And Just Like That… still struggles to find its way
Charlotte's kid's plot is the best out of all of this series' floundering storylines
TV Reviews And Just Like That...
Last week, we talked about how there is always a danger in bringing back a beloved property like Sex And The City—a chance that a twenty-years-later production could tarnish the original. But I’ve been thinking about this a lot since then and let’s face it, SATC was already tarnished (and not just because of my oft-cited SATC2). There are a variety of current circumstances that poke holes in the opulent Manhattan wonderland of And Just Like That…. Most disturbingly, the fact that Chris Noth has been accused of sexual assault by several women since AJLT debuted. Willie Garson died of pancreatic cancer, and his character’s departure from the series, as noted last week, was barely more than a plot footnote.
And of course, Kim Cattrall has been extremely vocal about the fact that she did not want to return to the SATC universe. It’s reported that the plot of AJLT actually draws a lot from the script for the third movie, which got tossed when Cattrall refused to get on board. This sucks because a lot of the magic of the series’ first go-round was due to the chemistry between all four women—without Samantha, a lot of that spiciness is gone. Charlotte seems even more Pollyanna-ish, while Miranda just gets sadder.
You can tell how much Sam is missed because when the series does even mention her—the flowers at Big’s funeral, the funny text messages this episode—her loss is even more acute. What’s worse, it almost seems like a tease: Believe me, no one would be happier than me if Samantha managed to make a guest appearance in this series by the end of the season, but unfortunately I just don’t think that’s going to happen. Which just makes it all the more painful when she appears (but not really) in an episode like this one.
“Tragically Hip” sure needed something, anyway, and that something was not two separate scenes of Carrie Bradshaw Preston urinating. I am trying my hardest to come up with possible reasons for the Carrie hip surgery storyline, and except for a too-short Baby Jane impression by Anthony, I can’t come up with any. (And this episode was written by Samantha Irby, who I really like!) There must have been some other way to kick the timeline ahead three months, so that Carrie can (conceivably) start dating in a few episodes or so.
But instead, we were stuck with bedridden Carrie yet again—anyone else think that her back pain could possibly be related to all those stilettos over the years? To that end: Who wears extremely high heels with said back pain? Who keeps their heels on on the examination table at the doctor’s office? Who wear pearls over their hospital gown, for god’s sake? Carrie on pain meds was mildly enjoyable, but that was about it.
Honestly, I have so many issues with this episode, I thought about submitting this review entirely in question form. Who just stops by a hospital room without calling first? Who invites that person up to the room without checking with the actual patient? After that fiasco, who in their right mind would then stop by unannounced again at this same person’s apartment? Who would sit down on their friend’s toilet without shutting the door? Just from a pure logic standpoint, moment after moment, very little about this made any sense at all.
And who would have sex with their recuperating friend’s boss in her very kitchen: Miranda, I guess. Miranda and Che hooking up was as inevitable as taxes or death, and I still can’t get over the fact that Che just sounds like an inspirational bumper sticker the vast majority of the time. Yet the post-Che moment gave us a scene that showed up just why Cynthia Nixon is a mere Oscar away from an EGOT, why she is such an amazing actor even with all the horrible crap she’s been handed on this show.
The interesting thing about dealing with women in their 50s is not only the physical ailments that will unfortunately only become more frequent as the years pass (oooooh, congenital birth defect, gotcha). If you’re in an unhappy mental state, that too will only become more acute as you get older. If you’re miserable at 55, like Miranda is, you are well aware that you only have a few decades (if you’re lucky!) to figure that shit out. This may make you enter into some behavior even more questionable than some stuff you did in your 30s—like the tequila-drinking, extramarital-sex-having.
Nixon, somehow, manages to convey all of that. She is euphoric after her tryst with Che—even though Carrie is obviously pissed (ha) at her, she can’t stop smiling. When Miranda finally cracks and reveals how unhappy she is, it’s as if the floodgates have opened, and it’s clear that she won’t be able to go back to the person she was before. If the cliched pouring the alcohol down the drain is in fact the end of Miranda’s drinking issue, perhaps that’s because the drinks were merely an attempt to cover up the real problems that were bothering her.
Other than Nixon’s Emmy reel, my only other favorite moments this episode came from the continuing story of Rose/Rock. As I’ve mentioned, this is absolutely spot-on with the tweens/teens I see at my kids’ schools. Many are changing names and/or pronouns, some are binary changes, some are not (the laundry list of the various gender-related issues now prevalent in middle school the teachers ran down was pretty on-target). Hard to believe that Charlotte would be shocked at the therapy/counseling suggestion, though—it would be more surprising if half the kids at a school like Rock’s weren’t in therapy, honestly, especially post-pandemic. Nevertheless, this storyline rings true because it brings up questions parents like Charlotte and Harry would be grappling with, all the while trying to do the best for their kid.
It’s leagues more relatable than hip surgery, say, which is capped off by fat-shaming, of all things? Honestly, at this point we’re halfway through And Just Like That…’s initial 10 episodes and despite a few bright moments, I can’t help but lean toward wishing that the series hadn’t come back at all. For one thing, although I cried buckets during Big’s funeral, and despite all the cast members giggling at each other’s one-liners, I don’t think I’ve laughed once. One last question: Is the cachet built up from SATC enough to land this sequel series a second season?
Stray observations
- Again with the field trips. And I know I’m nitpicking, but why did the moms commend Rock on the Zoom call? Wouldn’t Charlotte also have been at the school play, and wouldn’t they have talked to her then?
- Favorite outfits: It’s hard to imagine that Charlotte can actually be that dressed up all the time (again, says the person who now lives in leggings), but so many of her outfits this episode were just amazing. The white sweater, cool geometric belt, and pink skirt in the first unfortunately peeing scene; the ruffled black top and striped black and white skirt to take Carrie home in; and the green botanic pattern dress when Carrie was doing her podcast. The green/purple sweater-blouse combo at the end was so horrific it almost cancelled out the rest, though.
- Similarly, Carrie had some nightmare ensembles this week: the orange lingerie outerwear whatever she was wearing at the beginning, the fringed jacket that of course you would wear on your way to surgery. And if I take one image of this show with me long after it’s over, again, it’s going to be those goddamn pearls on top of the hospital gown.
- Charlotte reads The Daily Mail?
- Do you think the creators went to the writer of Quit Like A Woman and pitched: “So, the bad news is, we’re going to make fun of your book title a lot, but it’s still a ton of free publicity, so ultimately a win?”
- I also take issue with this show’s turning a former hottie like Steve into a doddering, binge-watching, old-ish man. Sidebar anecdote: About 12 years ago when my kids were super-little, I took them to a toddler concert and David Eigenberg (apparently a Chicagoan at the time, at least) was there with his kid and all the moms just about lost their minds. He is one of those people who is much more good-looking in person.
- Also, remember the absolute hell Miranda put Steve through for cheating on her?
- Kim Cattrall may not want to be on this show, but she is taking on the narrator (Bob Saget) role on How I Met Your Father, which debuts next month on Hulu, and she really looks great. Mom-like for the role, but still fabulous.
- Next week: Looks like Seema gets her own storyline in “Diwali.”
123 Comments
What do you mean “former hottie like Steve?”That man can still get it, hearing aids and all.
“I couldn’t help but wonder… would there be backlash against a line like ‘A former hottie like Sara Jessica Parker?’”
I suspect that, if Kim Cattrall had indeed participated, and the showrunners turned Samantha into some dowdy, frumpy grandmother, then yes, there probably would be some similar sentiments expressed.
Probably, but damn SJP needs to borrow some of Kristen Davis’s fillers and botox. Cause Davis is really overdoing it. In some scenes her face shows that uncanny valley creepiness you get when they CGI older actors to look younger.
They are all beginning to look like Wayland Flowers’ “Madame” character.
LMFAO!!! Genius comment.
She was already being called a ‘former hottie’ when the original SATC was running.
I just watched LA Story again for the first time in years and remembered my SJP love.
Steve was always the best guy on the show. Harry is awesome too but Steve is genuinely the hottest (besides being a good guy).
I’m not the demographic for Steve, but I always thought he was a deeply unattractive little creep with at least 20% chipmunk DNA.
Um, no, he looks and acts 90 in this show. It’s horrible.
I guess they felt having a ANOTHER funeral (for Stanford) would have been too many funerals. “And just like that, Stanford died also.”
And considering that he actually died, it may have been upsetting for the actors involved.
Pretty sure it’s more that this show doesn’t have a competent showrunner who anyone trusted to handle a storyline with any kind of sensitivity or care.
The West Wing had a funeral for John Spencer’s character, Leo. The actors have talked about how it was like reliving John’s death all over again, but they did it because Leo was so beloved by fans and they had to pay tribute to him. (At John’s actual funeral, Kristen Chenoweth sang “For Good”, from “Wicked”. )If the cast of the West Wing could get thru that, I think SJP & MPK could have honored Willie a little more than making Stanford look like a jerk.
I just read that S2 is on hold because of the backlash re Noth. And just like that, no more “And Just Like That…”
(At John’s actual funeral, Kristen Chenoweth sang “For Good”, from “Wicked”. ) Gawd. How did Kristen manage to get through that.
I’ve heard similar things about the cast of ‘NewsRadio’ just barely getting through the funeral episode for Bill McNeal after Phil Hartman’s real death.
lol bs it’s the poor reception fans have to this awful mess not noth who was on the reboot and killed off in 2 minutes
Considering what came about about Noth, killing Big wound up being the right call and it seems like the show can proceed just fine now, since he’s no longer in it. I can’t imagine that’s really an issue.
Can’t imagine that what’s going on with Noth would have any bearing on a S2, considering his character would not be part of the story.
They did an onscreen funeral for Christopher Evan Welch (his character) when he died between season one and season two of Silicon Valley, and as I remember, all involved felt it was a tasteful tribute to the character, and the man who played him. I think Willie Garson probably died after production wrapped, and maybe they didn’t have the time or the money (or the inclination) to do a whole tasteful “Stanford died and we’re all sad because Willie died in real life, and we’re doing this in-world tribute to the man and the character he played” episode, and rather just had him book it.
Willie was in three episodes, but his health was rapidly declining, so he had to leave the season early. They could have easily punted the Stanford issue and circled back to it at the end of the season and given him a proper, tasteful goodbye instead of throwing the character under the bus and thus leaving a bad taste in everyone’s mouth over it.
I don’t understand this criticism at all. Wille Garson signed on for a ten-episode arc. All the episodes were written and finalized before filming started. He was only physically able to film three out of ten.So, the writers had to come up with something on the fly. Without him able to film? A note. Stanford repped talent. Him leaving to go help a client he’s repping makes sense. Since he cannot “come back”, next logical step for a writer in a bind? A divorce from Anthony.Maybe something will happen to Stanford later to explain why he never comes back to New York at all….but for now, I don’t see what they did as so awful.
Oh, you did not hear Michael Patrick King’s comment on Willie Garson’s death—”it wasn’t charming”.He actually said that in an interview regarding Willie’s death & why it was not addressed in the show. Michael Patrick King did not find a member of his cast dying of pancreatic cancer “charming”, so instead he had his character written out in a degrading and insulting way. It is comments like THIS that confirm the view that this show never have been made…and that both Michael Patrick King and Sarah Jessica Parker should be burned at the stake…and that Kim C. could smell this car crash coming & wanted NO part of it.
The season was already finished filming before Garson’s death.
No it wasn’t. He had to bow out of filming before they were done, according to SJP.
Because he was sick. He didn’t die until production was finished. I’m sure his passing will be dealt with next season when they have time to give him a proper sendoff.
As has been stated in numerous articles, Garson died DURING filming. A larger storyline had been planned for Stanford’s character that Garson wasn’t well enough to film. That aside, I will now forever feel queasy when I hear King’s name and I think of the ‘not charming’ remark. So dismissive and disrespectful. Willie Garson deserved much better from a man who work he enlarged.
and that Kim C. could smell this car crash coming & wanted NO part of it.I think it was more the personal enmity between her and the SATC gang, but I think even if she were on the show, she wouldn’t be able to stop the shitshow express.
I got this feeling it was a very SPECIFIC person Cattral had a bit of a dislike for – in interviews before this started Parker and Nixon both were pretty diplomatic and cordial and then Davis pops up and seems… catty. So I have no evidence other than just a feeling that Cattral’s decision was very specific in whom she decided not to work with.
Yes.
Carrie peeing in a Snapple bottle though… SUPER charming
Michael Patrick King is the worst thing to have happened to Sex and the City.
100%. He’s awful, awful, awful in so many ways.
MPK was saying that to kill Stanford off on the show would not be charming. He wasn’t referring to Willie Garson’s death.
Stanford didn’t die, so no need for a funeral. This isn’t a documentary.
Which, ironically, would have been the most realistic thing. I’ve been to more funerals this last year than the last 10 combined.
Honestly, someone like Carrie – who did the whole NYC nightlife thing and definitely knew people who did too much of too much – would be losing a friend a month in her 40s and 50s.
So dumb question from someone who doesn’t and will never watch this show: Did they know that Chris Noth was a creep before they killed him off or is it a happy accident? I got to assume it’s the inciting incident for the series but man did they ever dodge a bullet and was always going to happen whether or not Noth was a creep.
There have been widespread rumors about Noth going back to his Law and Order years. But that wasn’t the inciting incident for Big’s death. Like Kim Cattrall, Noth was reluctant to return to SATC. The writers had planned Big’s death and convinced him to come back in order to give the character closure. It was the only way to “reset” things and make Carrie single again.
One of the main actresses’ stand-ins did a magazine or some other very public interview some time ago about how creepy and everything Noth was on-set, they all knew.
I’m pretty sure they just wanted to reset Carrie’s status and this was the plan. Maybe they knew something was up with Noth but the attention the show got (and that stupid Peloton business) is what brought the women forward. If they wanted nothing to do with Noth then he could have easily been written out of the show off-screen, he’s important-ish but not a central character.
they are definitely writing it like Samantha is returning, but I think the writers are just hoping Kim says yes. Friend breakups are some of the hardest, but they also have room for reconciliation, it’s just hard to explore what would be a great storyline if we don’t have Samantha there for it lol.
If they’re hoping she says yes then why trash her character and insult her on the show?
Definitely expecting the season to end with Carrie’s phone ringing, and we see that the caller ID is Samantha. It’ll put a lot of weird fan pressure on Cattrall.
I had the exact same thought.
They should just have Kim Cattrall film a few scenes on the phone, like they did to Suzanne Sommers during the “Three’s Company” kerfuffle.
Kim is never playing the role again; they all know it. They’re just trying not to do that “TV thing” where a character is written off and no one ever talks about them again. I do, however, think that they may be setting up room for a re-cast. They may think that a re-cast will be more acceptable with four new characters in the mix. If they’d done it off the bat, they’d be getting creamed right now with “She’s no Kim Cattrall!”….and if we get to a second season, which I think is inevitable because people *are* talking about this show, love it or hate it, and HBO likes being in the Sarah Jessica Parker business, they may still get creamed for a re-cast. So, if they don’t go that route – Samantha will be text-only. They’ll never kill her off.
“Who invites that person up to the room without checking with the actual patient?”A horny alcoholic?
Aso, when I’ve been in the hospital, and friends would visit, I don’t remember ever being like, notified in advance/asked if that was okay – they just came in during (again, I’m assuming) visiting hoursApologies for commenting before watching the episode (and it sounds like I’ll continue to …not even Hate-watch, but more like, meh-watch? this series – stop acting like Kim Cattrall is a part of this, show! Ugh), but is Carrie in a room, recovering post hip surgery? If so, friends visiting without a hospital staff heads up sounds kinda normal to me
I have found this to be the case when I have made hospital visits in the past. You just show up, they don’t get warned, and hopefully they’re happy to see you.
I got notified when it wasn’t people on my list, but I is a Canadian!
I is a Canadian too, but this was 10 years back when I was in the hospital for ten days. People just showed up (again, I assume at visiting hours but for much of the time I wasn’t really aware what time it was). Mostly family, but also some friends I didn’t expect to see–I wasn’t aware of any list.
You no paying for healthcare motherfucker! Down here, we pay for our healthcare, even if we already have insurance, and sometimes we need a gofundme just to pay the bills, because this is AMERICA, damnit!
I haven’t been to a hospital in a long time, for myself or others, but during my post-partum hospital stays, people certainly called first to check if it was OK to visit. In the age of the cell phone, there’s really no excuse for just dropping in anywhere.
Its totally normal. These reviews have been littered with nitpicks like this.
You can put a block on visitors (also phone calls) when you’re in-hospital post surgery. In fact it’s probably a really good idea considering how fast they boot people of the hospital. And honestly people planning on visiting really should call ahead of time and ask if the patient wants visitors.
Speaking as someone who spent a good chunk of time last year and this year in hospital, I think calling ahead is just courteous, especially in this time of COVID. My mum kept just showing up to visit me without letting me know first, which was annoying not just because I was often in the middle of some test or other with a nurse, but also because patients were limited to one visitor per day (again, because COVID). More than once I had to call up my partner – who would let me know beforehand – to say, “My mum’s dropped by, so guess you can’t visit me today.”
…mum kept just showing up to visit me without letting me know first, which was annoying…Considering that her appearances could mean preventing you from seeing your partner,
not proactively coordinating with them so that you could receive as much combined TLC as possible, seems more…thoughtlessly discourteous (and hardly prioritizing your needs).
How frustrating for you. Sorry that happened.
Yeah, my mum has some issues, one of which is that she doesn’t like my partner much. It’s been tough.
Well that just piles on more stress at the worst possible time.
🙁
Hoping it gets better, and/or people can just get over themselves when it’s not about them… (deep breaths, meantime).
Oh sorry – I absolutely was just thinking of non-pandemic times – obviously, it’s nice that your mom wanted to be there so often, but I’m sorry that inherently excluded your partner from being there as well
was this during covid times like the show?
No it wasn’t! I totally didn’t take that into account – I’m guessing it didn’t even occur to me because it seems to be doing the same thing every new show (which was filmed During the ongoing pandemic), where it acts like it used to be a thing? I still haven’t made the time to watch this episode that I will be annoyed by, but have they now been like, “oh no, it’s definitely still the pandemic”?
I also immediately thought of Carrie’s stiletto fetish when she first brought up her chronic back pain. Girl, you’ve been wearing nothing but miniature stilts on your feet for 30+ years. Managing that daily is going to make you hold your body unnaturally. Hence, chronic back pain.Okay. So I’m both sex positive and part of the LGBTQ+ cohort – but I was *incredibly* put off by that Miranda / Che sex scene. Having sex with your employee’s BF in said employee’s home? And that y’all were no more than *10 feet away” from where Carrie was (presumably) sleeping? Trifling.
Not to mention Miranda’s blatant hypocrisy considering she lost her shit when Steve cheated on her 10 years earlier (for similar reasons).
And maybe because it was the first sex scene we’ve seen on the show so I’m not used to the Sex in SATC being back, but it felt weirdly overly graphic.And a lot of the ‘humor’/comedy scenes felt forced. Like, the audience was *supposed* to laugh, but it felt incredibly stilted.The baker who carried Carrie up to her brownstone is a former boxer turned model and is hot AF.
If you thought that scene was overly graphic, you ought to go back and watch the original series—and NOT the edited-for-syndication episodes. There were many sex scenes, most of them far more explicit.
I actually *have* seen the original SATC – including the sex scenes.But for some reason, watching Miranda get (for lack of a better phrase) finger-banged in Carrie’s kitchen felt more explicit than if she & Che were full on naked.And it’s not because it was a W/W sex scene, either. I would’ve felt that way if it was M/M sex scene where one guy was J-Oing off the other.For some reason them having clothes on in the scene weirdly made it more explicit to me. Don’t know why.:Shrugs:
You’re a weirdo then
::slow clap::The height of mature responding, that right there.
Miranda was always my favorite in the original and they managed to ruin her in 5 episodes. At this point I wish it was Cynthia Nixon who didn’t return. Also Carrie was always my least favorite by far and now she’s the only one I don’t hate. It might change when she starts dating again though.
She almost didn’t. I read an interview with her, it took Sarah, Michael & Kristen to talk her into it. It sounds like this is just a barrel of laughs. Does SJP need a brick wall to fall on her head? No one wanted this. Let it go.
I still like Miranda, let her be a terror, all the other girls got to have it!
I kept thinking she was being ironic about how well Nixon was playing all these plot contrivances. I feel like this is the worst and most artificial I have ever seen her in any role she’s played. Emmy? I don’t think so. Her facial expressions alone are exaggerated to operatic proportions and there isn’t a single choice she makes big or small which seems reasonable or characteristic. Carrie is only marginally better because she has a little drama and tragedy in her arc. They spend all their time lobbing lines to each other, no one seems genuine or at least true to what we knew them to be, and I don’t see myself bothering further at this point.
Sounds like the producers realized way too late that this show actually needs Kim Cattrall, and letting whatever was happening behind the scenes get to the point where she walked was a massive mistake. I think I have a solution: Carrie trips and falls off of her too-high heels, right into the path of a bus. And Just Like That, Samantha comes to the funeral looking fabulous.
Seconded on “Charlotte reads The Daily Mail?” and and assuming the doctor was going to tell Carrie to stop wearing high heels
Kinda surprised how mad Carrie was about Miranda and Che. First time anyone in this Sex and the City show has sex and they get yelled at for it? “You weren’t here for me!” She literally was. You just decided to be a martyr and pee in a bottle rather than call Miranda’s name a little louder.
So Miranda wasn’t there for Carrie, except she was in the apartment and didn’t hear her call out for her. Kinda like how when Miranda threw her back out and Aiden went over and helped her because Carrie didn’t want to cancel or reschedule an appointment with her editor, because apparently editors don’t understand your best friend is laying on the floor in her bathroom and needs help getting to the ER. Is that what she meant by “not being here for me?” Fuck off.
Uh, you got some weird anger issues. If my so-called friend promised to help me out while I was drugged and recuperating from surgery and instead invited MY BOSS unannounced (or anyone for that matter) into my home while I was sleeping, and then proceeded to have sex with them in MY KITCHEN, I would be super pissed off, too. Miranda needs to go through her mid-life crisis on her own time, and get a hotel room like a decent person!
exactly, the scene was actually pretty comical, but I also would have been really pissed off to wake up post surgery with my friend getting fingered drunk in my kitchen. It also was sad to watch Miranda try and fix the situation, and honestly, as someone in recovery, her actions are that of someone in active addiction, it doesn’t make her an asshole or some different person like everyone is acting like.
I also compared to that episode and the reversal of expectations. Agreed.
If I woke up to my friend having sex in my kitchen, I would’ve screamed my head off. Go do that shit at your own home!
Just having sex in a friend’s kitchen while ignoring said friend post-surgery is bad enough. Miranda was cheating on her husband, who Carrie has known for a long time. That merits yelling.
I would have thrown that bottle so hard, they’d have heard it across the street.
This! She knew she was going to confront Miranda over it regardless, so why wait and put yourself in harm’s way?
On the bright side, nobody in the cast died or was accused of sexual assault this week.
It’s only Thursday.
They’ve been throwing Steve under the bus since the first movie and it’s not fucking cool, man.
Che’s a magical negro for 2021.
Well-said!
Not only that, Che the character is odious as a person. WHO THE FUCK, gives pot to minors at funerals AND has sex with their employees’ married best friend in the kitchen while they recover from surgery???? WHO?! The character is on this horrible extended adolescence and I hate it. Also, I hate that Miranda cheated on Steve. I love Steve. They have worked through so much and instead of finding ways to model a successful marriage in their 50s the writers are throwing that way. Apparently, only Charlotte gets to be happy? Ugh.
This performative horseshit show will never, ever have the guts to point out that it is shitty for Che to have sex with Miranda when she is drunk and high, it is shitty for Che to put Carrie on air knowing she is high on pain meds, it is shitty for Che to show up uninvited TWICE to see her employee as she recuperates and it was shitty for Che to give a kid pot at the funeral of someone she’d never even met. Che sucks. If Che was a man, they would be a predatory creep.Also, this show with all their forced woke bingo card still can’t resist a fat joke and I hate to break it to you, SJP, but the “unattractive” PT was better looking than you are.
Yes, you have nailed it.
Thank you. Che deserves to be included in the top 10 worst tv characters of all time.
FYI David Eigenberg grew up in Naperville, IL and has lived in Chicago at least since Chicago Fire began in 2012. Your recollection means that he never really lived in NYC, he only stayed there when filming SATC and now this show, and has his primary residence in Chicago. His wife’s twitter is fantastic (she hasn’t tweeted much this past year)
https://twitter.com/snugasbugAlso, no way Charlotte would read The Daily Mail. She would be reading The Guardian.
These writers are missing the mark in every way except for Charlotte’s kids stories. I hear something is coming up on the Lily front.
Ha ha I’m trying not to get hung up on details, but I agree Charlotte is too uptight to read the Daily Mail. But she is also too establishment to read the Guardian. She reads the Times and goes straight to the royals coverage first.
I agree with this headcannon.
I never have watched Chicago Fire but I may try sometime knowing David is on there. He was one of my favorite parts of the original show…I’m glad to see all the backlash to this show’s material for him and his relationship with Miranda.
Really? because Lily seems like she’s being treated as a glorified extra in the show.
I hope Steve starts a horny delivery service where a bunch of buxom girls in skimpy outfits get paraded around and called names like “Princess Boner.” Because that would be funny and okay with everyone, right?
David Eigenberg still lives in Chicago. He has been on Chicago Fire for it’s entire run and it probably made sense to live in the city it films in. FUN FACT: His CF character also owns a bar.
Good for him. So very often I wonder what happened to an actor I used to like before discovering they’ve been on a procedural for a decade and a half and have no need for my sympathies.
I’ll preface this comment by saying that I am gay, so this isn’t a question of being homophobic—but why, exactly, do they need to make Miranda gay? Yes, I know the actor playing Miranda is gay…but she’s been gay the entire time she’s played the character. They didn’t seem bothered by it before the actress came out publicly.
If this is another example of the trend in which people are allowed to play parts only if they match every aspect of the character exactly, that will piss me off to the point of no longer watching. Changing Miranda’s sexual orientation because the actress portraying her is a lesbian is so unnecessary, it seems almost discriminatory. So now a gay person can no longer play a straight character?
I don’t think it’s that deep, honestly. That storyline reeks of sheer laziness. This is what Ryan Murphy did on his most successful show, “Glee.” Just ripoff your actors’ lives and bank that dough. Tho it probably got pitched as a way to deal with the multiple observations about the show’s biphobia, lack of any queer women, and it’s treatment of gay men as accessories for straight white women. And maybe Nixon talked herself into thinking it’s still 1998 and any representation is better than none? She strikes me as someone who’s not real engaged in current pop culture that much so maybe she’s unaware that this is no longer the case. At this point doesn’t nearly every show on the CW have a queer female character in the main cast? Or they offered her more money & she’s thinking about living in style once she retires.
I think you hit this nail on the head. It’s not that deep–just like all the other shallow representation on this show.
It reminds me of the Sulu/George Takei situation, even if it’s not quite analogous. GT was not thrilled with the character he created (with Gene Roddenberry of course) coming out as gay, since Sulu was a heterosexual man. Just because GT’s gay he didn’t like that they made his character gay (even if it meant representation). Of course, John Cho is not gay (I’m assuming, since the never-wrong wikipedia lists him as having a wife), and that leads into the, can/should gay/straight people be playing straight/gay parts. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/george-takei-reacts-gay-sulu-909154/
@StudioTodd, ‘”At this point doesn’t nearly every show on the CW have a queer female character in the main cast?”’I don’t recall any on The Flash. The Arrow had Sara Lance, who also went on to become captain on Legends of Tomorrow.Legends of Tomorrow also has Sara Lance’s gf/wife.Batwoman always has a lesbian main lead first with Kate Kane then with her successor Ryan Wilder.I don’t recall any lesbians in the main cast of Superman & Lois.Supergirl had Alex Danvers and her gf/wife.Black Lightening had the older of Jefferson Pierce’s daughters its been awhile but I think her name was Anissa.There were some shows I never watched but queer representation isn’t in every show. Though they do at least try to be inclusive in most of their main casts.@MamaKinj, ‘”Of course, John Cho is not gay (I’m assuming, since the never-wrong wikipedia lists him as having a wife), and that leads into the, can/should gay/straight people be playing straight/gay parts.”’ It also naturally leads to the question whenever whatever actor/actress takes on a gay role,”They’re playing gay person? Are they really gay in real life?”At least I don’t know about anyone else but that’s where my mind goes. Also with regards to the accuracy of Wikipedia? If it were always 100% accurate there’d be no change-log histories(incidentally there ARE change-log histories).
I hope that with the Sulu character, the intent was well meant. This show? It’s just a deeply lazy and cynical cash grab.
It definitely seems like the Sulu business was well-intended, but Takei thought it would be better for real-world representation for a gay actor to play a straight character and not have that character changed to being gay to reflect the real-world actor.
I honestly feel that way about all the attempts at “diversity” in this show. Suddenly, all the main cast women have a woman of color friend (like a token!) and these other woke stories about gender, sexuality, human rights, etc. It feels completely shoehorned in and hollow. NONE of it feels authentic to these characters or this previously established world. I understand that they are trying to make up for the shortcomings of the original series but this feels like an overcorrection.
Totally! I too am struggling with this massive overcorrection. Like they said “let’s stuff this series with every social justice issue possible. There. All better.” It’s just too much.
Holy Manolo that episode suuuuuuuucked. Not a single mention of the dead husband. Major surgery would have surfaced all sorts of feels about him not being there. But it was like he never died, or even existed. No one is allowed to dress like that while they’re an inpatient. Not only did Carrie have multiple strands of pearls on, I think I also saw a gold necklace underneath that. Che is a bore. Miranda is so far gone an unfunny bore made her horny. Sam’s texts were the highlight of this episode.This entire unfortunate undertaking is an electronic billboard on Sunset Blvd with diverse buzzwords flashing by at five second intervals. I hate it.
Samantha’s (texts) the best part of the series and she’s not even in it.
You’re absolutely right but, ow!
David Eigenberg was raised in Naperville so he has ties to the area. He also has been on Chicago Fire since the fall of 2012 so this could have been when he first started on the show.
Steve was old AF and doddering during the first run of this show. He just doddered at pick-up games of basketball more often.
He was in his 30s.
Mrs. F. and I don’t have kids in school – or at all – and we’re all for everybody to express themselves as they see it and live a full life that makes them happy … BUT (I know) … is it really “Many” (kids) are changing names and/or pronouns…”Many? That infers a lot or even a majority. If so, Mrs/ F. and I are even more out of touch than we thought and need to get out of the house more if COVID ever ends and people stop being terrible.
I am generally against toilet scenes but, at least in my middle-aged world, it’s still considered embarrassing for a woman to pee in front of friends. So those two bathroom scenes may have been necessary to emphasize Carrie’s extreme dependence at the moment. It wouldn’t have been tense enough to have two scenes of the friends preparing her lunch.
Who keeps their heels on on the examination table at the doctor’s office?Who wear pearls over their hospital gown?Who would sit down on their friend’s toilet without shutting the door?And who would have sex with their recuperating friend’s boss in her very kitchen?I’m pretty sure I saw this episode when it played Times Square back in 1981.
TV lesson for you. Things are filmed well before they air. Willie Garson was very much alive when they filmed this episode. Killing his character then would have been especially cruel.
I thought the hip issue was quite realistic. Many people find out about congenital hip defects in their 40’s and 50’s (like shallow sockets) when it finally causes a labral tear, and hip pain is often referred to the low back. Also assuming that every pain you have is because old age, and thus not visiting a doctor about it, is a thing many of us olds do.
I am so glad SOMEONE brought up the issue of over the top, ridiculous clothing…as if SITC hasn’t always had that. But, yeah…pearls with a hospital gown, 6″ heels with hip pain??? Honestly, I find so much of the fashion utterly unbelievable. I mean, I’ve been to NYC and I certainly have not run into the continual fashion mistakes I see on this show (including SITC). I mean, Carrie is FINALLY wearing flats (which we have all seen her in before, she wore sneakers a couple of times in SITC)…but she chooses to make the horrible decision to wear socks with the sandals???? Just goes to show (for me anyway) how questionable her “fashion” choices really are….I mean, she wears some hideous stuff.And poor Miranda keeps getting put in klunky, ill-fitting outfits in this show…it’s horrible. At least in SITC she had some classic suits that looked great on her as well as other fashion, she looked good. Now they are making her look as much a wreck on the outside as she is on the inside.And then there is Charlotte…the epitome of the Happy Homemaker trying WAAAAAYYYY too hard. Seriously? A housewife, who yes does charity work…I get that….but she is as tightly wound as the multitude of belts she constantly wears. Damn, that woman must be constipated!Truly, the fashion is why I’m having such a hard time this go-round with these women. Have they learned NOTHING??? Sorry, but the 50-ish year old women I know, have learned how to be comfortable AND stylish and not a single one of them would don heels…with foot/hip/back pain. Just stupid!As for Samantha…I just can’t escape the feeling that she is going to be included in this show whether Kim Cattrall likes it or not. I half expect they will hire someone to impersonate her voice and and we will get a voice-mail from a missed call or something like that.
I have similar problems with the clothing! What worked originally about the wardrobes in SATC was that they fit with the characters for the most part (save for a few in the later seasons, namely S6). They could be a little “over the top” but the idiosyncrasies were subtle enough that you could believe a real person might wear a certain ensemble in a certain context. And Carrie’s “weirder” looks were pulled off because of the often-cited “strut” of SJP and how she just wore clothes in confident way. As a 30-something.
But like you’re mentioning, clothing habits change over time! And I’m not saying at all that there is a specific way a 55-year-old woman “would dress,” but there is a specific way that these characters would most likely dress as 55.year-olds and this is just not it. It’s TOO over-the-top that it’s spilled into gaudy costume territory and it’s just too much. The costumes are scene-chewing, and not in a good way. It’s too bad, too! It’s so sad seeing this major fail.