Still Walking Tall in Manolos

If the world of chick TV is entering its twilight, as we speculated last week, where does that leave its birthmother, the original Sex and the City columnist, Candace Bushnell?

As NBC decides whether to pick up a second season of Lipstick Jungle--the NBC series based on Candace Bushnell's novel, and which she executive produced--and ABC makes a similar decision about Cashmere Mafia--which has not, as we reported last week, been cancelled (at least not yet)--Bushnell believes that the appetite for these kinds of shows has not diminished.

"The important thing to remember here is that these are female-driven shows," she says in a brief phone interview earlier today. "The only shows we normally see women in power are procedural, where women are doctors or lawyers. And traditionally before that, women were mothers or prostitutes. So I think that shows that depict women in variety of situations are a plus."

And what about the Sex and the City movie, which will be released this May, and seems to go after the exact audience that might now be suffering an estrogen overdose? Bushnell argues that movies and TV shows aren't really competition for one another, and adds that, although she wasn't involved with the movie's production, she "will be going to watch it when it comes out, along with everyone else in America."

In the meantime, she'll be working on the launch of her latest book, which comes out in October, and about which she remains tight-lipped. "It's about people in New York. That seems to be what I write about," she says.

So even if the market for chick TV is drying up, with Lipstick Jungle--for which additional episodes have been ordered, indicating that a second season is a possibility--and Cashmere Mafia--for which they haven't--fighting for viewers, Candace Bushnell at least believes that the market for chick lit is alive and kicking.

Sophia Banay