Sex and the City — Classic or Dud

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Had a look at this show (I'd caught odd episodes previously) and good lord it's shallow fluff. Still, Samantha is quite amusing. I know female colleagues who watch and covet the characters' jobs, clothes, money, lifestyles. The show isn't about sex as such - it's pure aspirational telly in the very best Gold Blend tradition. On that level I suppose it works.

― Ben Mott (Ben Mott), Thursday, 16 January 2003 14:23 (twenty-three years ago)

Dud.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Thursday, 16 January 2003 21:50 (twenty-three years ago)

Karen's post = CLASSIC.

― Venga, Thursday, 16 January 2003 22:10 (twenty-three years ago)

The other great thing about the show is that they really aren't particularly gorgeous women (or even remotely attractive, in the case of SJP, who looks like a haggard Bette Midler, as if Bette Midler was a great comparison point to begin with).

Great. I've been told I look like both.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 16 January 2003 22:24 (twenty-three years ago)

watchable.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 17 January 2003 10:11 (twenty-three years ago)

one month passes...

I like Carrie B's new object of affection, 'Berger'. He reminds me of Lloyd Cole, especially when he wears a navy suit jacket over a white shirt over a white t-shirt, a bit like LC on the sleeve of the 'So You'd Like To Save The World?' (autumn 1993).

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 25 February 2003 15:48 (twenty-three years ago)

did you cum?

― gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 15:51 (twenty-three years ago)

its better than 'Dream On' tho right? remember Dream On? heh

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 15:54 (twenty-three years ago)

>its better than 'Dream On' tho right? remember Dream On? heh

All HBO original shows are vastly overated.

― fletrejet, Tuesday, 25 February 2003 16:26 (twenty-three years ago)

it's the Golden Girls with botox instead of cheesecake

I love it

― j0e (j0e), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 16:28 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

no, it's a goyish, serialized Crossing Delancey, plus fashion

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 25 December 2004 18:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I am so right about this

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 25 December 2004 18:50 (twenty-one years ago)

seriously you guys need to stop being so mean to sjp, what did she pee in your chex mix or something?

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 26 December 2004 03:44 (twenty-one years ago)

it is a bad idea to promote gap. they don't need her help.

― youn, Sunday, 26 December 2004 04:02 (twenty-one years ago)

i have never watched this show, except for five minutes or so when some crazy woman wanted to upset the function of a social workplace gathering by associating it with catwalks and dollar bills and beer mugs. something cliched like this, not sure of the details. but the actual function portrayed in the five minutes did not betray these depths, on the surface.

― youn, Sunday, 26 December 2004 04:10 (twenty-one years ago)

After the second season, the trademark scene: "Ooooh ... SHOES."

Making Samantha monogamous, inexcusable.

Square Pegs and Ed Wood are still SJP's finest hours.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 26 December 2004 04:26 (twenty-one years ago)

wait, sjp was on square pegs?!?!?!??!?!?!!!!!

― youn, Sunday, 26 December 2004 04:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Apparently the whole series has been re-issued on DVD in a screaming pink mock Manolo Blahnik shoebox case. I think I'll be giving it a miss. The only SATC character I can halfway tolerate is Miranda, because she at least does come across as something resembling a real human being.

― Ben Mott (Ben Mott), Sunday, 26 December 2004 17:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Heh heh, SJP was the lead in Square Pegs, and soooo much more tolerable (and mature) personalitywise...

Samantha resembles many big-city male homos, at least in New York.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 27 December 2004 14:36 (twenty-one years ago)

anyone ever see this movie?

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 27 December 2004 14:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Late to the table on this show (never saw it when it was on Showtime...or was it HBO?), but have started watcing it on TBS (no nudity, alas). At first i was somewhat incredulous given the show's rather thin formula (girls sit around a brunch table bitching about singledom, random sexual escapades ensue, girls reconvene around brunch table to compare notes, end of episode). But have slowly gotten into it. Appreciate the detailed minutia of NYC depicted (the idiocy of having an Italian restaurant named Il Cantinori a stone's throw from a Mexican restaurant named El Cantinero was recently discussed, and I live but a stone's throw from both). I don't imagine I'd be as interested in it if I wasn't a New Yorker, though.

Oh, and Big lives across the street from me. He has a mustache now, and apparently likes to complain about noise to his doormen quite a lot.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 27 December 2004 15:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Appreciate the detailed minutia of NYC depicted

agreed. there was one scene towards the end where carrie and charlotte were sitting in a park, sharing a black & white cookie (something that's specific to NYC/NJ and NOWHERE ELSE ON EARTH). and they didn't even make the cookie a seinfeldian conversation piece or anything, they just sat there and ate it while they talked about other stuff. it was a directorial masterstroke, i thought.

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 27 December 2004 19:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh wow, a show that celebrates New York City, that's only like EVERY OTHER TV SHOW EVER MADE.

― n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 27 December 2004 19:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh wow, a show that celebrates New York City, that's only like EVERY OTHER TV SHOW EVER MADE.

Yeah, but let's look at some of those, shall we?

"Friends" was shot on a fucking stage set (and it looks it!), and the main characters lived in a palatial apartment in a prime neighborhood they'd never in a quadrillion years be able to afford given their alleged careers.

"Seinfeld" was shot entirely on a set. The inside of the actual Tom's Diner looks absolutely nothing like the one depicted on the show in question.

What makes "Sex in the City" different is that it is a fairly accurate portrayal of life in the city. Granted, the bars and clubs they frequent don't always exist, but the geographic details are on the money, as are the location shots. For that, I give them credit.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Meanwhile, the representation of Billings, Nebraska in...OH WAIT THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A TV SHOW THAT TOOK PLACE IN BILLINGS, NEBRASKA BECAUSE THEY DECIDED TO MAKE IT ABOUT BORING UGLY SKINNY PEOPLE IN NEW YORK INSTEAD.

― n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I feel like Sam Kinison.

― n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:07 (twenty-one years ago)

But I look like Van Dyke Parks.

― n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:07 (twenty-one years ago)

That's because we in New York are incalculably superior in every conceivable way to the unfortunate populace of Billings, Nebraska.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:10 (twenty-one years ago)

OH WAIT, MORE PEOPLE LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY THAN IN THE ENTIRE STATE OF NEBRASKA

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:11 (twenty-one years ago)

"Too Close for Comfort" --------> San Francisco
"Northern Exposure" -----------> Alaska
"All in the Family" -----------> Queens (NOT Manhattan)
"Mary Tyler Moore" ------------> Minneapolis
"Frasier" --------------> Seattle
"M.A.S.H" -------------> Korea
"Eight is Enough" -------------> Sacramento
"Ed" -----------> Ohio
"the Simpsons" ----------> Springfield
"The Family Guy" ----------> Quahog, RI

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Imagine a SITC ripoff set in some tiny Southern town. The dynamics would be totally different, because everyone typically knows everyone else in these little towns. Interesting.

xpost; oh yeah, I forgot that "more heavily populated" always equals "more interesting."

― n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:13 (twenty-one years ago)

What's your point, Alex? Do I need to list every show set in NYC now?

Unrelated: Where was "Caroline in the City" set? Was it the same "City"?

― n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:15 (twenty-one years ago)

OH WAIT, MORE PEOPLE LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY THAN IN THE ENTIRE STATE OF NEBRASKA

OH WAIT, MORE PEOPLE LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY AND BUY ADVERTISERS' PRODUCTS THAN IN THE ENTIRE STATES OF KANSAS, NEBRASKA, SOUTH DAKOTA, NORTH DAKOTA, MONTANA, AND WYOMING COMBINED

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:15 (twenty-one years ago)

OH WAIT, MOST PEOPLE IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY COME FROM NEW YORK AND LOS ANGELES

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:17 (twenty-one years ago)

What's your point, Alex? Do I need to list every show set in NYC now?

No, but you did make a sweeping generalization that every show since the dawn of television has been set in NYC. I just cited the ones off the top of my head that weren't. So ha!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Sex in Nebraska sounds like some kind of punishment to me.

― Michael White (Hereward), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:18 (twenty-one years ago)

hyperbole != sweeping generalization

― n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Try not to take things so deathly serious, n/a. It's just a television show.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Imagine a SITC ripoff set in some tiny Southern town. The dynamics would be totally different, because everyone typically knows everyone else in these little towns. Interesting.

Let's talk about this: how would SITC be different if set in another city, or in a town or village or burb or whatever? In what ways does "the City" become part of the show?

xpost: Alex, please be assured I'm not really being serious, I'm just wasting time at work by misdirecting my dislike for this show into regional pissyness. I just assumed everyone realized that.

― n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I have been renting the sets from the library and then reading the wrapups on TWOP. It is sort of growing on me. Recognizing the locations is part of the fun.

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Picket Fences - Rome, WI
Roseanne - Lanford, IL
The Simpsons - Springfield, America
Designing Women - Atlanta
That '70s Show - Point Place, WI
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman - Colorado Springs
King of the Hill - suburban Texas

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Let's talk about this: how would SITC be different if set in another city, or in a town or village or burb or whatever? In what ways does "the City" become part of the show?

Well, I think the size and scope of "the City" in question has a lot to do with it. If the series were set in Pataskala, Ohio, they'd probably run out of options rather quickly. Whereas, if you put it in, say, Berlin or Hong Kong (or some other teeming metropolis), you have a bit more chance of some genuinely credible and interesting plot developments. And before you ask, yes, I've been to Pataskala, Ohio.

xpost: Alex, please be assured I'm not really being serious, I'm just wasting time at work by misdirecting my dislike for this show into regional pissyness. I just assumed everyone realized that.

I'm kidding too, n/a. That came out sounding more patronizing and imperious than I meant it to. But, y'know, I'm a boring, ugly and (arguably) skinny New Yorker, so what do you expect?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Also fun: spotting SATC/L&O/Broadway crossovers

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:31 (twenty-one years ago)

But I think that lack of options (especially in men) would make things more interesting. As I said above, it would erase any sense of anonymity or newness that the size of NYC gives to relationships (I would imagine). There would be such thing as a "new man," instead, it would probably be someone you went to school with for 12 years. Obviously this would be a completely different show.

― n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I have to say, I never thought I would get in an argument with Alex in NYC about Sex in the City, of all things.

― n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:34 (twenty-one years ago)

There would be such thing as a "new man," instead, it would probably be someone you went to school with for 12 years. Obviously this would be a completely different show.

yeah, it's called "Gilmore Girls".

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh. I've only watched that a few times, but I guess you're right.

― n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:37 (twenty-one years ago)

What if Twin Peaks was set in NYC?

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:39 (twenty-one years ago)

3rd Rock Form the Sun - Rutherford, OH
Jack and Bobby - Hart, MO
One Tree Hill - Tree Hill, NC
Queer as Folk - Pittsburgh
Reno 911 - Reno, NV

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Of all the shows that gabbnebb and Alex listed, only King of the Hill really "celebrates" the place that it takes place in. Most of the others ostensibly take place in those locations but don't really seem to need those locations; for example, That 70's Show could take place in any mid-sized US town and it wouldn't make any difference. This isn't an argument or anything, it's just a point.

― n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 169 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Glad to know only men have reductive takes on the show. Emily Nussbaum actually wrote a good piece about the show’s retrospective standing back in 2013, which answers the question of the inane original tweet and then some.

― scampish inquisition (gyac), Tuesday, 12 January 2021 14:14 (five years ago)

Nah just the women. Mao Zedong does not give a shit about SATC, it's in the red book xp

― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 12 January 2021 14:15 (five years ago)

The most famous such conversation took place four episodes in, after Charlotte’s boyfriend asked her to have anal sex. The friends pile into a cab for a raucous debate about whether her choice is about power-exchange (Miranda) or about finding a fun new hole (Samantha). “I’m not a hole!” Charlotte protests, and they hit a pothole. “What was that?” Charlotte asks. “A preview,” Miranda and Samantha say in unison, and burst out laughing.

Lol this was so funny, and ofc reads as extremely quaint in 2021.

― scampish inquisition (gyac), Tuesday, 12 January 2021 14:21 (five years ago)

SATC is Entourage for women

― Fenners' Pen (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 12 January 2021 17:23 (five years ago)

Left...otm

I watched the first episode of Sex and the City thinking it would be about sort of erotic psychogeography
— Rob Palk (@robpalkwriter) January 12, 2021

― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 12 January 2021 18:19 (five years ago)

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