The Scripted Cosmo Show Looks Sassy as Hell

By Kate Dries | April 19, 2017 | 10:10pm

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The reality show shot within the walls of Cosmopolitan just wrapped up, with no news about whether it’ll get a Season 2. But for those who enjoyed the faux-drama that delivered, the scripted show based on the same publication is forthcoming from Freeform. The title appears to be a bit of a clumsy play on words for a show about a magazine: it’s called The Bold Type. Get it?

Greenlit last year, this show is also executive produced by Hearst Chief Content Officer and former Cosmo Editor in Chief Joanna Coles, who is seemingly played here by Melora Hardin, the editor of the fictional Scarlet magazine. Here’s some copy from the press release:

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“The Bold Type” reveals a glimpse into the outrageous lives and loves of those responsible for the global women’s magazine, “Scarlet.” The rising generation of Scarlet women leans on one another as they find their own voices in a sea of intimidating leaders. Together they explore sexuality, identity, love and fashion. “The Bold Type” will have a special two-hour premiere on TUESDAY, JULY 11, at 9:00 p.m. EDT. The series stars Katie Stevens, Aisha Dee, Meghann Fahy, Sam Page, Matt Ward and Melora Hardin as Jacqueline, editor in chief of Scarlet Magazine.

The show—at first called Issues—was created by Sarah Watson (originally, Leslye Headland was tapped to write a pilot based on the magazine, though that seems to have been replaced by this project, as the same group of producers is working on it). In January, when it was picked up by Freeform, one of their executives said it is the network’s “love letter to modern feminism and aims to be a destination for authentic female friendship and empowerment.”

That’s a whole lot of stuff. Anyway, in the trailer, Aisha Dee’s Kat says to a guest she’s touring around the office, “I’m a feminist. And so is this magazine.” When said guest sassily refutes her (“It’s about clothes and makeup”), she comes back with, “That’s actually a common misconception.”

As Women’s Wear Daily reported, So Cosmo, the last Cosmo television, did fine, if not amazingly well, though that was on a different network and was a different format.

For a new show, it did so-so. “So Cosmo” averaged 190,000 viewers, according to Nielsen data. Compare that to E!’s average prime time viewership of 392,000, which includes established shows such as “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” and the number doesn’t look that bad.