven were finished for an original order of thirteen).

I’m no fan of Cashmere, but you don’t have to be to realize that the series’ future looks grim. Of course, if it’s renewed, that wouldn’t be the first time a mediocre show made it through the network cracks. Just look at October Road, also on ABC, if you need a current example.

On the February 20th first-season and/or series finale “Dog Eat Dog,” Caitlin suffers Fashion Week anxiety when her boss slathers the pressure on extra thick, Juliet must contend with yet another man who has ulterior motives that aren’t in her best interest, Mia goes ga-ga over a pooch, and Zoe continues her quest for perfection (Good luck with that, hon).

Cashmere Mafia airs Wednesdays on ABC at 10pm EST.

Original Air Date: February 13, 2008

As MIA arrives at work, she fields phone calls from all of her fellow mafiettes, who repeatedly ask if she’s okay. Her assistant even gives her a muffin to make her feel better, before her boss CLIVE comes in and tosses the most recent edition of the newspaper on her desk. The huge headline across the front page notes that JACK has just been named publisher at rival company Fairgate Communications.

It looks like the former couple is now back in professional competition. To rub salt in the wound, later that night while she’s hanging out with CAITLIN — who’s still trying to wrap her head around the fact that her girlfriend ALICIA is pregnant — and watching TV, Mia recognizes Jack’s new girlfriend LIZ wearing her Alexander McQueen scarf during a newscast. Mia vows to get it back.

Things aren’t going much better for JULIET, whose hopes that her divorce from DAVIS might be simple and fair are quickly dashed. During their mediation, his lawyer makes it clear that not only does Davis expect “man-imony” — monthly support from Juliet since he backtracked his career and earning potential to fast-track hers — but all legal fees and anything else he wants from their former joint household. Juliet — who wants an even split of their money, custody of their daughter, and their apartment — arrives home that night to find Davis taking anything and everything he wants, including the Aston Martin he gave her as a gift.

Trouble is on the table for ZOE, as well, who learns at work from her boss HENRY GORHAM that she and her colleague CLAYTON must woo billionaire MAXWELL TATE, who’s doing a humanitarian Bill Gates thing at the moment by establishing a $500 million foundation to charter schools. The plan is to lure him away from his current investment company, Manhattan Trust, and gain dibs on his future investment business.

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On January 23rd’s episode of Cashmere Mafia, Caitlin will step out with her girl Alicia, Juliet will stumble upon yet more trouble concerning her husband Davis, Mia will go on a most interesting blind date, and Zoe will become a savior.

Learn more details about the forthcoming episode at the Cashmere Mafia Episode Guide.

Cashmere Mafia airs Wednesdays on ABC at 10pm EST.

The big guest star for tonight’s episode of Cashmere Mafia is Tony-winning actress Christine Ebersole, who plays Caitlin Dowd’s (Bonnie Somerville) makeup mogul boss Lily Parrish. Now this should be good.

Original Air Date: January 6, 2008

After the episode opens with publishing executive Mia Mason’s (Lucy Liu) boyfriend Jack Cutting (recurring guest star Tom Everett Scott) proposing to her on a crowded New York street one morning on their way to work, the couple learn that they’ll have to compete one-on-one for a promotion to U.S. Group Publisher for the Barnstead Magazine Group. Their boss Clive (Daniel Geroll), whom Mia snarkily refers to as Lord Voldemort (the main villain of the Harry Potter series), explains that one of them will move up and the other will move out based upon their performance results up to Friday of the same week, just a few days away. Mia must then decide what’s more important: besting her brand-new fiancé or climbing up another rung on the corporate ladder. She gives the second option her all, predictably misbelieving that Jack will be able to handle it if she beats him at this promotion game.

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I know, I know. There’s too many Cashmere Mafia posts here of late. But, I had to throw this one in, too, since it’s important.

If you missed the premiere of the new Darren Star/Lucy Liu dramedy on Sunday, you’re getting a second chance to watch it tonight when ABC rebroadcasts the pilot at 10pm EST. The next episode will then air in its regular time slot tomorrow night at 10pm, as well.

For more advance information about the series, consult the Cashmere Mafia Episode Guide right here at Comedy Centric. Keep in mind that it has spoilers since it mentions episodes that have not yet aired. A recap of the pilot will follow tomorrow.

Looks like the late-night talk shows resumed just in time to snag guests from the casts of the paltry season’s few new series. Cashmere Mafia fans are in luck today because star Lucy Liu has a date with Dave on the Late Show with David Letterman.

As her innumerable admirers know, Liu has enjoyed incredible success in both film (Lucky Number Slevin, Domino, Kill Bill, Charlie’s Angels) and television (Ugly Betty, Ally McBeal, ER). Don’t forget to tune in tonight to find out what’s been going on with one of entertainment’s most versatile actresses besides her latest ABC dramedy.

Tomorrow morning, you can also catch another famous actress who helmed a couple of classic comedy television series. Current L Word recurring cast member and former Cybill and Moonlighting star Cybill Shepherd will be on hand to talk shop with the ladies of The View, along with her talented L Word co-star Jennifer Beals. Flashdance, anyone? (And, yes, I still love that movie.)

If you’re a Cashmere Mafia fan, don’t forget that, despite debuting last Sunday, the series’ regular time slot is Wednesday nights at 10pm EST. A description of the January 9 episode follows, and as an added bonus, ABC will rebroadcast it this Friday, January 11, at 9:02pm.

Conference Call

JULIET IS TRANSFORMED FROM AN ICE QUEEN TO A SEDUCTRESS FOR A HOT DATE WITH A MAN FROM HER PAST

No sooner is Mia appointed publisher of Barnstead Media Group than she is ordered to fire her mentor, Grant Normandy.

Meanwhile, a battle of wills ensues between a sexy stay-at-home supermom and working mom Zoe, who finds her rival has propositioned Eric with a no-strings-attached offer that he might find hard to refuse.

Caitlin and her new girlfriend, Alicia (Recurring Guest Star Lourdes Benedicto), surprise their friends when they announce that they’ve taken their relationship to a new level.

Couples counseling for Juliet and Davis takes a turn for the worse, and Juliet decides to make some changes herself.

Cashmere Mafia airs Wednesdays on ABC at 10pm EST.

Tonight at 10:01pm EST, ABC will premiere the Darren Star production Cashmere Mafia, starring Lucy Liu (Kill Bill, Charlie’s Angels, Ally McBeal) as single publishing executive Mia Mason, Frances O’Connor (Windtalkers, Artificial Intelligence: AI) as married investment banker Zoe Burden, Miranda Otto (War of the Worlds, The Lord of the Rings) as married hotel COO Juliet Draper, and Bonnie Somerville (Kitchen Confidential, NYPD Blue, Friends) as single cosmetics marketing executive Caitlin Dowd.

In the pilot episode, we meet the four main characters and the assorted men in their lives, including series regulars Julian Ovenden, who plays Zoe’s architect husband Eric, and Peter Hermann, who portrays Juliet’s cheating husband Davis. The official description clarifies:

In the premiere episode, “Pilot,” Mia and Jack Cutting (Guest Star Tom Everett Scott) make a quintessential New York power couple. Just engaged, the two face off in a cut-throat, “survivor-style” competition in order to determine which of them will be promoted to U.S. Group Publisher at Barnstead Media Group.

A smitten Caitlin must face up to the strange but wonderful feelings she is encountering with a new love interest at the office.

Meanwhile, Juliet decides on a unique method of payback for her husband Davis’ indiscretions and simultaneously, in a bold move, must decide whether to drop her public image to step out in the world.

And Zoe and her husband, Eric, are on another 24/7 whirl of balancing their full-time careers and the challenge of being good parents to two small children — all with good humor. But how long will it be before the wheels come off the cart?

After Cashmere Mafia’s premieres tonight, the hourlong dramedy will move to its regular time slot of Wednesdays at 10pm on January 9. Comedy Centric has an episode guide for the show with spoilers (so stay away if you don’t want to know anything in advance), and you can watch an earlier three-minute video preview following the jump (Note: The actor playing Liu’s significant other is not Tom Everett Scott).

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