• Television

25th Anniversary of “Sex and the City”

On June 6, 1998, the iconic TV series Sex and the City aired its first episode on HBO – and nothing would ever be the same in the way Hollywood portrayed women on TV.

As the 25th anniversary of the show approaches, it’s hard to imagine life without Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte (Kristin Davis), and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon). The series broke all sexual taboos and has remained in the zeitgeist ever since, running over six seasons from 1998 to 2004. The series was nominated for 24 Golden Globes, winning eight of them, including Best Actress in a Comedy, Sarah Jessica Parker Best TV Series – Comedy and Best Supporting Actress, Kim Cattrall.

 

The women returned in 2008 and 2010 with two Sex and the City movies, both box office hits. In 2021 all but one of the characters returned for the epilogue series, And Just Like That … (second season starts on June 22).

Now you can celebrate the anniversary milestone if you’re in New York City. You are invited to visit the pop-up event announced on Instagram by Parker, titled “And just like that…It’s been 25 years: The Sex and the City experience.” It runs June 8 to 11.

The event consists of a series of pop-up experiences that will take place across New York City, including the apartment where cynical sex columnist Carrie Bradshaw (Parker) lived throughout the duration of the first series.

The event will also celebrate the trendiest and most iconic looks from the show’s costume designer Patricia Field – who can forget the tutu dress, cowboy hat, boyfriend shirt, and Manolo and Louboutin shoes? The event will also unveil an exclusive Sex and the City line of merchandise, while serving the signature drink of the show, yes, the Cosmopolitan.

The spin-off series follows Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte navigating the Big Apple in their 60s – this time with kids in tow and a whole new awareness of the people and culture around them. Samantha’s absence is explained by her character moving to London and having a falling-out with Carrie, who texts her during key moments. In fact, Kim Cattrall also had a reported feud with Parker and turned down the new series.

Golden Globe and Emmy-winning star Sarah Jessica Parker first spoke to the HFPA about the show in 2000, when we visited the set at Silvercup Studios in Long Island. The series was becoming a global phenomenon and the street scenes were being swamped by fans that made location shooting difficult. Parker confessed at that time she’d only recently married actor Matthew Broderick (with whom she recently celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary), so she was proud of being part of a show that broke taboos that pushed the envelope for women worldwide.

But she couldn’t relate to all of Bradshaw’s journey. “My single career was not nearly as colorful as these particular women. I don’t think I really made a habit of dating. Because, I think, it was such a scary notion,” she said during a set visit at the time. “But I understand what it is to live in a city where there are endless possibilities and also ridiculously difficult and intimidating and scary, so I feel empathetic when it comes to these women and their lives and mating rituals.”