Does taking constructive criticism well make you a Carrie, a Samantha, a Miranda, or a Charlotte? Well, to hear Kristin Davis tell it, it makes you a Darren Star and Michael Patrick King, the creator-producer and primary writer-director of Sex and the City.
In the newest episode of Davis’ must-listen podcast, Are You a Charlotte?, she was joined by Molly Price, the actress who had two SATC guest appearances as Susan Sharon, and has popped up on the more recent series And Just Like That.
The pair talked about Price’s first appearance, on the episode “The Awful Truth,” which was the second episode of season 2. Davis repeated a quote that Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) wrote, which Davis said was actually a window into how the show’s creators were reacting to their critics.
Jamie McCarthy/Getty; Kristy Sparow/Getty
“Carrie,” Davis remembered, “is writing, ‘Was Miranda right? Have we put such a premium on being open and honest with one another that we’ve misplaced the boundaries of propriety? Are there still certain things in a relationship one should never say?'”
She continued, “Michael Patrick — and Darren wrote this one — and both of them, I think, have included criticism of the first season into the writing. So, the first episode [of the second season] is when Miranda gets up and says, like, ‘All we do is talk about men and sex. I’m leaving until we can talk about something different,’ which was a big criticism of the show in the beginning. Like, ‘Why are all these women sitting around talking about men all the time?'”
HBO/courtesy Everett
She went on, “In this episode, are there boundaries? Because I remember in the beginning, people said, ‘Oh, this isn’t how women talk,’ which I don’t think is true. I do think women talk about these things together. I don’t know if they use all the same words that we use in the show.”
Here’s where Price commented, “Well, we’re not doing a documentary. You know, we’re doing a comedy.”
To which Davis responded, “Definitely, definitely. But you know how critics are, right? They don’t care. They’re going to find something.”
Price then slipped in a “They’re all failed actors. Oh, did I say that?” to some snickers and an “I love it” from Davis, before she got back to the episode, saying, “I had forgotten these moments where I think that they’re putting in the things people [threw] stones at us about. Like, we’re just going to use it — which is smart.”
Marc Piasecki/WireImage
In what appears to be the first review of Sex and the City in The New York Times from back in 1998 (bundled with a review of the spiritually similar though coastal opposite show Armistead Maupin’s More Tales of the City), critic, author, professor, PhD in English Literature from Brown University and not a failed actress, Caryn James, reflected on some of the catty dialogue in the pilot episode by calling it “not kind but… true.”
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If you would like to hear more of the latest Are You a Charlotte? episode, featuring Molly Price, you can do so in luxury and ease by simply hitting play below.
