As we near the 20th anniversary of Sex and the City’s premiere, Jennifer Keishin Armstrong releases her book Sex and the City and Us: How Four Single Women Changed the Way We Think, Live and Love. Keishin Armstrong, who also wrote the Seinfeld deep dive Seinfeldia and Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted, chose Sex and the City for a book because of the effect it had on her life. The introduction details the author, emboldened by the show, leaving her fiancé in the early 2000s.
“It was very personal to me, and I don’t think I’m alone,” she said.
Keishin Armstrong landed interviews with Sarah Jessica Parker, Darren Star, Michael Patrick King, Kristin Davis and other key figures involved with the series. She supplements those with published reviews and think pieces about its six-season run on HBO.
Which episodes stand out? One entitled “My Motherboard, My Self,” from season four, which sees the women rally around Miranda when her mother dies. “It’s the absolute essence of the show,” Keishin Armstrong said.
She noted Sex and the City’s “magical effect” on young women. “It changed people’s lives,” she said. “It changed so much about the way we date, the way we talk about sex.”
A new season of Teachers begins on TV Land June 5. Season three offers surprises, star and executive producer Katy Colloton promised. “We’ve done 30 episodes, and wanted to change it up a bit,” she said. “We introduce some new characters and explore new territory.”
One episode offers an homage to The Walking Dead. A student has lice, prompting the teachers, in ponchos and hairnets, to wander the halls like the living dead. “It’s a fun twist on zombie movies,” Colloton said.
Teachers features six stars that also write and produce: Colloton, Caitlin Barlow, Cate Freedman, Kate Lambert, Katie O’Brien and Katie Thomas, collectively known as the Katydids. Each has her own style of comedy, said Colloton, be it bathroom humor or something more sophisticated. “It ends up being something everyone can enjoy,” she said.
What style of humor does Colloton bring? Physical. “I just want to be Lucille Ball,” she said.
