Sex and the City, TV Milestones

By: Deborah Jermyn

Narrated by: Colleen Patrick

With its bold depiction of four female friends navigating the pitfalls of Manhattan’s dating scene, Sex and the City, which aired on HBO from 1998 to 2004, was a unique television drama that evolved into a ubiquitous and widely debated cultural phenomenon. Deborah Jermyn’s Sex and the City investigates the program’s critical and popular success as well as its lasting cultural impact. To give listeners a complete picture of Sex and the City, Jermyn draws on close textual analysis of selected episodes, existing critical work on the program, testimonies from its stars and producers, and intertextual evidence ranging from the Sex and the City bus tour to fan guides and websites.

In this volume Jermyn explores the show’s characters, its careful generic balance of comedy and drama, its mix of both fantasy and realism, and its dedication to the intricacies of women’s friendships. Jermyn notes that in the course of its six seasons Sex and the City emerged as a kind of controversial shorthand to explore the zeitgeist among a generation of post-feminist TV audiences, each week considering issues surrounding femininity, feminism, sexuality, consumerism, and women’s lifestyle choices. Jermyn argues that, in short, Sex and the City’s success and wider cultural impact invite us not just to analyze the particular accomplishments of its writing, design, and performances but to recognize the contribution and significance that television can have on public debate and life outside "the box".

With the 2008 release of a full-length - and long-awaited - feature film version of Sex and the City, the series proves itself once again to be timely and relevant. Fans of the series as well as scholars of television history will enjoy Jermyn’s insightful study.

©2009 Wayne State University Press (P)2014 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"…deserves a spot on any bookshelf devoted to cultural studies, media, and women's issues." (Jan Whitt, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly)

"This is overall a book of significant value whose seriousness of purpose, strong scholarly reasoning and historically informed approach distinguish it as a significant contribution to our knowledge of the complex interrelationships between television, gender, and culture.” ( Critical Studies in Television)

“Written with the enthusiasm of a fan while drawing on insights from a range of academic sources, this book offers fascinating background detail about the program's production and reception and a strong argument for the program's significance, not only to its female audiences but also as ‘quality' television.” (author Jane Arthurs)

Feels like Film Class

I was looking for a fun behind-the-scenes walk down memory lane, but this felt more like College Film Class. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t good, it just means I had to think more than just sick back and enjoy.

The low stars for performance is directed more toward the production than the narrator. It was choppy, the sound wasn’t consistent and overall felt spliced together in a hurry.