ABC really wanted Darren Star's Sex And The City way back when
Sex And The City would go on to become a hallmark series for HBO
While Darren Star’s sitcom Sex And The City has become emblematic of HBO’s less-censored, sex-positive approach to storytelling, there was a time when it could have ended up on network TV. When the series was in its development stage, ABC apparently really, really wanted Sex And The City—and Star was not having it.
“I wanted to do a show that felt more like an independent film made for TV—R-rated and adult, very frank and honest about sexual relationships,” Star says in Felix Gillette and John Koblin’s new book “It’s Not TV: The Spectacular Rise, Revolution, And Future Of HBO” (via IndieWire).
ABC executives set out to court Star and Sex And The City author Candace Bushnell, who at the time was greenlighting series such as Ellen and Home Improvement. ABC’s entertainment head Jamie Tarses even approached Bushnell while she was rollerblading to stake their claim on the series.
“We really want to buy this at ABC,” Bushnell recalls Tarses yelling at her from her car. “We really do. Who’s your agent?”
However, Disney’s recent acquisition of ABC only elevated Star’s fears of censorship and network pressure to make the series more family-friendly.
“I asked them, ‘Are you even going to be able to call the show Sex And The City?” Star says of working with ABC. “I do feel like it would have become Love, American Style over there.”
Star was no newbie to the network television scene, with Central Park West, Melrose Place, and 90210 all under his belt before moving on to Sex And The City. Over that time he struggled to get sex scenes written into 90210, and faced network pushback for wanting a gay character on Melrose Place.
“He was pissed off at network television,” Bushnell says. “He was angry [after CBS canceled Central Park West].”
It was the combination of ABC’s reputation and Star’s burnout with network television that landed Sex And The City at HBO, and we’re all the better for it. We could have ended up with a SATC fitted with a laugh track and zero topless scenes. We shudder to think.