Yep, nothing worse than being forced to sit through Sex and the City.

A few years back, a gal I was interested in invited me over one night for a homemade Italian dinner and the Sopranos season premiere.

Of course, what she didn't tell me as that I also had to sit through two episodes of Sex and the City before getting any dinner *or* getting my hands on the boobies.

Man, the things we do for boobies...

"Man, the things we do for boobies..."

Probably the only reason guys show up at their own wedding.

~Having to watch Sex and the City has become pretty much a national initiation rite for all males. I've seen a scary amount of episodes because my girlfriend at the time absolutely insisted we watch it before we watch anything else.
If I reached for the remote before the show was over she went absolutely feral on me.

In a way, it became somewhat of a comfortable routine: We'd sit - I'd try to finish my beer as fast as possible so I could smash it on the coffee table and slit my wrist with the shards - She'd keep my hands busy instead by handing me massage oil and putting her bare feet in my lap expectantly.

The things we do for boob- *cough* love.

Rupert feels it would be rude to ask me to change the channel and also he's very sleepy by that time, so he just relaxes on the sofa next to me and closes his eyes, occasionally letting loose a critical yet accurate comment about the dialog. "Jesus, what a slut," for example.

Now, were you watching the syndicated (therefore "clean") "S&TC" or the On-Demand, HBO version? And were Rupert's comments about Samantha or the quartet in general?

I actually like "S&TC" now that I watch it instead of the local 10 PM news. But I get the "clean" version now, whereas the "full-on" version made me really uncomfortable. The nudity, etc. distracted from what is, oftentimes, really good dialogue.

You need to get a new boyfriend.

I have to agree with Rupert on a couple of things:

1) It WOULD be rude to ask you to change the channel from a show you are already watching and obviously want to watch.

2) Yup, 3 in a row and the gaydom sets in.

I don't have to worry much about this with the new girlfriend, we don't have time to watch TV simultaneously, due to our schedules. Of course, with the limited time we have together, we like to avoid such pursuits for time better spent(at least in this stage of the relationship).

I once, once, watched S&TC. At the time I didn't really know what the show was about but I had heard all the hype so I assumed it was at least a halfway decent show.

Now I avoid it like the Goddamn plague.

And I don't mean that figuratively. I mean I'm afraid the radiation from the television will electronically infect my balls with an STD from one of those sluts.

There is *nudity* in S&TC???

I've NEVER seen an episode of S&TC, Seinfeld, Friends or American Idol. I do not watch network television. (Except for football) I'm a single white, straight female and don't feel the NEED to watch, my time is precious.

I can proudly state the I have never watched a single episode of Sex and The City.

Neither has my wife, whom you would think would have, given the chick proclivity for that sort of stuff.

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah.

A couple of nights ago I walked in and there she was watching Sex and The City for the first time, because there wasn't anything else on. I sat down and after listening to the contrived mindless prattle coming from one of the women on the show, I forget who, does it really matter? I loudly exclaimed -

"What the fuck is this shit?" "Christ, won't somebody just stick a knife in me right now"

I pretty sure that I won't ever have to put up with watching that crap in the future either as my wife agreed that it was the worst five minutes of televison that she ever was witness to, that or she just doesn't want to hear my belly-acheing.

Either way I win, and that what's really important, isn't it?

I have had to endure that show one time. It had Ron Livingston as Sarah Jessica Parker's boyfriend. I figured it'd be good just because Ron was in Band of Brothers and Office Space...just figured anything he was in had to be good...

WRONG.

But the thing is that the real girlfriend looks quite a bit like Sarah Jessica Parker, so it was quite weird, really.

I've been able to watch approximately one third of an episode of Sex and the City EVER. What. a. beating. If I want to watch whores, I'll turn on the news and watch the Lohan/Paris show. At least they can be remotely entertaining.

Hey, the blogads say that there's a Rachel Photo Gallery with "tons of hot pics" at Maxim.com but sadly, it is not so. (It's some scrawny, anonymous skank in Coconut Grove, FL.)

I also like the "discreet dating for married people" ad, too. Heh.

Hurricane Mikey and Alexander:

I'm just curious - was whatever you got worth what you put up with to get it?

(In my own case, the answer is "sometimes, but rarely". I have since learned that if one is careful and patient, one doesn't *have* to eat a sh*t sandwich in order to have dessert.)

..though sometimes you *do* have to eat your vegetables.

Wow, I guess I'm the only girl here whose hubby willingly watched all the S&TC seasons, via DVD. He used to say they frightened him, but he enjoyed watching it anyway.

He is now being rewarded with back-to-back seasons of The Sopranos on DVD; we just finished season 3 and will start season 4 tonite. I think I'm getting the better end of the deal - The Sopranos ROCKS.

Why anyone would watch the "clean" version of a show where the only redeeming quality of the show is nudity is beyond me.

How does the "clean up" job work? Are scenes simply cut? Are they cropped? Do they fuzz out the naughty bits?

I can't stand watching stuff that has been cleaned up - it is usually so obvious that something has been altered that it really distracts from the show. If you want to watch wholesome entertainment (and yes, I do), then watch TCM and TV Land (which I love). If you want to watch something "edgy" (and yes, I watch that, too), then watch it and enjoy (nothing wrong with boobies).

Trying to have it both ways with "clean" versions of movies and tv shows made for adult audiences just results in watching a lot of crap.

I honestly never understood the appeal to that show, I sincerely don't. I mean the only reason I even know it exists and have seen what I have seen of it, is because I do get laid on occasion, and in my case that requires a woman, and those woman seem to like that show.

I mean look at the women it portrays? What woman in their right mind could or would want to relate to any of them?

Sarah Jessica Barker (Or in these parts known as "The Nose with a bad perm), is married to an in the closeted gay man and plays a vapid pinhead with an over appreciation and abundance of shoes and unapologetically displays the most incredibly awful judgement when it comes to chosing men to spend her time with. I mean look what she ends up with? How pathetic and contradictory to everything she allegedly stands for can one be?

Next you have Kim Cattral who defines the term "Cougar" who while admirable for being outspoken, confident, and independent, wipes all that away by being a skank who loses her mind over a gray pube.

Then you have Kristin Davies (the true hottie of the show) who plays a ditzy waspy chic who is so uptight that a bin full of jack rabbit vibrators couldn't dislodge the bug that crawled up her ass and died on the pole lodged there.

Lastly you have the chacter of Miranda, who is such a bitch and so incredibly jaded that even having a baby barely softened her up. Her only saving grace is that she is a redhead and her character probably comes closest to portraying a real NYC woman (a breed I date often so I know that of which I speak).

I still haven't figured yet who Sarah Jessica Barker blew (and apparently is still blowing) to get her career where it is today, and I will never understand why woman find that show appealing. Of course I also don't get the appeal of Desperate Housewives, Lost or Grays Anatomy though either, all seems pabulum for the mind to me.

Making poor Rupert sit through that tripe on a nightly basis is nearly as cruel as dressing up Sunny in silly clothing. You should consider yourself fortunate to be surrounded by such saints Rachel.

G Mize,

The ex-girlfriend in question was a lovely woman with whom I loved to spend time. As much as I exaggerate, it wasn't that terrible a compromise.

Granted the rewards are as you explained, sometimes but rarely worth it in a purely statistical sense. But, I'd like to think other less tangible things made it worth it in the end.

Had it been someone I wasn't in love with however, I never would have seen a minute of that show.

Just to offset the mushiness I displayed here, I'll end with:

Boobies.

How does the "clean up" job work? Are scenes simply cut? Are they cropped? Do they fuzz out the naughty bits?

It probably looks something like this.

Oy...as a woman I do not understand how or why other women find this show interesting in the least. I have watched a few (cleaned up) episodes (we don't subscribe to HBO) and just find it odd. Almost fascinating in the way a car crash is fascinating and I can't look away.

I did not feel better or good about myself after watching it. I felt bad for the "good" girl of the show...like she was a naive tool that they were trying to corrupt.

I don't know...I don't get it apparently. Then again, I don't like Desperate Housewives, Grays Anatomy, or most shows like that. But then again ... I DO like America's Next Top Model! ROFL

Cool! I'm the only pro-S&TC person here. How contrarian of me!

Honestly: I hate Gray's, DH, and the other shows mentioned in the discussion. But I really like S&TC. Couldn't stand the couple of times I tried to watch it on HBO, and then began to watch it when the 10 o'clock news was all John Kerry, all the time. I thought I was above liking the show, but it grew on me. Sure, I don't condone the bed-hopping (and no, I don't believe women talk to each other about sex in the graphic way the S&TC quartet does), but there are moments in that show that have answered questions I've had about relationships, why they went wrong, etc.

It's "A Chick Thang": you wouldn't understand, LOL!

..though sometimes you *do* have to eat your vegetables.

Oh, god. Reading that gave me a vision of someone trying to date chicks in comas...

I am going to hell.

As far as the actual topic here is concerned, the only time I watched the show, the dialog just caused my brain to start shriveling, so I won't be watching it again, even if it's the uncut version.

LOL @ WayneB

Don't worry about going to hell, I'll be there already, holding the door for ya.

but there are moments in that show that have answered questions I've had about relationships, why they went wrong, etc.

Well that makes sense. If nothing else, Sex & The City is a veritable compendium of superficial relationships doomed to failure.

Langtry, just so you aren't alone against the Judgie McRighteous crowd, I like S&TC too! For heaven's sake, it's a TV SHOW, it's not supposed to be Pulitzer material. It's also a story-line and character-driven show, so watching one show or a third of a show doesn't do it justice.

I also wasn't crazy about the bed-hopping, but other aspects of the show made up for it.

But admittedly, it is a girl show. So what. If my man wants to watch NASCAR which I happen to think is boring and stupid as all get out, I keep my opinion to myself. If he likes it, fine. I don't have to stay in the room to watch it. To each his/her own.

Watching a third episode won't make Rupert gay. Just ill. He's a guy.

best.comments.ever.

ROFLMAO!

My rule of thumb is that the odds are very strong that I will not and will never like a show whose basic premise is "these people are really neurotic and that's cute". It transcends the chick show and even explains why I never thought Seinfeld was funny.

You guys are missing out. Not on the show itself, which revels in sluttery and Prada bags. But as a heterosexual man I will say that while S&TC is a show I would never watch by myself, I found it tolerable enough that if I watched it with my girlfriend it scored me all kinds of points with her. That show is as good as p0rn for women and if you can tolerate 22 minutes of watching it, she will be A) impressed that you took enough of an interest in her show that she thinks you’re great and B) she is already excited by all the sexy giggly girly stuff that she rewards you with a one-way ticket to the bedroom. Everybody wins!

I will certainly admit to having watched sex on video, and I have also watched the city, but I would never watch both at the same time.

So I'm the only straight guy in the room who likes the show? Fine, I am secure enough in my manhood that I can live with that.

Of course I've never quite understood the cleaned up versions, it's just not the same.

"If nothing else, Sex & The City is a veritable compendium of superficial relationships doomed to failure."

Mightysamurai, you said it in a nutshell...

OK, is it just me, or is HBO's "Entourage" the male equivalent of Sex in the City? Think about it: In Sex, the girls all have female dream jobs (writer, lawyer, PR exec, rich housewife... OK, I've watched the show a few times. Big deal. I digress). They all have at least enough money to do things chicks fantasize about -- expensive shoe shopping, trips, etc. They all live in nice homes, usually by themselves. They continually demonstrate the fantasy afternoon -- swapping dirty secrets (c'mon, you know you girls do this. Why else is the show a hit?) over huge pieces of cake without getting fat...

Now we turn to Entourage: Fantasy jobs (famous actor, his manager, his struggling brother, and his driver/upcoming record exec). They do fantasy guy stuff (buying identical motorcycles, sports cars, chasing hot coeds around the pool, etc). They all live together, as men would, and revel in pigdom. It's the same show, but from the POV of the Penis.

But Seppo, guys are *expected* to be sluts and all that.

And Entourage is much funnier.

If you wonder if women would acdtually act like that, you are not far off.

The show is about women playing the part of Gay Men. Replace the women in the show with gay men and the superficial relationships and overt antics make a lot more sense.

In 'the city', this is understood. It's not about slutty women...it's about gay men.

I'm a girl (albeit middle-aged) but I have a confession to make. I have never seen a full episode of Sex and the City. Don't like the Lifetime channel, nor do I watch Oprah or Dr. Phil. I don't like talking on the telephone for any length of time, and I like baseball.

I think I'm a mutant.

Elizabeth
Imperial Keeper

I think I'm a mutant.

Dude, shut up!

You keep talking like that and the other women-folk will find out you're actually a spy for the White Male Patriarchy!

I guess that's what happens when you're the only girl with an older brother.

Now I have three daughters. One is super girly, one kind of so-so, and the youngest is totally opposite; she'd rip the heads off of her sister's Barbie dolls and bury them in the back yard, and she could kick the a%@ of any boy of her age in the neighborhood.

Needless to say, I kept an eye on that one.

Elizabeth
Imperial Keeper