On Sunday, October 5, there’s a marathon rebroadcast of the miniseries The Starter Wife, and for any woman going through divorce, this is a delicious way to spend a Sunday morning. The two-hour premier is at 9 am on the USA channel.

The premise: a stay-at-home Hollywood wife gets dumped by her weasely movie-producer husband. Then there are four more episodes, taking you right up to 2 pm and through shock, denial, tears, anger, resignation, and oh yes, having two men fighting over you while you live in a gorgeous Malibu beach house. The actual series begins at 9 pm and midnight (East Coast) on October 10, and you can get up to speed earlier that day asso you need to get up to speed. (And there go Friday nights.)

Debra Messing plays the wife, so you can kind of understand two men fighting over her. But what is it with fictional romances that feature a woman caught between two men? I mean, how often does a divorced woman have two men to choose between? Ok, Nancy Lee seems to have all the men she wants.

But the rest of us?

We can see it on screen, from Philadelphia Story, to Pillow Talk, to Jules and Jim, to Sleepless in Seattle, to Moulin Rouge, and The Notebook. Just this year, in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, it was a woman choosing between two guys; in Mamma Mia! it was a woman choosing between three men.

This must be the ultimate female fantasy, a wealth in choice of mates, like superheroes are for men.

Debra Messing as Molly has to choose between a wealthy powerful studio head, and a penniless (but hunky and soulful) beach bum. And this is before she and her husband have even negotiated the terms of the divorce!

It’s one of those good news-bad news kind of things, especially for women going through divorce who have chosen to hit the chocolate aisle in the supermarket rather than the liquor store. It has now been conclusively proven that dark chocolate prevents heart attacks. The bad news: it doesn’t take that much.

The study, reported in the September “Journal of Nutrition” and in “Science Daily,” traced the amount of C-reactive protein, which indicates a chronic inflammatory state, in 20,000 Italians. The protein, which can be found with a simple blood test, is a marker for the risk of cardiovascular disease, including myocardial infarction and stroke.

“People having moderate amounts of dark chocolate regularly have significantly lower levels of C-reactive protein in their blood,” said Romina di Giuseppi, the lead author of the study. “In other words, their inflammatory state is considerably reduced.”

The beneficial effect is due, she said, to the antioxidants in dark (but not in milk) chocolate, in particular the flavonoids and other polyphenols. Decreasing the C-reactive protein level, she added, would reduce cardiovascular disease for women by one-third and for men by one-quarter.

The Catholic University in Campobasso, Italy, which sponsored the study, said that while chocolate has long been assumed to be heart healthy, this is the first time it was proven conclusively in a population study.

So how much is good for you? Let’s put it this way: maybe it’s better to eat dark chocolate as a reward for filing a set of papers, rather than as a way to get through filling out those papers. To achieve maximum effectiveness, women should consume about 3 ½ ounces a week. There is no further benefit (other than pleasure) after that.

It's not only the other woman that can lure a husband away from marriage — so can his Blackberry. There is a reason wives derisively call this technological contraption a Crackberry — men are particularly addicted to it. And some way too much.

A new study from Sheraton Hotels of 6,500 traveling executives says that 35 percent of them would choose their Blackberry over their spouse.

Ouch. Talk about rejection. Some of the 65 percent who would prefer their wife and a little affection over the Blackberry admitted that it still was "a tough call."

I know of a wife that has banned her husband from using his Blackberry in the bedroom. The rule in the house is that if she hears that little bleep — the message he'll get is no amore.

What does her husband say? "It's Berry hard sometimes. I know I'm addicted."

Of those polled, 87 percent said they bring their devices into the bedroom. And that’s not counting the rabid text messagers on their cellphones. So must there be a new 12 step program like AA to help wean spouses from their addiction? Not yet.

Right now it's just wives putting down their stiletto heels and trying to crush the problem.

The addiction is not only with men. Female executives also admitted to falling in love with their Blackberries. One female executive was asked in the study, "Are you having a love affair with yours?"

"I am on my BlackBerry more than I see my boyfriend," she admitted.

Along with giving a loved one a kiss goodnight, another 84 percent acknowledged they check their emails right before they go to sleep.

And 80 percent check them in the morning as soon as they get up.

"It can actually ruin relationships," said Dr. Susan Bartell, a psychologist and relationship expert told CBS. Bartell said couples should be interfacing more, in person.

Here's plain and simple advice from Diane English, the director and screenwriter of The Women, the remake of the vintage divorce movie opening this weekend: "Men come and go," she says, "Get yourself some girlfriends."

The power of girlfriends is the theme of the original, a 1939 George Cukor film based on Clare Boothe Luce's 1936 stage play, and it’s the theme here.

And, like its predecessor, this film talks a lot about men but they are never seen.

There is, however, one major difference. The 1939 film was Luce's poison pen letter to the high society women she scorned; English considers her film a valentine to girlfriends, an exploration on how they help you navigate through all stages of life.

Of course, we are all well aware of the support girlfriends can provide, whether they're sitting across the coffee table or sipping coffee half-way across the country. That's why we created the First Wives Social Network.

In English's film, Meg Ryan's character, Mary Hanes, finds out that her husband is cheating on her. Her friends — played by Annette Bening, Bette Midler, and Carrie Fisher — rally to her side and show her the possibilities that can exist for her, even though her life has changed.

Diane English also brought back Candice Bergen, who starred in Murphy Brown, a series English wrote. Bergen plays Mary Hanes’s mother in the film.

Friends are the theme, but divorce is the subject of The Women. So of course it’s debated and dissected.

"It should be harder to get married and easier to get divorced," English told me. "Marriage is too easy to do and then if it is a mistake, divorce is so painful and long."

When I started out my journalism career, I certainly never thought I'd be writing a story about Kirk Cameron, Charles Darwin, divorce, bananas, and internet pornography. Good holy God, I love my job.

The story so far: Our boy Kirk made a movie called "Fireproof" about a Christian family on the brink of divorce. Kirk plays the cyber-porn-addicted fireman who has fallen out of love with his wife, a hospital public relations representative who's getting jiggy with a coworker. Kirk's dad, knowing that there's trouble at the mill, gives his son a book of — wait for it! — "love dares" and challenges him to make his marriage work in 40 days.

Oh, yes. I did say "love dares".

The movie had a production budget of only $500,000 and features a very sexy silhouette of a firefighter on the promo poster, a firefighter who I very much doubt is Kirk Cameron. Kirk was last seen weighing about 125 pounds on YouTube, advising that Darwinism is disproven because God invented the banana.

In recent interviews, Kirk has said that divorce is the big white elephant in the room, the thing that nobody wants to talk about. Kirk, I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

This website wouldn't exist if people didn't want to talk about divorce. Its success proves that people going through the divorce process need an outlet, a community, and a place to reach out. As a culture, we've spent far too long not talking about divorce, and where has it really got us?

While every cell in my body wants to tear this movie to shreds, I can't. As a cynical, non-churchgoing urbanite, it's easy to brush this kind of movie off, but I think that's a big mistake. There's a tremendous need that it's filling.

So is Divorce Party a novel about a husband and wife who plan to announce their divorce at a party to celebrate their 35th anniversary?

Or is it a movie comedy to be made by Jennifer Aniston?

Or is Divorce Party a television reality show that will show a husband and wife following divorce, and then ask audience members American Idol-style to vote on which spouse was responsible for the breaking up? The “winning” spouse, the one who is not voted as responsible, will win cash.

The answer is that it’s all three.

The novel, written by Laura Dave, is set in Montauk, at the end of Long Island, and it’s about the end of a marriage. As the book puts it, it looks at “the moment toward the end … when you realize that there is something behind this person’s eyes that you were never able to touch, no matter how hard you tried. You can only guess at it, where things really end … where they really begin…”

A second story line follows the divorcing couple’s son, who is about to introduce his commitment-phobic fiancée, no doubt to be played by Jennifer Aniston in the movie.

The movie? Aniston and her partner, Kristin Hahn, optioned the novel before it was even published. If things move forward, Aniston will star in the film, which will be made at Universal and released in 2010. "We're drawn to stories about people finding their voice and finding their way,” she told Variety.

But she turns 40 next year, so Aniston will either have to play a cougar dating a younger man, or change the script to make it a 40th anniversary party.

And that reality TV show? Not nearly so high brow.

The third pilot has been been shot in Dallas for Divorce Party, which was created by Bobby Goldstein, a former divorce lawyer who is behind such classy WB reality shows as Cheaters: Totally Busted?

It seems like every time I turn around, I’m writing about rising divorce rates in the UK. More people got divorced leading up to the holidays. Then more people got divorced on the first Monday back to work after the New Year. Valentine’s Day was a tragedy for marriage. And now summer holidays are taking their toll on the institution of marriage in merry old England.

After divorce experts warned us that the divorce rate would be at its highest in January, July divorce petitions slashed expectations at 150% of last year’s numbers. Why the spike? Apparently vacations are stressful. Really, really stressful.

The spokesman for one London lawyers office says couples are “thrown together for two weeks solid with a spouse they wouldn’t normally see for more than a few hours a day. Throw in alcohol, travel delays, bickering kids and a hotel or apartment that’s tiny or not up to scratch, and it all becomes a pressure cooker just waiting to blow.”

Maybe if they’d known they’d be getting divorced afterwards, they wouldn’t have splurged for the couples massage. One commentator on the website for The Sun, known as Lolly1010, summed it up nicely, I think. “If a marriage can't survive a 2 week holiday, it's not very strong in the first place.”

Experts predict August or September are only going to get worse, so watch this space. If the divorce rate keeps skyrocketing we’ll start seeing divorces between people who weren’t married in the first place.

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Suzanne Maxwell built her Lovin' Oven bakery in Lancaster, TX, by specializing in wedding cakes. Then a customer came into her bakery at 181 Historic Town Square (972 227 4425) and asked for a cake to celebrate her divorce. Since then, Maxwell has done dozens of cakes (only one for a man). Sometimes the groom appears at the top, head down. Sometimes the ex-wives ask for special messages. The cakes, needless to say, are shared with friends. The video on local station WOAI in San Antonio, TX, is here.

If you were making a divorce cake, what would it look like? What would it say? And how would you serve it? Comment with your ideas.

Heather Mills is planning a seven-day divorce party for her and 25 of her closest friends. The cost? $500,000. Mills plans to fly the group to Necker Island, a private Caribbean spot, to the tune of $49,000 a night.

The interesting bit about this is the fact that Mills was extremely concerned with her public image during the divorce proceedings with ex Paul McCartney. She made a point of rebutting comments that she was only in it for the money, vehemently denying she was a "gold-digger," and emphasizing that she needed proper support to care for their daughter, Beatrice.

But the extravagance of this party seems to speak otherwise.

Don't get me wrong. It's her money now, fair and square. She entitled to do with it what she pleases. Not sure if it's sending the right message, which seems to be a little "in your face, Paul," doesn't it?

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First Wives World productions brought "Hot Flashes," the FWW-exclusive fictional blog by television-alum Mimi Schmir (Grey's Anatomy, Shark, Felicity) to the people on Thursday — and the people raved. A-listers from both coasts mingled at NYC hot-spot Ultra, gathering to listen to film, television, and theater's finest actresses read excerpts of Schmir's take on the rollercoaster that is menopausal life through the eyes of her heroine, Esme. "As we had hoped, Thursday night became a true convergence of emotions, connections, and industries," says FWW partner Jonas Neilson.

Amy Brenneman (Private Practice, Judging Amy), Kim Raver (Lipstick Jungle), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Rent), and Jessica Hecht (Friends) brought Esme to life as they read episodes of the first-person blog. Neilson explained that the second official reading underscored what Business Week described as "Broadway to Broadband" (and now potentially "Broadcast") as never before.

"It was a wonderful event showing what 'Hot Flashes' represents, and it was interpreted wonderfully by the great performances of our actresses," notes First Wives World's Antonio Martinez. "They gave it a new life that just exploded from the page."

Adds Neilson: "It's one thing to set out to build a social network for women to connect with women; it's another to have them connect emotionally with a fictional character and narrative in such a new, innovative way. Seeing the crowd laugh, emote, and join in Esme's journey was a quite a moment for all of us."

Curious? Check out "Hot Flashes" here.

(Photo: Frank Siciliano)