What ‘Sex and the City’ Director Michael Patrick King Didn’t Like About Carrie Bradshaw in Season 1
Sex and the City is an iconic TV show. The HBO series starring Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw won multiple awards during its original six-season run. But in the early days of the program, there was one part of Parker’s character director Michael Patrick King didn’t like.
‘Sex and the City’ debuted in 1998
Parker made her first appearance as Bradshaw when Sex and the City premiered on June 6, 1998. The shoe-obsessed woman navigated New York City’s dating scene while writing a column about love and relationships.
The character’s based on Candace Bushnell, an author who wrote her own column in the New York Observer before turning them into essays called Sex and the City.
Along for the ride are Carrie’s best friends, Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon), Charlotte York (Kristin Davis), and Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall). They all discuss their love lives while sipping Cosmos at a hip bar or walking through Central Park.
After Sex and the City’s 1998 premiere, it ran for six seasons before going off the air in February 2004. But that wasn’t goodbye. Fans of the series got to see more from their favorite characters in a Sex and the City movie in 2008 and a follow-up in 2010.
Michael Patrick King hated Carrie Bradshaw talking directly to viewers
In the early episodes of Sex and the City, Bradshaw offered up her thoughts on relationships by breaking what’s called the “fourth wall” and speaking directly to the audience.
According to Jennifer Keishin Armstrong’s book, Sex and the City and Us: How Four Single Women Changed the Way We Think, Live, and Love, King felt it hurt Bradshaw’s credibility.
The director’s quoted as saying, “I want to believe this. I believe her. I think she’s the real thing. But whenever she turns to the camera, I no longer believe this. Can we stop that?”
Eventually, the show dropped Bradshaw breaking the fourth wall. Parker was happy with the change because she didn’t like speaking directly to the camera either.
Another tweak that came after season 1 was the removal of the man-on-the-street style interviews. Sex and the City dropped those in favor of giving more screen time to the main cast members.
‘Sex and the City’ is getting new episodes
Parker is reprising her iconic role in a Sex and the City revival. She’ll be returning alongside Davis and Nixon while Cattrall will not.
Titled “And Just Like That…” Sex and the City will get new episodes on HBO Max. According to Variety, Nixon, Davis, and Parker will all executive produce along with King. There will be 10, 30-minute episodes following the women as they navigate love in their 50s. Filming is set to begin in late spring 2021.
Watch every season of Sex and the City on HBO Max.
