3 Awkward Sex & the City Details That Didn’t Age Well (Name-Dropping Trump was a Mistake, For One)
Sex & the City doesn’t get the credit it deserves for being one of the more edgy and progressive shows on television in the late-90s and early-2000s.
At that time, HBO was groundbreaking as a network for introducing some of the more controversial yet popular shows on TV. Accordingly, Sex & the City found a niche exploring boundaries with modern women as they worked the city life.
Sex & the City debuted in 1998 and wrapped up in 2004 after six seasons and nearly 100 episodes. Today, this show may be an afterthought to many viewers yet its reruns ensure that the rom-com will always maintain a prominent place in pop culture.
Despite it, going back and rewatching the initial pilot episode of Sex & the City is cringe-worthy, at moments.
The purpose of a pilot episode is to present an idea to networks in the hopes a producer is interested in financing the project. Some pilots get picked up, however, what becomes of the actual first season may resemble a much different product than the initial pilot episode. Such is the case with Sex & the City, which features many characteristics that did not survive the first episode.
First, showrunner Michael Patrick King has made it apparent in the past that he was not supportive of actress Sarah Jessica Parker repeatedly breaking the “fourth wall” in the first episode of Sex & the City.
While the tactic has become more prominent in recent years (especially on Netflix shows), breaking the fourth wall was uncharacteristic and not something that King believed the character needed to continue doing in subsequent episodes.
Moreover, the appearance and apartment of Carrie Bradshaw are much different in the first episode. For starters, Carrie sports an extremely short, dark, curly hairstyle in the Sex & the City pilot. The apartment, meanwhile, is missing several signature elements such as the bed being in a different position in the room and no indication of that notorious closet.
Finally, and perhaps most disturbing, the first episode of Sex & the City featured a lewd reference to none other than Donald Trump. Sure, this was several years before anyone could have anticipated that Trump would eventually run for President but, now looking back at the footage, it’s quite cringe-worthy.
Carrie, who is infatuated with Mr. Big in the first episode, refers to him as “the next Donald Trump, except he’s younger and much better looking.”
Fast forward a decade later, and that reference brings up a lot of cringe-worthy connections to Stormy Daniels and some other, um, not-so-desirable people in the world. Carrie may have only been joking, but that’s a punchline that has soured over the years, nevertheless.