Do We Really Need More Sex And The City?
You’ve probably heard the news. Sex And The City is being rebooted in 10, thirty minutes long episodes. The reboot of the iconic 90’s TV show will air on HBO Max and it will not contain Kim Catrall in the cast. She famously quarreled with the co-stars (especially Sarah Jessica Parker) and will not be joining the reboot.
But yeah. Sex And The City is only one of the handful of iconic TV shows that are being rebooted in 2021. Dexter is another one, and then there are Bewitched, and Conan the Barbarian of course. Next there’s the Gossip Girl reboot and The Sopranos will also be getting a spin-off. But let’s not go there. Let’s go back to Sex And The City. Yes, the TV show had 6 seasons and 2 movies. Yes, it was explored to the max in the passing years. And I know that Hollywood is in an identity crisis right now (give the fact that there’s a global pandemic)… But do we really need more Sex And The City?
Now, I’ve written extensively on this TV show here. On how this TV show misrepresented single people, and I’ve written about the relationships between these four women. The four characters’ friendship was my favorite part of the TV series. Forget about the clothes, forget about NY, and definitely forget about the men. Sure, they all came and went on their own merry way, but the true testament of the legacy was the bond that these characters had.
And I’m not certain that the same notion will be represented in this reboot. Yes, it will be minus one pivotal character, but I’d argue that it was the KEY character. Samantha Jones was out of this world character, and to bless her Kim Catrall really went above and beyond with her. She did stuff that the rest of the actresses wouldn’t even dream of doing on camera. So, take away the most liberal, outrageous, sex-starved character in the entire show, and you don’t really have the SEX and the city. You just have the city. Oh and some other rich ladies in it. I doubt that any of the remaining three actresses will sign up to do nude scenes right now. Let alone Ludacris sex scene that involves sex swings attached to the ceiling. Yup, Samantha had sex with one of them.
Granted, those 3 ladies are about a decade younger than Kim, but still, they’re rich (aging) ladies from the Upper West Side. That we already know everything about them. Hardly an original topic to explore even further am I right? So, my point is… No. We don’t really need any more Sex And The City. We really don’t. The fans of the show checked out of the franchise after the second movie, and I’m one of them. I watched Sex And The City as a god damn religion in my 20’s. And yes, in case you were wondering, there’s nothing artistic about this reboot. Indeed, this is just the usual cash grub from the cast and the crew in order to milk more money from the otherwise dying franchise. Let it go already. Let it go. But fine. OK, let’s even attempt to give them a benefit of an „artistic“ doubt. Maybe they’re doing this out of true artistic endeavors. Who knows? Maybe trying to connect to a whole another generation, as they did for 30-something women in the late ’90s.
If the goal is to please the middle-aged married women of the world, then great I GUESS?. More power to ya I GUESS. But I don’t think that. 1. It’s the intention with the reboot. And 2. As much as things have changed in Hollywood, ageism sadly still exists. Nobody will turn up to watch middle-aged women tell other middle-aged women how to pair the Manolo’s with their Gucci bag. Or how to please their husbands in their million-dollar Park Avenue apartments. Especially during a global pandemic and a god dam recession. Sex and The City was a somewhat relatable show because we could relate to the single girl nightmares that they experienced regularly. Being dumped, getting divorced, and with facing rejection period. Their affairs, their struggles as single people were ours. Even though they lived in one of the most expensive cities in the world. Breakups hurt everywhere. Not just in the latest trendy bar in NY.
And now, after all these years? Now not so much. These women are fully realized, multi-dimensional characters with a lifestyle that not everyone can relate to. But hey. Who knows, maybe the show runners will make the single again. Like they did with Will And Grace. Start with a clean slate. I’m not that eager to find out really. How about you?
