Everything old is new again, especially in TV land with viewers yearning for a taste of nostalgia.
Which explains why there have been a slew of old TV shows making a comeback in form of reboots, remakes as well as reunion special.
Dexter (2006-2013) brought back its original cast for another round of grisly murders in Dexter: New Blood which premiered last month.
Then in July, we were introduced to a new generation of rich, spoiled brats in the updated version of Gossip Girl (original series aired between 2007-2012).
But the anticipation to these shows pales in comparison to And Just Like That... a 10-episode revival of the hit series Sex And The City.
Premiered last week, the series, which brought back the three main leads – Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis – gave the HBO Max stellar ratings, clocking as the streamer’s biggest series opener in the United States.
And Just Like That... was never in the pipeline for Parker. Instead the actress – who portrayed the fashion-forward Carrie Bradshaw for six seasons and two movies – was more interested to do a podcast about Sex And The City, something she had discuss with the show’s original showrunner, Michael Patrick King.
“In the spring of 2020, I was talking with Michael Patrick about doing a podcast about the behind-the-scenes making of Sex And The City.
“And we spoke about what we were missing in the pandemic: joy, community, the experience of being together. The world of Carrie and her friends has always been about coming home, and I felt like we needed that right now,” Parker, 56, told Vogue in its November issue.
One thing led to another, the revival was put in motion with King returning to helm it.
Recruiting cast members was somewhat easy for Parker who stayed in touch with most of her co-stars after the series ended.
Both Davis, who played uptight socialite Charlotte, and Nixon, as legal eagle Miranda, signed on. And so did Chris Noth (Big), the late Willie Garson (the actor who played Stanford died in September) and Mario Cantone (Anthony).
However, there was one big problem. Kim Cattrall, who played fan favourite Samantha, wasn’t interested to return.
In fact, the 65-year-old actress has been vocal about not wanting to be part of the series anymore and has spoken about her unpleasant experience working with Parker.
“You learn lessons in life and my lesson is to do work with good people and try and make it fun,” Cattrall told Daily Mail in 2019.
Despite Cattrall’s non-participation, the series found a way to move on with the production.
Filming started in July.
Diversity matters
And Just Like That... is set in New York City in the age of Covid-19, though no one seems to be wearing face mask (in the first two episodes at least).
Now, Carrie no longer writes a sex column but has joined the world of podcast and, occasionally, documents fashionable people on her social media.
Miranda has quit her high-flying job as a lawyer and has gone back to school to pursue her Masters.
Charlotte is still prim and proper and is a helicopter mum to her two daughters, Lily and Rose.
If you think their single life was complicated in the original series (which ran from 1998 to 2004), it gets even more complex for the ladies as they navigate life in their 50s.
Immediately in the first episode itself, the show addresses one of its biggest shortcomings in the original series – “The incredible lack of diversity was the Achilles’ heel of the show, the first time around,” Nixon, 55, told Vogue.
In And Just Like That..., each of the three main characters have made a new friend of colour – Carrie’s podcast co-host is a self proclaimed “queer nonbinary Mexican-Irish diva” (Sara Ramirez); Charlotte looks up to Lisa (Nicole Ari Parker), a Black helicopter mum not unlike herself; and Miranda’s lecturer is a Black professor (Karen Pittman).
Charlotte’s adopted daughter Lily is Asian played by Cathy Ang.
“I really think it is going to showcase the way that our beloved trio can actually interact with women of colour today,” Ang told Cosmopolitan in a recent interview.
Ang, 26, went on to say that the writers have made sure these new actresses have strong storylines.
“If you go down the list of everyone who’s cast, they have such large personalities and energies that they bring to the table. And even at a table read, there’s always discussion about how to make sure that these characters are properly representing a real person,” Ang said.
Parker, in a separate interview, noted: “In no way were we interested in tokenism. You can’t bring people on the show and not let the camera be with them! These characters are all gifts to us.”
On playing Lily, Ang added: “It’s too much pressure to be like, ‘I’m representing all these Asians in New York City,’ obviously, but maybe I’ll be able to represent how complicated it is to be a Chinese adoptee in a richer, white household.”
Dressed for success
For the revival, King made sure that it’s not just a continuation of Sex And The City. It should feel new and now.
To reflect the world we live in, King knew the show has to explore diversity, racism and gender issues. He also went to the extent of doing away with the lightness of the show (the first episode delivers a shocker!) and a beloved part of the original series – Carrie’s voiceover.
“Even in the editing room I was pulling out anything that felt like it was from another time. There were jokes that felt like the old show,” King told Variety.
“There’s no voice-over except for one line at the end. That’s because Carrie has no overview. I destroyed her world. She has one sentence at the end of every show, that’s it.”
But worry not, fans. The fashion stays as fabulous.
Patricia Field, the Emmy-winning costume designer who gave us countless memorable looks from the original series, could not report to duty for the revival.
“The main reason was a time conflict. I wasn’t able to be in New York doing that,” Field told Women’s Wear Daily on the reason she had to say no to the gig, adding that she would be in Paris, France, working on Season Two of Emily In Paris.
For the revival, the mammoth task of dressing the ladies fell on the shoulders of costume designers Molly Rogers and Danny Santiago.
The duo, who also worked under Field in the original series, said when picking outfits for the three leads, they don’t consider the age factor.
“They still are the women who they are, it’s time that moved on,” Santiago reasoned to Hollywood Reporter.
“We still have some whimsical moments for Carrie, that’s something that she’s always had in her style and we played with that... These women express themselves through their fashion and they feel great just who they are.”
Santiago added that apart from big labels, they also worked with new young designers in and outside the United States.
“Because of Instagram, we were able to find all these new people that we could bring in,” he told Women’s Wear Daily.
Knowing the fashion in the series would be under scrutiny, as well as style inspiration to fans, the costume designers started an Instagram account (@andjustlike thatcostumes) to document the process of dressing up the stars.
‘Are women’s lives not interesting?’
From the moment it was made known that a Sex And The City revival was in the pipeline, there has been an incessant chatter on social media.
If the prequel, The Carrie Diaries (2013-2014) – which tells the story of Carrie as a high school student – wasn’t well-received and only lasted two seasons, do we need another Sex And The City series?
In the ageist industry that is Hollywood, will a show about women in their 50s be a hit, some have asked?
Actress Davis, 56, told Vogue: “People are like, ‘Why should they come back?’ and it bugs me. Are women’s lives not interesting now?
“Nobody every asks, ‘Why would you do this violent remake over and over again?
“For me that is indicative of our reluctance to sit and watch women’s lives develop over time.”
New episodes of And Just Like That... premiere every Thursday on HBO Go.
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