How Sex and the City changed TV as we knew it

Twenty-three years ago, a show about four fashionable women living in New York City burst on to our screens – and everything changed.

It was the series that bravely went where no woman had gone before, changing the face of television in the process.

When Sex And The City arrived on the scene in 1998 it was unlike anything we had seen before. For starters, here we had a bona fide movie star, Sarah Jessica Parker, doing TV, and cable TV, at that.

Sure, television is now awash with Oscar winners – think Meryl Streep in Big Little Lies, Nicole Kidman in The Undoing and Reese Witherspoon in Morning Wars – but in the 1990s, the small screen was still seen as the lesser medium to cinema.

Shows like Sex And The City, Six Feet Under and The Sopranos changed all that. Their groundbreaking storytelling attracted big-name actors and huge audiences to boot.

When Sex And The City came to its climax back in 2004, series creator Darren Star – the man also behind Melrose Place and Emily In Paris – said, “I think that what really broke new ground in this show was the attitudes that we sort of presented about women and their sexuality, and the idea that, you know, women were … these independent, sexual creatures who weren’t just necessarily looking to get married and settle down.

“And while that’s not necessarily a revolutionary statement, it wasn’t one that had been presented in such a frank and outrageous kind of way.”

So, what’s so groundbreaking about four fashionable women sipping cocktails and talking about their sex lives? A lot, actually.

It may seem hard to believe now, but back then, aside from The Golden Girls, you didn’t really see women over a certain age enjoying the single life, let alone exploring their sexuality and sex in general.

Sex And The City gave us four women – shoe-obsessed Carrie (Parker), sex-positive Samantha (Kim Cattrall), hopeless romantic Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and no-nonsense Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) – who weren’t afraid to talk about, and have lots of, sex.

Plus, the women were in their mid-30s to 40s and (shock, horror) unmarried.

Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis and Kim Cattrall shot to fame in Sex and the City.

While the show has in more recent years been criticised for its lack of diversity, it found a loyal fanbase for its fabulous fashion, frank portrayal of sex and focus on female friendships.

To this day, there are tour buses filled with devotees visiting the New York locations where it was filmed.

While some shows that followed – such as Cashmere Mafia (starring our very own Frances O’Connor and Miranda Otto) and Lipstick Jungle (with Brooke Shields) – felt like poor imitations, more recent incarnations such as Girls, starring Lena Dunham, fared better.

With that in mind, it’s easy to see why some question whether the Sex And The City revival And Just Like That – which hits streaming with a double episode premiere on Binge this Thursday – can live up to the legacy of its predecessor, especially without Cattrall and stylist Patricia Field on board for the ride.

The show was a bona fide success. Picture: AP/Michael Caulfield

Certainly, times have changed: TV audiences are now spoiled for choice with content and they’re a lot savvier, too, about the topics that Carrie and co once tackled.

But believe it or not, even though the show did so much to change the landscape of television for women, And Just Like That will once again be navigating uncharted waters. After all, there are still very few, if any, productions that focus on women who are over 50.

A frustrated Davis recently said: “People are like, ‘Why should [the Sex And The City characters] come back?’ And it really bugs me. Are women’s lives not interesting now? Nobody ever asks, ‘Why would you do this violent remake over and over again?’ For me that is so indicative of our reluctance to sit and watch women’s lives develop over time.”

Stream And Just Like That on BINGE from December 9. New customers get a 14-day free trial. Sign up at binge.com.au

Davis – who plays Charlotte – said it ‘bugs’ her that people question why SATC should get a revival.

And that’s why people will enjoy And Just Like That. Because while Sex And The City explored the characters’ romantic exploits, the most enduring love story was the friendship of the women … on screen, at least.

“Sex And The City has always been about the friendships that sustain you,” Parker said in a recent interview. “That, and the promise and potential that this city [New York] holds.”

And Just Like That starts streaming on Binge from December 9