And Just Like That- people hate it, why?

[PotatoWafflerWrites]

Wanted to start a thread regarding And Just Like That. I loved SATC and personally also have greatly enjoyed watching AJLT. I totally get that this is my personal taste, and a lot of criticism has been fairly made towards the characters, plots and scripts being not what many viewers wanted. But seeing so much dislike and vitriol directed at the program has made me think, is the real thing that people hate (upper) middle aged women? I just get a real sense of people disliking women, mature women. There's a sneering dislike that reminds me of hearing my younger colleagues talking about 'karens'.

I think I saw an article advertised that argued this point, but it was behind a paywall and I now can't remember where I saw it.

I wondered what the fwr mumsnertters think? I know this is a largely GC space, so realised that some storylines and themes on AJLT are not really compatible with that, but nevertheless, I think the show still stands out as being female centric and about female friendship and women's lives. SATC was a controversial and divisive show, but AJLT seems to really upset people, and I am intrigued by that.

Any thoughts?

How is that not what they did?

Miranda and Che were utterly awful.

It seemed to become more propaganda than entertainment.

The fun was lost.

Total bugger up.

Re the clothes dragging on the floor, you could tell SJP was frequently wearing things that were far too long for her just because she loved the style. And she would have her skirts draped over her arm or clutched in her hands. That annoyed me a lot! So restrictive if you were actually strolling around like that in real life.

It looked ridiculous. Made her vaguely like a 4 year old playing dress up or someone so senile they were unaware.

'I haven't the energy to go back and rewatch SATC'

I highly recommend re watching some SATC as a lovely palate cleanser after the mess of AJLT. I just finished rewatching the final season and there is so much about it that's just absolutely wonderful, beautifully written and performed.

Just one example - Carrie realises that if she stays with Petrovsky, she won't have babies because he's done with that part of his life. She's very ambivalent about the whole topic, and has two separate conversations with Charlotte and Samantha about it. Both conversations are beautifully written, and each women responds very differently as you might imagine and give Carrie very different advice. It's a joy seeing the topic of baby ambivalence discussed at all on screen, but particularly when the topic is treated so sensitively and enjoyably

I guess they used the same characters and tried to build on the plots from the previous series.

I rewatched the films today, I’d forgotten how much story they funnelled into those films.

The second one is pretty dire but still has some good moments (Miranda and Charlotte being honest about motherhood being the main one) Carrie is really awful throughout the film though, horrible to Big, horrible to Charlotte etc.

You make a good point about the writing and maybe thats the problem. S&TC had Carrie as a columnist who followed a question every episode - AJLT is all over the place with no anchor . They needed an anchor.

Carrie is actually horrible. It took me a while to clock it because she does a good job at smiling and being bouncy, but she is.

I think the main problem, in a nutshell, was the characters hadn't grown up.

With the exception of Charlotte, they were all over the place and far less grounded than when they were younger. I don't think that is representative of women in their 50's and I also don't think it's what people want to be shown.

I hate it. Sorry it was so uncomfortable to watch sometimes. The youngest actors were unbearable and like cartoon characters rather than real people. Seema was so boring and Miranda so dumbed down in these series that I thought it was a joke. Only Carrie was still exciting to watch.

The final SATC series really was fantastic.

enjoyed parts of AJLT for the nostalgia, but agree with everyone else - poorly executed and clumsy.

Haven’t watched the final series yet.

I don’t understand all the online hate AJLT has received. Yeah, it had some storyline problems but I enjoyed it. I used to be obsessed with the original series and rewatched my dvd box set many times. I think a lot of the hate comes from rose tinted nostalgia for SATC which wasn’t a flawless masterpiece.

Samantha was a brilliant character but she didn’t make the show - all four of the main characters each held their own. It’s like watching Frasier and constantly bitching about your favourite character from Cheers not being in it.

And I think if SATC had been released in today’s world, the same people calling AJLT woke, would also be calling SATC woke. I remember reading bitchy articles in the media calling Samantha a slut back in the day and now she’s viewed as progressive. AJLT was just coming into its own with season 3 and it’s a shame it’s been cancelled.

Its just badly written 😭😭😭
Only survived 3 seasons because people love the characters from satc

I genuinely thought it was about Tommy Cooper when I clicked on it during daytime. Thoroughly disappointed. I'd never really watched the original series either, just a little too young to be the target audience. I believe I ended up watching Diagnosis Murder instead.

I watched the first episode and was so disappointed. They’re all just woke twats. It’s all virtue signalling. It’s painful.
I LOVED SATC but AJLT is a poor follow up. As someone on here said, it’s like meeting up with old friends and realising they’re actually twats.

It was a bit like that! I still have some loyalty to Charlotte, who stayed true to character.

Is the disconnect because the original SATC generation are not the generation most embracing of virtue-signalling etc?

Exactly this. AJLT would not have made it past one season if it had been stand alone.

Sadly, I agree,

The most cringe aspect was the entirely chemistry-free relationship between Carrie and what's-his-name (I smoke a pipe and drink tea because I'm English).

I was watching alone when he cooed over her shoes but even felt kind of embarrassed in my own company at that bit. It was the most dire writing. I wonder what he thought...

Ha. I guess at least they did the insertion of minorities as badly as they did everything else. Equal opportunities. But yes, weird,shoehorned in stuff doesn't really help anyone. That first season where Miranda, who dated Robert, apparently has never talked to a black person before. So odd. And Charlotte's black art lecture to the annoying MiL.

I agree about shoe-horning though I have to say I did quite like Lisa. I found her a much more relatable character than the new Miranda with a strangely softened IQ and loss of nouse, or the now nauseatingly self-absorbed Carrie.

Lisa and Charlotte were my favourites.

I don't think you need to over analyse it - people don't like it because it was just shit.

I didn't mind Lisa but didn't really feel her character fitted in to the rest of the plot that much. Plus Herbert got very annoying in S3.

Not to mention a safety hazard and exceedingly unhygienic ...