[Photo: HBO] Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristin Davis.

By ERIC DEGGANS, Times TV Critic

© St. Petersburg Times
published July 21, 2002

As Sex and the City faces its most complex story lines, creators seem to be relying on more flesh to maintain the show's magic.

What can you say about a series about four beautiful, independent women, which, in a single episode, shows off the naked breasts of every major actor except the lead?

If that series is HBO's Sex and the City, you might say they're running out of ideas.

Certainly, that's the tempting conclusion after perusing the first new episode in the series' summer run -- which somehow finds a way to get costars Cynthia Nixon, Kim Cattrall and Kristin Davis to show their stuff in a bald-faced attempt to up the show's shock factor (star Sarah Jessica Parker, who has vowed to never bare her chest on the show, is the sole holdout).

All this flashing is a shame, because Sex and the City faces its most complex story lines yet, with Nixon's Miranda Hobbes struggling to stay connected with her carefree friends despite her new status as a single mom (Miranda's struggle to breastfeed leads to one of the episode's most significant, um, exposures).

At the end of HBO's abridged Sex season earlier this year, Parker's Carrie Bradshaw kissed off the two great loves of her life -- devoted furniture maker Aidan and suave businessman Mr. Big -- leaving her to wonder how to make lightning strike a third time with someone new.

It all unfolds against the backdrop of Fleet Week -- when U.S. Navy ships dock in Manhattan and a flood of sailors hit town on shore leave looking for fun -- inspiring the three characters without children to stop by a party in search of male distraction.

Once upon a time, it was enough to watch our band of intrepid singles negotiate a series of liaisons and parties, a cosmopolitan in one hand and a snarky quip in the other.

But too much has gone on -- both in front and away from the camera -- for fans to buy that anymore. Even as lawyer Miranda negotiates her new role as a mother and Davis' prim Charlotte York tries to let go of her failed storybook marriage, Parker is living through her own real-life pregnancy and Nixon (who is also a mom in reality) is getting arrested while protesting to improve New York's public schools.

The strain of negotiating these roles is painfully apparent in the first two episodes provided for review. When part of your series' appeal is an almost fairy-tale exploration of New York's urban mating playground, the intrusion of mundanities such as breast-feeding and ex-husbands can be a serious downer.

"Just think of this as a big purse," said Miranda in one scene, juggling her baby during a trademark lunch/complaint session with her pals (while urging Samantha to cut down on the cursing).

"Miranda, your purse just spit up," Carrie cracked.

Our girls are growing up. Whether HBO and creator/producer Darren Starr can keep the show's magic alive in the face of such realities, remains a question.

Drama behind the camera hasn't helped much. Thanks to Parker's unexpected pregnancy, which briefly shut down production of the series earlier this year, HBO moved the premiere of new Sex and the City shows to July -- cutting back to eight episodes to avoid conflicting with the Sopranos season in September.

Producers were also concerned about trying to conceal Parker's pregnancy, given the show's penchant for revealing costumes. "We made the decision instantly that we were not going to have Sarah's character be pregnant on the show," said HBO programming chief Chris Albrecht. "That was just not in Carrie's life plan."

With all this going on, no wonder the new episodes feel like the show is running in place, with the characters slowly twisting in circles as their initial motivations are totally realigned.

As in years past, there are some interesting cameo performances, including Amy Sedaris and Molly Shannon as two publishing executives who want to make a book of Carrie's columns and Anne Meara (Ben Stiller's mom) as the drunken mother of Steve, the father of Miranda's baby.

But other than Steve, who surprises Miranda by insisting their child be baptized, there are few regular male characters in the first two shows (James Remar, whom I always remember as the crazed killer in Eddie Murphy's 48 Hours movie, returns as Samantha's rich beau Richard Wright).

These episodes, at least, belong to the women, who must find new ways of connecting with the world and each other at a time when life seems more serious than ever.

Here's hoping Starr and Co. can figure out a way to make it all a little more entertaining as the season unfolds.

For the (female) People

Lifetime has earned its status as cable TV's most-watched channel by targeting its audience with a vengeance.

So it's little surprise that the female-centered network will unveil a new Sunday night prime-time lineup that celebrates strong, savvy women in a variety of situations.

Sundays are an important night for Lifetime; best known as the home for its groundbreaking interracial drama Any Day Now, it also features the inexplicably popular, hackneyed, female-centered police drama The Division and uneven medical show Strong Medicine (which this year replaces former Northern Exposure star Janine Turner with former Home Improvement star Patricia Richardson as a new doctor).

Any Day Now has gone to cancellation heaven, replaced by an intriguing take on legal dramatics called For the People.

Starring former Caroline in the City star Lea Thompson as a liberal chief assistant district attorney who winds up working for a conservative black district attorney played by Soul Food's Debbi Morgan, For the People unfolds as a shiny platform for chewing over Big Ideas.

As with most of Lifetime's original series, the emphasis on heart-wrenching situations and emotional conflict can sometimes feel a bit contrived (and watching weirdo-for-hire Amanda Plummer playing a Dr. Laura-style radio show host is just plain strange).

Still, Thompson and Morgan develop an uneasy chemistry that intrigues (thought it's hard to imagine why such a staunch moralist would keep this whiny liberal on her payroll). And Lifetime's commitment to diversifying its series (longtime General Hospital hunk A Martinez plays Thompson's put upon public defender ex-husband), adds a spice sorely lacking in other areas of television.

TV review

-- Sex and the City's fifth season debut is at 9 tonight on HBO. Grade: B.

-- For the People debuts at 10 tonight on Lifetime. Grade: C.

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