1 00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:11,080 Speaker 1: From The Australian. This is the weekend edition of the Front. 2 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: I'm Claire Harvey. Sex and the City. There's a show 3 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:20,480 Speaker 1: that delivered on its promise plenty of sex in one 4 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:23,320 Speaker 1: of the most exciting cities of them all, New York. 5 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:29,240 Speaker 1: The appeal of the show was escapist fun, dates, designer shoes, cocktails, 6 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:34,000 Speaker 1: frivolous sex, grounded in something bigger, the modern woman's search 7 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:38,839 Speaker 1: for meaning in a life where everything was optional, men, marriage, children, 8 00:00:39,159 --> 00:00:42,720 Speaker 1: and maybe even love. Then came two movies that gave 9 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: fans a creeping sense something had been lost from the 10 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:51,120 Speaker 1: magic formula, and now a whole new series that confirms it. 11 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:59,400 Speaker 1: It's called and Just like that. Jessica Hallerin is actually 12 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: the Australian Chief sportswriter, but she's here today in a 13 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:04,759 Speaker 1: different capacity to talk to us about Sex and the City. 14 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:08,399 Speaker 1: And just like that, just you are our resident megafan 15 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 1: and also our resident critic. I guess tell me when 16 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:13,720 Speaker 1: Sex and the City first came out. You and I 17 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:16,319 Speaker 1: were in our early twenties. We were out having a 18 00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:18,120 Speaker 1: lot of sex and drinking a lot of cocktails and 19 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:21,959 Speaker 1: having fabulous lives, just like the girls in Manhattan. Why 20 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:25,479 Speaker 1: was the original Sex in the City so important culturally. 21 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:30,680 Speaker 2: It was just this sort of moment in time it 22 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:31,839 Speaker 2: being said in New York. 23 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:34,040 Speaker 1: The women all looked amazing. 24 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:38,200 Speaker 2: It was just this perfect sort of form of escapism 25 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:40,920 Speaker 2: I found. I'd go to a girlfriend's house and we 26 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:43,960 Speaker 2: all sit around the TV and drink a ten dollar 27 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:45,240 Speaker 2: bottle of wine, and. 28 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 1: It was a ritual. Everybody was watching it. Have you 29 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: seen the New York Times style section? You know, I 30 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,240 Speaker 1: can't handle hard news before noon. There's a beautiful man 31 00:01:56,280 --> 00:02:00,920 Speaker 1: downtown selling beautiful furniture. We're going Samford a whole afternoon 32 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:03,000 Speaker 1: plan with Australian burg. I'm not just going to drop 33 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 1: everything to go downtown to see some cute guy. He's straight. 34 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:07,640 Speaker 1: I get my purse. 35 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:10,079 Speaker 2: Yeah. 36 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 1: There was a great range of characters too. Even though 37 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:15,080 Speaker 1: it was called Sex in the City, their attitudes to 38 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:20,160 Speaker 1: sex ranged from the relatively prudish to the completely liberated. 39 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 1: And they were a new kind of iteration of the 40 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 1: working woman, weren't they. 41 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,919 Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely, And everybody would sort of sit around and go, oh, 42 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:31,320 Speaker 2: are you a Carrie or are you a Miranda? Or 43 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:35,239 Speaker 2: you're a Samantha, And it really became a topic of conversation, 44 00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:38,560 Speaker 2: and they were having these conversations on television that we'd 45 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:40,800 Speaker 2: really never heard women speak about before. 46 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:45,040 Speaker 1: You see, this is why I don't date. The men 47 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: out there are free. Well, that's completely unfair. I'm sorry. 48 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:50,720 Speaker 2: If a man is over thirty and single, there's something 49 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:51,240 Speaker 2: wrong with him. 50 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:54,800 Speaker 1: It's still winning. They're being weeded out from propagating the species. Okay, 51 00:02:54,800 --> 00:03:00,840 Speaker 1: what about us, We're just choosing. It was a really 52 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:05,560 Speaker 1: groundbreaking series, and it's hit the tone I feel like 53 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:08,160 Speaker 1: for the early two thousands in some ways, and became 54 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:12,840 Speaker 1: this moment for women in general. It changed fashion too, 55 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:15,680 Speaker 1: didn't it. I remember before that I wore little suits 56 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:19,079 Speaker 1: from Sports Girl to work, and afterwards it was like, well, 57 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 1: you can wear a dress and sneakers and a denim 58 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:26,760 Speaker 1: jacket and still be fashionable and professional in fact more so. 59 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:29,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, And I remember carry wearing these big flowers at 60 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:32,239 Speaker 2: one point, and then everybody started wearing the flowers, I 61 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:33,520 Speaker 2: think from Milana Hill here. 62 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 1: It looked ridiculous that I was mostlessly mocked for attempting 63 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:40,480 Speaker 1: a flower in my hair once when I was in 64 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:44,120 Speaker 1: my early twenties by one of our stuff. Yeah. So 65 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 1: then there were a couple of movies. The TV series 66 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:49,320 Speaker 1: ended in two thousand and four, and then twenty and 67 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:52,400 Speaker 1: eight and twenty ten there were movies for me. That's 68 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 1: when Six and the City started to go downhill. The 69 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 1: first movie I liked. I thought that was well put together. 70 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:02,760 Speaker 1: The storylines were incredibly believable. But I remember when Sex 71 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:04,720 Speaker 1: and the City, the second movie came out, it was 72 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:07,320 Speaker 1: just getting widely panned and I thought, oh, it couldn't 73 00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:11,160 Speaker 1: be that bad. It was terrible. It was absolutely horrendous. 74 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, the Lies of Manali Caming. 75 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:22,720 Speaker 1: I remember watching, going, what are we watching? 76 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:25,000 Speaker 2: Little Food? 77 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 1: They went to the Middle East on an ill fated 78 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:33,120 Speaker 1: kind of girls trip. I vividly remember a scene in 79 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:37,560 Speaker 1: a marketplace where Samantha was kind of getting pursued by 80 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:42,200 Speaker 1: sortied locals, and it just felt kind of racist. 81 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:48,039 Speaker 2: It just went from being this cleverly written, tightly written 82 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 2: franchise to being nothing but a Dog's Breakfast sort of 83 00:04:52,760 --> 00:04:55,960 Speaker 2: mash up of a musical with just some. 84 00:04:55,800 --> 00:05:00,480 Speaker 1: Really poor storylines. And I don't think it's for covered since. 85 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:05,280 Speaker 1: So in twenty twenty one, and just like that, that 86 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:08,599 Speaker 1: mood two huge excitement. You know, it was really wonderful 87 00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:11,760 Speaker 1: to see these women now in their late fifties returning 88 00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:15,240 Speaker 1: to the screen. But from the very first episode there 89 00:05:15,279 --> 00:05:18,680 Speaker 1: was disappointment, wasn't there yeah, where we have to go 90 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:19,080 Speaker 1: back to? 91 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:23,280 Speaker 2: Here is this sort of breakdown off screen between Sarah 92 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:26,920 Speaker 2: Jessica Parker and King Katrell. One of the main characters, 93 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 2: Samantha Jones and her not returning to this franchise and 94 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:35,240 Speaker 2: the number of issues sort of bubbling around it, and 95 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:38,000 Speaker 2: as to why she's not coming back. Some of the 96 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:40,280 Speaker 2: things that have been floated is money. The other reasons 97 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:43,919 Speaker 2: was she felt like, why bring Samantha back? Can't we 98 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:47,360 Speaker 2: just let these characters go? But I think the biggest 99 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:49,800 Speaker 2: problem with this franchise is no Samantha Jones. 100 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:56,800 Speaker 1: I am heart. I'm also demanding, stubborn, self sufficient and 101 00:05:56,880 --> 00:06:00,720 Speaker 1: always right in bed, at the office and everywhere else. 102 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:06,359 Speaker 1: They've attempted to replace Samantha with a couple of new 103 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:10,719 Speaker 1: additions to the quartet, a university professor called Nia and 104 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:14,120 Speaker 1: a woman called Lisa Todd Wexley, both women of color 105 00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:17,520 Speaker 1: who kind of joined the group on the fringes. The 106 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:20,200 Speaker 1: Nia character has disappeared after season one of and just 107 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:22,040 Speaker 1: like that, whatever, Man, I. 108 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:27,159 Speaker 2: Don't know, Nia just disappeared, Jay disappeared, Miranda's lover. I 109 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:31,200 Speaker 2: think what is happening here is that Michael Patrick King, 110 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:34,920 Speaker 2: the show runner, the original creator, the chief writer of 111 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:39,719 Speaker 2: this is bulldozing ahead with his vision without really stopping 112 00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:41,839 Speaker 2: to listen to what the people are saying out there, 113 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:47,520 Speaker 2: which is they are incredibly disappointed that characters that we 114 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:52,320 Speaker 2: originally loved and adored, like say, Miranda, has completely departed 115 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:53,280 Speaker 2: from who she is. 116 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:55,920 Speaker 1: She's a lesbian now yes some of the time. 117 00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:56,360 Speaker 2: Yes. 118 00:06:56,560 --> 00:07:00,919 Speaker 1: And she's an alcoholic yes, it was right. Maybe you 119 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:05,720 Speaker 1: do have a drinking problem. I don't have a drinking problem. 120 00:07:06,279 --> 00:07:09,640 Speaker 1: I just got a little carried away. You are married, 121 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:16,960 Speaker 1: and you just had sex in my kitchen. I'm unhappy. 122 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:20,520 Speaker 1: I'm unhappy. Okay. 123 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:26,160 Speaker 2: Recently, there was an episode, which is a party episode, 124 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:30,960 Speaker 2: which involved Miranda becoming almost like a caricature of herself. 125 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:32,760 Speaker 2: She was a bit of a clown. She was wearing 126 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:36,560 Speaker 2: this silver jumpsuit and she was overseeing this party for Charlotte, 127 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 2: and it really didn't feel like Miranda, and I felt 128 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:42,320 Speaker 2: kind of embarrassed for her, and actually. 129 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:45,560 Speaker 1: Felt embarrassed for the show. Yeah, this is a character who, 130 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:48,880 Speaker 1: throughout sex and the city was the hard nosed corporate 131 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:53,200 Speaker 1: lawyer who treated her puppy dogish kind of boyfriend quite 132 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:58,040 Speaker 1: meanly and didn't really need anyone, and she was hilarious. 133 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:03,280 Speaker 1: Now she's extreme, needy, very insecure. She's given up corporate 134 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:06,040 Speaker 1: law to work for something that looks like Human Rights Watch. 135 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:10,120 Speaker 1: She's lost everything that made her interesting, hasn't she Yeah, 136 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:10,520 Speaker 1: she has. 137 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:13,960 Speaker 2: And so then it also leads to very weird interactions 138 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:16,680 Speaker 2: with other characters. And most recently, there was a very 139 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:19,400 Speaker 2: contentious scene at the end of an episode which involved 140 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:25,440 Speaker 2: Carrie and Miranda having a fight where Miranda is challenging 141 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:29,120 Speaker 2: Carrie about her relationship with the writer downstairs, who is 142 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:32,520 Speaker 2: a potential new love interest, and it just turns into 143 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:36,920 Speaker 2: Carry becoming this horrible, depressed, mean girl. And it was interesting. 144 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:39,600 Speaker 2: I was listening to a podcast with Michael Patrick King. 145 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:43,800 Speaker 1: Hello Lovers, Welcome back to and just like that the 146 00:08:43,840 --> 00:08:45,359 Speaker 1: Writer's Room the Official. 147 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:47,280 Speaker 2: And he described that scene as one of his favorite 148 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:50,800 Speaker 2: scenes ever, and I just was like, this is the problem. 149 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:54,199 Speaker 1: One of my favorite scenes of all time. Carrie and 150 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:56,880 Speaker 1: Miranda in the kitchen. I've just been reading the entire 151 00:08:56,920 --> 00:08:58,720 Speaker 1: party scene. 152 00:08:59,320 --> 00:08:59,839 Speaker 2: Can we talk? 153 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:03,439 Speaker 1: We're not enjoying it. 154 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:07,760 Speaker 2: I'm now just watching for the clothes, which also aren't 155 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:08,120 Speaker 2: as good. 156 00:09:08,559 --> 00:09:09,640 Speaker 1: They aren't as good. 157 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:13,520 Speaker 2: I mean, Pat Field's not there, so that's also another 158 00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:15,200 Speaker 2: loss for the franchise. 159 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:23,160 Speaker 1: Coming up. Did we ask for storylines about age related 160 00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:41,160 Speaker 1: medical conditions. I went back to the original Sex in 161 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:45,120 Speaker 1: the City and watched the whole six seasons. I'd never 162 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:47,760 Speaker 1: really focused on them properly. I hadn't watched it all 163 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:50,439 Speaker 1: the way through, and I thought, I wonder if actually 164 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:54,480 Speaker 1: our sensibilities have changed as a society and it was 165 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:57,080 Speaker 1: always kind of bad. Actually it was not bad. It 166 00:09:57,120 --> 00:09:59,680 Speaker 1: has aged really really well. Apart from the lack of 167 00:09:59,679 --> 00:10:05,000 Speaker 1: diverse original series, it was great. It wasn't kind of 168 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:09,240 Speaker 1: silly and confected like it is now. Yeah, silly and confected. 169 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:12,240 Speaker 1: And for the most part, people are now just hate 170 00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:15,840 Speaker 1: watching it, right, Like, I haven't found anybody that's gone, 171 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:18,520 Speaker 1: oh no, it's fantastic, isn't it. One of the things 172 00:10:18,559 --> 00:10:22,080 Speaker 1: that I find confronting about it is seeing these women older, 173 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:25,840 Speaker 1: And you know, this is my issue. I struggle to 174 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:29,280 Speaker 1: see the bad plastic surgery they've had, the kind of 175 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:32,480 Speaker 1: excessive filler. Although maybe I would also struggle if they 176 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:34,880 Speaker 1: hadn't had any plastic surgery or filler. You know, maybe 177 00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:38,480 Speaker 1: this is like internalized misfortuning. You know what, do you 178 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:43,560 Speaker 1: think their faces are significantly changed, all except Miranda. 179 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:47,840 Speaker 2: I think it's really hard to move on from the 180 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:51,360 Speaker 2: early two thousands. I just don't think society has been 181 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:55,120 Speaker 2: set up for us to actually look at aging faces 182 00:10:55,160 --> 00:10:56,800 Speaker 2: like we did. I mean, you know you and I 183 00:10:56,880 --> 00:10:58,920 Speaker 2: also grew up with the Golden Girls, where forty year 184 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:02,200 Speaker 2: olds look like sixty years. But on the whole, I 185 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:05,880 Speaker 2: think the way that their addressing aging is interesting but 186 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:09,439 Speaker 2: also uncomfortable. Right, The beauty of Sex and the City 187 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:11,880 Speaker 2: was we had these four women living in New York, 188 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:15,200 Speaker 2: living sort of these fantasy lives. But the fantasy has 189 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:19,240 Speaker 2: gone from and just like that, but it's probably become 190 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:22,920 Speaker 2: a bit too real in some ways. The closest you 191 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:25,560 Speaker 2: got in Sex and the City to a medical issue 192 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:29,520 Speaker 2: was when Carrie's diaphram got stuck and Samantha had to 193 00:11:29,720 --> 00:11:30,720 Speaker 2: retrieve it for her. 194 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:36,280 Speaker 1: Now and just like that, there's bowel cancer and prostate 195 00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:41,080 Speaker 1: cancer and people dropping dead and adult and happies. Yeah, 196 00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:51,280 Speaker 1: it's not very sexy. This episode of the Front was 197 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:54,360 Speaker 1: hosted by me Claire Harvey and co produced with Jasper Leigue, 198 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:57,480 Speaker 1: who edited the episode and also wrote our theme. Thanks 199 00:11:57,480 --> 00:11:59,600 Speaker 1: for joining us on the front this week. Our team 200 00:11:59,679 --> 00:12:03,880 Speaker 1: also includes Kristen Amiot, Leat Sammerglue, Tiffany Dimak, Joshua Burton, 201 00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:05,000 Speaker 1: and Stephanie Coombs.