There are two trailers for Tinsley Mortimer’s new CW show, High Society, flloating around on YouTube, and this morning Gawker dug them both up. The first takeaway is that Tinsley’s voice, with its undertones of prep school and Parliament Lights, is much more gravelly than we thought it would be when we looked at her traditionally pretty face on Patrick McMullan all those years. The second is that, wonder of wonders, this show might be watchable! Not, from what we can deduce by the trailers, because of Tinz herself (there’s no sign of Tinstantine Mortimoulis on them) — but because there actually appear to be some demented, watchable supporting characters lined up to make things interesting.
First of all, there’s Paul Johnson Calderone, the alleged burglar and vandal ‘mocialite who made it his business to be at every hot nightclub of ill repute (Bungalow 8 … Beatrice Inn … Siberia) until someone who was somebody would take interest enough in him to hate or love him enough to make him relevant. He appears to be one of the villains of High Society. “I do whatever I want, when I want,” he says on the trailer, cackling the laugh of a cartoon evildoer, sexually objectifying hot men, and throwing perfectly good Champagne out the window of a car.
Then, there’s something called “Malik So Chic,” who even the trailer’s narrator can’t seem to figure out, but seems to have been picked for the show because he is everything Tinsley isn’t: male, heavyset, bald, dowdy, and black. Hopefully by the end of the show he will be the hero, and everyone else will be hospitalized.
Of course there’s Devorah Rose, who can’t let a mid-budget New York City reality show pass her by without an appearance. We already know the ruckus she’ll be trying to stir up on the show — and judging by her prominence in the trailers, she’s succeeded in making herself at least something of a primary character. You go, Devorah! You call someone else a tranny!
And finally, there’s Jules Kirby. She’s something of a darling of the blog Guest of a Guest, which delights in chronicling her, um, international misadventures. She’s always getting kicked out of hotels, dating preppy club owners, and running around causing a ruckus with Paul Johnson Calderone. And, according to the trailer, using the N-word! She appears to be the PC-Peterson-from-NYC Prep character, always acting like a mess and causing trouble for Jessie/Tinsley, who just wants her events to go smoothly, okay? Guests of guests may not bring guests!
