The legendary HBO series "Sex and the City" celebrated the 20th anniversary since it first premiered this week, and despite how the phenomenon cemented itself into pop culture history, I somehow had never seen a single episode before.
In fact, despite being a writer and living in New York City, I only really knew about Carrie Bradshaw and her girl gang from the memes.
This news shocked my colleagues covering the culture beat at "GMA," and they immediately asked me to watch the whole series, start-to-finish, and write my thoughts about it, to see how it holds up two decades after it first aired.
Because watching all 94 episodes of the 6-season show would've take about a year of my life, in a week I watched a shortlist of some of the best episodes from each season, as outlined by some of my colleagues.
Wait, who are these women?
My honest first impression was that these women are all psychopaths, but by around season 4, I was not not entertained.
The surprising relevance of Donald Trump
There are a few glaring differences with watching the iconic series two decades after it premiered. For starters, in the pilot episode of the first season, when Samantha Jones' character points out Mr. Big to Carrie at the club, she describes him as "the next Donald Trump." This identification carries a much different connotation than it did in 1998, and it was only the beginning of a surprisingly frequent number of references to the now-president.
A different iconic NYC skyline
I also couldn't help but notice the Twin Towers looming large in the b-roll shots and opening credits of the series' first seasons, when the New York City atmosphere and skyline were both irrevocably different. I noticed again when the Twin Towers mysteriously disappeared in later seasons.
These women need a group text
Watching Carrie attempt to set up her first email account, and compose her first email during the middle of season 4 was also baffling to me.
The women's lives, planning and logistics also would've been made a lot easier if they had cell phones, I kept noticing.
NYC apartment life
Having met a surprisingly high amount of people who legitimately told me they moved to New York City after watching the show, I mourned how the series may have given them unrealistic expectations about apartment sizes in the Big Apple.
#Squadgoals
While I started out rolling my eyes at half of the pseudo-profound pearls of dating wisdom Carrie spewed during her ongoing monologues, as I continued watching, there were moments when I found myself nodding. And as much as I hate to admit it, for some reason I started feeling the triumphs and heartbreaks of these four women as if they were my own.
