It’s been over two decades since the pilot episode of Sex And The City hit the screens. The episode which was also titled “Sex And The City” aired on June 6th, 1998. In it, the themes of the show were established and so were the foundations of the four main characters: Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, and Samantha.
There were a couple of standout things about the episode that viewers might either have missed or forgotten about. Given that the series had a total of 94 episodes, it would be impossible for everyone to be familiar with every little detail that was in the pilot episode. Here’s what you missed.
Carrie’s Hair
Television characters change their looks all the time but the thing with Carrie is that she had one look for the pilot then another look that she stuck with for the rest of the series. In the pilot, her hair is shorter and much darker.
For the rest of the serious, her hair was longer, with a blonde feel to it. Given everything that was going on in the pilot, this might have been hard to notice. Her hair in that episode was kinda similar to the one she had in the Sex And The City movie at some point. In the movie, Carrie dyed her hair after a breakup to signal new beginnings.
Talking To The Camera
In the pilot episode, Carrie talked to the camera. While typing something on her computer, she turned to the camera and said: “How the hell did we get into this mess?” This is similar to what Leonardo Di Caprio does in The Wolf Of Wall Street for example. It’s a tactic used to make the viewer feel like they are part of the proceedings.
Carrie did this a few more times in the episode and that was it. The production team might have figured that this wasn’t such a good idea because Carrie never really did it again. No other character did so either.
Carrie’s Apartment Looked Different
This can even be classified as a continuity error because it is never mentioned that Carrie moved to another apartment in the following episodes. The appearance of her apartment wasn’t the as it was in other episodes of the first season. This was definitely due to a change in filming locations.
Carrie’s apartment was said to be located at 245 East 73rd Street, Manhattan’s Upper East for most of the series. In the pilot episode, her bed was placed in a different side of the room and her closet wasn’t present. The general structure of the apartment was also different.
The English Journalist
In the opening scenes of the pilot episode, Carrie told an interesting story about an English journalist. She said the journalist moved to New York to get better career opportunities but ended up falling in love.
Apparently, the woman was later abandoned by her boyfriend after she had already developed feelings for him. Carrie then stated that the woman was in fact her friend. The woman was then shown warning Carrie over a cup of coffee. She told her not to fall in love because men were full of lies. Surprisingly, the woman was never seen again for the rest of the series. Viewers were thus left to wonder what the purpose of that story was.
Samantha Wasn’t The Only Free Spirit
Samantha has always been known as the most sexually liberated one. She had no problem with having sex without any strings attached. But in the pilot episode, she wasn’t the only one willing to sleep with one man after the other. Miranda had sex on the first date with Skipper, a man she didn’t like that much.
Carrie also tried to have emotionless casual sex as per Carrie’s advice and she loved it. Her goal in the episode was to sleep with different people and still go about her business like nothing happened. However, she didn’t really maintain this attitude for the rest of the series. Perhaps the writers figured that if she did. then she’d be too similar to Samantha.
Charlotte’s Principles Were Clear
Today, Charlotte is thought of anti-feminist. She valued family over career yet it’s possible to have both. She threw away her career to become a housewife, something that didn’t sit well with the majority of viewers. But from the pilot episode, Charlotte knew what she wanted and she rarely wavered.
Unlike Samantha, Charlotte made her desire known. She wanted one long-term partner and a happy family. She went on a date with a man but decided not to sleep with him because she wanted more out of it. Even when the man hinted that he wanted sex, Charlotte didn’t flinch. Charlotte remained this way for most of the series.
Skipper And Carrie Were Best Friends
In the pilot episode, Skipper and Carrie were really close. He even asked her for advice on how to keep women because he was losing them all for being too nice. Feeling pity for him, she set him up with Miranda even thought she believed nothing much would come out of it.
The two went on a date and had sex though Miranda stopped picking calls after that. However, they still ended up in a relationship. Surprisingly, Skipper never sought more advice from Carrie after the pilot. Their friendship just grew weaker for no reason. Given how dodgy Miranda was being, it would have made sense for Skipper to ask Carrie what was going on.
Carrie’s Smoking
In the ’90s smoking was more tolerated in movies and TV shows but lately, this hasn’t the case. Smoking was even allowed in more places than it is now, which explains why Carrie was seen smoking in various public places like restaurants and streets in the pilot episode.
Sex And The City never really did hold back when it came to vices such as smoking, drinking and sex but in the first episode, Carrie smoked way more than she did in the rest of the series. It’s not exactly clear why she decided to tone it down.
There Were No Nude Scenes
Despite all the talk about sex in the pilot episode, there was no single nude scene. However, nude scenes would later be included as the series progressed. Perhaps the producers figured it would be unwise to have a show called Sex And The City without having any form of nudity in it.
In some episodes. there was no holding back. Private parts were shown in public and naked bodies were shown without quickly cutting to the next scenes. Luckily, the brilliant plot made all this look quite normal.
Pop Culture Reference
When Carrie went to the nightclub to meet her friends, Samantha immediately pointed out Mr. Big. Samantha had a crush on him but she had no idea Carrie had already interacted with the man.
Samantha told Carrie that Mr. Big was the next Donald Trump, only that he was younger and better looking. Trump would also make a cameo in the eight episode of Season 2. Of course, he hadn’t joined politics at the time but the fact the he was compared to Mr. Big makes it even more interesting.
