‘Sex and the City': 13 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About HBO Series as It Turns 20 (Photos)

Are you a Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, or Samantha?

That’s a question that women — and some men, too — have been asking each other for years, not only to learn more about each other, but about themselves. In her new book, titled “Sex and the City and Us,” author Jennifer Keishin Armstrong details her own story of how she was influenced by the show that would become a Bible on how to live in New York City in your 30s, in the form of a little newspaper column by Carrie Bradshaw.

We read Armstrong’s book. Here are 12 things we learned about the show that would help define a generation.

Candace Bushnell, the writer of the real-life “Sex and the City” column for the New York Observer, created the pseudonym Carrie Bradshaw so that her parents could at least pretend they weren’t reading about their daughter’s sex life.

We all know that “SATC” eventually landed at HBO (which back in the late nineties was known as a “guy’s channel” because of its boxing matches and penchant for female nudity), but other networks were interested in the project from Darren Star, too. Particularly ABC Entertainment President Jamie Tarses, who was the youngest person to run an entertainment network division at that time (1996) and the first female network president ever. She ultimately lost the project to HBO, which offered more freedom. Armstrong described “SATC” as “that one pop of bright pink in the middle of HBO’s gritty, dark, predominantly male lineup” (page 22).

Sarah Jessica Parker was hesitant to join the project at first, even though Darren Star had the actress in mind when crafting Carrie Bradshaw. Parker, who was planning her wedding to Matthew Broderick at the time, and starring in at least one play a year, was afraid that committing to a TV series would conflict with her schedule. But once she began working — the show filmed in New York, where Parker lives — she realized that this wasn’t a regular TV show.

Cynthia Nixon was another New York actress who Star thought would be perfect for the show. The only problem? Like Carrie and Samantha, Nixon was blonde. As Armstrong writes, “Three blondes seemed like… a lot of blondes.” But the character that Star based Miranda on had red hair, and Nixon agreed to dye hers.

Unlike Parker, actress Kristin Davis was dying to join “Sex and the City.” She had worked with Star on a previous show, “Melrose Place,” and was trying to prove her comedic chops with roles in “Seinfeld” and “The Larry Sanders Show.” When she learned about the good-girl role of Charlotte, she knew she’d be perfect. After a tough round of auditions, Davis was told that Charlotte might end up being a recurring character, not a regular. Davis decided that when they shot the pilot she would prove that she should be a regular, and obviously she succeeded.

Casting Samantha Jones was going to be difficult, because Star knew that in the wrong hands, the character could become a Jessica Rabbit-like stereotype, Armstrong points out. Kim Cattrall, much older than the other three actresses, was afraid she was too “over the hill” for such a sexy role. But after meeting Star, he assuaged her fears and she jumped right in.

Writer Jenny Bicks was the only female staffer in the early days of the show, and as Armstrong writes, this could lead to some humorous incidents in the writers’ room. “Once, she had to draw a detailed diagram of women’s sex organs on a dry-erase board to explain some basic mechanics to [Michael Patrick] King and Star,” Armstrong says. “As much as they knew their way around a TV script, they did not know their way around a vulva and clitoris” (page 56).

If you know even the smallest amount about “SATC,” then you know that fashion is paramount. In fact, Parker has called fashion the “fifth character.” Costume designer Patricia Field joined the show in the second episode, creating iconic looks like the naked dress, Carrie’s opening credits tutu, and the nameplate necklace.

In Season 2, the writers decided it was about time to include a more sympathetic male character. And that arrived in the form of Miranda’s bartending beau, Steve, played by David Eigenberg. Although Steve and Miranda had great chemistry on screen, the actors’ relationship off screen was strictly professional. Eigenberg looked up to Nixon, Armstrong writes. She said that this was his philosophy: “If you want to be a better tennis player, play with somebody who’s better than you.”

By Season 3, “SATC” was so popular that if a restaurant or neighborhood popped up in an episode, it could almost be guaranteed that it would soon be overrun by tourists. For example, the show was blamed for “ruining” the industrial meatpacking district when Samantha moves there in Season 3. The show was also responsible for around-the-block lines at Magnolia Bakery and an explosion of Cosmo drinkers. “Like cupcakes, drinks offered a simple, affordable way to get a dose of the ‘Sex and the City’ glamour,” Armstrong writes.

The storylines in “SATC” were based on real things that happened to the writers. Several of the women on the writing team lived in Manhattan, but worked at Silvercup Studios in Queens, so a generic white van would tote them back and forth to work. During these car rides, Cindy Chupack, Jenny Bicks, and Julie Rottenberg would dissect each other’s love lives and decide what would be best to glean for the show. Chupack approached dating much like a Charlotte and Bicks identified more as a Miranda, Armstrong says.

The only scene in the entire series that was completely reshot is also one of the most memorable: Carrie and Aiden’s final breakup scene. The first time through, Field’s vision for Carrie’s outfit was, as King put it, “a little too wild.” She had Carrie showing up in a floppy hat, a frilly collar and a shirt printed with “CHASTITY.” They shot the scene and it was too much, so they sent Parker and John Corbett back to wardrobe. When they returned, Parker was wearing a turquoise tube top and Corbett was wearing a plain T-shirt. They shot the scene again, and it was perfect.

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