Why God Why

In 1998 just as I was finishing my undergraduate education, Sex and the City aired for the first time. I cannot recall if I had access to cable at this point in my life, but I am fairly certain that I would have been too busy mourning the recent end to Seinfeld to care. I also recall still feeling a large upset over Savannah having not been renewed. (No judging!) Thankfully some of its cast members went on to bigger and better roles, though I still find it funny that George Eads went from playing a character named Nick in Savannah to a character named Nick in Las Vegas on CSI. But I digress. Back to Sex and the City.

I imagine my initial reason for not watching the show really hung on this “lack of cable” business. Moving back to Milwaukee, and consequently returning to the domain of the parental units did not change this. Oh sure, we had cable. But HBO? Are you kidding me? By the time I moved out, which took longer than I’d readily admit in a public blog, the show was in full swing and being hailed as one of the best 100 shows of all time or some such nonsense from Time magazine. I am one of those people who does not like to jump into a show mid season if there’s any possibility the show contains a story arc. (The Sopranos also remains on my list of unseen shows for this very reason.) Combine this with the fact that DVD releases were not yet commonplace and it meant that I was not touching the show.

Yet Sex and the City blazed on. And as it did, my friends raved. “You haven’t seen it! Oh my God you have to watch it! You would’ve loved the episode where….blah blah blah.” By this point the hype did nothing to counter act my own gut reactions to the show whenever I’d catch a bit here and there at the gym or in someone else’s home. Nothing about the plots I was seeing did anything for me. And the characters didn’t feel like anything I’d want to connect to. Of course, this wasn’t helped by the fact that the only time I’ve ever liked Sarah-Jessica Parker was in Hocus Pocus. (And yes Liz this does include Square Pegs.) Not to mention that I kept picturing Kim Catrall in the classic 80’s film, “Mannequin.” (And here I must add that I only continue to think of Andrew McCarthy circa 1987. In all cases where thoughts of him come up. Not that I am saying it happens. But just so we’re clear.)

Now here’s where I admit something that may be offensive to some people depending on where you fall on this issue. My continued insistence on remaining SATC-free is linked directly to my disinterest in the Twilight series. There. I said it. It’s on the table. Twilight came out in 2005, just after Sex and the City ended. When it did, as the world knows, scores of seemingly rational women suddenly got their knickers all twisted over teenage vampires set in Oregon. This book did not appeal to me. But it appealed to my friends. And to my sister. And I was brow beat by that same sibling into going to the movie. Upon exiting the theater, I thought, “well, I’ve got to read it now, because we all know books are better than movies and that movie was pure CRAP.” So read it I did. (and by “read” I mean, I got about half way and skimmed the rest. I couldn’t stomach it. For me, the writing was awful and there was nothing redeemable about that Kristen Stewart character to make me interested in her, her story line, or her relationship with Cedric Diggory.

So, what does this have to do with anything? I love my friends dearly. They are all fabulous people with amazing personalities and differing interests. But there comes a point when you have to recognize that just because you love and respect your friends, (and in some cases agree with them on just about every other movie/literature/pop culture related item out there) occasionally those differing interests can lead to actual differences of opinion. And what I was seeing was that the same folks who were getting all hot and bothered about Twilight were the very same folks who kept pushing me to watch Sex and the City. To me this was no coincidence.

So what brought me over to the other side? Well, again I must confess that it involves Twilight. Thanks to the genius of one Carrie Jones, I was exposed to the world of "Mark Reads Twilight" In it he begrudgingly reviews the series with a critical eye to Meyer’s writing, and he does this very well. He then moved on to do the same for Harry Potter, although in that case he ended up falling in love with the HP tales. Regardless of the outcome, however, he was at least able to say he gave it a try before he nailed it or revered it. So this last time that a friend said “I have the entire series of Sex and the City on DVD if you want to watch it” I responded, “why the hell not?”

To keep true to my commitment to watching this show and giving it a chance, (especially considering I was a Friends fan and we all know that 9/10ths of those 10 seasons were really not that great) I will watch the entire series. And I will post about each episode. Because I am devoting my time to this I sincerely hope I end up enjoying the show as much as everyone claims I will, but I must admit up front that I am skeptical this will happen.

Before I get going, I feel like I should probably tell you what I know about the show so far. So, if I was captured and tortured and asked about this show I would say the following:

SJP’s character is somebody named Carrie Bradshaw. I have no clue how old she is on the show because, like Dick Clark she doesn’t seem to age. I believe she has some sort of journalism job working for some sort of paper or magazine or something because I know she talked to the camera a lot and I feel like I remember her saying she wrote for a column. I would assume this is not just “.xls” terminology. She’s single and lives in the city and has these three other friends. I have no clue why they all know each other. I have no idea if she has any family and/or talks with them. Her friends, however, are as follows:


1. Star of Mannequin – total slutbag. Not sure why, other than the simple idea of “why buy the pig if you can get the sausage for free.” I have no idea what she does for a living. I don’t believe she’s paid for being a slut. But maybe I’m wrong? Don’t answer that.


2. Charlotte – the prim and proper one. I don’t know why she’s prim and proper. Does she have a stick up her ass? Maybe we’ll find out in S1. Please don’t spoil it for me. I don’t know what she does for a living. Trust fund kid? Don’t answer that.






3. The plain but ambitious girl – I don’t even remember her name right now that’s how forgettable her character seems to me. She starts the series with the ugliest haircut and outfits (from what I recall) and seems to land herself with a baby and possibly a simpering and unattractive husband. I don’t know what she does for a living. Maybe they pay her to be the voice of reason? Or to be the unattractive one when they go to bars? I can only seem to remember her in every single Lifetime television movie I’ve ever watched that didn’t star Susan Lucci.

So that is why I have started this adventure. If you’ve come here it’s because either a) like me you could give two shits about these ladies and you want to see if you’re right without putting in the work yourself; or b) you’re one of my super great friends who loves this show and hopes I’m wrong. Either way I hope my posts are amusing enough for you to continue reading them.

Oh yeah, one more thing. If you’re going to comment, that’s fantastic – but please – no spoilers.