How 'Sex and the City' Is the Epitome of Comfort TV

From 'Supernatural' to '30 Rock' to 'Friends', a lot of you have your own Comfort TV go-tos, too!

There’s so much to watch on television these days as new shows are dropping that are hard to keep track of and keep up with but…here I am watching the first season of Sex and the City for the umpteenth time.

To be honest, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched the original 1998-2004 series. I watched it every Sunday night when it originally aired on HBO. I bought all the DVDs when they came out and, on the rare occasion while channel surfing, I’d even watch edited versions that would air on E! even though by that point I knew the episodes so well I knew what they’d edited out (usually Samantha storylines) and wouldn’t last long. But no matter where or how I was watching, the original run of adventures of New Yorkers Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) never disappointed and, about to start season two, still doesn’t.

(l-r) Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall in Sex and the City (HBO/Warner Media)

Once streaming came along, it was even easier to dip into the show’s 94 episodes and skip around to my favorite episodes (season four’s “The Real Me” is my most watched episode, hands down…what’s yours? Tell me in the comments). However, once I heard that the series was dropping on Netflix (as it did earlier this week), there was no question it was time for another rewatch from episode 1. (Remember when Carrie would talk to the camera? Soooooo glad that went away after the first season!)

But why was I getting excited about watching a show I’d already seen many times on Netflix when I could just as easily watch them on Max (and still can, by the way)? I also have a flurry of current shows that I had abandonded mid-season for no particular reason. (Will Trent, I’m not done with you even if I’ve fallen a few episodes behind!) This is where Comfort TV comes in and the power it has to overrule any hot, new show. Sex and the City is the perfect Comfort TV since there are no surprises anymore but there’s an easy feeling watching Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda as they hit their ups and downs in their various romantic relationships and the topics the shows spend time dissecting (season 1, episode 11’s “The Drought” is a perfect example of how the four ladies deal with issues in their sex lives.)

I tend to rely on a slew of sitcoms (dramas typically require more attention so I personally don’t rewatch them as much) that I keep in rotation for watching in bed before falling asleep or just turning on when I need to shut my mind down and avoid whatever task or deadline I am procrastinating upon. If I’m not in the mood for Seinfeld or Friends, I can easily shift over to 30 Rock, Parks & Recreation or The Big Bang Theory. Comfort TV shows are reliable, safe and are always waiting there.

As for my current rewatch of Sex and the City, I started thinking about nostalgia and is that the reason why this series (and the others I mentioned) are so easy to keep going back to? I remember very well what happens to each of the four SATC women over the course of those original six seasons. There’s no debate necessary anymore once Carrie’s relationship with Mr. Big (Chris Noth) crashes and burns and she moves on to Aiden (John Corbett). Mr. Big was always going to be end game. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not anti-Aiden but I just knew it was never going to end in a happily ever after. And, as a writer, it’s always fun to see Carrie’s career go from newspaper columnist (yes, those did exist at one time!) to the meta-storyline of her writing her first book (called “Sex and the City”) and finding new fame.

One interesting thing about SATC is that after its original run, it had two big screen movies and then the current spin-off series, And Just Like That… which continues the adventures of Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte. I still wish they’d stopped after that first movie, which set the bar for how to continue a story that already had a pretty solid conclusion. It had the same vibe as the series and took everyone in directions that made sense. But, unable to deny the desire for more SATC, the second movie came along and did everything wrong. But in an age of reboots and revivals, rumors of a new series or a new movie never really went away.

30 Rock is one of the best showbiz shows ever, don’t you agree? (l-r, Tina Fey, Jack McBrayer, Jane Krakowski, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan) NBC

I tried to stay hopeful about And Just Like That… when it premiered in December, 2021 since there’s always something exciting about meeting up some old TV friends and I could only hope the writers had learned what worked and what didn’t work. However, I saw quickly that this new iteration was going to leave me feeling empty much like that second big screen movie. And I tried! I made it through the first season but realized I wasn’t enjoying anything about it (Carrie as a widow, Miranda exploring her sexuality, Charlotte just being shrill) and, for me, hate-watching anything is just a waste of my time. Everything about it just felt forced and uninspired. Also, without Samantha (no matter what truth there is in any off-set feuding between cast members) there just shouldn’t be a Sex and the City in any form. (Yep, I’m #TeamSamantha all the way)

I watched the first episode of AJLT’s season two to see if any (all) of the show’s season one problems had been fixed. I quickly saw they were not and I was done. The only thing that brought me back? Samantha, of course! The highly publicized return of Kim Cattrall for a single scene was something that did intrigue me and while it was great to see Cattrall in the role again, the fact that she filmed her side of a phone call with Parker’s Carrie only amplified how much she was missed on the show.

One of my favorite moments from Friends (season 6, episode 4 “The One Where Joey Loses His Insurance”):

And since I asked, I heard from a lot of you about your favorite shows that you go to when comfort TV is needed. If there’s one show that’s even more fitting as Comfort TV it’s Friends (streaming Max). Many of you offered that title up and it’s one of my go-to titles, too. I haven’t done a full series rewatch in awhile but jumping right to Season four’s “The One with the Embryos” and season five’s “The One Where Everybody Finds Out” happens a lot!

Other comedies that came up when I asked on social media were the original Roseanne (Peacock), M*A*S*H* (Hulu, SlingTV), 30 Rock (Hulu, Peacock), The Golden Girls (Hulu, Philo), Parks and Recreation (Peacock), Happy Endings (Hulu), The Big Bang Theory (Max), Seinfeld (Netflix), Schitt’s Creek (Hulu, Amazon, Fubo), Everybody Loves Raymond (Paramount+, Peacock) and classics like All in the Family (Hulu, Amazon, Pluto) and The Mary Tyler Moore Show (Hulu, Amazon).

One of the best moments from The Mary Tyler Moore Show (season 6, episode 7, “Chuckles Bites the Dust”)

Dramas also came up and include Supernatural (Netflix, Hulu), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Hulu, Sling TV), Smallville (Hulu), The West Wing (Max), My So Called Life (Hulu), Grey’s Anatomy (Hulu), Gilmore Girls (Netflix) and oldies but goodie like Bonanza (Amazon, Tubi) and Columbo (Tubi, Peacock, Amazon) and some British drama in Downton Abbey (Amazon, Peacock, Britbox).

Any other titles you’d like to add? Send them in the comments and tell me why you love them! Until next time…season 2 of Sex and the City starting in 3…2…1….