The TV Series

Her TV Series is an American television comedy-drama series created by Darren Star and produced by HBO. Broadcast from 1998 until 2004, the original run of the show had a total of ninety-four episodes. Throughout its six-year run, the show received contributions from various producers, writers and directors, perhaps most significantly from Michael Patrick King. Set and filmed in New York City and based on the book of the same name by Candace Bushnell, the show follows the lives of a group of four New York women - three in their mid-thirties and one in her forties - who, throughout their different natures and ever-changing lives, remain inseparable and confide in each other. Starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon as these four women, the quirky series had multiple continuing storylines that tackled relevant and modern social issues like promiscuity, femininity while exploring the difference between friendships and relationships. Since its debut, the show has been well-received by viewers and critics alike. While its June 6, 1998 premiere was one of the highest-rated sitcoms of the season, TV series has gone on to captivate a huge worldwide viewership and since its end on February 22, 2004, has, thus far, spawned two films: 2008 and its sequel 2010. The show became a household name and accrued 7 of its 54 Emmy Award nominations, 8 of its 24 Golden Globe Award nominations, and 3 of its 11 Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. Series still airs in syndication worldwide and has been listed on Entertainment Weekly's end-of-the-decade "best of" list and as one of Time magazine's 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME.

Season One: 1998

Carrie Bradshaw lives in Manhattan and writes a news column At a birthday party for Miranda, Carrie and her friends decide to start having relations with men, meaning without all the emotional attachment, which sets the tone for the series. Carrie has many chance encounters with a handsome businessman that Samantha refers to as "Mr. Big," which becomes the name by which he's known (or just "Big") throughout the series. They begin to date but Carrie is dismayed to find out he is still seeing other people and although he eventually agrees to exclusivity, he doesn't introduce Carrie to his mother and won't refer to her as "the one." Rather than go on a planned vacation with him, Carrie breaks it off. Miranda gets set up with Skipper, a friend of Carrie's. They date on and off; he is more laid back while Miranda is more forceful, but after a breakup, Miranda sees him with another woman and she is compelled to begin again with him, but they again break up when he wants an exclusive relationship and she does not. Charlotte dates a marriage-minded man but they clash over china patterns. She declines to have irregular relations with another boyfriend yet consents to pose nude for a hairy painter. Samantha sleeps with an artist who likes to videotape his encounters, Charlotte's doorman, a married couple, and others. But when she meets James, a man who seems utterly perfect for her, she's heartbroken to discover that he has a small penis.

Season Two: 1999

Carrie dates a baseball player while on the rebound, but breaks it off when she realizes she's not over Big. She then dates a sell-out filmmaker, a shoplifter, and a nice guy she scares away by snooping, and then takes up with Big again, something she at first keeps from her friends. Their relationship is rocky, and when he announces that he might have to move to Paris for a year but doesn't clearly invite Carrie to come with him, they break up a second time. Carrie then tries without success to convert a friend with benefits to something more, dates a writer with a great family but who is always "early" in bed, then a recovering alcoholic who uses Carrie to replace his old addiction. She then runs into Big, returned from Paris, and his new 20-something fiancee, Natasha (played by Bridget Moynahan). Miranda dates a dirty talker, fakes it with an ophthalmologist, and tries to adjust to a guy who likes to watch bad videos in bed. By the time she meets Steve, the bartender, she's definitely not willing to believe he is as nice as he seems. They start dating but the differences in their schedules and their finances lead to a break-up. She winds up back in bed with Steve, but not before dating a guy who wants to get caught, a Peeping Tom in the next building, and a divorced dad. Charlotte encounters a legendary purveyor of cunnilingus, a handy actor next door, a widower on the make, a man who undergoes adult circumcision, a famous actor, a too-effeminate pastry chef, a shoe salesman with a foot fetish, and a 20-something guy who gives her crabs. Despite a brief attempt at couples therapy, Samantha breaks up with James. She then sleeps with a litigator, a salsa dancer, her trainer, a sports fan who can only rally when his team does well, Charlotte's brother, and even a gay couple. She then meets a man whose penis is too big even for her. The end of Season Two also marks the end of characters talking directly to the camera.

Season Three: 2000

Carrie starts off dating a politician. Big marries Natasha, and Carrie meets Aidan, the furniture maker. They have a virtually flaw-free relationship until Carrie and Big begin an affair. When caught in Big's apartment by Natasha, their affair ends as does eventually both Big's marriage and Carrie's relationship with Aidan. Miranda and Steve move in together; he tells Miranda that he'd like them to have a baby but a puppy purchase instead alerts Miranda to the fact that they're very different when it comes to maturity. Steve moves out and Miranda makes partner at her law firm. She also goes on to date a phone-guy, a fake ER doctor, a guy who doesn't swallow his food, and a police detective. Charlotte, looking for a husband, dates an I-banker with an anger management problem, a photog who gets her into menswear, a bad kisser, and a climax name caller. She then meets Trey McDougal; despite an awkward "proposal," the discovery of his low libido and inability to perform hot the night before their marriage, and conflict with his domineering mother, the two marry. They begin their marriage with a no-bed honeymoon, a continuing problem in their relationship, and the two eventually separate. Samantha sleeps with a fireman, a short man, her assistant, a black guy with a disapproving sister, a recreational Viagra user, a guy who tastes bad, Trey's Scottish cousin, a dildo model, and a college-aged virgin. She also has a menopause scare, gets tested for HIV, and buys a new apartment in the Meatpacking District where she has to make peace with the transvestites on her street. After her breakups with Big and Aidan, Carrie dates a guy who still lives at home, teaches a class at the Learning Annex on how to meet men, gets mugged, and tries to apologize to Natasha. She and Big also make an attempt at being friends.

Season Four: 2001-2002

After meeting Aidan at the opening of a bar he co-owns, Carrie convinces him to restart their relationship. He moves into her apartment after purchasing it when her building goes co-op and then proposes. Despite her misgivings, Carrie accepts the proposal and then eventually realizes she's not ready for marriage. Despite discussing her concerns and initially agreeing to give her more time, Aidan soon pushes Carrie for marriage and she realizes this is because he does not trust her, given her past affair with Big. They break up and he moves out, and Carrie purchases her apartment after being loaned the down payment money from Charlotte. At the end of Season Four, Carrie discovers that Big has sold his apartment and is moving to Napa. Charlotte and Trey are living apart but continuing to have marital relations; they eventually reconcile and Charlotte moves back into their shared apartment. They decide to try for a baby but realize Charlotte is reproductively challenged; after fertility treatments and adoption discussion, their marriage breaks apart under the strain and they decide upon divorce. Miranda supports Steve through testicular cancer and surgery. Later, when he feels emasculated due to surgery, they have some intercourse and Miranda gets pregnant; she at first considers an abortion, which is particularly distressing to Charlotte as she deals with her struggles to get pregnant, but Miranda then decides to keep the baby. Samantha flirts with a priest, has nude photos taken of herself, tries to have a relationship with a lesbian, sleeps with a baby talker, a wrestling coach, and a farmer. She then lands a big PR account with resolutely single hotel magnate Richard and begins a relationship with him that starts out as purely bed relations but becomes something more to both of them, and they attempt monogamy. However, she eventually catches him in infidelity and they break up.

Season Five: 2002

Carries spends time by herself in Season Five; she fears this means she will be fired from writing her column but instead a publisher wants to turn the columns into a book. A book tour lands her in San Francisco where she reunites briefly with Big, and in New York she meets Jack Berger, another author with whom she feels sparks but who is attached. Samantha tries again with Richard but finds her lack of trust in him too much and she breaks it off for good. Miranda is now mother to son Brady and finds it difficult to work, date, and carry on her previous life as such; Steve is supportive and she falls into bed with him one afternoon, making her question her feelings for him. Charlotte has a run-in with her former mother-in-law over the legalities of the apartment she shared with Trey, and hires Harry Goldenblatt as her divorce attorney. Despite his physical shortcomings she finds herself attracted to him and they begin a relationship, but then soon finds that she is developing real feelings for him. Harry however reveals that he must marry within his Jewish faith, causing Charlotte to actually consider conversion.

Season Six: 2003-2004

Carrie begins dating Jack Berger but his struggles as an author and her success with her upcoming book cause too much conflict between them and they break up. Big returns to New York for angioplasty and Carrie realizes she still has feelings for him but also realizes he still cannot fully commit. After he returns to Napa, she meets Aleksandr, a famous Russian artist. Aleksandr seems to be attentive to her in a way that Big never was, and asks her to come to Paris with him. She does, briefly, but realizes how inattentive he is when working and she breaks it off with him just as Big arrives in Paris, looking for her, ready to finally commit to her being "the one." Charlotte decides that life with Harry, someone accepting of her fertility issues, would be worth conversion to the Jewish faith. After this process, she presses Harry to "set the date" in such a way that is insulting to him and he breaks it off with her. However, they run into each other at a mixer and, after her tearful apology, start their relationship again, eventually marrying. After fertility treatments fail, they decide to adopt and receive eventual news that they have been approved to adopt a child from China. Once Miranda realizes she's still in love with Steve, he begins a serious relationship with someone else, and so she does the same. However, at son Brady's first birthday, they reveal their feelings for each other and begin their relationship again. Miranda proposes to Steve and they marry in a public park. Needing more room for their growing family, she consents to moving to Brooklyn where they buy a home. Samantha begins a relationship with a much younger waiter, Jerry Jerrod, who turns out to also be a struggling actor. She uses her PR skills to help his career, even changing his name to Smith Jerrod. Despite trying to keep their relationship as casual as all others, she develops true feelings for him. Smith supports her after she is diagnosed with breast cancer, shaving his own head in sympathy after catching her doing the same to herself when her hair starts falling out due to chemotherapy, and insistng on waiting for her when her drive also wanes during treatment. When he flies home from his movie shoot just to tell her that he loves her, she replies, "You have meant more to me than any man I've ever known." The season and the series concludes with the four girls reunited in New York, and with Carrie receiving a phone call from Big (which finally reveals his first name, John), telling her that his Napa house is up for sale and he was headed back to New York, and with Carrie's final voiceover, "The most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you find someone to love the you you love, well, that's just fabulous."