Sex and the City
No Ifs, Ands, or Butts
TV Flash files “No Ifs, Ands, or Butts” as hour 35 of 94 in the TV Flash guide — Sex and the City (1998–2004) on HBO, season 3, episode 5, aired 2000-07-09, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E05: listed hour 35 of 94 in the Sex and the City guide, hour 5 of 18 in season 3. It aired 2000-07-09 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl...” (S03E04). Next is “Are We Sluts?” (S03E06).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Charlotte's first date with Brad is going spectacularly, until it comes time for the "kiss" at the doorway which is more like a series of sloppy licks from a Great Dane. Charlotte tries to give some emergency kissing lessons, but he's just beyond repair. Carrie is also pursuing a new prospect -- Aidan the furniture designer. To impress him, Carrie buys one of his leather chairs. Aidan is bedazzled with Carrie, until she takes out a cigarette and he lays down the law: he just can't date a smoker. Carrie tries to go cold turkey, but Aidan catches her sneaking a cigarette after their date. Determined to give the relationship a shot, Carrie says goodbye Marlboro, hello Nicoderm. Stanford scores Marty, a nice guy who turns out to have a an extensive doll collection, which is fine until Stanford breaks a doll during sex. Samantha also has a new man -- Chivon, a sexy African-American. Things are steaming along until Chivon's sister interferes and tells Samantha she's got the wrong color skin for her brother. Samantha fights for her right to date anyone and everyone, but Chivon ultimately gives in to his sister's demands. Meanwhile, Steve wins the chance to win one million dollars if he scores a basket from center court. Steve asks Miranda to watch him practice a few shots on the basketball court, but she's too busy which infuriates him. Finally, Miranda learns she needs to be more supportive.
Viewer FAQ
Where does No Ifs, Ands, or Butts sit in the Sex and the City guide?
S03E05 is listed hour 35 of 94 — hour 5 of 18 in season 3, season 3 episode 5.
When did Sex and the City S03E05 air?
No Ifs, Ands, or Butts aired 2000-07-09 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Season 1, episode 1. The voiceover and the four-silhouette contract are the whole machine.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Watch it as the original big-city look book: four women, a voiceover, and shoes that did more character work than half the boyfriends. Manhattan is a lighting setup. The reboot noise is later; this run is the template every brunch-core series still copies.
The first thing you see is a woman on a street that is really a runway. Carrie Bradshaw’s voiceover is a fashion dispatch with dating as the alibi. HBO at the end of the 1990s did not accidentally invent the look book as comedy-drama. Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, and Cynthia Nixon made Manhattan photograph as a weekly fitting: four silhouettes, four theories of sex, one city that never dressed casual unless the casual cost more. Style is the plot. The shoe is not a punchline. The shoe is a…
Filed against
- Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw
Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw typed Manhattan desire into a global lifestyle franchise — Sex and the City as fashion, friendship, brunch as appointment TV, and shoes that did more character work than half the boyfriends. Reboots…
- Kim Cattrall as Samantha Jones
Kim Cattrall’s Samantha Jones made brunch into a press strategy on Sex and the City — four women, a voiceover, shoes that did more character work than half the boyfriends. Skin as branding, Manhattan as a campaign. On TV Flash she is the…
- Kristin Davis as Charlotte York
Kristin Davis’s Charlotte York is Sex and the City’s corporate sheath — architecture in a brunch quartet, shoes as character work, Manhattan sidewalk as campaign. Four women and a voiceover; her column is the manners. On TV Flash she is…
- Cynthia Nixon as Miranda Hobbes
Cynthia Nixon’s Miranda Hobbes was Sex and the City’s sharpest counterweight — lawyer skepticism, Brooklyn realism, friendship as lifestyle franchise. A practical coat doing more character work than half the boyfriends. TV Flash still…
- Chris Noth as Mr. Big
Chris Noth’s Det. Mike Logan helped launch Law & Order’s dun-dun empire before Mr. Big made him Sex and the City’s emotional cliffhanger machine. Sparse Manhattan cool and endless will-they discourse built a dual-brand career. TV Flash…