Sex and the City

128 Pages·2009·0.946 MB·English

by  Deborah Jermyn

Sex and the City
TV Milestones
Series Editors
Barry Keith Grant Jeannette Sloniowski
Brock University Brock University
TV Milestonesis part of the Contemporary Approaches to Film
and Television Series
A complete listing of the books in this series can be found online at
wsupress.wayne.edu
General Editor
Barry Keith Grant
Brock University
Advisory Editors
Patricia B. Erens Robert J. Burgoyne
School of the Art Institute of Chicago Wayne State University
Lucy Fischer Tom Gunning
University of Pittsburgh University of Chicago
Anna McCarthy Caren J. Deming
New York University University of Arizona
Peter X. Feng Lisa Parks
University of Delaware University of California–
Santa Barbara
Jeffrey Sconce
Northwestern University
SEX CITY
AND
THE
Deborah Jermyn
TV
MILESTONES SERIES
Wayne State University Press Detroit
© 2009 by Wayne State University Press,
Detroit, Michigan 48201. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced without formal permission.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
13 12 11 10 09 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jermyn, Deborah, 1970–
Sex and the city / Deborah Jermyn.
p. cm. — (TV milestones series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8143-3288-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Sex and the city (Television program) I. Title.
PN1992.77.S465J47 2009
791.45’7—dc22
2008032274
∞The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
All photos aside from screen captures ofSex and the Cityare by Deborah Jermyn.
For Ma’am,
aka Nova Yolanda Matthias
(my Carrie)
Carrie’s stoop, Manhattan, April 2005.
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CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix vii
Introduction:Four Women and a City 1
1. Making Sex and the City:“Authorship” and Ensemble
Television Production 11
2. “You see us, Manhattan? We have it all!” Sex and the City,
Women, and Television Comedy 35
3. New York Stories:Representation and the City in Sex and
the City 59
4. Goodnight, Ladies:The Legacy of Sex and the City 91
NOTES 103
WORKS CITED 107
INDEX 113
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Over the years during and since Sex and the City, many peo- ix
ple have shared their stories and thoughts about the pro-
gram with me, which has fed my passion for it and con-
tributed to the writing of this book. There are a number of
people and institutions I am particularly indebted to. First,
thanks to Annie Martin at Wayne State University Press and
Series Editors Jeannette Sloniowski and Barry Keith Grant,
who supported the proposal for this book with such speed
and enthusiasm, as well as to the anonymous readers for
their encouraging and thoughtful reviews of the manuscript.
I am grateful to the School of Arts at Roehampton Universi-
ty and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC),
in the United Kingdom, who supported the research leave
and visits to New York that enabled me to write and photo-
graph this book. My particular thanks go to the anonymous
peer reviewers at the AHRC who provided me with such
unequivocally generous feedback. In New York, I would like
to thank Ron Simon, curator, and the staff of the Museum of
Television and Radio for the use of their excellent archives;
David Smith, for his help at the New York Public Library;