Also at Macleans.ca:

• Interview with Kim Cattrall
  'I didn't want to take the Samantha role — at 40, I didn't think I was sexy enough'
• The curse of Sex and the City
  Did the landmark series ruin television for strong female characters?

Q. Did you see Sex and the City as a reversal of TV stereotypes?
A. We were very consciously turning the stereotype on its head. Women have always been objectified by men, and in this case the women were objectifying men. The men had names like Mr. Big, Mr. Whatever; they weren’t even referred to by name.

Q. How did the portrayal of sexuality on Sex and the City compare to what you did on a network show like Beverly Hills 90210?
A. The first season of 90210 was a little under the radar. I wrote and directed the episode where Brenda loses her virginity and was sort of squealing and celebrating with her friends. After that, the network bosses and station owners looked at it and freaked out that there was this girl who was celebrating having had sex. I was told for the first episode of the next season, that she had to deal with the dreadful ramifications of this act, which meant a pregnancy scare and breaking up with her boyfriend. We were taken to task for that.

Q. What kind of freedom did you have on Sex and the City by doing the show on cable rather than network TV?
A. Network television tends to be behind the curve of what’s really happening. 90210 was not able to show the reality of promiscuous teenage sexuality. We were able to suggest it, but we had a network box around us. On The Dick Van Dyke Show, it was already the ‘60s, but Rob and Laura slept in separate beds—there was always a sense you were watching a false TV marriage. What we were allowed to do in Sex and the City, on cable, is lift the curtain, in a sense.

Q. What type of influence did the show have on television and society?
A. Every successful show influences the next. Women who are fans of the show have been influenced by it; on one level, it’s taken as entertainment, on another level, women look at these characters as examples of women who aren’t being defined by marriage. The show is not anti-marriage, but it’s also not suggesting that women need a man to be completed or fulfilled. What I would say about Sex and the City and a show like Cashmere Mafia is that they’re not defining behaviour, they’re reflecting behaviour. Sex and the City was a reflection of the experience a lot of urban women were going through.
  
Q. Did you ever get any complaints from people who felt the characters were too focused on sex and men at the expense of other things?
A. Well, it’s called Sex and the City! I think as it evolved, the show became much more about relationships, and was not leaning on sex in terms of finding its stories. One of the best testaments to the success of the show is that a cleaned-up version of Sex and the City airs on regular television. Minus the four-letter words and the real naughty bits, the show still holds up.
 
Q. Do you have a favourite Sex and the City parody?
A. I don’t know that I’ve seen many. But you know you’re a success when you’re being parodied. It’s the sincerest compliment. When Saturday Night Live did a 90210 parody, I, like, fell off my chair. I couldn’t believe it. We’d entered pop culture Nirvana. When that happens, you know you’ve arrived.

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