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SEX AND THE PITY
List writer, and self-confessed Sex and the City fan, Lauren Mayberry bears the bad news of a prequel to the series
The TV phenomenon that was Sex and the City was pronounced dead about halfway through film one, roughly at the part where Carrie’s main concern – following being dumped at the altar by two- dimensional, emotionally closed-off borebag and hairwax hoarder Mr Big – is how she will get her clothes back from the hideously large walk-in at their über-apartment.
If film two was the crass,
stereotyping and borderline racist nail in the coffin, then the news that American teen network The CW have commissioned a prequel series, The Carrie Diaries, starring Emma Roberts (pictured) is a shuddering kick in the stones to anyone with the vain hope that Hollywood would finally let Bradshaw and co go quietly into the night.
And the saddest part is that once, way back when, Sex and the City was actually great. Over the course of 94 episodes between 1998 and 2004, we were given a programme for women, about women who – here’s the kicker – actually liked each other. Forget your Desperate Housewives, your Gossip Girls and your Ugly Betties. The four protagonists in Sex and the City were smart, funny women who supported each other and faced together the myriad of conundrums thrown up by life as an unmarried gal in a big city.
Unlike the films that followed, the show was witty, clever and reasonably relatable. The things which overpower the big screen adaptations – shopping, shagging and whining – were elements in the TV show, but were far less important than the honest, warm exploration of everything from cancer to infertility, abortion and the marriage race.
The characters lost most of their
humour, charm and perspective when chucked onto the cinema screen, as well as their relevance, for anyone who paid to see the cruddy films. One can only imagine how this latest instalment will further flog the poor dead horse, making that pithy, vintage Bradshaw seem even further removed.
Fur the record
As The Muppets movie prepares to hit a cinema near you, we look back over the archives to cherry pick some of the best fast facts about the furry stars
■ The Muppets have a string of movies to their names already, including The Muppet Movie, The Muppets Take Manhattan, and The Great Muppet Caper. ■ The Muppets have presented, in character, at the Academy Awards and Emmy Awards.
■ In 2010, they launched The Muppets Kitchen with Cat Cora their own online cooking show. ■ The Muppets were born when a young Jim Henson was trying to impress his college buddies by creating the then show, Sam and Friends. Many of the original characters remain.
■ Never ones to shirk away from serious film, darling, they’ve had cameos in Rocky III and An American Werewolf in London. ■ Frank Oz, the actor most famous for playing Yoda in the Star Wars films, also performed as at least nine of the Muppets.
■ Chat shows have been ten a penny for our furry friends, with Kermit the Frog famously being interviewed by Jon Stewart for The Daily Show and Miss Piggy later appearing on The Late Show.
■ Further TV fame would come later when they appeared in character in hit shows including The Cosby Show and The West Wing.
■ Academy Award nominee Amy Adams plays Muppet Mary in the upcoming film. ■ Alice Cooper guest-starred in the show – a horror special – in 1978, with the show culminating in a raucous rendition of ‘School’s Out’.
■ This was only bettered by Miss Piggy playing Kiki Dee to Elton John on a cover of ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’, in 1979.
■ In 2005, the United States Postal Service revealed a postage stamp series in Jim Henson and The Muppets honour. 12 THE LIST 2 Feb–1 Mar 2012
■ Muppets fan John Cleese wrote the episode of the show he appeared in 1977. NB Cleese played a galactic pirate as part of the sketch.
■ Ever influential in the American music scene, the music video for Weezer’s 2002 hit ‘Keep Fishin’ is set around the group performing on The Muppet Show. ■ In 1979, Liza Minnelli guest starred as an actress on the run from a killer, with the show offering up a rather devastating version of Barry Manilow’s ‘Copacabana’.
■ Lifetime Muppets fan and Flight of the Conchords star Bret McKenzie has created some of the music for the upcoming Muppets movie. ■ Sir Bruce Forsyth has revealed that a dance he performed on The Muppet Show over 30 years ago was axed for being ‘suggestive’.
The Muppets is on general release from Fri 10 Feb. See review, page 69.