Sex & The City is one of the most influential shows of the late ’90s to early ’00s.
The HBO series follows the lives of four women – Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) – in their mid-thirties and forties as they navigate sex, love and heartbreak in the city.
The series ran from June of 1998 to February of 2004 and became a massive hit worldwide, spawning two feature films, a prequel series (The Carrie Diaries) and, most recently, a continuation series called And Just Like That on Max.
6. Season 1
Audience score: 72%
The highest-rated episode on IMDb of the season is “The Drought,” which aired August 16, 1998.
“After weeks sharing a bed, Carrie feels comfortable actually sleeping with Mr. Big, yet mortified when she farts in bed, but really worried when he stops to want sex every night. It really hits her when he prefers to watch a boxing match to kissing, so she paints her apartment. Miranda tells Carrie to be herself and feels she’s worse off not having had anyone for three months, but how often is normal? Samantha is horny for her hunky yoga instructor Siddharta, who claims to practice Bhramacharya, Tantric celibacy, since three years, yet still gets hard-ons. Charlotte tells Carrie to be happy her boyfriend Kevin didn’t even kiss in three weeks, takes it as an aphrodisiac that he’s Carrie’s ex from three years ago and a sex maniac, but then learns he has given up sex to cure his former bad temper by Prozac, indeed even a hand-job has no result.”
Over the years, fans have weighed in on their favorite seasons of the series. We’ve rounded up all of the Rotten Tomatoes audience scores for each season of the original series, and ranked them from lowest to highest.
5. Season 6
Audience score: 74%
The highest-rated episode on IMDb of the season is “An American Girl in Paris: Part Deux,” which aired February 22, 2004.
“Carrie has lunch with Petrovsky’s ex Juliette B. who tells her he always gives priority to his art above his partner- she finds that true and has a generally bad time. Charlotte prepares with Anthony to receive her promised adoption baby’s birth parents, but those changed their mind; ultimately she and Harry get another baby girl from China. Steve’s ma Mary suffers memory loss after a mild stroke, and Miranda offers to take her in, which their maid Magda calls love. Samantha finally admits that Smith means enough to her, unlike any other man, to be jealous. Mr. Big has finally realized that he cannot be happy without Carrie and sets out to bring her back to New York, just when she was considering breaking up with the Russian anyhow.”
4. Season 5
Audience score: 75%
The highest-rated episode on IMDb of the season is “I Love a Charade,” which aired September 8, 2002.
“The women head to the Hamptons for the wedding of a flamboyant lounge singer; Charlotte’s affair with her lawyer takes an interesting turn.”
3. Season 2
Audience score: 82%
The highest-rated episode on IMDb of the season is “Ex and the City,” which aired October 3, 1999.
“Three of the girls deal with loved ones from their past. For Carrie it’s trying to become just good friends again with Mr. Big, who now is with Natasha and even tells her they are already engaged. For Charlotte it means the pony Taddy which threw her off as a child, or a substitute horse. For Miranda it’s becoming friends again with barman Steve, but then they get physical again… Samantha however finds by chance a new, huge hunky man who seems about as cocky as she is, and proves he has a cock of matching (record) size which even she may not be able to handle.”
2. Season 4
Audience score: 83%
The highest-rated episode on IMDb of the season is “The Real Me,” which aired June 3, 2001.
“While Carrie and Stanford hang out at the bar of Brasserie 8 1/2 in midtown Manhattan, they run into Lynn Cameron, an old friend, who is producing a NY fashion show featuring real models and famous New Yorkers as models. She insists Carrie model in the show for her. Meanwhile, Miranda can’t believe it when hunky guy at her gym asks her out on a date, telling her he thinks she’s sexy. Samantha is trying to get ready to pose for nude photos, sticking to a healthy, organic diet. She says she wants to remember her body as it is before everything goes south. Charlotte has to make a trip to her gynecologist because, as it turns out, her vagina is “depressed.” Her doctor gives her anti-depressants and tells her to keep a vagina journal. Later, she sets up Stanford with her old wedding stylist, Anthony Marantino, for Carrie’s big day as a model. When he had asked her about Stanford on the phone, Charlotte described him as a young Ed Harris. When Anthony sees Stanford at the fashion show, he is not happy, and he takes off. Carrie is backstage at the fashion show, thinking she’s going to wear a beautiful blue sequined dress by Dolce & Gabbana. Backstage, the designer (played by Alan Cumming) says there has been a change of plans. She’s now wearing a pair of jeweled panties. Carrie freaks out. He says not to worry, there’s also a great blue jacket with it. Carrie’s not sure she can go on stage like this. She asks Samantha to comeback stage to tell her honestly how she looks. She tells her she’s a model and she looks fabulous. Carrie goes on stage and promptly falls in her stiletto heels. Heidi Klum follows her down in the runway, and Stanford exclaims, “Oh my God! She’s fashion roadkill!”. Carrie can’t do much else besides get up and laugh it off and flash her best smile. Her courage to get back up inspires her friends to face their fears as well.”
1. Season 3
Audience score: 86%
The highest-rated episode on IMDb of the season is “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which aired August 27, 2000.
“When Miranda tries multi-dating, she quickly finds nobody wants a lawyer, while her same physique appeals as a “stewardess”. Things get interesting for her when she decides to date a doctor – At Charlotte’s rehearsal dinner, Samantha hooks up with Trey’s cousin Caleb, even if she can’t understand his Edinburgh accent. Carrie is touched that Aidan created a love-seat as a wedding gift for her friend Charlotte; finally she gathers the courage to confess her infidelity with adulterer Big – Charlotte has a sleepless night before her wedding after sleeping with Trey for the first time.”
