The end of 'Sex'
Show's finale airs Sunday night
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Whither Carrie? That's the big question for the final "Sex and the City," airing Sunday.
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(CNN) -- Big. Aidan. Trey. Steve. Seth. Jack. Smith. Harry. Aleks.
Not to mention a 70-year-old man, a man of the cloth, a doorman, a firefighter, an office assistant and many, many others.
There sure has been a lot of sex on "Sex and the City," and all those men have played a part.
But "Sex and the City" is really about the women, the series' four principals -- writer Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), public relations vixen Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall), preppie Charlotte York (Kristin Davis) and lawyer Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) -- who have leaned on each other while trying to find success in New York.
If the four often measured themselves through their relationships with men, so be it; the series showed four women who could be successful simply by being themselves.
"When the women get together, that's the juice of the show," former Salon sex columnist Virginia Vitzthum told The Associated Press.
After six years on the air, "Sex and the City" concludes Sunday night on HBO. (HBO is a division of Time Warner, as is CNN.)
'Can women have sex like men?'
When the series first premiered in 1998, its frankness caught many off guard. Based on the work of former New York Observer columnist Candace Bushnell and filtered through the "Melrose Place" sensibility of producer Darren Star, the show came right out with its questions.
"Can women have sex like men?" asked Carrie on the first episode. Based on the romantic exploits of its very different characters, the answer was "yes" -- with no apologies.
Carrie fell for the wealthy Mr. Big (Chris Noth), broke up with him and got together with him, all the while dating Seth (Jon Bon Jovi), Aidan (John Corbett) and Jack (Ron Livingston). This season, she's been seeing Aleksandr Petrovsky (Mikhail Baryshnikov) -- but Big isn't quite out of the picture.
The women of "Sex" -- from left, Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), Charlotte (Kristin Davis), Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) -- stuck together through thick and thin.
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Charlotte married Trey, divorced him, started going out with her divorce attorney (Evan Handler), converted to Judaism and married him. Miranda had an on-and-off relationship with bartender Steve (David Eigenberg), who eventually fathered her baby, and then married him, moving to Brooklyn with her new family.
And Samantha? She seemed to have a new man every show -- sometimes more than one -- but a combination of overcoming breast cancer and meeting Smith have settled her down.
Almost immediately, the series' take on the New Single Woman struck a chord. Fans started wearing the show's fashions, from Carrie's nameplate necklaces to the group's Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik shoes. Time magazine put the stars on its cover to illustrate an article titled "Who Needs a Husband?"
A photo finish
So what happens now?
Well, the final episode may not be so final. The series' top executive, Michael Patrick King, and the show's cast is in discussions with HBO about a movie that would continue the saga of the four New York friends, HBO spokeswoman Tobe Becker said Thursday, according to the AP.
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The four friends now have regular men in their lives -- not that they need them.
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And there will always be reruns (if slightly edited to remove the racier parts), which will begin on TBS later this year. (TBS is another Time Warner division.)
Parker, who is also an executive producer, is reluctantly letting it go. "It's just as complicated as it could be," she told the AP. She was ready to wrap up, "but that doesn't make it any less painful to walk away."
Still, the question the fans want to know is: What will happen to Carrie?
On last Sunday's episode, she followed Aleks to Paris. But Big, upon getting wind of the plan, has pursued her to the City of Light. Who will she choose -- or will she choose either?
Parker, for her part, isn't revealing anything.
"We made a decision, and I hope people understand why," she told the AP. "I hope people will feel that Carrie is loved and loving, and that she feels contentment."
CNN's Beth Nissen contributed to this article.
Copyright 2004 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
