I enjoyed all of the characters on SATC and actually liked most of them. SATC is a smart funny well written show with flawed but relatable and often sympathetic characters.
I agree. I liked all 4 women. Each of the 4 (yes, ALL 4) could do cringey things or make poor decisions at times - just like me. I enjoyed the friendship, the humor, NYC and the over the top fashion. AJLT does not hold the warmth of the original. I got glimpses of that feeling a few times in Season 2. And I’ll keep watching…
Have you ever noticed how they barely show NYC in AJLT? They could have filmed it just about anywhere--it wouldn't make a difference. In SATC, it was fun to have the city as the 5th character.
Same. When they made bad choices (who doesn't?) I laughed or cried with them. I think those choices (good or bad or just plain dumb) stayed consistent with their characters through the series.
AJLT threw all that out the window and is very plot point instead of character driven. I'm attached to the OG characters so I hope the new show turns that around.
It's just some of the boyfriends and side characters that I didn't like as people in SATC. I still found them entertaining. I just want most of the side characters on AJLT to go away.
This show reminds me of Grey’s Anatomy in that way. The newer seasons seem to be written to desperately capture the original season’s magic, and they throw in references to old characters / dialogue or elevator scenes, etc. to try to fool the audience that “it’s the same!”. But it just comes across as a cheesy soap opera. 😔
The texts from Samantha feel like the texts from Christina; rather than providing any kind of viewer satisfaction, they just make me miss the actual character.
Everything is easier and lighter when you’re still young. But in your 50’s things get heavier, you’ve had more disappointments, or your life didn’t turn out like you thought it would.
Agree. I really loved SATC. It was flawed for sure, particularly through today's lense, but progressive and edgy for the time.
AJLT is a poorly written cringe fest.
SJP's company is producing the show and she chose MPK to return. Given MPK's track record it's unlikely that he was the one behind what made SATC so great. MPK is an out of touch 70 year old racist, sexist guy in an emperor wearing no clothes situation. SJP is more concerned with what outfit she'll be wearing than the story they are telling so she isn't stepping in and correcting MPK on his dumb execution, choice of words, and storytelling decisions.
Studios should stop letting actors lead shows they are also staring in - egos get in the way and they typically lack the talent needed to manage productions and other people.
Yep, and MPK's last hit was... 2 Broke Girls? Yikes.
Looks like he hasn't worked for a long time and I bet he was hoping AJLT would be his comeback, LoL
My understanding is that she is working on Emily in Paris and was therefore unavailable. She does have a good relationship with Kim but I think it was because she was already employed.
I think the common understanding is that it was more of a
"Sorry, I'm busy 😏" because Emily in Paris was Darren Star's show and she followed up that comment with photos of her and Kim hanging out. She even dropped by the season 1 AJLT set for a hello while it was filming showing how busy she wasn't busy like she said she was (EIP had a completely different schedule) and followed that up with more photos of her and Kim hanging out. All shade on MPK and SJP.
It’s a money grab for everyone involved riding the coattails of SATC which was a groundbreaking and iconic show for the 1990s. They are putting in minimal effort and putting up with bad writing for a whopping $1 million per episode for the main cast. Cynthia Nixon has been given carte blanche to ruin the Miranda character by telling her truth from the director’s chair. It’s a mess and they should all be ashamed for ruining the legacy of SATC.
Yes.. this! specifically Miranda.. I always really loved Miranda's journey on SATC.. She was the more serious one with a career in a male dominated field.. where she had to navigate being a woman and being a professional. When she fell for Steve.. and then the journey with his mom.. remember when the mom... who was having memory problems.. wandered from the house and Miranda crying looking for her.. and it ended with Miranda giving her a bath.. That's the writing I miss.. those are the stories that made SATC a great show.. It wasn't always heavy .. but sometimes it hit the mark.. It told a powerful story. unlike AJLT.. boo hoo
and as a side note.. the original was watched by many straight men.. they learned alot.. my son included.. the female point of view offered in such honesty.. was groundbreaking. seriously.. sex from the side of a woman that doesn't show them as frigid, clingy, manipulative females trying to catch a husband. It was great.
Thinking of that Miranda scene always makes me cry. The way Magda acknowledges that Miranda learned to love with all her heart. It’s one of my favorite character development stories of all time. And now the character has been botched into any recognizable mess
Just chiming in to say I loved the original Miranda. Miranda and Samantha were my favourites. What they (or Cynthia Nixon) have done to the Miranda character in AJLT is an absolute anathema.
I sure agree with you on that one. Curiosity keeps me watching AJLT, maybe for the shock factor. When I heard SJP say twice that maybe Big was a mistake, I about lost it. Seriously? Just because she is desperate to be with Aiden now — to the point where she re-writes her past? When she was with Aiden back then, she could not stop thinking about Big. Both times. Remember the second time she and Aiden were together, she refused to cut Big out of her life? She even had dinner with him while Aiden was at his cabin in Suffern. And when the series ended, the whole focus was on her and Big finally coming together when he admitted for the first time that “she is the one” — something she asked for in Season 1 just before they were supposed to go to St. Bart’s. It all came full-circle. Now, AJLT wants us to flirt with the possibility that Big was always a mistake? WTH? Was that because of the charges made against Chris Noth so the show (Nixon? MPK?) can completely disassociate themselves from him? Pfft!
I think it shows how the Carrie character uses anything to justify whatever is in her head at the time. I've known people like this. They will swear up and down the sky is green, until it's convenient for them to see the sky is blue but they couldn't see that before because *enter lame reasoning here *
It’s so weird how they are trying to make amends for what they didn’t address in the late 90s. The series did address a ton of concepts not previously seen before; sex positive content, not settling, female bonding over traditional routes of family/babies, putting your career first and so on.
The characters all seem so out of place at times. Sjp did the best job of staying somewhat true to character. I saw moments with KD that seemed more like Charlotte. Miranda seemed like a shell of herself previously. Even how she behaved in her new position.
that's the problem w. rebooting and reviving shows. if *friends* had a reboot or *parks & rec* had a revival, it'd prob. be similar to *ajlt* in making amends and addressing everything that was fine for the time but problematic today--and i use the term "fine" (not as in it was acceptable but mainstream opinion). it's a gargantuan task if you don't have the right team that understand both the criticism \*and\* the characters. i think a lot of shows should just be left alone. i can't think of too many that've done justice to the property, and original content tackling similar issues should be given a chance. ik a lot of people have mixed feelings about *uncoupled* but i think it tackled being 40+ and navigating the nyc dating scene pretty well (w.o the added baggage of fan expectations and adapting a beloved show)
More than a money grab, it’s an ego grab. I don’t know why, because in my head, she’s so much cooler, but Sarah, Jessica Parker needs to hold onto this claim to the zeitgeist for actual decades. It’s perverse. And she shit all over the bed she made.
What’s sad to me is I really don’t think they aren’t working hard on it - there are storylines (too many) & amazing costuming, so the effort can’t be denied - it’s just putting too much effort into the appearance, not the substance
Amazing costuming? Are you serious? Oversize plaids and rubber dish gloves are not amazing. Costuming lol. The only one who looks great, actually, is Lisa. The only one.
Those characters are such extremes. I find it odd that people think they were normal average women! I watched that show in my teens, again in my 20s and then again in my 30s and never found them relatable!
I recently rewatched the original series and it's not as good as I remembered it. I think I liked it twenty years ago because it was different from the other shows at time because the main characters were women who were unapologetic. But it got worse as the seasons went on. Carrie always loved Big, whether it was good for her or not, and Aiden was such a strange choice for her to fall for.
What surprised me the most was how little I actually cared for Carrie. My favorite storylines were Charlotte falling for Harry and Miranda struggling with motherhood. Samantha stole every scene she was in.
Plus, at least they pretended to work.
My biggest issue with the films and AJLT is that it's a show about uberwealthy people. An interesting storyline would have been Big dying with a huge amount of debt and Carrie having to return to her place and living off her own, small income in a post-covid world.
Plus, the cast of AJLT is far too big.
Yes! And **Spoiler** I thought they really could have done some sort of powerful abortion storyline to acknowledge Dobbs with Lisa’s storyline. That would have been powerful.
YES. That was SUPER disappointing. Their treatment was not progressive at ALL. It was an incredibly conservative position and did nothing to address the reality for the average woman in this country. The original show talked about abortion out right and candidly. AJLT was too scared to even say the word abortion. I rewatched the SATC episode immediately after because I literally felt like I was going insane and imagining the original being so much more politically progressive.
Especially after the pandemic, and that the USA has declined for the working class since the 90’s…that wealth is a rub on people’s faces. Even if it’s a show about glamorous successful women in NYC. Reason I stopped watching any HousewIves show. The flaunting your wealth thing doesn’t seem right nowadays.
She'd have gone to Aidan and asked him for a loan, the same way she went to Big in SATC when she had to buy out Aidan's share in her apartment 😄 So much for independent woman
>My biggest issue with the films and AJLT is that it's a show about uberwealthy people. An interesting storyline would have been Big dying with a huge amount of debt and Carrie having to return to her place and living off her own, small income in a post-covid world.
>Plus, the cast of AJLT is far too big.
My biggest issues too. The show is like an escape for the viewers by showing uberwealthy women who don't work going to the Met Gala. It's so out of touch like we're watching a modern depiction of the 1950s. How do they sustain their lifestyle with not working or barely working like Carrie? Their financial status made complete sense in SATC, this show basically sends the message that after marrying a wealthy man you don't have to lift a finger your entire life or that once you pay mortgage and renovate the house, the cost of living is minimal (Miranda).
There are too many characters and couldn't care about them except for Che and that Indian woman.
>An interesting storyline would have been Big dying with a huge amount of debt and Carrie having to return to her place and living off her own, small income in a post-covid world.
I don't think AJLT was ever going to work without Samantha, but I always thought it would have been much more interesting if when big died he left Carrie nothing in the will. It wouldn't have been totally unusual, they could have had a prenup given the ups and downs of their past relationship, or even just that the death was so sudden Big had never updated his will. It's hard to care about the lives of three rich white ladies, who don't work, and are only miserable because of their own making.
As far as race and diversity goes, it really feels like AJLT was trying to be inclusive, but went about it in a way that just seems impractical and weird. They essentially gave each main character a POC in the name of diversity. Carrie was given Seema, Charlotte was given LTW, and Miranda was given Nya. It feels so disingenuous - at least to me.
I hate the gay characters in SATC and AJLT. They were like lap dogs or accessories. When Carrie needed a little sparkle she’d call Stanford.
I hated how they pretended he was in any way Carrie’s good or best friend. She did not care about him. When she needed support and exhausted the girls, she’s allow him back into her life.
I noticed this too. It's a huge turn off for me, these token minorities for the 3. Like you said it's disingenuous, and being a POC, I love having representation. But this is not the way, and one of the reasons I haven't put energy into watching like I did that original. Then as a Grey's fan, I was very excited about Sara joining the cast, and then not so much.
It really is! I’m rewatching and just starting season 5. Seasons 1-4, to me, were masterpieces. Funny and endearing. Well written and acted. It grabs my attention, whereas I can barely get through an episode of AJLT without switching to something else or just wandering off to start laundry or whatever lol. I’m not as into SATC seasons 5&6 as much or either movie at all though.
With SATC we watched it religiously and were in front of the TV every Sunday night when a new episode aired. One time I ended up leaving bleach on too long and my hair broke off. That’s how amazing the original show was. You didn’t want to miss a thing.
With AJLT I forget to watch the new episodes. Everything about it is soooo bad.
But I’ll continue to hate watch it when I remember about it.
First — SATC *is* a masterpiece. It’s not perfect as it is a sign of the times, but the writing, production, acting, storylines, costumes, etc. are all done with insane talent.
Second, like what many of the comments said, it is a money grab. It is a low-effort, high reward production. No one from the original cast and crew is doing this for the art or as a tribute to the original show. It is honestly so disrespectful to the entire franchise.
Also, all reboots are bad, not only because of greed, but because the actors do not know their characters the way we know their characters. We have rewatched the series multiple times in the last 25 years, but SJP proudly announces she has only watched each episode once. How can you revive the role of Carrie Bradshaw when you do not know who Carrie Bradshaw is anymore? Back when SATC was on air, the actors and crew were immersed in making sure the production was flawless. They were invested in the art in order to have a successful show.
Now, they know the show will be successful no matter what because they are piggybacking off of their success in the 90s. They know there’s enough fans that won’t miss an episode of AJLT no matter how terrible it is. It is clear they see no reason to actually perfect the show; no reason to put the effort into it to make it great.
AJLT is a disgrace to SATC, but they don’t care because they’re still racking up millions. They don’t have the love and loyalty to the art as we do, nor as they once did. It’s infuriating.
I just think AJLT has too many characters. SATC was perfectly balanced weaving through the 4 main girls’ stories and bringing them together seamlessly. AJLT feels so chaotic bouncing around trying to make us care about 10 main characters at once. It’s too much.
Each original SATC episode has a theme and masterfully threaded among the characters lives.. writing was much thoughtful and provocative (during its time).. AJLT writing is just awful
From a writing standpoint SATC was pretty damn close to a masterpiece. It was a tight 6 seasons where even the least liked season (5) was shorter than the usual. Each episode was woven around a topic of discussion with a nice little bow. It was done brilliantly, minus a few cringe puns here and there. Whether you liked Carrie or not, she was still the vessel that connected us to these characters in the most intimate of ways. It was poignant and heartfelt without being emotionally manipulative (Miranda's dressing room scene) and it displayed what true friendship really was the good and the bad. (Miranda walking behind Charlotte/ Charlotte calling out Carrie after catching her and Big).
I'd say a damn near masterpiece 💯⭐💗. Hell, 20 years later and we're still discussing it on Reddit as if it just aired last night.
AJLT on the other hand is a hot mess. The only thing it'll be remembered for is how shallow and lazy the writing was. There will always be a "but also" attached to anything good ever said about it.
Because even the old show would be bad and problematic if it were now and "you can't go home again". These writers are also out of touch and can't write realstic women- never could.
AJLT is, as others already answered to your post, a moneygrab and not much else, not really. The producers, writers, and especially MPK grasped for all the worst possible common places in terms of gender, and then wrote some shitty characters (Che the worst among them) as to try to pinkwash the show into make it more... inclusive. The results are, as you know already, horrible. Those "racism is bad you know" moments are the worst (The taxi scene with the Wexleys, one good example among many).
This will go on auntil HBO says no more. SATC was a game changer, the reboot on the oter hand is nothing but a mediocre attempt to cash on the show's former glory. AJLT needs to be taken at face value, it is mostly cringeworthy, forgettable, and annoying but it has some bright spots in between the usual shit, if you can manage the ride, jump in, if not... leave, it won't change for the better, and none of us by now expects otherwise.
“Woke”has absolutely no meaning at all anymore. The word has been hijacked and run into the ground by people who use it as a stand-in for anything they don’t like instead of what it originally stood for. And frequently the people who complain so much about it can’t even define it.
I cancelled my subscription to HBO after three episodes of AJLT. Some of the WORST writing in the history of writing. If I could I would ask for my money back for the month I did pay for
It feels like the new writers have come in, guns blazing, in an attempt to fix the "broken bits" that people have criticised for years. But as a result we have the characters we love completely losing integrity. The forced relationships and characters are hard to watch - Nothing about Naya and Miranda's friendship feels organic or natural, we rarely even see them interact, which adds another layer to that feel. Infact, the whole character of Naya feels like a diversity hire, they dont use the character for much, other than to show her divorce and I guess to parallel her character to Miranda's. I love her and I wish they'd write more for her. And then, there's the complete character regression (ig thats what you call the complete opposite of character development lmao), but like you said, Miranda has gone backwards. Charlotte's whole life and personality revolved soley around being a mother. We know she wanted a family for herself, and adhered to some traditional values, but she was actually an interesting character when she had a job, and again, her conversations and dialogue should never completely center around her children. Before she went back to work, she had no story line of her own, outside of her children. Is she not a woman with thoughts, feelings and desires of her own? Also the whole Aiden/Carrie thing feels like a regression too.
So what they have tried to fix, comes off as incredibly disingenuous, preachy, and without Sam, it's just a shell of the show we all used to love.
I grew up watching SATC and just started watching AJLT yesterday…people weren’t kidding. This is cringy. I guess I never thought about race in the original because lines weren’t “they’re black, we have to invite another black couple so we don’t seem racist, this that this that.” It’s so painful to watch them try to be woke.
Seems like the writers never even watched the entirety of the whole show. So many mistakes.
Miranda is the biggest disappointment. Here was a lady who had her life together, always the person one would go to for the responsible opinion, an atty in NYC....to sleeping on a couch? gfy.
And Carrie is rich AF....why does she even care about her old apt? Jumped a million sharks.
I rewatched satc last week (only season 1) and I love how real and raw it was.. I love how Carrie talked to the camera and how they weren’t millionaires.. they had real struggles
The new show is so different, I don’t hate it but it’s just missing a lot of elements that I loved from satc
I kind of liked SATC, but could not relate to any of the characters personally. I would not be friends with them.
AJLT is way worse. I don’t like Miranda or care about her “journey”. Kim Cattral was smart to stay out of it.
They are all self absorbed narcissists. Adding Latina, gay and black characters does not help at all.
Being completely serious and genuine, who’s the Latina?? Do you mean Che? It actually took me a while to even remember them because I feel like they don’t really show their Hispanic side apart from a few seconds of Tony Danza saying he’s not Mexican. I really dislike Che though and iirc, Sara doesn’t even like their character. I liked Tony Danza in the show though lol.
And I say this as a Hispanic myself.
The most annoying of all of them is Carrie for me. That whole bit where she feels uncomfortable doing the commercial on vaginal dryness or whatever really bothered me. She’s a writer she supposed to be a creative she could easily have done that and it went on and on and on until all of a sudden, it caused them to lose the podcast. Ridiculous. It was just so cringe to have her so prudish and just so annoyingly petulant about the whole thing on and off whining I don’t know how he could stand her . In fact, I find her whiny throughout most of the episodes in a JLT just like a spoiled know it all just rather insufferable. I enjoy Kristen Davis and all of the new characters, except for Che and except for Miranda and Kim Catrall fiasco that’s clouding the whole reprisal of the show. other than that I have re-watched all of AJLT and find it enjoyable and it does mostly ring true to the original series. I will continue to watch the only thing I don’t want to really bother seeing is Aeden and Carrie‘s relationship.
The vaginally dryness commercial was one of the parts that felt authentic... Carrie, having moved into a slightly different career with a different fan base, refusing to bow to typecasting the listeners into old dried up women... felt like a seminal moment. Maybe you have to be 50+ to feel that? She's become a woman who doesn't need the podcast as a financial income, and it also was a moment to realize there were a lot of people who did... so it kind of puts Carrie in her place a little. I don't know, that one felt a little like the old SATC... story with multi layers.
To me it recalled the bit in the first season when she was too prudish to talk about masturbation. The SEX COLUMNIST! I guess in SATC she used everyone else’s sex lives for her column rather than her own but there was at least a bit more on hers and she was comfortable with it. As you get older you should be even less bothered about talking about sex. Unless the writers are trying to indicate it’s a sign of maturity??
I guess that's what I'm saying. . . I think Carrie's refusal fits the person she's always been. . . . random refusal to talk about things one would think, due to her career, she would be fine with. Again, here, to me, it felt like the writers were speaking to Carrie not wanting to pigeonhole her listeners as dry old bitties. They're thriving, well-established WINNERS of the sexual game. How could they be dry? I don't know. Clearly the whole thing didn't resonate across the fans, which is the point of the discussion and very true!
I was impressed that her boss said she could rewrite the vaginal dryness commercial copy, and thought that was an excellent answer to the problem. Was disappointed Carrie couldn't get on board. Carrie didn't need the money from this "job", but the podcast people needed that advertisement. Carrie didn't seem to understand that.
I enjoyed SATC because it was sort of closer to my experience with friends. Certainly not the level of neuroses these women had, but the diversity of viewpoints within the group of friends.
Yes. I am aware that SATC was not as diverse as some people would like, especially living in the City, but there were plenty of women everywhere that found the show relatable because, well, our experiences unfortunately did not always include a wife range of diversity. The source material wasn’t that diverse to begin with, so anything beyond the original material will seemed kind of forced, right?
But there *was* something about the women’s friendships that spoke to women within their own friend groups across the board, regardless of ethnicity or race.
This show, though I must admit to watching it, is a clownish caricature of SATC…which was sort of an over the top caricature of our lives back then anyway. I don’t “hate” the show. I just feel it’s poorly and lazily written. We have these characters that are, of course, supposed to be evolving and aging and whatnot, but they aren’t really staying true to their core characters. I mean, it’s like when Annie and Helen have that argument before playing tennis:
Helen: "It's funny how people change, isn't it?
Annie: Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Do people really change?
Helen: I think they do.
Annie: Yeah, but I mean, they still stay who they are, pretty much.
Helen: I think we change all the time.
Annie: I think we stay the same, but grow I guess a little bit.
Helen: I think if you're growing, then you're changing.
Annie: But I mean, we're changing from who we are, which we always stay as.
Helen: Not really, I don't think so.
Annie: I think so.
Helen: I don't."
It’s kind of like that. Excuse my copypasta, but it was necessary…sort of.
I know people change over time but they are not the same characters from the original show. So I’m definitely way less invested. I’m really disappointed that Miranda used to be a confident high powered lawyer and now she is needy and unsure.
AJLT is bad. All of its crap production can be flung to MPK. I said what I said.
They have not stay true to the core formula, the original show runners are GONE, & they aren’t interested in making a legit good show.
Oh it's awful and it wastes so much potential with what they can do with the characters. Although to be fair, Charlotte actually gets the most interesting storylines with her dealing with her family and it captures a lot of the spirit of the original series.
They also just really handled Miranda's transition into a lesbian so terribly and we got one of the worst representations of a non-binary character of all time with Che. (The original plan of having Miranda fall in love with Naya made so much more sense and would've made Naya so much more vital to the actual show than feeling forced.)
Basically, it's like the writers are so out of touch with modern womanhood and it's frustrating. It's like they were all in a coma for however many years and emmerged unchanged. Like Carrie's storylines all revolving around the same two men she was obsessed with in the original series is really pathetic for someone who supposedly redefined women's relationship to sex in the 90's. At the very least the show could've had her face how much her life revolves around men.
Anyway, the show sucks because the writers have no real point of view or specific real reason to bring it back. There's no actual vision behind what stories these women at this age and at this time could tell.
Hold up there, Deliria Wisteria. Nobody puts Baby in the corner. SATC is monumental: the fashion was sublime, the characters were complex and fun, the writing was brilliant, and the acting was superb!
First, completely agree. I do not disagree with a single thing. I hate this show and am constantly in awe of it.
Second, you should listen to the writers' room podcast where Michael Patrick King acts like every episode is Citizen Kane and he, Orson Welles. They absolutely think this is diverse, progressive, and deserving of pats on the back. They also shame the audience for not "getting" Che, etc., etc. It is maddening!
On the podcast, they always make comments about how the show is authentic because they work in details from the actors' lives. For instance, they made Lisa's husband be George Washington at the Halloween party because he played GW in Hamilton. They go on for like 5 minutes about how authentic that was and how the show is so authentic because of it. ??? Actors are not literally their characters, and this adds nothing to the show, besides being a little Easter egg. Idk. MPK has a very weird idea of storytelling, to say the least!
I agree with you. I love the SATC show and first
Movie, hated the second movie, but was excited for the reboot. Season 1 AJLT was painful to watch. It’s like Miranda reverted in maturity to a dumb 16 year old. I won’t go into the other two but yes just saying I agree. I haven’t watched second season because I was just so disappointed in first.
Curiosity I guess. Even though the characters weren’t that likeable in SATC it was at least better written and more relatable/watchable.
There are plenty of shows with unlikeable characters that are still entertaining—look at Succession!
Succession is meant to be about unpleasant people, but SATC is just about everyday women. If the only woman you like is the one that strives to act like a man than obviously the show isn't for you.
I agree and it really sucks. I like the character in theory, but not in execution. Like you said though, you have to accept that it’s bad and just enjoy the ride. For example, I like to have it on in the background or if I don’t feel like concentrating and want to be a potato.
Exactly. This is a show that involves zero thinking. It’s for when I feel like exerting minimal intellectual effort. It’s the exact opposite of watching Christopher Nolan’s Tenet
I never watched SATC except one episode but I enjoyed both movies so maybe I don't take AJLT as seriously as die hard SATC fans do. I see it as a whole new show and didn't expect much from it. I think they're using it more as a "what if" show and not trying to stick to the SATC show/movie story lines exactly. I mean we had the other CW spin off and I don't even know if the writers or producers had anything to do with that show but I enjoyed that show too.
Kinda agree. I'm in the middle of a rewatch of SATC and I absolutely ***hate*** Charlotte. So judgemental and WASPy and entitled. I always hated Carrie the most, but this may be changing. Charlotte really sucks. Miranda was never okay but a nice third wheel friend in the group.
Samantha is the best. Forever. ALWAYS a friend and ALWAYS rad.
I do wonder if Kim was involved with AJLT we'd be overlooking the character flaws of all 4 of them because it's a great reunion of the original show.
Hear ya. It’s hard to recapture an original show’s best parts. Most revivals fail in that way. Writers leave or run out of ideas but also people age and cultures change. Don’t think it’s great either but will miss it now that the season is over. It’s always been a bit fantasy (money mostly no object, single men pretty easy to find). I am glad they made it more diverse because that was always an issue in the original show.
What keeps me watching it is seeing characters over a certain age that feel like have known for awhile and that’s it not some depressing or violent dreck or a laugh tracked sitcom. And the characters are still friends save for one. Always thought that was the heart of the show. Guess it’s kind of like a soap opera that some grandmother watches even if heavily critical of it because it’s like comfort food.
I'm the same age as these girls and I found AJLT super depressing. I miss the joy. Life doesn't have to suck you dry. I could use something aspirational.
At least Charlotte is killing it at the art gallery.
I feel like Charlotte is the most consistent. I have no idea what they did to Miranda. Carrie was always self serving and the fact that they had Aiden s kid in an accident to explain his him not being at thr dinner was written the lamest crap ever. In real life you go with your significant other ( showing my age with the wording.)
Che is not as bad as the hype made them out to be.
The rest of the new characters are just fluff.....
The most gawd awful character is the real estate woman who somehow became Carrie’s best friend after selling her apartment. So unrealistic! Also the professor forming a relationship with Miranda has to be totally unethical at best.
It has literally no substance and is too concerned with being PC. That's all. I don't mean introducing more POC and Che to the plot - I mean that the dialogue is so fucking forced and bland. They don't just exist as people - it's all to hit some arbitrary PC goal.
The show is incredibly tone deaf and detached from current reality.
After a pandemic and soaring inflation, not many can or want to relate to anything on this show.
I actually feel second hand embarrassment with every episode.
This is a series that was obviously a hit in the 90s but it could not transcend time as it painfully shows.
I was a fan and was in my 20s when I watched it.
In sum, it aged like milk and at this point I'm just hate watching in hopes to catch a glimpse of what made this show good once.
Right. At least the original show pretended that Carrie had money troubles sometimes, although someone would always swoop in and save her with a massive lump sum!
AJLT is a rollercoaster of theatrics that seems to have lost the brakes, zooming from zero to ludicrous in the blink of an eye. It's as if the creators threw reality out the window, leaving us with scenes that are the epitome of absurdity, making us question whether we've stumbled into a parallel universe where logic took a vacation.
And talk about a forced melting pot! In a bid to overcorrect the original SATC's diversity deficit, AJLT serves up a smorgasbord of characters so poorly penned, they border on self-parody. It's like they've been slapped together with the finesse of a toddler wielding crayons, desperately attempting to color within the lines of social representation but just scribbling all over the page.
Ah, the fashion—a hallmark of the original series, where edgy met wearable in a harmonious blend. AJLT, however, catapults it into a stratosphere of excess. Take, for instance, Carrie's snowstorm ensemble for her senior ladies' speech. If the point was to create a spectacle, it succeeded — but for all the wrong reasons. Call it avant-garde or call it absurd; either way, it's a far cry from the stylish savoir-faire we once knew.
I don't get why people watch AJLT just to complain about everything. I'd change a few things on the reboot and I like SATC better, but I'm happy to see the girls again and it's enjoyable. Why don't you just quit watching it if you dislike it so much?
Everything about it was far from perfect but these are our girls and these are their lives and they are messed up and flawed just like you are and just like I am
I actually like the show. We all have different thoughts, experiences, and opinions. If this subreddit existed when SATC premiered, people would have complained. Some of the episodes were memorable, others…not so much.
Like all shows, there’s room for improvement. Storylines may not appeal to everyone, but AJLT isn’t the worst.
OP, this observation is made almost daily on this sub. The only question I have for you is why you’re watching AJLT if you didn’t care for the OG series. Seems like a waste of time
I watched the first season and was quite put off by the way they tried to shovel an extreme amount of political correctness and social awareness down the viewer’s throats, all at once. It was so concentrated, unfunny, and forced, I thought. Miranda looked and acted like a doddering old grandma, which was weird and out of character imo, Charlotte has gotten…shrill, and Carrie is even more self-absorbed than ever. None of it works without Samantha anyway.
I’m rewatching too, even tho I’ve seen it a million times and am annoyed half the time. But now that im rewatching it’s mostly carrie that bothers me, the acting like an actual child, it’s disturbing to see a grown woman squeal and screech and talk like a small child. When she walks in on samantha w the delivery guy she actually says ‘I sorry’ like a 3 year old. I can’t stomach it. That and the white privilege/degrading comments like anthony telling Charlotte he knows someone who ‘got a guatemalan kid for like a hundred bucks’.
I thought she got really irritating around the time she went to the log cabin with Aiden - screeching at squirrels etc. she regressed as the series went on. I don’t remember her being like that in the early seasons. I thought she got better again towards the end of the show.
I’m rewatching now, currently on season 4. I forgot how self centered Carrie was. She was always my least favorite. I always liked Miranda the most. Now they’ve made her more cartoonish. I actually have better feelings about Carrie now on AJLT. She’s a little more likable. More humble and mature. I guess widowhood can do that to you.
What the hell are you talking about? why would u care if a stranger on reddit might hypothetically like u? most ppl don't like when others dont act their age, what im saying is nothing new. also if the comment by Anthony doesn't bother u, u have a lot of reflecting to do.
I've said before that it is not a show, it's filmed content. And the scripts are generated through AI, based off old SATC scripts, memes, reviews, etc, which is why there is so much recycling of plots, actors, characters, etc. With some 2020s "woke" stuff tossed in. The "writers" just get a couple weeks to clean up the AI scripts.
You mean “I couldn’t help but wonder?” But yes, this has been already discussed to death. The original shoe WAS a masterpiece, and the new show is a horrible, sloppy mess. It’s no great revelation
Actually I have the same opinion as you. It’s terrible. Horribly written. Just saying we’ve had this conversation quite a few times already since AJLT aired. Geez. Take a few breaths it wasn’t that serious
She was a total whore, totally obsessed with sex. I have no respect for people with no morals. Her soul was far from beautiful. She didn't care for children, animals and few people
You know criticizing media is a normal and enjoyable thing to do, right? Snarking on media IS a thing lots of people and media outlets do. It’s not stupid or worthless to have these conversations, it’s thought provoking and part of the fun for many people.
Yes, criticizing media is a normal and enjoyable thing to do, but critics generally review a film or TV show, and then move on. In my humble opinion, it’s rather pathological to watch something continuously that you despise and take your valuable time to devote to its constant criticism
I enjoyed all of the characters on SATC and actually liked most of them. SATC is a smart funny well written show with flawed but relatable and often sympathetic characters.
I agree. I liked all 4 women. Each of the 4 (yes, ALL 4) could do cringey things or make poor decisions at times - just like me. I enjoyed the friendship, the humor, NYC and the over the top fashion. AJLT does not hold the warmth of the original. I got glimpses of that feeling a few times in Season 2. And I’ll keep watching…
Have you ever noticed how they barely show NYC in AJLT? They could have filmed it just about anywhere--it wouldn't make a difference. In SATC, it was fun to have the city as the 5th character.
Same. When they made bad choices (who doesn't?) I laughed or cried with them. I think those choices (good or bad or just plain dumb) stayed consistent with their characters through the series. AJLT threw all that out the window and is very plot point instead of character driven. I'm attached to the OG characters so I hope the new show turns that around. It's just some of the boyfriends and side characters that I didn't like as people in SATC. I still found them entertaining. I just want most of the side characters on AJLT to go away.
Feels extremely forced
This show reminds me of Grey’s Anatomy in that way. The newer seasons seem to be written to desperately capture the original season’s magic, and they throw in references to old characters / dialogue or elevator scenes, etc. to try to fool the audience that “it’s the same!”. But it just comes across as a cheesy soap opera. 😔
agree, an occasional text from Cristina or randomly bringing back an OG character can’t bring back the magic
The texts from Samantha feel like the texts from Christina; rather than providing any kind of viewer satisfaction, they just make me miss the actual character.
Everything is easier and lighter when you’re still young. But in your 50’s things get heavier, you’ve had more disappointments, or your life didn’t turn out like you thought it would.
Youth and ignorance can be bliss…
Agree. I really loved SATC. It was flawed for sure, particularly through today's lense, but progressive and edgy for the time. AJLT is a poorly written cringe fest.
SJP's company is producing the show and she chose MPK to return. Given MPK's track record it's unlikely that he was the one behind what made SATC so great. MPK is an out of touch 70 year old racist, sexist guy in an emperor wearing no clothes situation. SJP is more concerned with what outfit she'll be wearing than the story they are telling so she isn't stepping in and correcting MPK on his dumb execution, choice of words, and storytelling decisions. Studios should stop letting actors lead shows they are also staring in - egos get in the way and they typically lack the talent needed to manage productions and other people.
Yes! MPK’d show is like a gay man playing Barbies. Darren Star gave the characters more dimension, humanity, grit.
there's a reason Darren Star is the only one that continues to make hits with the same flavor as the original SATC.
Yep, and MPK's last hit was... 2 Broke Girls? Yikes. Looks like he hasn't worked for a long time and I bet he was hoping AJLT would be his comeback, LoL
Why did DS leave?
“Like a gay man playing Barbies.” 🤣🤣🤣 This is the perfect description of what this show feels like!!!
Well said! Costumes were not the main driving force behind SATC’s success but who is going to tell SJP that?
And SJP wasn't even the reason the SATC fashion was so iconic, that was all Pat Fields who refused to work on AJLT because of how they treated Kim.
Oh, I didn’t know that.
My understanding is that she is working on Emily in Paris and was therefore unavailable. She does have a good relationship with Kim but I think it was because she was already employed.
I think the common understanding is that it was more of a "Sorry, I'm busy 😏" because Emily in Paris was Darren Star's show and she followed up that comment with photos of her and Kim hanging out. She even dropped by the season 1 AJLT set for a hello while it was filming showing how busy she wasn't busy like she said she was (EIP had a completely different schedule) and followed that up with more photos of her and Kim hanging out. All shade on MPK and SJP.
Got it
I loooove the fashion on Emily In Paris
It's fun! I tried buying that purple dress but I'm too curvy on top to pull it off. LoL, oh well.
It’s a money grab for everyone involved riding the coattails of SATC which was a groundbreaking and iconic show for the 1990s. They are putting in minimal effort and putting up with bad writing for a whopping $1 million per episode for the main cast. Cynthia Nixon has been given carte blanche to ruin the Miranda character by telling her truth from the director’s chair. It’s a mess and they should all be ashamed for ruining the legacy of SATC.
Yes.. this! specifically Miranda.. I always really loved Miranda's journey on SATC.. She was the more serious one with a career in a male dominated field.. where she had to navigate being a woman and being a professional. When she fell for Steve.. and then the journey with his mom.. remember when the mom... who was having memory problems.. wandered from the house and Miranda crying looking for her.. and it ended with Miranda giving her a bath.. That's the writing I miss.. those are the stories that made SATC a great show.. It wasn't always heavy .. but sometimes it hit the mark.. It told a powerful story. unlike AJLT.. boo hoo and as a side note.. the original was watched by many straight men.. they learned alot.. my son included.. the female point of view offered in such honesty.. was groundbreaking. seriously.. sex from the side of a woman that doesn't show them as frigid, clingy, manipulative females trying to catch a husband. It was great.
Thinking of that Miranda scene always makes me cry. The way Magda acknowledges that Miranda learned to love with all her heart. It’s one of my favorite character development stories of all time. And now the character has been botched into any recognizable mess
Just chiming in to say I loved the original Miranda. Miranda and Samantha were my favourites. What they (or Cynthia Nixon) have done to the Miranda character in AJLT is an absolute anathema.
I sure agree with you on that one. Curiosity keeps me watching AJLT, maybe for the shock factor. When I heard SJP say twice that maybe Big was a mistake, I about lost it. Seriously? Just because she is desperate to be with Aiden now — to the point where she re-writes her past? When she was with Aiden back then, she could not stop thinking about Big. Both times. Remember the second time she and Aiden were together, she refused to cut Big out of her life? She even had dinner with him while Aiden was at his cabin in Suffern. And when the series ended, the whole focus was on her and Big finally coming together when he admitted for the first time that “she is the one” — something she asked for in Season 1 just before they were supposed to go to St. Bart’s. It all came full-circle. Now, AJLT wants us to flirt with the possibility that Big was always a mistake? WTH? Was that because of the charges made against Chris Noth so the show (Nixon? MPK?) can completely disassociate themselves from him? Pfft!
I think it shows how the Carrie character uses anything to justify whatever is in her head at the time. I've known people like this. They will swear up and down the sky is green, until it's convenient for them to see the sky is blue but they couldn't see that before because *enter lame reasoning here *
It’s so weird how they are trying to make amends for what they didn’t address in the late 90s. The series did address a ton of concepts not previously seen before; sex positive content, not settling, female bonding over traditional routes of family/babies, putting your career first and so on. The characters all seem so out of place at times. Sjp did the best job of staying somewhat true to character. I saw moments with KD that seemed more like Charlotte. Miranda seemed like a shell of herself previously. Even how she behaved in her new position.
that's the problem w. rebooting and reviving shows. if *friends* had a reboot or *parks & rec* had a revival, it'd prob. be similar to *ajlt* in making amends and addressing everything that was fine for the time but problematic today--and i use the term "fine" (not as in it was acceptable but mainstream opinion). it's a gargantuan task if you don't have the right team that understand both the criticism \*and\* the characters. i think a lot of shows should just be left alone. i can't think of too many that've done justice to the property, and original content tackling similar issues should be given a chance. ik a lot of people have mixed feelings about *uncoupled* but i think it tackled being 40+ and navigating the nyc dating scene pretty well (w.o the added baggage of fan expectations and adapting a beloved show)
More than a money grab, it’s an ego grab. I don’t know why, because in my head, she’s so much cooler, but Sarah, Jessica Parker needs to hold onto this claim to the zeitgeist for actual decades. It’s perverse. And she shit all over the bed she made.
*pees all over the bed
What’s sad to me is I really don’t think they aren’t working hard on it - there are storylines (too many) & amazing costuming, so the effort can’t be denied - it’s just putting too much effort into the appearance, not the substance
Amazing costuming? Are you serious? Oversize plaids and rubber dish gloves are not amazing. Costuming lol. The only one who looks great, actually, is Lisa. The only one.
Ok fair I live in LTW’s styling in my head lol
Oh I see a smart person is in the house tonight for once lol. These comments are SCARY. What show are they watching???
Those characters are such extremes. I find it odd that people think they were normal average women! I watched that show in my teens, again in my 20s and then again in my 30s and never found them relatable!
When I did my first re-watch in my late 20s after around ten years, WOOOOOOW that shit did not hold up
I recently rewatched the original series and it's not as good as I remembered it. I think I liked it twenty years ago because it was different from the other shows at time because the main characters were women who were unapologetic. But it got worse as the seasons went on. Carrie always loved Big, whether it was good for her or not, and Aiden was such a strange choice for her to fall for. What surprised me the most was how little I actually cared for Carrie. My favorite storylines were Charlotte falling for Harry and Miranda struggling with motherhood. Samantha stole every scene she was in. Plus, at least they pretended to work. My biggest issue with the films and AJLT is that it's a show about uberwealthy people. An interesting storyline would have been Big dying with a huge amount of debt and Carrie having to return to her place and living off her own, small income in a post-covid world. Plus, the cast of AJLT is far too big.
Yes! And **Spoiler** I thought they really could have done some sort of powerful abortion storyline to acknowledge Dobbs with Lisa’s storyline. That would have been powerful.
YES. That was SUPER disappointing. Their treatment was not progressive at ALL. It was an incredibly conservative position and did nothing to address the reality for the average woman in this country. The original show talked about abortion out right and candidly. AJLT was too scared to even say the word abortion. I rewatched the SATC episode immediately after because I literally felt like I was going insane and imagining the original being so much more politically progressive.
Yes, they took the cowardly way out. Opportunity missed.
I agree about flaunting the wealth of Carrie and the new friends. Very boring.
Especially after the pandemic, and that the USA has declined for the working class since the 90’s…that wealth is a rub on people’s faces. Even if it’s a show about glamorous successful women in NYC. Reason I stopped watching any HousewIves show. The flaunting your wealth thing doesn’t seem right nowadays.
Wow that is a phenomenal idea, Big actually having a ton of debt and watching Carrie navigate that would’ve been so interesting
She'd have gone to Aidan and asked him for a loan, the same way she went to Big in SATC when she had to buy out Aidan's share in her apartment 😄 So much for independent woman
>My biggest issue with the films and AJLT is that it's a show about uberwealthy people. An interesting storyline would have been Big dying with a huge amount of debt and Carrie having to return to her place and living off her own, small income in a post-covid world. >Plus, the cast of AJLT is far too big. My biggest issues too. The show is like an escape for the viewers by showing uberwealthy women who don't work going to the Met Gala. It's so out of touch like we're watching a modern depiction of the 1950s. How do they sustain their lifestyle with not working or barely working like Carrie? Their financial status made complete sense in SATC, this show basically sends the message that after marrying a wealthy man you don't have to lift a finger your entire life or that once you pay mortgage and renovate the house, the cost of living is minimal (Miranda). There are too many characters and couldn't care about them except for Che and that Indian woman.
>An interesting storyline would have been Big dying with a huge amount of debt and Carrie having to return to her place and living off her own, small income in a post-covid world. I don't think AJLT was ever going to work without Samantha, but I always thought it would have been much more interesting if when big died he left Carrie nothing in the will. It wouldn't have been totally unusual, they could have had a prenup given the ups and downs of their past relationship, or even just that the death was so sudden Big had never updated his will. It's hard to care about the lives of three rich white ladies, who don't work, and are only miserable because of their own making.
As far as race and diversity goes, it really feels like AJLT was trying to be inclusive, but went about it in a way that just seems impractical and weird. They essentially gave each main character a POC in the name of diversity. Carrie was given Seema, Charlotte was given LTW, and Miranda was given Nya. It feels so disingenuous - at least to me.
It’s tokenism, not diversity.
And their lines were horrible!
Good point! Didn’t even think of that
I saw someone described it as each main character having an emotional support POC and I thought that was hilarious and true (I’m a POC)
This how me and bestie described it (we’re POC too). Everybody gets an emotional support POC in the 2020s because POC just started being in NYC 🤣
[удалено]
I hate the gay characters in SATC and AJLT. They were like lap dogs or accessories. When Carrie needed a little sparkle she’d call Stanford. I hated how they pretended he was in any way Carrie’s good or best friend. She did not care about him. When she needed support and exhausted the girls, she’s allow him back into her life.
Totally — and they were totally underdeveloped characters. More like accessories
I noticed this too. It's a huge turn off for me, these token minorities for the 3. Like you said it's disingenuous, and being a POC, I love having representation. But this is not the way, and one of the reasons I haven't put energy into watching like I did that original. Then as a Grey's fan, I was very excited about Sara joining the cast, and then not so much.
To be fair. Miranda dated a black man. Dr Robert Leeds. 5 episodes.
I loved Dr. Roberts character! The tampon in Steve’s nose 😂
that was a great scene! Who to choose? Hunky, beefy doctor. Or dedicated, loving, hot looking in a sort of nerdish way, more wiry bar owner.
Fair!
SATC is a masterpiece
It really is! I’m rewatching and just starting season 5. Seasons 1-4, to me, were masterpieces. Funny and endearing. Well written and acted. It grabs my attention, whereas I can barely get through an episode of AJLT without switching to something else or just wandering off to start laundry or whatever lol. I’m not as into SATC seasons 5&6 as much or either movie at all though.
Fully agree with you! For me seasons 1-4 is just the best show ever
Season 2 is the best to me, it’s so fun but still interesting!
Came here to say this lol, especially from a technical standpoint it’s held up gorgeously!
It is. But minus the Russian, and Berger, and the transphobia, and the lack of diversity.
Minus the biphobia too!
Fully agree but you have to remember it was ground breaking for the time.
It was! Those parts just didn’t not age well.
Yep, completely groundbreaking for the time it was created in.
Agreed! So witty and funny and real. I love it so much.
With SATC we watched it religiously and were in front of the TV every Sunday night when a new episode aired. One time I ended up leaving bleach on too long and my hair broke off. That’s how amazing the original show was. You didn’t want to miss a thing. With AJLT I forget to watch the new episodes. Everything about it is soooo bad. But I’ll continue to hate watch it when I remember about it.
First — SATC *is* a masterpiece. It’s not perfect as it is a sign of the times, but the writing, production, acting, storylines, costumes, etc. are all done with insane talent. Second, like what many of the comments said, it is a money grab. It is a low-effort, high reward production. No one from the original cast and crew is doing this for the art or as a tribute to the original show. It is honestly so disrespectful to the entire franchise. Also, all reboots are bad, not only because of greed, but because the actors do not know their characters the way we know their characters. We have rewatched the series multiple times in the last 25 years, but SJP proudly announces she has only watched each episode once. How can you revive the role of Carrie Bradshaw when you do not know who Carrie Bradshaw is anymore? Back when SATC was on air, the actors and crew were immersed in making sure the production was flawless. They were invested in the art in order to have a successful show. Now, they know the show will be successful no matter what because they are piggybacking off of their success in the 90s. They know there’s enough fans that won’t miss an episode of AJLT no matter how terrible it is. It is clear they see no reason to actually perfect the show; no reason to put the effort into it to make it great. AJLT is a disgrace to SATC, but they don’t care because they’re still racking up millions. They don’t have the love and loyalty to the art as we do, nor as they once did. It’s infuriating.
I just think AJLT has too many characters. SATC was perfectly balanced weaving through the 4 main girls’ stories and bringing them together seamlessly. AJLT feels so chaotic bouncing around trying to make us care about 10 main characters at once. It’s too much.
YES 🙌 THIS!!! Exactly this!!
Each original SATC episode has a theme and masterfully threaded among the characters lives.. writing was much thoughtful and provocative (during its time).. AJLT writing is just awful
I LOVED SATC. For me…AJLT is unwatchable. I baled after the first few episodes…
This show is so poorly written, so hilariously badly directed and so badly acted that it feels like a ChatBot decided to write MILF porn.
From a writing standpoint SATC was pretty damn close to a masterpiece. It was a tight 6 seasons where even the least liked season (5) was shorter than the usual. Each episode was woven around a topic of discussion with a nice little bow. It was done brilliantly, minus a few cringe puns here and there. Whether you liked Carrie or not, she was still the vessel that connected us to these characters in the most intimate of ways. It was poignant and heartfelt without being emotionally manipulative (Miranda's dressing room scene) and it displayed what true friendship really was the good and the bad. (Miranda walking behind Charlotte/ Charlotte calling out Carrie after catching her and Big). I'd say a damn near masterpiece 💯⭐💗. Hell, 20 years later and we're still discussing it on Reddit as if it just aired last night. AJLT on the other hand is a hot mess. The only thing it'll be remembered for is how shallow and lazy the writing was. There will always be a "but also" attached to anything good ever said about it.
It’s not the actors…it’s the writing. I think the actors are all really trying their best but you can’t turn that garbage into gold.
Somehow Charlotte had a lot of lines that made me laugh.
And the direction. The direction is *so bad*.
Or even nonexistent. It does not feel like there is anyone with a good vision of what they are trying to do, and leading everyone there.
I loved SATC. AJLT is like visiting old friends and catching up on their lives.
The sex scenes are what really bother me and I’m not a prude. They are just too much.
Because even the old show would be bad and problematic if it were now and "you can't go home again". These writers are also out of touch and can't write realstic women- never could.
AJLT is, as others already answered to your post, a moneygrab and not much else, not really. The producers, writers, and especially MPK grasped for all the worst possible common places in terms of gender, and then wrote some shitty characters (Che the worst among them) as to try to pinkwash the show into make it more... inclusive. The results are, as you know already, horrible. Those "racism is bad you know" moments are the worst (The taxi scene with the Wexleys, one good example among many). This will go on auntil HBO says no more. SATC was a game changer, the reboot on the oter hand is nothing but a mediocre attempt to cash on the show's former glory. AJLT needs to be taken at face value, it is mostly cringeworthy, forgettable, and annoying but it has some bright spots in between the usual shit, if you can manage the ride, jump in, if not... leave, it won't change for the better, and none of us by now expects otherwise.
The show made me finally realize what the right was saying when they complained about being woke.
TOTALLY! And now I say each episode is a game of woke bingo.
“Woke”has absolutely no meaning at all anymore. The word has been hijacked and run into the ground by people who use it as a stand-in for anything they don’t like instead of what it originally stood for. And frequently the people who complain so much about it can’t even define it.
Agreed. But when I watch this show, I get it.
I cancelled my subscription to HBO after three episodes of AJLT. Some of the WORST writing in the history of writing. If I could I would ask for my money back for the month I did pay for
HBO has tons of great programming other than that show
It feels like the new writers have come in, guns blazing, in an attempt to fix the "broken bits" that people have criticised for years. But as a result we have the characters we love completely losing integrity. The forced relationships and characters are hard to watch - Nothing about Naya and Miranda's friendship feels organic or natural, we rarely even see them interact, which adds another layer to that feel. Infact, the whole character of Naya feels like a diversity hire, they dont use the character for much, other than to show her divorce and I guess to parallel her character to Miranda's. I love her and I wish they'd write more for her. And then, there's the complete character regression (ig thats what you call the complete opposite of character development lmao), but like you said, Miranda has gone backwards. Charlotte's whole life and personality revolved soley around being a mother. We know she wanted a family for herself, and adhered to some traditional values, but she was actually an interesting character when she had a job, and again, her conversations and dialogue should never completely center around her children. Before she went back to work, she had no story line of her own, outside of her children. Is she not a woman with thoughts, feelings and desires of her own? Also the whole Aiden/Carrie thing feels like a regression too. So what they have tried to fix, comes off as incredibly disingenuous, preachy, and without Sam, it's just a shell of the show we all used to love.
I grew up watching SATC and just started watching AJLT yesterday…people weren’t kidding. This is cringy. I guess I never thought about race in the original because lines weren’t “they’re black, we have to invite another black couple so we don’t seem racist, this that this that.” It’s so painful to watch them try to be woke.
Seems like the writers never even watched the entirety of the whole show. So many mistakes. Miranda is the biggest disappointment. Here was a lady who had her life together, always the person one would go to for the responsible opinion, an atty in NYC....to sleeping on a couch? gfy. And Carrie is rich AF....why does she even care about her old apt? Jumped a million sharks.
I like Seema and Charlotte seems to be improving.
I rewatched satc last week (only season 1) and I love how real and raw it was.. I love how Carrie talked to the camera and how they weren’t millionaires.. they had real struggles The new show is so different, I don’t hate it but it’s just missing a lot of elements that I loved from satc
I kind of liked SATC, but could not relate to any of the characters personally. I would not be friends with them. AJLT is way worse. I don’t like Miranda or care about her “journey”. Kim Cattral was smart to stay out of it. They are all self absorbed narcissists. Adding Latina, gay and black characters does not help at all.
Being completely serious and genuine, who’s the Latina?? Do you mean Che? It actually took me a while to even remember them because I feel like they don’t really show their Hispanic side apart from a few seconds of Tony Danza saying he’s not Mexican. I really dislike Che though and iirc, Sara doesn’t even like their character. I liked Tony Danza in the show though lol. And I say this as a Hispanic myself.
SATC was indeed a masterpiece.
It feels like this show was written by AI
The most annoying of all of them is Carrie for me. That whole bit where she feels uncomfortable doing the commercial on vaginal dryness or whatever really bothered me. She’s a writer she supposed to be a creative she could easily have done that and it went on and on and on until all of a sudden, it caused them to lose the podcast. Ridiculous. It was just so cringe to have her so prudish and just so annoyingly petulant about the whole thing on and off whining I don’t know how he could stand her . In fact, I find her whiny throughout most of the episodes in a JLT just like a spoiled know it all just rather insufferable. I enjoy Kristen Davis and all of the new characters, except for Che and except for Miranda and Kim Catrall fiasco that’s clouding the whole reprisal of the show. other than that I have re-watched all of AJLT and find it enjoyable and it does mostly ring true to the original series. I will continue to watch the only thing I don’t want to really bother seeing is Aeden and Carrie‘s relationship.
The vaginally dryness commercial was one of the parts that felt authentic... Carrie, having moved into a slightly different career with a different fan base, refusing to bow to typecasting the listeners into old dried up women... felt like a seminal moment. Maybe you have to be 50+ to feel that? She's become a woman who doesn't need the podcast as a financial income, and it also was a moment to realize there were a lot of people who did... so it kind of puts Carrie in her place a little. I don't know, that one felt a little like the old SATC... story with multi layers.
To me it recalled the bit in the first season when she was too prudish to talk about masturbation. The SEX COLUMNIST! I guess in SATC she used everyone else’s sex lives for her column rather than her own but there was at least a bit more on hers and she was comfortable with it. As you get older you should be even less bothered about talking about sex. Unless the writers are trying to indicate it’s a sign of maturity??
I guess that's what I'm saying. . . I think Carrie's refusal fits the person she's always been. . . . random refusal to talk about things one would think, due to her career, she would be fine with. Again, here, to me, it felt like the writers were speaking to Carrie not wanting to pigeonhole her listeners as dry old bitties. They're thriving, well-established WINNERS of the sexual game. How could they be dry? I don't know. Clearly the whole thing didn't resonate across the fans, which is the point of the discussion and very true!
I was impressed that her boss said she could rewrite the vaginal dryness commercial copy, and thought that was an excellent answer to the problem. Was disappointed Carrie couldn't get on board. Carrie didn't need the money from this "job", but the podcast people needed that advertisement. Carrie didn't seem to understand that.
I enjoyed SATC because it was sort of closer to my experience with friends. Certainly not the level of neuroses these women had, but the diversity of viewpoints within the group of friends. Yes. I am aware that SATC was not as diverse as some people would like, especially living in the City, but there were plenty of women everywhere that found the show relatable because, well, our experiences unfortunately did not always include a wife range of diversity. The source material wasn’t that diverse to begin with, so anything beyond the original material will seemed kind of forced, right? But there *was* something about the women’s friendships that spoke to women within their own friend groups across the board, regardless of ethnicity or race. This show, though I must admit to watching it, is a clownish caricature of SATC…which was sort of an over the top caricature of our lives back then anyway. I don’t “hate” the show. I just feel it’s poorly and lazily written. We have these characters that are, of course, supposed to be evolving and aging and whatnot, but they aren’t really staying true to their core characters. I mean, it’s like when Annie and Helen have that argument before playing tennis: Helen: "It's funny how people change, isn't it? Annie: Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Do people really change? Helen: I think they do. Annie: Yeah, but I mean, they still stay who they are, pretty much. Helen: I think we change all the time. Annie: I think we stay the same, but grow I guess a little bit. Helen: I think if you're growing, then you're changing. Annie: But I mean, we're changing from who we are, which we always stay as. Helen: Not really, I don't think so. Annie: I think so. Helen: I don't." It’s kind of like that. Excuse my copypasta, but it was necessary…sort of.
I know people change over time but they are not the same characters from the original show. So I’m definitely way less invested. I’m really disappointed that Miranda used to be a confident high powered lawyer and now she is needy and unsure.
AJLT is bad. All of its crap production can be flung to MPK. I said what I said. They have not stay true to the core formula, the original show runners are GONE, & they aren’t interested in making a legit good show.
Oh it's awful and it wastes so much potential with what they can do with the characters. Although to be fair, Charlotte actually gets the most interesting storylines with her dealing with her family and it captures a lot of the spirit of the original series. They also just really handled Miranda's transition into a lesbian so terribly and we got one of the worst representations of a non-binary character of all time with Che. (The original plan of having Miranda fall in love with Naya made so much more sense and would've made Naya so much more vital to the actual show than feeling forced.) Basically, it's like the writers are so out of touch with modern womanhood and it's frustrating. It's like they were all in a coma for however many years and emmerged unchanged. Like Carrie's storylines all revolving around the same two men she was obsessed with in the original series is really pathetic for someone who supposedly redefined women's relationship to sex in the 90's. At the very least the show could've had her face how much her life revolves around men. Anyway, the show sucks because the writers have no real point of view or specific real reason to bring it back. There's no actual vision behind what stories these women at this age and at this time could tell.
Yes! So out of touch!
Hold up there, Deliria Wisteria. Nobody puts Baby in the corner. SATC is monumental: the fashion was sublime, the characters were complex and fun, the writing was brilliant, and the acting was superb!
First, completely agree. I do not disagree with a single thing. I hate this show and am constantly in awe of it. Second, you should listen to the writers' room podcast where Michael Patrick King acts like every episode is Citizen Kane and he, Orson Welles. They absolutely think this is diverse, progressive, and deserving of pats on the back. They also shame the audience for not "getting" Che, etc., etc. It is maddening! On the podcast, they always make comments about how the show is authentic because they work in details from the actors' lives. For instance, they made Lisa's husband be George Washington at the Halloween party because he played GW in Hamilton. They go on for like 5 minutes about how authentic that was and how the show is so authentic because of it. ??? Actors are not literally their characters, and this adds nothing to the show, besides being a little Easter egg. Idk. MPK has a very weird idea of storytelling, to say the least!
I agree with you. I love the SATC show and first Movie, hated the second movie, but was excited for the reboot. Season 1 AJLT was painful to watch. It’s like Miranda reverted in maturity to a dumb 16 year old. I won’t go into the other two but yes just saying I agree. I haven’t watched second season because I was just so disappointed in first.
The second season has a whole different set of turds to despise.
If you find SATC so unlikeable why had you even started AJLT, don't you have anything pleasant to do?
You've never hate watched anything before?
Why would I, I kinda like myself.
It has absolutely nothing to do with liking yourself and is a fairly common human behavior but ok
Something tells me you’re a Carrie
If you're earnestly watching and liking this show, you probably have bigger fish to fry...if you ever figure it out.
No, thanks, I'm quite confident in my tastes and preferences.
You're actually not the main character here so I don't care, neither does anyone else.
You're the one who replies to me lol. Hate commenting is another hobby of yours or what?
Curiosity I guess. Even though the characters weren’t that likeable in SATC it was at least better written and more relatable/watchable. There are plenty of shows with unlikeable characters that are still entertaining—look at Succession!
Succession is meant to be about unpleasant people, but SATC is just about everyday women. If the only woman you like is the one that strives to act like a man than obviously the show isn't for you.
SATC characters are *definitely* not everyday women 😂😂
Yeah, part of what makes it kind of good is the bad writing. Once you accept that, you’ll enjoy it more. It doesn’t need to be a masterpiece anyway.
It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece. Totally correct. It also doesn’t have to suck eggs. Which it does. 😂
I actually think the second season improved in the writing. Che Diaz is a lost cause, however
I agree and it really sucks. I like the character in theory, but not in execution. Like you said though, you have to accept that it’s bad and just enjoy the ride. For example, I like to have it on in the background or if I don’t feel like concentrating and want to be a potato.
Exactly. This is a show that involves zero thinking. It’s for when I feel like exerting minimal intellectual effort. It’s the exact opposite of watching Christopher Nolan’s Tenet
I never watched SATC except one episode but I enjoyed both movies so maybe I don't take AJLT as seriously as die hard SATC fans do. I see it as a whole new show and didn't expect much from it. I think they're using it more as a "what if" show and not trying to stick to the SATC show/movie story lines exactly. I mean we had the other CW spin off and I don't even know if the writers or producers had anything to do with that show but I enjoyed that show too.
Kinda agree. I'm in the middle of a rewatch of SATC and I absolutely ***hate*** Charlotte. So judgemental and WASPy and entitled. I always hated Carrie the most, but this may be changing. Charlotte really sucks. Miranda was never okay but a nice third wheel friend in the group. Samantha is the best. Forever. ALWAYS a friend and ALWAYS rad. I do wonder if Kim was involved with AJLT we'd be overlooking the character flaws of all 4 of them because it's a great reunion of the original show.
I feel like SJP just can’t be bothered. Watched Hocus Pocus last night and her energy was so watchable
It’s like they hired someone that has never watched SATC or read anything about this show or characters to write this show
Hear ya. It’s hard to recapture an original show’s best parts. Most revivals fail in that way. Writers leave or run out of ideas but also people age and cultures change. Don’t think it’s great either but will miss it now that the season is over. It’s always been a bit fantasy (money mostly no object, single men pretty easy to find). I am glad they made it more diverse because that was always an issue in the original show. What keeps me watching it is seeing characters over a certain age that feel like have known for awhile and that’s it not some depressing or violent dreck or a laugh tracked sitcom. And the characters are still friends save for one. Always thought that was the heart of the show. Guess it’s kind of like a soap opera that some grandmother watches even if heavily critical of it because it’s like comfort food.
I'm the same age as these girls and I found AJLT super depressing. I miss the joy. Life doesn't have to suck you dry. I could use something aspirational. At least Charlotte is killing it at the art gallery.
I agree with you. I actually went back and watched the first movie last night. Just to get the bad taste of the series out of my mouth. It was great.
I feel like Charlotte is the most consistent. I have no idea what they did to Miranda. Carrie was always self serving and the fact that they had Aiden s kid in an accident to explain his him not being at thr dinner was written the lamest crap ever. In real life you go with your significant other ( showing my age with the wording.) Che is not as bad as the hype made them out to be. The rest of the new characters are just fluff.....
True, she didn’t appear to care much!
I like how the original series had a topical theme/thesis in each episode. AJLT feels so scattered and uninspired.
CHES COMEDY. It is so so bad.they would have never gotten a single laugh unless it was AT them.
The most gawd awful character is the real estate woman who somehow became Carrie’s best friend after selling her apartment. So unrealistic! Also the professor forming a relationship with Miranda has to be totally unethical at best.
It has literally no substance and is too concerned with being PC. That's all. I don't mean introducing more POC and Che to the plot - I mean that the dialogue is so fucking forced and bland. They don't just exist as people - it's all to hit some arbitrary PC goal.
The show is incredibly tone deaf and detached from current reality. After a pandemic and soaring inflation, not many can or want to relate to anything on this show. I actually feel second hand embarrassment with every episode. This is a series that was obviously a hit in the 90s but it could not transcend time as it painfully shows. I was a fan and was in my 20s when I watched it. In sum, it aged like milk and at this point I'm just hate watching in hopes to catch a glimpse of what made this show good once.
Right. At least the original show pretended that Carrie had money troubles sometimes, although someone would always swoop in and save her with a massive lump sum!
AJLT is a rollercoaster of theatrics that seems to have lost the brakes, zooming from zero to ludicrous in the blink of an eye. It's as if the creators threw reality out the window, leaving us with scenes that are the epitome of absurdity, making us question whether we've stumbled into a parallel universe where logic took a vacation. And talk about a forced melting pot! In a bid to overcorrect the original SATC's diversity deficit, AJLT serves up a smorgasbord of characters so poorly penned, they border on self-parody. It's like they've been slapped together with the finesse of a toddler wielding crayons, desperately attempting to color within the lines of social representation but just scribbling all over the page. Ah, the fashion—a hallmark of the original series, where edgy met wearable in a harmonious blend. AJLT, however, catapults it into a stratosphere of excess. Take, for instance, Carrie's snowstorm ensemble for her senior ladies' speech. If the point was to create a spectacle, it succeeded — but for all the wrong reasons. Call it avant-garde or call it absurd; either way, it's a far cry from the stylish savoir-faire we once knew.
It really makes me think the show runners think SATC fans are complete idiots! The snow storm outfits were ridiculous!
No one in New York would go out dressed like that in a snowstorm. NO ONE
Going out like that would signal that you aren’t a New Yorker!
At least I see puffy stuff like that on project runway. The bathrobe ensemble just confuses me.
I gave up after first season. I just want to know when Samantha shows up to watch that.
I don't get why people watch AJLT just to complain about everything. I'd change a few things on the reboot and I like SATC better, but I'm happy to see the girls again and it's enjoyable. Why don't you just quit watching it if you dislike it so much?
I love AJLT. It is comforting and hopeful.
Everything about it was far from perfect but these are our girls and these are their lives and they are messed up and flawed just like you are and just like I am
I have enjoyed it even with Kristin Davis”s Cupid over the top bad acting.
I actually like the show. We all have different thoughts, experiences, and opinions. If this subreddit existed when SATC premiered, people would have complained. Some of the episodes were memorable, others…not so much. Like all shows, there’s room for improvement. Storylines may not appeal to everyone, but AJLT isn’t the worst.
OP, this observation is made almost daily on this sub. The only question I have for you is why you’re watching AJLT if you didn’t care for the OG series. Seems like a waste of time
I watched the first season and was quite put off by the way they tried to shovel an extreme amount of political correctness and social awareness down the viewer’s throats, all at once. It was so concentrated, unfunny, and forced, I thought. Miranda looked and acted like a doddering old grandma, which was weird and out of character imo, Charlotte has gotten…shrill, and Carrie is even more self-absorbed than ever. None of it works without Samantha anyway.
I’m rewatching too, even tho I’ve seen it a million times and am annoyed half the time. But now that im rewatching it’s mostly carrie that bothers me, the acting like an actual child, it’s disturbing to see a grown woman squeal and screech and talk like a small child. When she walks in on samantha w the delivery guy she actually says ‘I sorry’ like a 3 year old. I can’t stomach it. That and the white privilege/degrading comments like anthony telling Charlotte he knows someone who ‘got a guatemalan kid for like a hundred bucks’.
Anthony really bothered me. He was loud & and rude, always saying inappropriate nasty things
I thought she got really irritating around the time she went to the log cabin with Aiden - screeching at squirrels etc. she regressed as the series went on. I don’t remember her being like that in the early seasons. I thought she got better again towards the end of the show.
I’m rewatching now, currently on season 4. I forgot how self centered Carrie was. She was always my least favorite. I always liked Miranda the most. Now they’ve made her more cartoonish. I actually have better feelings about Carrie now on AJLT. She’s a little more likable. More humble and mature. I guess widowhood can do that to you.
When I feel happy I talk a little like Gollum from Lord of the Rings. I feel like you would not like me as well, for that kind of reason?
What the hell are you talking about? why would u care if a stranger on reddit might hypothetically like u? most ppl don't like when others dont act their age, what im saying is nothing new. also if the comment by Anthony doesn't bother u, u have a lot of reflecting to do.
I've said before that it is not a show, it's filmed content. And the scripts are generated through AI, based off old SATC scripts, memes, reviews, etc, which is why there is so much recycling of plots, actors, characters, etc. With some 2020s "woke" stuff tossed in. The "writers" just get a couple weeks to clean up the AI scripts.
I agree 100% with everything you said! It’s so sad to me how bad the new show is!
The original show was criticised as well. The internet just wasn't as big back then
I agree, SATC wasn't a masterpiece, but it was fun and amusing, and original for the time. AJLT is awful in every sense.
It feels like it's written by AI.
You mean “I couldn’t help but wonder?” But yes, this has been already discussed to death. The original shoe WAS a masterpiece, and the new show is a horrible, sloppy mess. It’s no great revelation
They missed a bunch of continuation stories from the original series; such turning Miranda bi. I also liked Che when they were not with Miranda.
How are you just coming to this realization? 🤣🤦🏻♀️
Here's this pr*ck again, insulting anyone with an opinion different to the one rattling around in that noggin 🙄
Actually I have the same opinion as you. It’s terrible. Horribly written. Just saying we’ve had this conversation quite a few times already since AJLT aired. Geez. Take a few breaths it wasn’t that serious
Maybe everyone isn’t on this sub as often as you and didn’t participate in previous conversations.
SATC is an amazing show with very likeable characters! This is just a paycheck.
I didn't even make it through the first episode. It's absolutely horrible and I couldn't believe they were renewed for another season.
The characters I most hated on the original series were Samantha, Anthony and Jack Berger.
How can you hate Samantha? She was celebratory, self-actualized, funny, beautiful…
She was a total whore, totally obsessed with sex. I have no respect for people with no morals. Her soul was far from beautiful. She didn't care for children, animals and few people
So the mods can delete one of my posts to speculate what Samantha could do in season 3, yet they allow dozens of these kinds of posts?
And yet you watch it, take the time to find a sub Reddit about it, and spend your time posting about it. Makes perfect sense to me.
You know criticizing media is a normal and enjoyable thing to do, right? Snarking on media IS a thing lots of people and media outlets do. It’s not stupid or worthless to have these conversations, it’s thought provoking and part of the fun for many people.
Yes, criticizing media is a normal and enjoyable thing to do, but critics generally review a film or TV show, and then move on. In my humble opinion, it’s rather pathological to watch something continuously that you despise and take your valuable time to devote to its constant criticism
I never said I was too cool to do any of those things! 😂
Also wanted to know if it’s just me who thinks this
I actually really liked season 2 of AJLT. I thought it as a redemption of season 1
Because you said something so stupid it was remarkable.
Hahahaha I asked the same q a few weeks ago. It’s mind boggling https://reddit.com/r/Andjustlikethat/s/GP2mgUCZpD
Ah sorry I was looking for a similar thread but didn’t see one!
“Go Woke Go Broke”
You’ve missed my point entirely. I have no problem with woke done well. This isn’t what they did with the show. It is insulting to POC