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Go to http://zocdoc.com/thetake to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today! 🏙️ Why is Sex and the City still resonating decades after it first premiered? Beyond fabulous shoes,...
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00:00You ever find yourself finishing a rewatch of a favorite show and wishing you could find
00:04more to watch that had that same vibe? Us too! That's why in this new series we're going to be
00:10taking a look back at some of our favorite shows to break down the key elements that keep us coming
00:15back and branching out to find other shows that also match that energy. First up is one of our
00:21favorite shows of all time, Sex and the City. It's very of its time in many ways, but there's also
00:28so much about it that continues to resonate even all these years later. So let's unpack the major
00:34factors that made Sex and the City so great and explore some other shows that tap into that same
00:39essence. One of the most notable elements of Sex and the City is of course its core four main characters
00:45who all have strong distinct personalities. Sex is something special that's supposed to happen
00:51between two people who love each other. Or two people who love sex. They don't feel like cardboard
00:56cutouts or just stereotypes thrown on screen, but instead multifaceted real people.
01:01Samantha Jones, the confident, openly sexual, self-sufficient woman who brought most of the
01:06sex to the city. Charlotte York, the tight-laced Park Avenue princess who was obsessed with the rules
01:12and finding the one. Miranda Hobbs, the strong-willed, no-nonsense lawyer who wasn't afraid to bring some
01:19brutal honesty to the party. And of course, there's Carrie Bradshaw, the messy and often self-centered
01:25protagonist who might be the protagonist but certainly isn't trying to be anybody's hero.
01:31I wanted to let you know that I'm getting married. To myself. Oh, and I'm registered at Manolo Blahnik.
01:39Because all of the women exist in such different places on the personality spectrum,
01:44they certainly butt heads a lot. But their different perspectives also allow them to help
01:49each other see their problems from other angles and find new ways to overcome them.
01:55We made a deal ages ago. Man, babies, doesn't matter. We're cellmates.
02:01Girls was heralded as a kind of anti-sex in the city when it premiered. A grimier,
02:06complainier counterpart to the iconic show.
02:09You're definitely like a Carrie with like some Samantha Aspects and Charlotte hair. It's like a really good combination.
02:16And to be sure, there are some big differences. Though the biggest ones all mainly derive from
02:21the fact that while the Sex and the City ladies are in their 30s when we meet them,
02:26and already pretty set in who they are, the characters and girls are in their early 20s,
02:32still fighting their way through young adulthood. This can lead to them often feeling more naive,
02:37or annoying, as they make their way through life. That said, they do also have those big distinct
02:44personalities that the show uses to create drama and find surprising moments of connection.
02:50The White Lotus loves exploring the ups and downs and way downs of relationships,
02:56from friends to romantic partners and beyond. In its third season, we're getting an interesting
03:01look at a group of friends who, from a distance, kind of resemble the Sex and the City group.
03:07The dazzling one who dates younger men, the uptight one, the frazzled broke one.
03:11But this group of women does not share that base of care and love that forms the bedrock
03:17of Carrie, Samantha, Brenda, and Charlotte's friendship. Jacqueline, Laurie, and Kate are
03:21instead often at odds in a destructive way, backstabbing and gossiping about each other
03:27whenever they get the chance. But hey, it still makes for great TV.
03:31Valeria centers around a writer who isn't the best at communicating her feelings,
03:35who blows up her relationships, writes about her love life, and isn't always the best friend.
03:40Sound familiar? Valeria, Lola, Nerea, and Carmen find themselves encountering totally new obstacles,
03:46and sometimes creating major problems for themselves in life, work, and love. But their
03:52strong friendship helps them make it through anything. Girlfriends also stars four very
03:57different yet equally strong personalities. Joan, the independent successful lawyer,
04:03free-spirited Lynn, outspoken and resilient Maya, and Tony, who clawed her way up to the top and won't let
04:09anybody forget it. These characters also have that key sex-in-the-city element of being grown women.
04:15We're not watching them flounder through young adulthood. They know who they are and what they
04:20want out of life. Though, of course, they all still have room for personal growth. Girls5eva takes
04:25this idea of distinct personalities to Spice Girl-esque pop heights, featuring the hot one,
04:31the chill one, the fierce one, and the always working one. These aren't longtime best friends,
04:36but instead members of a one-hit wonder girl group, Girls5eva. And now they're getting back
04:42together for one more chance at stardom. When life feels frantic, it can be so easy to push off
04:48things, even super important things like going to the doctor. Whether you just feel too busy with
04:53everything else, figure things will just sort themselves out, or just don't even have time
04:58to figure out which doctor to go to. It can add so much more stress to an already stressful situation.
05:04But thanks to ZocDoc, booking doctor's appointments doesn't have to feel so daunting anymore.
05:10They take out all of the stress and make it so easy to find and book a doctor who's right for what
05:15you need. ZocDoc is a free app and website where you can search and compare high-quality
05:19in-network doctors and click instantly to book an appointment. ZocDoc helps you book in-network
05:25appointments with over 100,000 doctors across every specialty, from urgent and primary care,
05:31to mental health, to dentists, and beyond. It's easy to filter for doctors who take your insurance,
05:36are located near you, and fit your individual needs. And you can check real reviews from their
05:41patients to help you make your decision. You can see their available appointments,
05:45choose the time that works for you, and then click to book instantly. And you often won't have to do a
05:51lot of waiting around. Appointments made through ZocDoc typically happen within 24
05:55to 72 hours of booking. And you can even nab same-day appointments. Using ZocDoc has made
06:00finding and booking a doctor so much easier for me. Thought putting off those doctor's appointments
06:05and go to ZocDoc.com slash thetake to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today.
06:11That's Z-O-C-D-O-C dot com slash thetake. ZocDoc.com slash thetake.
06:17A large part of Sex and the City focused on the relationships the women got into and fell
06:25out of. And all of the highs and lows that come with dating. Whether you're looking for Mr. Right
06:30or Mr. Right now. Now you cannot put this in your column. Promise. I promise.
06:37Was secret sex the ultimate form of intimacy? The show didn't present the dating search as some
06:42perfect easy road to the one. And in fact, it deliberately went out of its way to pop that
06:48bubble for diehard romantic Charlotte. Because all of the women were so different, their relationships
06:53and how they played out of course were as well. And this added to the relatability of the show.
06:59Their experiences feel more like the ones you and your friends actually have. As opposed to pie-in-the-sky
07:05rom-com dreams. Charlotte had to learn that no relationship is perfect. And instead, the
07:11relationship that is perfect for you is the one in which you're both willing to put in the time,
07:16care, and effort to show up for each other.
07:19Harry's not who I expected to fall in love with, but I did. And he makes me laugh. And I feel like I
07:25can be myself around him.
07:27Samantha never let herself be forced into settling. And was always ready to put herself
07:31first. Miranda had to reassess what she thought she wanted and needed from her relationship.
07:37And then found herself doing so again in the reboot. And even Carrie, whose flighty and
07:42non-committal nature, and desperate need for whoever she can't have, could get annoying.
07:48But it never felt too unrealistic. Even if we're not a Carrie, we've all met a Carrie.
07:54It's big.
07:56Oh my god?
07:56You're sleeping with big?
07:58Carrie, he was such an asshole to you.
08:00Really? I mean, maybe sometimes, but...
08:03Even though it unfortunately only got one season, High Fidelity was a great adventure through
08:09heartbreak, rebounding, and trying to figure out what you actually want out of a relationship.
08:14Like Carrie, Rob has a big the one that's gotten away, and is now taken. But that won't
08:20necessarily stop her. Love Life is a rom-com series which follows one character each season
08:26through all of the romances of their life. And thus allows us to see how the character
08:30themself, growing and changing over time, alters the course of their relationships.
08:35Unfortunately, the series was axed too soon. Though, since it's an anthology, there's
08:40hope that it can get picked back up at some point. And it's definitely still worth checking
08:44out the two seasons we did get. New medical soap Doctor Odyssey leans way in the cheesier
08:50direction. But that can be fun sometimes, too. Starring Joshua Jackson as Dr. Max Bankman,
08:57the show follows the medical mishaps and relationship fireworks that arise on a luxury cruise ship.
09:03The sex lives of college girls, as you would imagine, gives us a peek into the romantic
09:07lives of a group of friends as they navigate college and friendship. Since they are considerably
09:12younger than the Sex and the City crew, it's definitely a different look at romance and
09:16connection. But the insights and experiences are engaging all the same. Sex and the City
09:21was great at balancing its comedic and dramatic elements. It was a very fun and funny show.
09:27But it also wasn't afraid to pull at our heartstrings or even crush us a little bit.
09:32This helped it hew closer to the ups and downs of real life. It never felt like it was just brushing
09:37over the harder parts of reality or constantly wallowing in the darkness. The peaks and valleys
09:43pulled us along on the emotional rollercoaster that was the show. And always kept us guessing.
09:49Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is also great at this. You might not initially expect a musical TV series
09:54about a lady stalking her high school boyfriend to be deep, but it genuinely is. While also being
10:00hilarious. The show was able to perfectly marry the over-the-top Broadway spectacle with down-to-earth
10:06touching moments, to create a mesmerizing blend that you can't help but binge and sing along to.
10:12The White Lotus also fits into this category, as it melts different types and levels of drama to
10:17create a quiet chaos that we can never look away from. On the other end of the spectrum is Desperate
10:23Housewives, which turns the wackier drama all the way up to 11 and never looks back. Like Sex and the
10:30City, the hookup plan weaves together comedy and drama as we follow along this messy friend group's
10:35highs and lows, as they attempt to learn to accept themselves and each other for who they truly are.
10:42It's long been said that New York City is its own character in Sex and the City,
10:46and the realities of city life, good and bad, are a major feature of the show.
10:50Then I realized no one had told her about the end of love in Manhattan. Cupid has flown the co-op.
10:57It really adds another dimension to the show and grounds it in a sense of place and time.
11:02Girls also provides a realistic look at the city, though a much less glossy one. Broad City also
11:08really pulls the city itself into the show, and uses it as a basis for so much of the comedy.
11:13Harlem is filmed on location and so, like with Sex and the City, you can feel the vibrancy and
11:18liveliness of the city in each scene. Emily in Paris was pitched as a modern Sex and the City,
11:24and while it doesn't quite meet the mark in many respects,
11:27it does try to bring its location into the story. It's certainly a very specific,
11:32idealized, Emily-fied version of Paris, but they do manage to capture a lot of beauty.
11:38Like Sex and the City, the show benefits from actually filming in these fabulous locations
11:42instead of on sound stages. The hookup plan, on the other hand, gives a much more realistic
11:47and relatable view of life in Paris. Of course, the most important and lasting
11:52part of Sex and the City is the friendship of the core four.
11:56It's hard to find people who will love you no matter what.
12:00I was lucky enough to find three of them.
12:02Their differing personalities might cause them to butt heads at times,
12:05but at the end of the day, they're always there for one another.
12:09What's going on?
12:10She stole my baby name.
12:13You bitch. Let's go.
12:16And so naturally, strong friendships are at the heart of all of the best shows you should watch if
12:20you love Sex and the City. Harlem finds four women who have been best friends since college
12:25attempting to navigate the next stages of their careers, friendships, and romantic lives. Similar
12:31to Sex and the City, these are all grown adults. And so their struggles are different from those they
12:35faced back when they first met. They're with each other through the highs and lows, balancing their
12:40ambitions with their families, their friendships, and their attempts to care for themselves. They
12:45have to keep making the active choice to show up and nurture these relationships.
12:49The bald type follows Sutton, pre-White Lotus Megan Fahey, Kat, and Jane as they climb their way
12:55through the working world and stumble their way through their careers. The trio became friends
13:00when working at Scarlet Magazine and have been inseparable ever since. Sutton is the down-to-earth
13:05rational friend, Kat is the go-getter firebrand, and Jane is Jane. And really is a lot like Carrie
13:12in a number of ways. They're all at different places in their lives, but always find a way to
13:17make room for each other and grow. Insecure has become iconic for how hilarious it is, but it's also
13:23a great showcase of the reality of friendships. It features some strong bonds, but importantly is also
13:30willing to get real about friendship struggles, growing apart, and even having full-on
13:35friendship breakups. It isn't afraid to show that it can be a long road to mending the friendship.
13:40Not something that can always magically be right back to normal after one conversation.
13:45But because these friends do love each other, they are willing to put in the work.
13:50The Melodramatic follows three best friends working in the entertainment industry.
13:54They're all dealing with very different struggles – single motherhood, grief,
13:59and even workplace romance. And drama within their drama as they work to build a successful TV show
14:05while keeping everything together behind the scenes too. But no matter what goes down,
14:10the friends are willing to drop everything to be there for each other in their time of need.
14:15Broad City is of course known for its best friendship between Abby and Alana.
14:19Extraordinary features a group of friends who not only have to deal with their regular problems,
14:24but also try to harness their superpowers. Well, except for Jen, who didn't get her powers when she
14:30turned 18. The core friend group in the hookup plan might mess up, but no matter how mad they might
14:35be with one another, they always come back together. No show could ever replace Sex and the City,
14:41but it's always fun to expand our watching habits and find new things that also fill that niche.
14:46Sex and the City's focus on friendship and personal growth was what really gave it the power to last
14:51to connect with audiences even all of these years later. Are there any shows that you think really
14:56get some key part of the Sex and the City formula that we missed? Let us all know what it is in the
15:01comments so we can watch too. That's the take! Click here to watch the video we think you'll love,
15:06or here to check out a whole playlist of awesome content. Don't forget to subscribe and turn on notifications.
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