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Sex and The City

143 replies

Theteenandme · 04/08/2025 13:40

I've never watched it before (apart from half the episode where Carrie loses her shoes and is a bitch about it). Its absolutely awful and such bad acting!

Did people really like it originally? Or was it one of those things people said they liked because they thought they should?

I dont think it's just looking at it through modern eyes. I cant imagine I would have thought much of it at the time either.

OP posts:
Anjo2011 · 04/08/2025 20:36

I loved the original episodes. With few exceptions, the original of most things will always be the best. The original SATC I loved, the new ones just couldn’t replicate the magic, especially when one of the main characters is no longer there (Samantha.)

CatKings · 04/08/2025 20:29

I couldn’t watch the new stuff because I loathed Che.

I rewatched it a few years ago - in my youth I loved Carrie and Charlotte and as an adult it was Samantha and Miranda. I hate what they did to Miranda’s character.

It’s a horrible example of wasting your life over a man who doesn’t care for you. But then it’s okay because he gets over it and you get all his money. The whole wedding thing was ridiculous. Then the Russian who also treats you like shit, but he’s also rich.

At least with Girls it fully accepts the flaws of the characters and they aren’t meant to be aspirational.

autienotnaughty · 04/08/2025 19:57

I enjoyed the films and had seen the odd random episode (including the shoes one) I tried to watch from the start but I found it quite boring so gave up.

Blueuggboots · 04/08/2025 19:57

I loved it when I watched it years ago, but I will not watch AJLT because it’s woke virtue signalling twaddle.
someone on here explained it as going to see old friends who you loved and realising they’re twats now.
I don’t think it has aged well.

Coffeeishot · 04/08/2025 19:54

JHound · 04/08/2025 14:22

Yes! I mean SATC has always been weird in its portrayal of ethnic minorities - I will never forget that episode where Samantha had a black boyfriend, but they amped the cringe up in SATC 2 and really did a terrible job with Samantha’s character.

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It was just awful they really did kim a disservice, and I think it stems from Samantha being such a popular character.

AleaEim · 04/08/2025 19:45

outlanderish · 04/08/2025 17:24

I loved SATC and still do. It's my go to binge watch when I'm feeling down. It was hugely controversial at the time and I'm not being made to feel bad because I like it but the new AJLT is utterly awful. Tried watching it and it was far too woke.

They tried to be woke but did it very badly which made it unwoke.

AleaEim · 04/08/2025 19:43

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 04/08/2025 15:24

Agree

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I agree but I was responding to the PP who said nobody has done it since.

NoSoupForU · 04/08/2025 19:21

I don't know. I thought it was shit then and I think its shit now. But I'm sure lots of people think some of the things I enjoy watching are equally shit.

We all like and appreciate different things.

Vitrolinsanity · 04/08/2025 19:19

I don’t think we were supposed to love Carrie; I always saw her as a cautionary tale whereas even Charlotte had a game plan and was a genuine friend. Also the funeral flowers for Miranda’s mother was comedy hold.

i watched it in real time; everyone I knew modelled themselves on Miranda and Samantha Jones.

Tagyoureit · 04/08/2025 17:58

I loved it when it came out. Was happy to receive the box set and usually had it on as background noise.

Then when AJLT was coming out, i rewatched the series and the films.

Carrie is just so selfish, self absorbed that it was actually cringey watching some of it.

TenaciousDeeds · 04/08/2025 17:54

It’s weird - when I think back to the other iconic series I loved at the time, like Friends and Frasier, they’re almost timeless (ok they’re half hour comedies), but SATC just seems so cringe and dated now.

SpaceRaccoon · 04/08/2025 17:40

But you have to understand that lots of American men are circumcised, not just Jewish men.

Indeed, but the rates have dramatically dropped since that episode aired - and for European eyes, the horror at an uncircumsized penis was always odd.

JHound · 04/08/2025 17:38

3678194b · 04/08/2025 17:27

I always thought they were at bit muttony in dress sense. And saw them as middle aged at the time. And couldn't understand why women at that age were all single.

Speaking as a young adult that is.

And couldn't understand why women at that age were all single.

LOL! 😂

Dear God!

JHound · 04/08/2025 17:35

OtherS · 04/08/2025 16:21

Yeah, but I find that weird. If you meet a friend's friend and you have loads in common and get on really well, you might form a group with them both. But if you have nothing in common and are seemingly opposed on all your views and beliefs, why would you keep hanging around them? Surely you'd be polite if you were ever both at an event with your mutual pal, but that would be the extent of the relationship. You wouldn't spend half your life hanging out with them, you'd usually hang out with other friends and probably be a bit irritated if your mate kept inviting her weird posse to lunch with you both. Yet we never see any of them having any other friends. Maybe because they're all so unlikeable?!

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The only different views they have are on sex.

Apart from that you can still get on. I was a super whore when younger and one of my closest friends is very catholic and did not believe in sex before marriage.

We still get on like a house on fire. Also Charlotte did spend much time with just her and Samantha.

JHound · 04/08/2025 17:31

DiggingHoles · 04/08/2025 16:10

I know, that's what makes it especially baffling. She decided on a whim to have a baby, even though she told Carrie minutes before that she hardly even had time to schedule the abortion.

I just don't buy that women decide on whim to have a baby if they have a surprise pregnancy. Even posts on here confirm this. Some posters come on here saying that could never have an abortion and so never even schedule one.

But Miranda is completely sure at the beginning of the episode that she does not want to continue the pregnancy and then decides during her appointment to make a life-changing decisions like having a baby. It's out of character.

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She did not seem completely sure. She seemed uncertain as to how a baby would fit in.

I don’t find her change of mind any more surprising than I find it surprising that some of my most stridently childfree acquaintances are now mothers. It was unplanned to a man she was not with so considering a termination is to be expected.

JHound · 04/08/2025 17:28

OtherS · 04/08/2025 16:08

I watched them at the time, but never liked any of the characters. Can't stand Carrie, always found her really cringey. And none of the relationships made much sense to me, either the romantic ones or the friendships. Why would Steve want Miranda? Why would Baryshnikov want Carrie? Why would Charlotte be friends with Samantha, or vice versa? Didn't much like any of the clothes either tbh. But it was pretty watchable, and only short episodes. There probably was also an element of it being such a big deal it would be weird to not watch it. Haven't watched any of the reboot though as it looks dreadful.

Why would either of those men want the women they ended up with?

3678194b · 04/08/2025 17:27

I always thought they were at bit muttony in dress sense. And saw them as middle aged at the time. And couldn't understand why women at that age were all single.

Speaking as a young adult that is.

outlanderish · 04/08/2025 17:24

I loved SATC and still do. It's my go to binge watch when I'm feeling down. It was hugely controversial at the time and I'm not being made to feel bad because I like it but the new AJLT is utterly awful. Tried watching it and it was far too woke.

JHound · 04/08/2025 17:23

PermanentTemporary · 04/08/2025 15:15

I remember watching Borgen and a character had ill advised sex, got pregnant and had an abortion all in episode 1. Made me realise how in US TV shows and even most films no woman ever actually has an abortion - the pro choice bit is that they consider the option, that’s it. Tbh it’s not that common in uk to either. It was amazing to watch Always, Often, Sometimes, Never (? going to have to check the title).

Well two of the characters had had abortions and spoke about that openly.

JHound · 04/08/2025 17:21

Charabanc · 04/08/2025 15:14

But you have to understand that lots of American men are circumcised, not just Jewish men.

SATC is so unpopular and unwatchable that there are two current threads on Mumsnet about it 😆

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I am (and was) aware but it still hasn’t aged well.

Especially as we become more aware of bodily autonomy and that people should not be expected to mutilate their genitalia to meet their partner’s physical preference.

3678194b · 04/08/2025 17:16

I've tried to watch it but can't.

When it first came out I couldn't identify with any of the characters, they were 10-15 years older than me and I found it a bit cringe.

Since then I've tried to watch it but just can't get into it. Rubbish imo.

ShesTheAlbatross · 04/08/2025 17:08

DiggingHoles · 04/08/2025 15:08

What irritated me was the abortion fake-out story that so many shows did during that time. Miranda got pregnant, planned an abortion and then didn't go through with it. Why not just leave the abortion part out of it then? It felt so moralistic to see nearly all female characters in shows around that time change their mind. They only wrote these scenarios because the actresses of these characters happened to be pregnant at that time and they had to write in something dramatic to explain the character being pregnant and it was always a damn abortion fake-out.

Only Scandal actually had Olivia go through with it and it was revolutionary. Still is, considering the abortion rights women in the US have lost.

I agree to a certain extent. But those episodes did have Carrie and Samantha talking about the fact they’d had 1 and 2 abortions each, respectively. And they had them with no discussion around ongoing regret or guilt.

Americano75 · 04/08/2025 16:49

I still watch it, and I do look forward to AJLT every week despite its many flaws. I'll be sad when it ends!

x2boys · 04/08/2025 16:44

It's nearly 30 years old so it going to have aged it was from a different time i still enjoy it though but it's not for everyone
I recently watched a couple of episodes of Terry and June and thought it was appalling but people must have found it funny at the time.

wipebored · 04/08/2025 16:42

It was of it's time, sure the characters were annoying but it was more about the lifestyle of an exciting, professional life in NYC more than anything else. It was a bit of fluff escapism.