Amazon.com video review:
The complete first season of Sex and the City is available on VHS
and
DVD, but those not ready to commit to that kind of long-term relationship can
enjoy
one-night stands with this video containing the first two episodes of HBO's
Golden Globe award-winning series based on the book by
Candace Bushnell.
Sarah
Jessica Parker earned Best Actress honors as Carrie Bradshaw, a "sexual
anthropologist," who writes "Sex and the City," a newspaper column that
chronicles the state of sexual affairs of Manhattanites in this "age of
un-innocence." Her "posse," including nice girl Charlotte (Kristin Davis),
hard-edged Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), and incredibly promiscuous Samantha (Kim
Cattral)--not to mention her own tumultuous love life--gives her plenty of
column fodder. In the first episode, Carrie and company turn the tables on
"toxic bachelors" and decide to start having "sex like a man." That will
change
when she meets Mr. Big (Chris Noth). Episode 2 coins the term
"modelizer":
a
guy who is obsessed with and only dates models. Sex and the
City boasts
an exemplary ensemble and graphic girl talk not ready for prime time on the
broadcast networks (with apologies to George Carlin, it turns out there are
way
more than seven words you can never say on television). Some may accuse
this
series of male bashing, but women, after years of enduring shows of "men
behaving badly," will relish the equal time. --Donald
Liebenson
Amazon.com video review:
A smart and savvy (albeit highly stylized) look at the single lives of four thirtysomething Manhattan women, Sex and the City: The Complete Second Season builds on the foundation of its first season with plot arcs that are both hilarious and heartfelt, taking the show from breakout hit to true pop-culture phenomenon. Relationship epiphanies coexist happily alongside farcical plots and zingy one-liners, resulting in emotionally satisfying episodes that feature the sharp kind of character-defining dialogue that seems to have disappeared from the rest of TV long ago. When last we left the NYC gals, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) had just broken up with a commitment-phobic Mr. Big (Chris Noth), but fans of Noth's seductive-yet-distant rake didn't have to wait long until he was back in the picture, as he and Carrie tried to make another go of it. Their relationship evolution, from reunion to second breakup, provides the core of the second season. The fittingly titled and keenly observed episode "Evolution" found Carrie trying to leave a few feminine belongings at Mr. Big's apartment with little success, charting the challenges and limits of intimacy. And the season's finale, "Ex and the City," was a melancholy goodbye for Carrie and Big that took its cue from The Way We Were. It wasn't all angst, though: among other adventures, Charlotte (Kristin Davis) puzzles over whether one of her beaus was "gay-straight" or "straight-gay"; Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) tries to date a guy who insists on having sex only in places where they might get caught; and Samantha (the exquisite Kim Cattrall) copes with dates who range from, um, not big enough to far too big--with numerous stops in between. Through it all, the four actresses cohered into a solid ensemble that played on their complex relationships among themselves as well as with men; in two short years, Parker and company became one of the best TV casts in over a decade. And to top it all off, the second season offers 18 episodes, six more than the first. Sometimes size really can make a difference! --Mark Englehart
Amazon.com video review:
Now you can achieve multiple viewings of the best Sex on TV.
Winner
of Golden
Globes for Best TV Series and Best Actress, Sex and the City is
based on
Candace Bushnell's provocative bestselling book. Sarah Jessica
Parker
stars as
Carrie Bradshaw, a self-described "sexual anthropologist," who writes "Sex
and
the City," a newspaper column that chronicles the state of sexual affairs
of
Manhattanites in this "age of un-innocence." Her "posse," including nice
girl
Charlotte (Kristin Davis), hard-edged Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), and party
girl
Samantha (Kim Cattrall)--not to mention her own tumultuous love
life--gives Carrie plenty of column fodder. Over the course of the first
season's 12 episodes, the most prominent dramatic arc concerns Carrie, who
goes from turning the tables on "toxic bachelors" by having "sex like a
man" to
wanting to join the ranks of "the monogamists" with the elusive Mr. Big
(Chris
Noth). Meanwhile, Miranda, Cynthia, and Samantha have their own dating
woes, few
of which can be described on a family Web site. Seinfeld has nothing
on Sex
and the City when it comes to shallow, self-absorbed characters or
coining
catch phrases. Episode 2, for example, introduces the term "modelizer": a
guy
who is obsessed with and will only date models. Some may accuse this series
of
male bashing. But women, after years of enduring shows with "men behaving
badly," will relish the equal time. Some may blanch at the ladies' graphic
language and ribald humor, or dismiss some of the situations as unrealistic
(Carrie doesn't bat an eye when she discovers that an artist friend
surreptitiously
videotapes his sexual conquests). Still others will view Sex and the
City as documentary. Regardless of your view, this groundbreaking
series will have you longing for more. --Donald Liebenson
