7 Things That Make No Sense About ‘Sex and the City’
It’s been more than 20 years since the first episode of Sex and the Cityv premiered. The groundbreaking dramedy on HBO proved that a show featuring strong female characters could be massively successful. Suddenly, everyone wanted to be best friends with Carrie, Miranda, Samantha, and Charlotte.
The show was hailed for having honest conversations about so many topics, from sex and dating to motherhood, adult friendships, and getting older. But even though the writers portrayed the subject matter in a frank, direct manner, that doesn’t mean Sex and the City got everything right.
All along fans have complained about some totally implausible details on the show. Here’s what made no sense at all on Sex and the City.
Carrie Bradshaw had a fancy lifestyle for a full-time writer
Sex and the City discussed financial struggles for single women often enough. However, they never explained how, precisely, a parttime newspaper columnist could afford a 1-bedroom Upper East Side apartment — complete with a closetful of designer clothing and shoes.
Girl Boss estimated that Carrie paid around $700 for her rent-controlled apartment at the time, which would normally cost $1700 per month without rent control in the year 2000. In modern times, there’s simply no way Carrie would be surviving without a roommate. A similar apartment in that area currently rents for around $2,700 monthly.
All 4 women on ‘Sex and the City’ have superficial interests
Miranda is a respected attorney, Carrie reflects through writing, Samantha works hard at her job in PR, and Charlotte is a respected art dealer. With so many vibrant, well-rounded women, some fans found it tedious that all they ever talked about was boys.
Dating is an important part of life, it’s true. But fans pointed out that Sex and the City circumvented deep, interesting issues in favor of having the women always obsess over their love lives. The show was progressive, but it could have been so much more.
There’s no diversity among the main characters
Even in the early 2000s, inclusion was a popular topic in society. HBO casting executives could have easily chosen a more diverse cast of actors to play the main roles instead of choosing four white women to play Carrie, Miranda, Samantha, and Charlotte, plus white men for most of their serious love interests.
Carrie says ‘yes’ to Aidan while she’s still in love with Big
Plenty of fans wish Carrie had stuck with the lovable Aidan, but even they have to admit she was clearly in love with Big the entire time. It makes zero sense why Carrie would agree to marry Aiden while fully realizing she was in love with another man.
But hey, at least she didn’t end up with Alexander Petrovsky.
They behave in contradictory ways
All four best friends acted judgmental whenever their single friends got engaged. This behavior was strange considering how desperate they were for commitment from men (with the exception of Samantha).
One explanation could be that their judgment is just a mask for jealousy. Still, it would make more sense if the Sex and the City stars were happy for friends getting married or more accepting of their single statuses.
The ‘Sex and the City’ friends had so much time to hang out
Like so many other shows, Sex and the City fell victim to the impossibility of the characters having way too much free time. With full-time jobs, nonstop dates, and regular errand running like going to buy groceries, there’s just no way four adult women could spend that much time together in real life. It’s a nice fantasy, though.
Carrie Bradshaw never used her cell phone
These days almost no one has a house phone anymore, but back in 1998 when the show premiered, everyone did. Carrie finally gets a big clunky flip phone during season 4. The weird thing? Even after she did, she kept using her old-fashioned home phone. It’s just not realistic.
