Lucy Liu returns to television

"It was never a goal to be out of television or in television," says Lucy Liu of her return to TV in ABC's "Cashmere Mafia."

It's her first as a series regular since 2002 when her wicked turn as the fiery Ling Woo on "Ally McBeal" ignited a film career — though it had never been the bigger screens or leading roles she was after.

"If someone says, `Do you want to do a cameo in `Chicago?' I look at the script and think, `What can I bring to it?" she says referring to her five-minute appearance in the Academy Award-winning film. "Even if it's a two-hour movie and I'm the lead, I'm not going to do it just for the face time. I want to be able to bring something that's somewhat memorable."

Certainly she has had her share of unforgettable moments, be it in the "Charlie's Angels" movies or in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill: Vol. I" where the actress showed herself to be a tough chick with mean kicks.

"I love doing action movies, I love kung fu, but that doesn't express who I am as an artist. What about the acting part of it?" the 39-year-old New York native muses. "There's no green screen in this. It's just bare-bones work."

She gets down to business in "Cashmere Mafia" (Wednesdays, 10 p.m. EST), leading an ensemble that includes Frances O'Connor, Miranda Otto and Bonnie Somerville. Liu plays aggressive publishing executive Mia Mason who, despite being head-to-polished-toe together, has a troubled personal life.

"I didn't want her to be this confident person who had everything together," says Liu. "It's more interesting when somebody is flawed. You can find so many other gifts that they have to discover within themselves and overcome."

If you saw the pilot, you may have noticed something very "Sex and the City" about "Cashmere," what with it being centered on the lives and loves of four successful women in Manhattan. That, and its pedigree: Darren Star of "Sex and the City" executive-producing and wardrobe designer Patricia Field outfitting the cast.

"This show stands alone from `Sex and the City,'" says Star. "This show is very much about the paradigm that has shifted in that balance of power between men and women in the workplace and how women are dealing with that."

Which sounds similar to the upcoming NBC drama, "Lipstick Jungle," produced by "Sex and the City" author Candace Bushnell about three New York businesswomen.

"This one is really about the lie of having it all," offers Sharon Hall, senior vice president of development at Sony Pictures Television which produces "Cashmere." "At the end of the day having it all, for these women, is that they have each other."