Love your writing. I don't always agree with each analysis, but I love the way you put one word next to another word. Sincerely, XH

I love Sex and The City as much as I love Pride and Prejudice. The two of these in equal doses can get me out of the deepest vat of self pity.

The show did go into a sort of downward spiral in the last two seasons, and the main culprit was SJP. She's a talented actress who, in taking more and more creative control of the character, made some inexplicable choices. Carrie became a shallow harridan, and the scripts began to decentuate the other women, much to my chagrin - I've always been a Miranda fan, and I really like Samantha as well.

As for the horrendous outfits, I must admit that those are part of the pleasure for me. I'll be going to see it this Tuesday but I'm making a point not to set my expectations too high.

that although I live with a wife and two teen daughters none of them is planning to go to this thing, let alone drag me along. Not that they could anyway. I can imagine a few worse forms of cinematic torture, but only a very few.

About Carrie in the last two seasons. She became affected, and silly, and it became de rigeur for one or all of the other characters to affirm that she was each of their no.1 bestest friend nearly every episode. As though SJP or the writers were jealous for Carrie the character! High school stuff, and a betrayal of their four way strength and intimacy.

The whole thing went south for Carrie when she turned Aidan down. After that it was impossible to take her search for true love seriously, and in that way Big was and is perfect for her. He's never 'there' enough to love or not love. Ideal for the commitmentphobe Carrie.

I also got sick of the way Miranda had to carry the can for the serious and humiliating stuff in the shows. She was the one who would be sexually humiliated, or emotionally humiliated. She was the one who had to rouse on Carrie for going to Paris and she was the one who had to live with her senile mother in law. Disappoitned but not surprised to hear she's the one who gets cheated on in the movie.

That's a shame. For girls of a certain age - around 16 - I think watching Sex and the City would be an enlightening and empowering, as well as charming, experience. It was a reviewer on these very virtual pages in Salon who said as much a couple of years ago, how valuable the show is as a form of sex and women's education for young adult women. It explores the ramifications of so many choices women have to make - for good and ill. I wish something like this had been around when I was young. It would have helped a lot.

and ruined the show for me. In an interview after the show ended, she confirmed the diagnosis when she said that it was time for her to move on and that it was her call--and hers alone--to end the show, regardless of what was important for the three actors playing her friends. I think the unhealthy amount of attention SJP got when she had a baby might have pushed her over the edge. (Parade Magazine recently calling her "America's Most Fabulous Mom" is the sort of thing I'm talking about.) Also I don't think she's attractive--scraggly hair with dyed roots showing, unflattering (yet expensive) "fashionable" clothes, pointy chin, mole--what is the big deal with her? Why overlook her fellow actors and emphasize her alone?

I recall reading an interview somewhere in which Parker sort of called the character of Carrie hopelessly f'ed up. Not quite so explicitly as that, but that was the meaning I took away from her statement. I thought it was both surprising and enlightening at the time. So I don't think she ever intended to make Carrie look better - if anything I thing she got into that character's head and figured out what made her tick so erratically.

I always considered Carrie the center of the show, and didn't notice any shift in focus during the final two seasons. I thought the show sort of went off the rails in the 3rd and 4th seasons, and really only got (sorta) back into its groove during the 5th. Miranda and Samantha both had great storylines during that final season.

Nothing will top the 2nd season, though. That was brilliant television, with an incredible finale. One of the best episodes of anything, ever.

I admit I don't "get" TV shows. I think except for the first season of Monk I haven't watched any TV shows in decades. I've missed the whole reality show fad.

So, it's not surprising that I don't "get" SATC. But what I *really* don't "get" is SJP. I can see the attraction of the other three actresses -- although Kim Catrall was much more attractive in all her earlier work. But SJP -- I really don't understand why she has any standing at all. I don't see it -- charisma, character, looks -- anything.

It's almost like watching Tori Spelling, although at least with her I realize that her Daddy is the reason she keeps getting cast in various parts. Why does SJP keep getting parts?

1. A series by HBO is not 'television' - it's a new genre and a new medium. Very high production values, very high sales in DVD's (just like a movie) and, for me, anyway, some unforgettably great storytelling. Sex and the City of course, also: The Sopranos, Entourage, and Big Love. They explore story and character in a way a feature film never can, and regular pay TV never has.

2. Second season? What happeened in that one? What was the finale?

It always struck me that this show (which I watched religiously for years) was really about four gay men. But since HBO wouldn't buy a show like that at that time, women took the place of the guys.

You watch the show, and listen to it carefully, it's far more plausible, from dialog to situations, if you imagine four gay guys in the main roles.

As a result, drawing any conclusions about "young, affluent, urban women" from this show is utterly misguided. What I find fascinating is how many urban women didn't get the joke.

Me? I'm a straight guy. Not that there's anything wrong with that, right?

I still loved sex in the city, but I suspect I won't like the movie much.