It's hard for me to tell whether a piece of pop culture is experiencing a full-on revival or if I am just personally getting into it. I caught the big "Sopranos" wave in 2018—just in time to watch the entire show without stumbling on any major spoilers in the process, but definitely over-promised a few people in my life on the prospect of a "Columbo revival" (when it eventually happens, though, vindication will be sweet.).
This is all to say that I'm not sure if "Sex and the City" was actually having a Moment when I watched it in its entirety, for the first time, in March. But even if I was premature in deciding that SATC is so fucking back, I feel confident declaring that its the moment is now. Sex and the City summer, baby!
There are two key factors ushering in the SATC revival. The most important one is Kim Cattrall making an extremely conditional return to the show's reboot as the PR maven and fuck-anything-that-walks icon Samantha Jones—a move that was announced on Tuesday like it was the signing of a peace treaty between warring nations. "According to sources, Cattrall shot her dialogue on March 22 in New York City, without seeing or speaking with the stars of the series, including Sarah Jessica Parker, or with 'And Just Like That' showrunner Michael Patrick King," Variety reported. The queen of not wanting to be in a situation reigns over her kingdom with an iron fist!
To be fair, I haven't watched "And Just Like That" (tried, got ten minutes in before it made me sad). Still, this news was enough to send a fair-weather fan like me back down the rabbit hole of slideshows detailing the "feud" or "rift" between Cattrall and Sarah Jessica Parker, which means actual SATC-heads must be foaming at the mouth for a rewatch right now.
Almost as critical to the SATC revival is the fact that "Succession" is over, which means there's a gaping hole where a HBO-shaped vision of NYC should be. There's no chaser to billionaire dramedy like the fantasy that, if you're willing to spend all your money on designer shoes/try anything once/succumb to your divorce lawyer's advances, you can meet men anywhere. Pathos and family trauma are for the wintertime—and it's fucking summer. Time to live life in search of enduring love and a job that affords you a weirdly huge amount of time to get lunch with your friends! Dare I say vibe shift?
Also, on a slightly more meta level, despising your ex-coworkers so much that no amount of money can compel you to be in the same room with them is extremely New York, to me.
And yet, as I finished writing the Morning Spew, I couldn't help but wonder: Did I actually spot a trend, or was I just performing the ultimate Carrie Bradshaw move by taking something happening in my personal life and flipping it into an article?
Here are some more links to ponder this fabulous Thursday morning:
- Between this gripping James Comey thriller about "the politics of NY law enforcement and the E. Jean Carroll x Mary Trump Substack romance novel, let's just say my summer reading list is looking pretty great right now.
- Bad news for the environment but great news for fans of plastic film (and the plastic, forestry, and paper industries)—extended producer responsibility is dead in the water.
- Wow, this story about a trio of teenagers kidnapping and eating a swan that was a de facto town mascot is viscerally upsetting!
- A 65-year-old man in Queens who shot and killed another man when he threatened to mug the shooter with a pen is being charged with illegal use of a firearm.
- OK, let he whose personal website hasn't been taken over by "porn, plus ads for livestreams of chess matches" cast the first stone at New York City Councilmember Ari Kagan!
- So glad the Post continues to stay on top of the Jordan Neely's uncle beat and the peddling Islamophobia beat! Way to speak truth to power.
- And obviously Eric Adams had to get in on the dogpile at a reception for Jewish Heritage Month at Gracie Mansion: "If I was on that stage when those comments were made, I would have stood up and denounced them immediately… and now I know why they turned their backs on me. Because I would have never turned my back on you!" (That is, objectively, not why anyone was turning their backs to Eric Adams at CUNY Law School's graduation, FWIW.)
- Cops Hate Him: Local 'First-Amendment Auditor' Loves to Livestream During Police Interactions
- New candidate for song(s) of the summer: musical protests over the lack of Right to Counsel attorneys for tenants facing eviction.
- Advocates say the DOC neglecting to announce two deaths on Rikers Island in the past two weeks—of Joshua Valles and Rubu Zhao—signals the fact that they are "closing ranks" and attempting to "control the narrative" around the brutality in city jails.
