I love this thread! It's really making me want to break out my SATC box set from series 2 onwards though as the first series was a bit pants
I'm afraid I'm gonna have to join in with the Carrie hate. Whiney, pathetic, needy, self obsessed arse. She had a real knack of turning EVERY SINGLE CONVERSATION back round to her latest crisis and it drives me mental watching it!
That said, I don't for a minute believe she is actually supposed to be a likeable character. I think she's meant to come across quite twatty, and SJP plays it so so well. It would have been easy to find an actress who would try to make her likeable, whereas SJP just made her real.
The other girls were fantastic characters, I much preferred them to Carrie but they weren't without flaws. Miranda always had an enormous chip on her shoulder about being single, and then about having a kid/being married. Samantha quite often had affairs with married men and Charlotte put an agenda for finding the perfect husband before anything and everything (I loved the irony in her falling in love with the very much imperfect Harry). For each character there were many moments where I screamed at the TV, but a show where all the characters are likeable is such a yawnfest! I respect that the show was so unapologetic in its realism of the 4 women.
I completely disagree that this was 'fluff'. So many touching scenes - not least Mirandas mothers funeral. I especially watched this when my dad passed away and it really struck a chord. Also I wouldn't call breast cancer, extramarital affairs, impotence and divorce 'fluff'.
Also it was nice to see a show that had each and every woman be a success in their own right (career wise, I know Charlotte came from money) without the assistance of men. Even these days that's a rarity.
As much as I can't stand Carrie (the episode in the OP was shocking and no man in their right mind would put up with that) she did have her moments where I felt I could really champion her - anyone putting up with that twatbadger Berger deserves a medal. Also agree about the shoe-shaming episode. It infuriated me when her friend said "oh I forgot about that like last week" about an alleged friend stealing from another friend at her house. There are people who believe childless un married women are less valid than them and I thought this was a brilliant episode to get that point across.
Also I may be in the minority here but I can understand her frustration with Big in the early series. I've been there with the bloke who just did not, and would not, give a shiny shite about me and it's very painful. Given, I didn't throw a Maccy Ds at the wall, but still I think her feelings were really valid, especially when he announced his engagement. She lost it again for me though when she was a real nob to Natasha, who never did a thing wrong to Carrie. And as for interrupting her lunch to demand she hear her apology - I was really hoping Natasha would have nutted her.