The Preeminent Sex and the City Review

By: Peter Frerichs

Warning to all Sex and the City enthusiasts who hold an unhealthy infatuation for Carrie and her cohorts – this post will dunk on most of the cast and storylines. Our structure will intend to follow what is known as the “sandwich method.” 

The top piece of bread will butter the reader (you) up and mention all the positive, cool things about one of HBO’s most successful series ever. The meat of the sandwich will follow, communicating the absurd crap that occurred, and the final piece of bread will most certainly confirm that all the hours we wasted viewing were not in vain, despite missing most of our children’s milestone moments that we’ll never get back.

The Top Bread

Sex and the City was cleverly written - not necessarily the storylines, but rather the banter. Each of the four main characters delivered their lines in a cheeky manner that worked to a tee.

Carrie was the eternal optimist, bringing Miranda back to the bright side, whimsically enduring Samantha’s nut-ball affairs, and coaxing Charlotte into “normalcy.” Carrie played off each of the three extremely well, and the show rightly set its anchor on Sarah Jessica Parker’s iconic role.

Samantha, in all reality, could have been played by anyone. The smarty-pants harlot has been rehashed several times over, classic US comedy fodder. Miranda was also not a stretch from a writing perspective. While we could, and did, imagine her with Steve, we also knew in real life he would have scooted out of that relationship after 1 year, max. Miranda was a pain in the ass, and while Steve was the ever-patient drifter, how many ever-patient drifters do you really know? They seem ever patient until they crack and dismember you in a TJ Maxx parking lot. That’s what drifters do. They don’t tend bar forever and put up with partners with questionable hairstyles.

That leaves us with Charlotte. A fascinating character and secretly the hottest of the bunch. Writers season in and out kept us tuned into Charlotte’s affairs because we were constantly waiting for her to jump into a relationship with someone who would appreciate her. And viola, Harry Goldenblatt came along. All men have a Harry side to them, ladies, and this dude resonated with us. A fantastic storyline that was one of very few bright spots from a storyline perspective.

The Meat

Ok, where do I begin? First off, the free time. These gals are living in the world’s most expensive city and would indulge in 2-hour lunches, knock off work around 5 or so, and then drink to all hours of the morning, somehow waking up the following day to manage affairs related to law (Miranda) and public relations (Samantha). Sorry, while New York nightlife indeed goes hard, the series took it to never-never-land with these constant “showings” of party prowess.

Second, the drinking. While good metabolism is one thing, a fairy tale is another. The girls were all in fabulous shape despite downing 10,000 calories in sugar every other night for a decade. Yes, we did see Miranda and Charlotte jogging every now and again. In fact, I buy the fact that Charlotte could maintain her figure and drink because she never did much all day. But Samantha? She drank, had wild sex (note, this burns calories), never slept, and ran a successful communications firm. I give that lifestyle tops 2 years, but Samantha never flamed out. The Tom Brady of the series.

Lastly, the dudes in this show. Mr. Big I can imagine exists, but guys like this don’t hem and haw for 10-plus years over a potential marriage with Carrie. The guy is a major player, and he continues to play like George Clooney until he finds someone to settle down with. But the key here is – until he finds someone. Had Carrie been the one, he would have settled down long before. She is settling down material, but it wouldn’t take someone 10 years to find out.

And Smith Jerrod. Give me a break, this dude can bag anyone on the planet, and he chooses a foul-mouthed cougar? Samantha’s personality was at best grating, and while there were some signs of female compassion every 5 episodes or so, it’s hard to imagine Smith being that smitten.

The Base Bread

To round it out, this show for all its flaws was an absolute joy to watch. We knew what we were getting week in and week out, and I’m sick of the expectation that entertainment like Sex and the City is supposed to do more than just distract us from having to accept the fact we need to wake up the following morning and go back to work. These are TV shows, that’s it. If we wanted something with more substance we could easily fall asleep to CSPAN.

A good TV show transports you into one or more characters and allows you to find commonalities and live vicariously through them. Or in the case of Samantha, watch her fornicate every week. Not a bad way to pass the time.