14 before moving to its regular 8:30 p.m. Even so, the writing for Byer needs to be as sharp as she is – which in the two episodes made available for review, it’s not. This one’s a more male “Friends” set at a wine bar instead of a coffee shop.Įxecutive produced by two “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” vets – Phil Augusta Jackson and Dan Goor – this NBC comedy has potential thanks largely to the presence of Echo Kellum (“You’re the Worst”) and Nicole Byer (“Nailed It!”). 4).įrom Justin Spitzer, who previously created NBC’s “Superstore,” “American Auto” is an office comedy set at Payne Motors in Detroit where new CEO Katherine Hastings (Ana Gasteyer), a former big pharma exec who has no interest in cars, takes the reins just as the company is about to unveil a self-driving vehicle that turns out to have a whopping blind spot.įunny and fast-paced, this single-camera comedy is worth a test drive. Like ABC’s preview of “Abbott Elementary” earlier this week, new NBC comedy “American Auto” is another surprise winner (previews at 10 and 10:30 p.m. Wherever the story goes, between major plot turns and unsubtle foreshadowing, “And Just Like That…” promises more change.
It’s a necessary departure that lays track for the story that follows but that turn, along with the show’s 45-minute run times, pushes the series into more dramatic territory, though not as severe and untenable as the sitcom “The Brady Bunch” mutating into short-lived Bradysomething drama “The Bradys.”Ĭharacters from “Sex and the City’s” past – Bitsy von Muffing (Julie Halston), Susan Sharon (Molly Price), Natasha Naginsky (Bridget Moynahan) – make cameos, but the show also introduces new characters pretty seamlessly, including Miranda’s humanitarian law professor (Karen Pittman), Carrie’s podcast host and Charlotte’s friend LTW (Nicole Ari Parker), AKA “Black Charlotte.”Įpisodes two and three suggest producers might have planned to make Stanford Blatch (Willie Garson) the fourth friend to fill the Samantha void but given Garson’s September death mid-production, that can’t continue. Now streaming its first two episodes on HBO Max, “And Just Like That…” introduces a seismic shift in the show’s established world beyond Samantha being AWOL. I understand she is upset but I thought I was more to her than an ATM.”īut for viewers who can make it past this bumpy beginning, this new chapter starts to settle into its changes in the second episode. “And Just Like That…” works that rupture into its plot: Carrie dropped Samantha as her publicist who Carrie says “then fired me as a friend. Actress Kim Cattrall has had a pretty public (via social media) tiff with star Sarah Jessica Parker, refusing to return for more “Sex and the City” stories. Even in the original series, she seemed like a character from a bygone era, so being out of place in a “woke” world isn’t a head-turner.īut the most uncomfortable element is what’s missing: Samantha, who’s moved to London for work.
Miranda, who’s pretty clearly going to have an addiction issue in the new series, while always opinionated, used to be the smartest character, but she puts her foot in her mouth so often in the first hour it’s dumbfounding.Ĭharlotte remains pretty much the same, which is appropriate. “They’re like jury duty now.”Ĭarrie gets shamed for not being raunchy enough on that podcast by its host, Che (Sara Ramirez). “I have to go do a podcast,” Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) tells friends Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis). For the first 35 minutes of the 44-minute premiere, it’s an uncomfortable ride as writer/director Michael Patrick King reorients the characters in a post-covid, politically progressive NYC in a bid for 2021 relevancy. There’s a simple question to ask yourself when weighing whether or not to check out the new “Sex and the City” sequel series: Are you comfortable with change? Or would you rather remember characters and a TV show as they were?īilled as “a new chapter of ‘Sex and the City,” “And Just Like That…” takes the situations and characters from the 1998-2004 HBO hit (and its two sequel movies) and plows forward.