In the 90s, every woman was a Miranda, Carrie, Samantha or Charlotte. ‘Sex and the City’ provided an identification matrix with which the entire female population of the Western World could be neatly categorized into one of four groups. What a time for feminism.

Thankfully, it is not the 90s anymore. Indeed, Carrie Fever has devolved into a series of tired movies kept afloat by menopausal soccer-moms who refuse to smile at the overpaid screenwriters’ desperately persistent wordsmithery for fear of angering the vengeful botox Gods. The time of ‘Sex and the City’ is passed; it is now, if modern media is to be believed, the golden age of HBO’s ‘Girls’.

The comparison between the two immensely popular televisions series is not altogether apt. ‘Girls’ is about the lives of newly emancipated twenty somethings who struggle to find a place for themselves in a world in which a liberal arts degree has exactly as much value as the (recycled) paper it was printed on. On the other hand, ‘Sex and the City’ was about the lives of inexplicably upwardly mobile thirty somethings who struggle to multitask the immensely complicated activities of buying shoes, having orgasms, asking pert, rhetorical questions and going to brunch.

Occasionally, each show strays into the territory of the other– ‘Girls’ spends a fair deal of time in its premiere season focusing on the meaningful and meaningless sexual activities of its central characters, just as ‘Sex and the City’ delved into Carrie’s dire, if fleeting, financial problems and at times, and with a surprising degree of sensitivity, handled some of the Big Issues (Miranda’s pregnancy, Samantha’s breast cancer, Charlotte’s divorce.) It is worth noting how progressive ‘Sex and the City’ was in its day.

On the whole, from the comfortable vantage point of a 21st Century American, one might be initially forgiven for thinking of ‘Girls’ as an uncomfortably realistic foil against the puffy, aged, formulaic sensationalism of ‘Sex and the City.’ However, it’s actually more complicated than that.

Where ‘Girls’ and ‘Sex and the City’ primarily overlap is that they both provide depictions of contemporary womanhood and specifically female friendship; creator and lead actress of ‘Girls’, Lena Dunham, chose the name of her show with intent. In one of the first scenes of the pilot episode, in fact, protagonist Hannah Horvath, a budding writer, wallows in the bathtub while she speaks to her uptight roommate and best friend, Marnie. With this intimate picture, Dunham establishes the idea that the friendship of these two characters, which is at the heart of the show, could only occur between two women. Furthermore, as actor, heart-throb and NYU alum, James Franco points out in an article for the Huffington Post, Dunham provides very little insight into the perspective of the male characters. This initial season of the show explores experiences that most people go through– unemployment, breakups, drug use, STDs– but somehow deftly anchors these experiences to a uniquely feminine perspective. Go figure: ‘Girls’ is about girls.

‘But what kind of girls is ‘Girls’ about?,’ you might ask. Well, on paper, the answer seems to be that ‘Girls’ is about girls like me: a middle-class, cisgendered, 22 year old University of Pennsylvania attendee, with a BAS in History and English and a group of close female friends, who is struggling to become a writer. Apart from my ethnicity and time spent in Australia, I meet all the necessary requirements for a Hannah Horvath. And yet, unlike ‘Sex and the City”s characterizations, I can’t but hope that I’m nothing like sensitive Hannah, or, for that matter, neurotic Marnie, or naïve Shoshanna or free-spirited Jessa.

Like ‘Sex and the City’, ‘Girls’ has its clearly defined female archetypes. However, Dunham is a significantly more talented writer than those who powered ‘Sex and the City’ for so many barren years, and, as such, there are shades of gray to her characters and their friendships that distort the paradigmatic boundaries of who she represents. Interestingly, for the most part, the primary way in which these shades of grey show themselves in the course of this season, though there is some indication that things will change in the next, is through the moulding of ‘Girls’ female characters into awful human beings to a magnitude that is alienating, rather than humanizing. The girls of ‘Girls’, to different extents, are selfish, narcissistic and inconsiderate.

By contrast, frankly put, the women of ‘Sex and the City’ are so consumed with embodying type A or type B– being Carrie, Samantha, Miranda or Charlotte– that they don’t have enough depth to be generally and basically, sordidly, awful. Lacking ambiguity, the characters of ‘Sex and the City’ are stellar examples of postcard cutouts of real people, 2 dimensional images that haven’t the volume to contain concepts of good or bad. But boy, do they ever seem better than the alternative.

Season one of ‘Girls’ is hilarious, confronting, beautiful, puzzling, difficult to watch, charming and well made, but is it about me? I hope not; I’ll stay a Samantha-Charlotte hybrid, please and thank-you.

Image Courtesy of  Girls

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’21 Jump Street’ is in theaters now, starring Channing Tatum and recent Academy Award nominee Jonah Hill. It is loosely based on the 1987 television series of the same name, which launched the career of Johnny Depp.

The movie has already proven to be a favorite of the critics and strong box office performer, grossing over $100 million worldwide since its release on March 16. Sony recently announced that a sequel is already in the works, and that stars Tatum and Hill are expected to return.

The film’s success can perhaps be attributed to its accessibility to audiences unfamiliar with the 1980s television series. It features a new cast, makes contemporary cultural references (Tatum’s character cites ‘Glee’ as the reason for the new high school hierarchy), and offers only passing remarks about its 1980s predecessor (Nick Offerman’s character notes that in their jobs, “all they do now is recycle stuff from the past and expect us not to notice”).

Michael Bacall’s screenplay keeps things simple and sharp, while directing duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller keep things moving at a snappy pace, leaving behind all traces of the brand’s past screen life.

Making the transition from television to film has been a tricky business in the last couple of decades. From ‘The X-Files’ to ‘The Simpsons,’ producers have attempted to find the right balance between continuity from the series and accessibility for new viewers. Here is a brief look at how some have fared:

‘The Simpsons Movie’ – Budget: $75 million / Box Office: $527 million.

After several years of talks and delays, the big-screen adaptation of FOX’s long-running animated series was released in summer 2007. ‘The Simpsons Movie’ was a huge box office success and garnered strong critical acclaim, being nominated for a Golden Globe, a Critics’ Choice and four Annie Awards. Its success has been credited with reinvigorating interest in ‘The Simpsons,’ as the series recently celebrated its 500th episode and was renewed through the end of the 2013-2014 television season.

‘Sex and the City’ – Budget: $65 million / Box Office: $415 million.

HBO’s 2008 adaptation of its hit series proved to be a huge box office success and the biggest ever R-rated opening for a comedy. The film came four years after the series went off the air, and picked up on many of the narrative strands left presumably resolved in the final episode.

As audiences continued to flock, a sequel was greenlit, the budget was increased to $95 million, and it hit theatres in May 2010. However, the sequel grossed a weaker $295 million and was critically maligned, all but ending future big-screen outings for the franchise. Still, The CW network recently ordered a pilot for ‘The Carrie Diaries,’ a prequel series charting the adventures of Carrie Bradshaw through her adolescence, showing the studios’ belief in the brand still having an impact on the small screen.

‘The X-Files’ – Budget: $66 million / Box Office: $189 million.

Right in the middle of the sci-fi thriller’s ninth season run on FOX, came its first film adaptation featuring stars Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. The film almost tripled its budget, received generally positive reviews, and capitalized on the success of the series’ highest-rated season.

However, it would be ten years, and six years after the series went off the air, before a sequel would be released. ‘The X-Files: I Want to Believe’ was released in July 2008 with a budget of just $30 million, grossing $68 million. While it still earned back its budget, the numbers were significantly lower than what fans had hoped, and have cast serious doubt on whether a third film will be made.

Then there is the case of the long-awaited ’24′ feature film, based on the FOX series of the same name, which ran for eight successful seasons between 2001 and 2010. The film has been stuck in development for several years, even while the series was in the midst of its run.

In March of this year it looked like the cast and crew would soon be ready to commence production. However, delays in finding a director and scheduling conflicts with star Kiefer Sutherland have meant that the film has been shelved for at least another 12 months. Like ‘The X-Files,’ ’24′ was heavily serialized and had declined in the ratings toward the end of its run. It therefore might struggle to succeed on the big screen as more years go by with it out of production.

Yet with the success of ’21 Jump Street’ more than two decades after the end of its television run, there is hope that the issue of ‘timing’ is just one of many needed for the successful transition of a television series into film.

Case in point is ‘Glee: The 3D Concert Movie,’ which was released last summer and failed to replicate the success of the television series, ultimately grossing just $18 million. TV-to-Film adaptations is a tricky business, but one in which networks and studios are perpetually interested in trying to get right.

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The current US television season is only just half-underway, but already the major networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and the CW) have made the majority of their pilot orders with regards to new programming for the 2012-2013 season.

John Wells, former show-runner of the hit medical drama ER and current show-runner of the cable dramas Shameless and Southland, makes his return to network television with two pilot orders this development season. The first of his pilots is a comedy co-effort with Glee actor Mike O’Malley for FOX, and is currently titled Prodigal Bully.

The premise of the series, if it is picked up beyond its pilot order, would be that of “a young boy genius who uses his brains and brawn to get whatever he wants“. As for Wells’ other pilot, he is developing a remake of the British drama hit Bad Girls for NBC. This series would follow the activities of a group of female prisoners, and ran for seven years in the UK.

Other notable figures to have sold new pilots to the major networks include: JJ Abrams (Lost, Alias, Alcatraz), who has sold Shelter to CW; Josh Schwartz (The O.C., Chuck, Gossip Girl), who will be writing Carrie Diaries, a teenage prequel to the Sex and the City franchise); and NCIS star Mark Harmon, who will be producing Joey Dakota for the CW.

It is unusual that so many pilot orders have taken place by the beginning of February, as several midseason shows have yet to debut for the 2011-2012 season, while the fates of such long-running hits as FOX’s House and NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit remain uncertain. In any case, the networks appear to be stockpiling in a effort to combat the ratings decline which has struck many of them this season – particularly, The CW.

The CW came into this season with the high-profile television return of Sarah Michelle Gellar, however, its ratings declines have been well-documented and the network has now picked up five drama pilots with the potential pick-up of several more. This aggressive development move is in contrast to CBS which has so far picked up just a handful of projects, although, CBS’ ratings are in a much stronger position.

As the remainder of the 2011-2012 season plays out and the networks learn of the fates of their long-running shows, while also seeing how their new midseasons shows fare among established competition, it will become more clear just how many of the ordered pilots will indeed make it to air in the fall, how many will be benched until midseason and how many will be put out of contention altogether.

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Love designer handbags but can’t afford to burn that big of a hole in your pocket every time a new line is released?

For all of those that answered yes to this question should immediately visit bagborroworsteal.com! The website where you can have that dream handbag (or even piece of jewelry) at a small fraction of the price for a limited time, or just until the newest must have bag is released.

A Louis Vuitton bag that, at retail price, will cost you over $3,000 can now be yours at only $94 for one week (or $275 for the month)! This is only the beginning of the savings you can get as long as you can return the bag in the perfect condition you received it in.

To go along with that new top-of-the-line handbag you can add a pair of Marc Jacobs sunglasses that normally, would cost you hundreds of dollars will now only cost $15 for the week (only $45 for the month!).

If you want to live the unrealistic life of a movie star or a billionaire you can spend about $300 to have a white gold diamond cuff for one week that at retail price would cost you over $72,000…! Who ever has that kind of money to spend on one bracelet (and actually can comfortably wear something that expensive) is a very impressive individual.  But at $300 you could be that person for the week, or just for one really special event!

If you’re like the majority of the rest of the female population and you absolutely love Carrie Bradshaw and her crew in the hit HBO television series Sex and the City then you will adore this feature. You can rent practically anything you’ve seen any of the city girls strutting with down 5th Avenue Manhattan! Simply click the ‘Hot Picks’ category and then Sex and the City, you can even pick which character you like the most! You can finally live the dream life of these so adored women, even if only for a week!

It’s easy enough to buy the knock-off designer items while walking down the streets in New York City, or practically any major city in the United States. But why not be able to carry around the real $3,000 Louis Vuitton handbag that will be a serious conversation starter at such an affordable price?!

Once you start renting, you’ll never go back!

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