‘Sex and the City’ Reboot – It’s a Trap!
'And Just Like That...' could make 'Sex' fans rejoice, but the woke mob is waiting
HBO’s “Sex and the City” sparked sizzling op-eds long before social media swamped our lives.
The raunchy show highlighted a sexually liberated PR powerhouse, Kim Cattrall’s Samantha Jones, and a main character whose love life snagged the pop culture zeitgeist like few TV romances did.
Would Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) stay with steady Aiden Shaw (John Corbett) or bounce back to Mr. Big (Chris Noth), the ultimate Alpha Male? In between, the quartet drank, shared NSFW gossip and talked like many women do … but rarely on the small screen.
How could media observers not weigh in on the series, which ran for six colorful seasons on HBO? That was nothing compared to the reception the “Sex” revival will likely receive.
“And Just Like That…” (release date: Dec. 9) reunites audiences with three of the four key characters from the saga. Cattrall’s character has been jettisoned, presumably to avoid cast kerfuffles, but the story remains mostly the same.
Three smart, independent women surviving, nay thriving, in the Big Apple.
What happens next?
We’ve already gotten a glimpse of the cultural X-rays awaiting the revival, which interestingly enough has yet to yield a single major review despite bowing in just two days.
Articles have slammed the new show’s alleged fashion sense, suggested the revival must be more diverse to amend for its problematic past and found star Sarah Jessica Parker attacking those saying cruel things about her 50-something visage. (She has a point)
Just wait.
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HBO Max has kept most of the revival’s secrets intact prior to its debut. No spoilers yet, apparently, either in the press or via the show’s two trailers.
We do know the show added several new characters, including a non-binary character (Sara Ramirez) described as “a queer, stand-up comedian that hosts a podcast on which Carrie Bradshaw is regularly featured.”
The revival adds two other new characters to the mix, women of color to assuage those who bemoaned the show’s lack of diversity. Without Samantha, though, part of the formula will be missing.
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We’re also told the writer’s room is more diverse than before, suggesting “And Just Like That…” will either lean into the woke revolution or, at the very least, attempt to fend off future accusations that it’s as problematic as the source material.
And that’s where things will get … interesting.
The woke mob is never satisfied. The 10-episode revival may dabble in race, class and other modern issues, but they better do so precisely how the woke Left demands.
Or else.
Outlets like The Mary Sue, The Guardian and Slate will pounce.
Platforms like HBO Max, which once removed a film classic from its lineup following a single, critical column, will be swift to apologize for any forthcoming thought crimes. And, if a second season of “And Just Like That…” comes to pass, the show will move further to the Left as a result.
And that’s not what “Sex and the City” is all about. The show mattered because it spoke honestly about subjects previous shows weren’t courageous enough to explore.
The show’s glamour and wish fulfillment scratched certain issues, of course. It’s the characters’ candor, and relatability, that resonated with fans.
Still, a full-blown TV reunion seemed unlikely not too long ago.
We’ve already seen two “Sex and the City” movies, both of which failed to duplicate the original show’s appeal. The second, a cinematic train wreck from 2010, suggested the franchise had run its course.
Enter “Roseanne” 2.0, the new ‘Will & Grace” and “X-Files’ reborn. Nothing sells better than nostalgia these days, and fearful network suits would rather repackage a beloved IP than anything else. So a “Sex” revival seems inevitable.
What happens next, though, could make everyone involved wish they stayed home and collected those residual checks.