I find that wonderful! :mrgreen: Seriously, though, I’m not surprised. Carrie and her ilk preach the gospel of instant gratification, which seems to be a very well-received message in the modern world, both here and in the west. Women here are starting to learn that they are not deviants if they want to have a satisfactory sex life without getting married, and it is only natural that they would want to watch a TV show that affirms their life choices. Similarly, a woman that is put off by the explicitness of the show probably wouldn’t be seen writing her phone number on the back of a cocktail napkin either. 8)
After finding out that a Taiwanese woman watches the show, I always ask what character she most identifies with:
If she says:
Charolette: chances are she’s looking for a commitment.
Miranda: she’s slightly wacko
Carrie: (the most popular answer) she’s looking for fun and adventure in her relations with guys
Samantha: Look out!!
Does this apply to western women as well, or only Taiwanese?
If so, I must be “slightly wacko”.
You know, I think I understand the appeal of this show to Taiwanese women. It’s the “independence” of these women, not the sex. I mean, as a western woman, one thing I’ve always got from Taiwanese gals is, “Oh, you western women have so much more freedom than us, you’re so independent. Ive never travelled alone. Never lived alone. Never been alone, for that matter…”
I think it’s a big fantasy for them watching a show like “sex”.
MrBig,
If what you say is true about them ‘putting out’ if they watch this show, you’d better be careful.
The next thing you know, the mating game, to them, will transmogrify into “nonchalance”…and your delicate male ego may be damaged irrepairably from the shock. 
“Sex and the city”
Never watched it. If single females in their thirties like it, it won’t be something for me!
After Gus abandoned us here in Seque hell, I could especially relate to the scene where Carrie deals with being abandoned by her father when she was five.
I don’t really care though. I only watch Sex with Half the City because my wife won’t let go of the remote long enough for me to change back to the Discovery Channel. To me they’re just four used-up floozies bound by a pact of profound self-centeredness. The only honest emotions I’ve ever seen them have are selfishness and lust. Everything else is just calculated crocodile tears. Especially poor dear Charlotte. She’s a Miss Piggy if I’ve ever seen one.
Man, that felt good to get that off my chest.
Sorry, but you’re wrong. I don’t have a male ego. I never developed beyond the male Id. And yes, you’re wacko.
While the first season was witty and somewhat fresh letting four single women go boldly where no woman has gone before the show has seriously fizzled to a low and annoying hiss. But then, looking back at the first season as I did ealier this year, I realized it was not all that good either to begin with. Sorry, but with the exception of Miranda, who has been nicely neuutered so to speak with pregnancy and a real relationship with (good forbid) a man from a lower economic ring, the other characters show no sign of real strength of character. Just look at Carrie’s relationship with Big. Remember how she couldn’t ever confront him about his obnoxious habits, like looking at other women when he was with her. Sorry, but a tough, confident gal would have had him whipped into shape in a week, or would have dumped him for the loser he is, to let him be the one to pine over the loss. Remember Capone’s slur to Eliot Ness “You’re just a suit and a badge.” Well, Carrie’s just a pair of shoes and a column.
Then there’s humble Samatha couldn’t face a date standing her up in a restaurant without crying. How pathetic. Are these women we should look up to or admire? Bitchy and audacious in numbers they wither on the vine when left on their own.
The show is also subtly racist. Minorities usually only figure as maids (chinese), bus boys (Pakistani), manicurists (filipino), or just plain undesirables (the asian power lesbian).
I have more to say, but I need to get up early. Don’t let me get started on Northern Exposure.
On a very superficial level the show is kinda fun, but I wouldn’t hold up any of those women as role models. The fact is, they’re selfish, petty, small-minded, egotists who are more worried about making their mark than making a contribution. I’m glad I’m not friends with any women that shallow.
BTW, I like Miranda best too… 
Sure the show is fun, and the fact is, if there were a show about four single white men in NY screwing gorgeous, powerful women and then crying over them, buying closets full of ties, dealing with single-fatherhood, worrying about their careers, and specifically, confronting their own “inadequacies” as human beings (hahahaha!! ), the show would be a HO HUM fest from the get-go!
We probably wouldn’t be debating its merits on a discussion forum, because it wouldn’t get past the pilot episode stage!
And sorry, Maoman, but I don’t see the racist overtones myself. Social circles just happen to forge themselves like that in the upper eschelons, and it happens here too, for godsakes! Had Lucy Liu been part of the quartet, we may have thought they were ripping off Charlie’s Angels or that other show I’ve never seen, with the skinny lawyer chick.
The thing I find the most annoying about the show is its general lack of attention to sexism. When “Granpa” at Vogue showed Carrie his Versace briefs, that screamed sexual harrassment to me, but it wasn’t handled at all on the show, and instead was seen as a comedic incident. On any of the episodes I’ve seen, which have only been about 5 or 6 (so please correct me if I’m wrong), it appears that the writers have ignored this salient feature of being an attractive woman in modern American society…
something that is ignored in Taiwan society even MORE blatantly!!! :x
And that goes for the expat sexists too (see a few of the replies above), not just the local Taiwanese!
Hey, hey. I mentioned the racism, and they were undertones not overtones. Pehaps racism is not so accurate as exclusionary. For a show that purportedly stresses the freedom to live your life as you choose, it’s main characters live their lives in what are remarkably closed circles. I suppose that’s what eventually soured me on the program. These are not great-hearted, wide-minded, or even broadly experienced people we’re watching. I think if you compare Absolutely Fabulous with SATC you’ll find that where one is inspiring in its pure zaniness, the other is eventually wearying in a cliqueness.
What Mucha Man was saying there folks, is that the sex show is a puddle of watery rancid shit, while Abfab is bloody funny and about a million times more entertaining.
(Damn, but I love slagging off TV shows I’ve never seen!)
BTW, if any of you want to see a good show about New York dating, rent a movie called “Sidewalks of New York.” Great ensemble cast including Stanley Tucci, Heather Graham and a bunch of other actors you’ll recognize. Funny as hell.
Agreed, and Edina and Patsy are probably Samantha’s role models! They’re a bit like drag-queens, don’t you think?
Sex and the City … in the new episodes I want to see the following:
Carrie getting eaten alive by a pack of wild dingos
Big losing all his money and then having to wear a sign " will drop pants for food"
Samantha becoming a nun.
The other girl( red head) getting assinated for being such a wining bitch
Her little bitch boyfriend becoming somebody’s punk.
The divorced girl in gang bang with my football team
Taiwanese girls watch it to get free for a moment in their minds from the chains of Taiwan society. Taiwanese guys don’t like their girlfriends watching it cause they may end up as slappers or worse haunt the floors in the Vibe or some other well to do nightclub in Taiwan trying to get some experience.
I’ve seen a few episodes of Absolutely Fabulous and didn’t get it at all. They might have been speaking Swahili. At least Sex and the City is mildly entertaining from time to time.
I did enjoy Northern Exposure the few times I saw it. Queer as Folk (I’ve only seen the US version) looks good, too, but nothing spectacular. I’ll take Blackadder and Faulty Towers, thank you very much.
Funny how this show has so many people captivated. It is part of the reason that society is getting dumber. Alien you used “savvy business women” yet Carrie cannot figure out that $400x100 (pairs of shoes) is $40 000 spent on shoes (she thinks it is $4000). It is no wonder people are so much less independent these days. Carrie complains to her friend that the friend does not offer her money for a down payment on a house. Come on she is 35 years old. Carrie is dumb as nails not savvy. Yes the show is funny at times but it shows dumb Americans that it is ok to be dumb and 35.
Just my $40 000 worth
Why are you so harsh on me? Yes my mathematics was flunked at high school, but that doesn’t stop me from being a good column writer. I have drawbacks, but who doesn’t? I don’t have decent bank balance at the age of 35, but at least I’m not on debt as many others do. Well, I won’t say I’m savvy, but I do enjoy life every single minute when I still can. And what’s wrong with that! YOU ARE VERY MEAN!!!
Oh Carrie quit your whining. You are 35 and if I remember your bank balances are around $1600 not great for “an accomplished” column writer. I guess that platinum Tiffany diamond ring makes life easier, even though you did not earn it.
Take responsibility for your life. At 35 it is time to wake up and smell reality.
Favorite characters: Miranda (and nursling) and the father of the baby (what’s his name again?)
Looking forward to seeing the episode(s) where she is breastfeeding the baby, and where she thinks she can just pick up with the girls where she left off. I read somewhere that we can expect to see more topics relevant to parents.
I like the show and try to catch it every chance I can–I’ll even watch twice–but I do worry about the kind of world my kids are growing up in, and especially my little girl.
I can see why the show would appeal to local women who don’t have the same kind of independence most western women do, but I think also that it desensitizes us a little. After a while, you start thinking it’s okay to sleep with 40 different people by the time your 35. I can’t be the only one who thinks it’s NOT okay.
Jennifer
Poagao,
Queer Duck is the best part of Queer as Folk, I reckon. And you can watch all of them online!
Wonder if QAF will make it to Taiwan since there’s no Showtime around here…
Btw, I’ve got the first two seasons of Blackadder on DVD, if you ever want to borrow. And it’s “Fawlty” Towers…
Ah, yes, of course, Fawlty Towers. It’s been too long since I’ve seen it. Another friend of mine has the Blackadder DVDs; I keep meaning to borrow more of those.
I have Queer Duck on my links page, but they don’t seem to be making any new ones, unfortunately.
I wonder when we’ll see an episode of Sex and the City where Carrie goes to a Segue Happy Hour?