Sex and the City
Cover Girl
TV Flash files “Cover Girl” as hour 70 of 94 in the TV Flash guide — Sex and the City (1998–2004) on HBO, season 5, episode 4, aired 2002-08-11, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E04: listed hour 70 of 94 in the Sex and the City guide, hour 4 of 8 in season 5. It aired 2002-08-11 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Luck Be an Old Lady” (S05E03). Next is “Plus One is the Loneliest Number” (S05E05).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Carrie is appalled to see a mocked-up photo of herself all but naked on the proposed cover of her "Sex and the City" book. While browsing for book cover ideas at Barnes & Noble, Samantha offers to help Carrie create a look that says 'smart and sexy.' Charlotte heads for the Self Help aisle but when she sees the lonely desperate looking characters there, she flees. She refuses to identify with such women and opts to buy a book in the privacy of her own home - online. Meanwhile in the privacy of Samantha's office, a hunky Worldwide Express guy delivers a 'package' that Samantha can't resist opening immediately. While Samantha provides a service of her own to the delivery guy, Carrie walks in and right back out. Back in her apartment, Carrie thinks about 'judgment.' She asks: "Should you judge a book by its cover?" On a quest to slim down, Miranda, aka "Baby Fat," makes friends with a fellow Weight Watcher, Tom, aka "Big Boned." Post weigh-in session, they indulge in a taboo glazed donut together and then work off the calories in bed. Miranda enjoys Tom's moves until he kisses her with 'her' all over his face. On their second date, she gently alerts him to the problem but he can't handle the criticism and leaves saying he has to concentrate on his diet. Things get tense between Carrie and Samantha as they disagree on the right look for the book cover. Carrie finds Samantha's selections a little too risque. Samantha accuses Carrie of judging her sexual behavior. A couple days later, Carrie apologizes for being judgmental. Sam relaxes and admits she judges herself too. With Samantha's help, Carrie wears a sexy short suit and holds her laptop for the cover shoot. She looks fabulous.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Cover Girl sit in the Sex and the City guide?
S05E04 is listed hour 70 of 94 — hour 4 of 8 in season 5, season 5 episode 4.
When did Sex and the City S05E04 air?
Cover Girl aired 2002-08-11 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
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