After twenty-seven years, two series, and a pair of movies, the Sex and the City franchise came to an end last week.
And in the eyes of many viewers, the Carrie Bradshaw saga concluded not with a bang — but with a whimper.
And Just Like That … never connected with audiences quite the way that Sex and the City did, and many viewers were openly disappointed by the series finale.
In fairness, the episode was probably written and filmed with the belief that it would only be a season finale.
Despite showrunner Michael Patrick King’s claims to the contrary, it seems that AJLT was abruptly canceled amid low ratings.
Whatever the case, the episode seemed to disappoint more viewers than it entertained, and many of them have been quite vocal about the matter on social media.
Some have gone so far as to say that it was the worst episode of the entire series. Others said it was such a let-down that they now felt they would be unable to go back and enjoy the rest of the SATC franchise.
Sarah Jessica Parker breaks silence on fan reactions to series finale
Needless to say, this is not the sort of response that Sarah Jessica Parker and company were hoping for.
But while the SATC/AJLT team might have wished for a more favorable response, it seems that Parker is unconcerned about the harsh cricitism.
“I don’t think I have the constitution to have spent a lot of time thinking about that,” she told the New York Times in a recent interview.
“We always worked incredibly hard to tell stories that were interesting or real. I guess I don’t really care,” Parker continued, adding:
“And the reason I don’t care is because it has been so enormously successful, and the connections it has made with audiences have been very meaningful.”
That may sound dismissive of disappointed fans, but it seems that Parker is attempting to focus on her pride in the work that she and her costars did over the years.
As Page Six reports, AJLT premiered to strong ratings, but the show’s viewership shrank rapidly, likely in response to a rather uneven product.
“This is the worst show ever. Honestly, this is ‘from hero to zero.’ It’s just so forced,” former Real Housewives of New York City star Bethenny Frankel said on TikTok after the finale.
“And just like that SUCKS. 25 pounds of disaster in a 5-pound bag — and yep, it explodes,” she added, seemingly in response to the amount of time the finale devoted to an overflowing toilet.
Yeah, even though she’s defending the finale, SJP probably wishes the writers had done a few things differently …