I just finished re-watching the first season of Sex and the City, courtesy of Netflix. I think that season was circa 1998 or so, but I was amazed to see that it still seems pretty fresh. I was 23 when that show started and I am definitely viewing it through different eyes now. I've had a few more years of being a single gal in the city, and there's a lot more I can relate to!
Things I had forgotten about the first season:
- Carrie used to break the fourth wall and talk directly to the camera. Yikes! I'm so glad she stopped doing that. The voiceover is one thing, cuz you can believe that she's writing her column. But talking directly to the viewer just takes you out of the show.
- They used to do "man on the street" clips where minor characters or total extras would just speak to the camera about the subject du jour, and they would even put little titles on the screen to tell you who they were. "Skipper Johnson, Twentysomething"? and the like. It made the episodes kinda choppy, and I think the narrative was much stronger in later years without it.
- Carrie used to smoke all the time. Seriously, she was a chimney! I don't remember her smoking later, do you?
Things that I loved about the first season, even more so by rewatching it now:
- I never really understood the Big relationship the first time around, but I'm finding myself liking him, and liking him for Carrie, more and more.
- Charlotte was never my favorite. I always thought she was too prissy and whiny. But now I like her more, too!
- The Rabbit. 'Nuff said.
And speaking of SATC, I'm so excited to see that I can catch the rerun of the House episode that featured Ron Livingston as a guest star. I loved this one! Ron/Berger/Peter Gibbon plays a superstar doctor working to cure TB in rural Africa. He comes down with a mysterious illness himself and ends up House's patient, then uses the opportunity to make a stand against big corporate medicine. Of course, he and House have all kinds of conversation about the ethics of medicine, and about spending money to save one patient when you could be saving thousands. Good stuff!
8 comments:
I just saw an old SATC rerun tonight on TV. I was blown away by that b.s. they do with the street characters. It's a good idea, but not suited for this show.
I think there are a lot of good things about SATC, but I swear that those 4 girls chased more men than I could ever bring myself to. I'm not convinced they are a good role model. I think it's only good for entertainment value.
I miss having my girls on a regular basis....but this christmas yielded the final half of season six on dvd, we have every episode now!!
there are times i miss the man on the street stuff, other times I don't.
i seem to remember carrie smoking a bit as years went on, but not in the chimney levels.
I thought that Carrie quit smoking because of Aiden? I could be wrong... I watched them all on DVD out of order, so I've been a bit befuddled by the timeline all along. I do adore the show, though. I really do feel that it's an accurate (though slutty) portrayal of how women perceive relationships and how we relate to each other. I tell all my men friends that they'd gain tremendous insight by watching it!
Mmmmm, sigh. Aidan. I have to wait a while to see him, I think. Is he in season 3? I was definitely an Aidan girl.
I agree the show is best for entertainment value. And while I'm not an avid churchgoer or religious person, I get to have my "Amen, sister!" shoutouts while watching SATC. It fills that need for me, definitely. So many of their observations and comments about life, love, friendship were so dead-on.
SJP had a lot of creative control as star/producer of S&TC. When she decided she wanted to get pregnant, she decided to stop smoking, so they had Carrie quit as well. They wrote it in as something she had to do for Aidan, which worked quite well.
I was an Aidan lover when he came back in the fourth season with the short scrappy gay-boy hair and lost the gut. I always resented the fact that men could get away with so-so bodies (Hello Chris Noth!) and the women had to be these plastic amazons. Case in point - Monica and Chandler on Friends. She kept on getting skinnier while he kept on getting puffier. What he secretly eating her? - T
What's interesting to me when I watch old episodes is to recognize the overall arc each character took over 6 seasons, and how that made me feel about them.
Charlotte - began as a silly prude, became more converative and shrill, ended as the show's heart - very vulnerable. Loved her.
Miranda - began as practically androgynous, became more assertive and wounded, ended as the opposite of what she expected. Adored her.
Samantha - pretty much was a brazen ho for a long time until the cancer, then ended as a woman with feelings. Laughed with her.
Carrie - began as the vulnerable everygirl, became increasingly whiny and self-centered, ended pretty much where she started. Hated her. (But kudos for picking Big, who is hot.)
yay trips down memory lane. until this year, I didn't have cable and neither did MLH, so Mandy would tape them all and then when we had our once-a-year FWIA weekends, we would have serious SATC marathons. it's not the same watching them alone. Good times.
AS
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