The Starter Wife first burst onto the television landscape in 2007 as a six-hour miniseries on USA Network. The event garnered such a large audience and critical acclaim (including 10 Emmy nominations) that USA decided to bring The Starter Wife back as a regular series — which will begin with a two-hour premiere this Friday, October 10 at 9/8C on USA.

I never caught the miniseries, but I recently had a chance to view an advanced screener of the premiere. Although there are lots of characters and storylines to follow, it didn’t take me that long to get up to speed, so it’s not absolutely necessary to have seen the miniseries in order to appreciate these eps. Plus, there’s a nice quick recap before the pilot, which covers major points that new viewers have missed.

Anyway, Debra Messing stars as Molly Kagan, the “starter wife” of the title. Incidently, for those of you who don’t know, a starter wife is one that has been thrown over for a younger, prettier version after less than five years of marriage. (Yeah, I had to look that one up too!) She’s recently divorced, and trying to keep hold of her Hollywood lifestyle despite suddenly being considered a persona non grata after the divorce. She works as a crossing guard (in “machine-washable clothes”), attends writers workshops in order to get her old career back on track, and tries to live on a budget despite her daughter’s demands for a Blackberry just like all the other kids have.

The two-hour premiere really covers a lot of ground and sets up a bunch of storylines that will develop over the rest of the season. The characters are memorable and interesting, and Debra Messing (whom I’ve never really seen before, as I didn’t watch Will & Grace is an absolute gem.

I don’t want to give away too much of what happens in the pilot, so I’m not going to go into an all-out recap here. Let me just say that this show definitely has a Desperate Housewives feel to it — except that Starter Wife takes place in a much swankier neighborhood. But both shows have that same sense of fun and absurdity, which is a combination that I like. This one seems like it’s going to make it into my regular viewing rotation soon!

Be sure to tune into USA Network this Friday at 9/8C for the two-hour series premiere of The Starter Wife. If you like outrageous characters and situations, this show is definitely for you!