Brothers of the Vine
Forever Evermore
Women of W.A.R.
* They asked me to write about everything WE want to see. Sorry, but there’s no ‘we’ when it comes to this show. More than half my SATC-watching gal pals swooned when Carrie’s one-time boyfriend Aidan Shaw (John Corbett) showed up in the second Sex and the City movie. For me, it was just one more yawn to add to a dull outing. Aidan is a sensitive woodwork type with puppy dog eyes. I was relieved when Carrie dumped him the first time … and the second … please, SATC goddesses, don’t let him show up again.
As for the rest of the men – husbands of writer, compulsive shoe buyer and lead role Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), traditional romantic art curator Charlotte (Kristin Davis), and cynical pessimist lawyer Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) – almost 20 years has passed since season six screened in 2004. Odds are that at least one of the husbands (Big/John, Harry or Steve) is no longer current. And … I guess I’ll care when I see it. The men were never really the story.
*Me @the men in the show*
Much of the conversation around And Just Like That has highlighted the absence of Samantha, the sharp-tongued, sex-addicted publicist played by Kim Cattrall, the fourth in the original quartet. I’ll miss her, but I can accept the producers’ rational that the friends have drifted apart. Friendship can be like that.
And that’s what I really want to see. Friendships. Female friendships. Women saying the things they only say to other women, in the sharpest, snappiest, funniest dialogue ever. Holding each other up. Cheering each other on. Calling each other out. Being, as Charlotte said at one point, ‘each other’s soul mates’. That’s what the show was always about. Kind of like reading a romance novel where the community of friends is as important as the love interest … or more. (Not dissing romance – how could I? – but the show started off inverting expectations by poking fun at happy-ever-afters and finished with a fairytale ending. Such is mainstream TV.)
The original series screened from 1998 to 2004, and – I know you won’t believe this if you’re under 30 – but it was, at the time, ground-breaking. It said things about women’s desires, fantasies, and sheer sexual bravado that had been TV taboo.
As everyone is saying, the reboot needs to better represent the racial makeup of New York. Way overdue, and it’s a no-brainer that they’ll try. An updated depiction of the LBGTQIAP community is due as well. American TV has moved a long way since 2004, so here’s hoping. (With a new and diverse writing team, they might nail it … fingers crossed.)
What else?
- New York street scapes, Central Park, restaurants, galleries, the river, the bridges. Who can imagine flying anywhere right now? I am more than willing to visit via a screen.
- And … high fashion stores. Coats. Dresses. Handbags. Shoes. All the shoes. These women wear the strappy Louboutins that will never fit on my extra-wide feet … not to mention I would never spend that much on a pair of shoes. Yes, the show always promoted rampant consumerism, and it probably still will, and I don’t care. I want to look at beautiful stuff.
- Bobby Carnevale. He might make serious movies these days, but to me he’ll always be the funky spunk guy who put Carrie off her rice pudding.
And beyond that, I would like to be surprised. Which can be the biggest ask of all.