Eve's Marathon Diary: Season 1 Of Sex & The City Makes All Sorts Of Whoopee

[Primetimer]

Eve Batey begins her S&TC Marathon Diary, so pour yourself a Cosmo and pick up some reservoir tips.

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[Blueeyedgirl]

I started watching SATC in '01, with a binge watch of Season 1 (before binge watching was a thing, using VHS tapes :)). I am about the same age as the "girls", and was single for most of my 30's. I LOVED this show, and still love it -- although not the hacked up version on TBS. I, too, was disappointed that Big ended up being the end game, but really don't think that was the idea in the beginning. For me, ultimately, it became about the relationships among the women, and how important and primary they were to each other. That was the most important thing, and those relationships developed over time -- even through weddings, divorce, pregnancy, infertility, loss, etc.

I look forward to hearing your take on future seasons. Season 1 was my least favorite.

[ChlcGirl]

Ahhhhhh, season one of SATC!  Memories!  Memories of when I didn't despise Carrie Bradshaw ?

[Trip]

As I said on an EHG Mini, I wanted Carrie and Big to end up together (and never breed) just to get both of those horrible people out of the dating pool forever.

[Princess Sparkle]

This is weirdly timely, since I started rewatching Sex and the City last week.  The one thing I had forgotten was how pathetic they made Samantha seem in those first few episodes as compared to how she was the rest of the series; that "deluded self-confidence" remark from Carrie in the pilot I actually found to be very cruel.  I'm glad they shuttered that character trait pretty quickly.  

The other thing I hadn't remembered was the grossness that was the modelizer episode.  Not only do we have Samantha BEGGING someone to film her during sex so that she can convince herself that she's as pretty as a model, the guy doing the filming normally doesn't tell the women he's having sex with that he's filming?  Ick.

[pbutler111]

I loved SATC (though whoever was responsible for that second movie needs to be made to watch it on an endless loop until the sweet release of death). But you're right about Carrie's oddly immature approach to relationships. I totally acted with men the way Carrie did with Big -- when I was in my early 20s. But by the time I was in my 30s, I'd pretty much figured out that games and emotional manipulation are not cool, and that honesty is more important than a facade of perfection. It certainly seemed odd that Carrie was still trying to work out those concepts into her mid and late 30s. And the whole cheating on Aidan thing with a married Big was hard to handle. It's one thing to have your heroine be a flawed individual, quite another to have her being a lying, cheating, home-wrecking whore. I was glad Carrie and Big ended up together, but it was certainly a long and, in many ways, pointless route they took to get there.

[Inquisitionist]

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It's Olyphant's episode that was my favorite of the season, and not just because TO is the bomb. (You know what? He's improved with age. And veneers. And a hair system.)

Olyphant didn't make much of an impression on me in his SatC episode.  When I started watching Justified, I didn't realize it was the same actor. I hadn't watched Deadwood, either.  As Raylan Givens, though, he was deep-fried sex-on-a-stick.

[monocles]

Ooh, I'm glad you're doing this! I'm halfway through the second season but stalled out, so this will inspire me to get back on it. I'm watching it for the first time (and was not the target audience when it came out - I think I was still in high school when it ended) and it's a weird little relic. You're right that most of it holds up, but there are so many "huh" moments.

[Joana]

On 12.7.2016. at 10:29 PM, pbutler111 said:

 And the whole cheating on Aidan thing with a married Big was hard to handle.

IMO the way she acted when they got back together for the second time was an even bigger turn-off. It was such a revolting storyline and her behaviour in that relationship made no sense whatsoever. It nearly killed the show for me and I cannot even watch those episodes in reruns now. And I'm not saying it as someone who's on Team Aidan - actually, I thought the dude was boring as hell and I wouldn't want to be with him either. But how she treated him was all sorts of messed up. 

It's weird that SATC has changed so much over time that those early episodes seam like an entirely different show, but Carrie's and Big's relationship remains consistent. They keep acting the same way literally down to the ultimate episode. Looking back to it, it's so bizarre that such a dysfunctional mess became a love story for the ages. 

And Carrie's character in general became a lot more difficult to handle as the show went on. She was much more down to earth and relatable in the early seasons, or at least her self-centeredness doesn't come through as much. And all the squealing... Oh.My.God. "S-CRRRUH-NCHIEEEEH!!!!!"

Edited July 14, 2016 by Joana

[Princess Sparkle]

26 minutes ago, Joana said:

And Carrie's character in general became a lot more difficult to handle as the show went on. She was much more down to earth and relatable in the early seasons, or at least her self-centeredness doesn't come through as much. And all the squealing... Oh.My.God. "S-CRRRUH-NCHIEEEEH!!!!!"

Yeah, Carrie (unfortunately) became a lot more self-serving as the series went on.  But the Carrie of seasons 1 - 3 I love completely.  One of my all-time favorite Carrie moments is in the beginning of the third season where she sees Big and Natasha's wedding announcement, and she feels self-conscious about herself and says "She's shiny hair style section Vera Wang and I'm the sex column they run next to ads for penile implants."  Her acting was truly great and I completely bought that in that moment, she thought she and Big weren't together because she wasn't good enough for him.  I actually even like Carrie through the affair.  Michael Patrick King said the writers wanted Carrie to have an affair with Big to show Carrie wasn't perfect, and quite honestly, I got it from her end - she wasn't 100% all in with Aiden, she felt like he was trying to change her, and Big (who was a huge deal to her) was saying that he made a mistake and wanted her, which is what she wanted all along.  It goes along with the earlier line about her vs Natasha - now Carrie had that validation that she was good enough for Big.  Not to mention that in instigating the affair, Big went in HARD - coming onto her at Aiden's furniture show, and in what I find supremely gross, following her into the elevator and not leaving Carrie alone even though she is repeatedly saying "NO!  Go away."  So while I don't condone affairs, I understand why it happened.

Now, where I start to turn the tide on Carrie is her behavior after the affair.  Her begging Natasha to forgive her is one of the most tone-deaf things I've ever seen Carrie do on the show (tied with with she brow-beat Charlotte into loaning her money).  I always felt like from then on, we were supposed to see Carrie as always right and pretty perfect, and I hated that.  The slightly flawed Carrie (and I don't count her biting it on the runway in The Real Me as flawed) was so much more interesting and compelling than the holier than thou Carrie we saw in the later part of the series.

[pbutler111]

16 hours ago, Princess Sparkle said:

Yeah, Carrie (unfortunately) became a lot more self-serving as the series went on.  But the Carrie of seasons 1 - 3 I love completely.  One of my all-time favorite Carrie moments is in the beginning of the third season where she sees Big and Natasha's wedding announcement, and she feels self-conscious about herself and says "She's shiny hair style section Vera Wang and I'm the sex column they run next to ads for penile implants."  Her acting was truly great and I completely bought that in that moment, she thought she and Big weren't together because she wasn't good enough for him.  I actually even like Carrie through the affair.  Michael Patrick King said the writers wanted Carrie to have an affair with Big to show Carrie wasn't perfect, and quite honestly, I got it from her end - she wasn't 100% all in with Aiden, she felt like he was trying to change her, and Big (who was a huge deal to her) was saying that he made a mistake and wanted her, which is what she wanted all along.  It goes along with the earlier line about her vs Natasha - now Carrie had that validation that she was good enough for Big.  Not to mention that in instigating the affair, Big went in HARD - coming onto her at Aiden's furniture show, and in what I find supremely gross, following her into the elevator and not leaving Carrie alone even though she is repeatedly saying "NO!  Go away."  So while I don't condone affairs, I understand why it happened.

Now, where I start to turn the tide on Carrie is her behavior after the affair.  Her begging Natasha to forgive her is one of the most tone-deaf things I've ever seen Carrie do on the show (tied with with she brow-beat Charlotte into loaning her money).  I always felt like from then on, we were supposed to see Carrie as always right and pretty perfect, and I hated that.  The slightly flawed Carrie (and I don't count her biting it on the runway in The Real Me as flawed) was so much more interesting and compelling than the holier than thou Carrie we saw in the later part of the series.

I suppose this is why they gave Carrie the backstory of being abandoned by her father.  

[ByTor]

On 7/12/2016 at 4:10 PM, Princess Sparkle said:

that "deluded self-confidence" remark from Carrie in the pilot I actually found to be very cruel.  I'm glad they shuttered that character trait pretty quickly.  

That's certainly not a nice thing to say about a friend, but to be honest I think it describes Samantha perfectly throughout the series, and which is why I could never stand the character.  I definitely think she felt that she was a lot better than she was and had  "legend in her own mind" syndrome.  To be fair, there were moments I liked her during her breast cancer story.  I loved when she got the nun an appointment with the in-demand doctor, and I really loved the "taking off the wig" moment during her speech.

On 7/14/2016 at 2:06 PM, Princess Sparkle said:

I actually even like Carrie through the affair.  Michael Patrick King said the writers wanted Carrie to have an affair with Big to show Carrie wasn't perfect, and quite honestly, I got it from her end - she wasn't 100% all in with Aiden, she felt like he was trying to change her, and Big (who was a huge deal to her) was saying that he made a mistake and wanted her, which is what she wanted all along.  It goes along with the earlier line about her vs Natasha - now Carrie had that validation that she was good enough for Big.  

I completely agree.  In fact, I hold the unpopular opinion that the affair story was probably my favorite.  Not that I think it's ok to have an affair, but the story made sense, especially Carrie feeling conflicted but going for it anyway.

On 7/15/2016 at 6:59 AM, pbutler111 said:

I suppose this is why they gave Carrie the backstory of being abandoned by her father.  

Which totally goes against The Carrie Diaries.  Maybe they had some kind of falling out afterward (I think a remember a "if you're not going to college you're cut off" argument, but I think they made up), but I believe Carrie was 18 in the last season, so even if something happened it wouldn't quite be "abandonment."

Edited July 16, 2016 by ByTor

[Princess Sparkle]

If I remember correctly, the Carrie Diaries followed the books closely, which is why Carrie had a dad (but no mom like she mentioned in the series), a sister, and to my great dismay, a different "losing your virginity story" - Carrie's story in the series was just perfectly Carrie (I mean that as a compliment). The odd part is, The Carrie Diaries was written in 2010 with the intention of being a SATC prequel, so if Candice Bushnell had wanted to match the series with her storyline, she could have.  It's been a long time since I read the original Sex and the City, but I don't remember a whole lot of family info in there, so I think the series just had to make it up as they went and honestly, Carrie's father abandoning the family and having her subconsciously try and "win" his love through older men like Big and The Russian makes a lot more sense than the fairly good relationship that was in The Carrie Diaries (both book and tv show). 

Edited July 16, 2016 by Princess Sparkle

[Inquisitionist]

On 7/14/2016 at 1:06 PM, Princess Sparkle said:

 I actually even like Carrie through the affair.  Michael Patrick King said the writers wanted Carrie to have an affair with Big to show Carrie wasn't perfect, and quite honestly, I got it from her end - she wasn't 100% all in with Aiden, she felt like he was trying to change her, and Big (who was a huge deal to her) was saying that he made a mistake and wanted her, which is what she wanted all along.  It goes along with the earlier line about her vs Natasha - now Carrie had that validation that she was good enough for Big.  Not to mention that in instigating the affair, Big went in HARD - coming onto her at Aiden's furniture show, and in what I find supremely gross, following her into the elevator and not leaving Carrie alone even though she is repeatedly saying "NO!  Go away."  So while I don't condone affairs, I understand why it happened.

Now, where I start to turn the tide on Carrie is her behavior after the affair. 

I'm with you up to a point, but the tide turned earlier for me.  Rather than repeating myself, I'll refer you to this post I wrote in the Carrie thread a while back, if you are interested.

[ByTor]

@Princess Sparkle, the reasons you gave are why I stopped watching Carrie Diaries as a prequel and just looked at it as a stand-alone show, which I did find entertaining for what it was.

Edited July 16, 2016 by ByTor

[Joana]

13 hours ago, Inquisitionist said:

I'm with you up to a point, but the tide turned earlier for me.  Rather than repeating myself, I'll refer you to this post I wrote in the Carrie thread a while back, if you are interested.

I agree with this. The fact that she cheated in itself didn't bother me that much - not that I condone it, of course, but I could understand why it happened. But the thing, she was so oddly unapologetic about everything that it really made it difficult to feel sympathy for her when the whole affair blew up in her face. I remember when she talked about it to Miranda (I think) who said "What about Aidan?", to which Carrie responds "Yes! Thank you! What about Aidan?!" Uhm, that should have been your first thought. 

She really did some shitty things she wasn't called out for nearly as much as she should have been. Alongside those examples already mentioned here, I'll add the time she invited Big over to Aidan's cabin, because "he felt lonely". COME ON! How clueless can you be?

The writing became quite uneven as the show went on. Sometimes the whole episodes were just terrible. The one stand particularly stands out for me was the one when they went to Atlantic City on Charlotte's birthday. There was a new WTF??!! moment literally every 30 seconds. 

On the other hand, what the show did become better at over time was showing the friendship and bond between the 4 of them. In the beginning it really looked like four random women thrown together and you'd wonder why they're even bothering with each other. I still wished they had shown more interaction between the other three independently of Carrie, though.

Edited July 17, 2016 by Joana

[AndySmith]

One of Carrie's biggest flaws (of which there were many) was that she constantly live for the validation of others. Whether from her friends, Big, the men in her life, the New York social scene, etc, she craved that validation like she needed it to live.

I liked Carrie up until the affair. After that, she becomes mostly insufferable.

Yes, the show is very different in season 1. The characters aren't the one dimensional cliches they later become. Then again, seasons 1 through 3 are probably my favorites. 

[psychoticstate]

On 7/17/2016 at 8:30 AM, AndySmith said:

I liked Carrie up until the affair. After that, she becomes mostly insufferable.

I think I liked Carrie up until the affair.  It's hard to remember.  But I agree that she was so unapologetic about it; it's almost like she blamed Big for it.  Regardless, I always felt that Carrie was so self-absorbed it floored me when the other "girls" would say she was their best friend  Huh?  Carrie was the WORST friend in my book, between turning every conversation around to focus on her to sending Aidan over to help Miranda when she threw out her neck or back to being judgy about Samantha's sex life when she walked in on Samantha and the delivery guy to badgering and expecting Charlotte to loan her the money to buy her apartment.  Actually, I think that episode is Carrie at her worst.  Charlotte, despite being a good friend, doesn't owe her anything.  And maybe if Carrie stopped buying shoes, she'd have some money for a down payment.  

I really disliked Carrie throughout the later episodes.  Besides her godawful fashion "sense," that squealing and shrieking got on my nerves.  I also didn't like her with "the Russian" and really hated how she told Big that Alek had slapped her.  If he had intentionally smacked her, okay.  But it was presented as a clear accident and it seemed that Carrie told Big to stir shit.

I did like Carrie with the first movie though.  She seemed humbled and much more bearable.

[Inquisitionist]

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To the twice-divorced Donald, Melania is terrific.  He's never heard her fart or make doodie, as he once told Howard Stern.

From GQ's profile of Melanoma (sorry, a friend has started calling her that and I couldn't resist.)  Why did this immediately make me think of Carrie and Big?

[Maherjunkie]

No, Big and Carrie are much nicer.  Only real estate is what they have in common.

[tigesrule]

I cant believe nobody has mentioned that Harvey Specter from Suits (Gabriel Macht) played the modeliser in episode 2!