Former “The View” co-host Meghan McCain wrote in her Daily Mail column that HBO Max’s “Sex and the City” revival series, “And Just Like That,” missed the mark when catering to original fans. “For a start, so much of the original show, while groundbreaking at the time, hasn’t aged well in the way that many other shows of that era have,” McCain wrote. “So many of the promises of ‘Sex and the City’ turned out to be completely fictional and lacking any relation to reality…As I have gotten older, I have cringed at the messaging to so many young women and wished for more realism and nuance when it came to intimacy and relationships with men.” Yet Michael Patrick King’s “​misguided, woke reboot” also left something to be desired for McCain.

“The problem with the new series is the clumsy attempt to reformat the show into the woke and puritanical times we are living in,” the conservative correspondent wrote. “I don’t know who to blame, the writers of the show or this particularly stupid and repressive time we are living in.” Related ‘I Hate Suzie’ Is the Perfect Feel-Bad Show for the Holidays How ‘South Side’ Pulled Off a Hilarious Batman Parody Tribute Related Growing Number of Contenders Makes 2023 Best International Feature Race Less Predictable 2023 Oscars: ‘Avatar’ Is the One to Beat in Visual Effects
The cast is now clapping back. Nicole Ari Parker, who plays Charlotte’s confidante Lisa Todd Wexley, said on Andy Cohen’s SiriusXM show that “comments like that say more about the person saying them,” referring to McCain. “What’s too much? Maybe in your living room or when you step outside, it looks the same as inside, and you go to the grocery store and it’s the same,” Parker said. “Maybe it is too much for you. For these characters in New York City, it’s not.” McCain also called out the “wokeness superficially shoved down your throat” to defend the status of “wealthy white liberal women ‘evolving’ into the political climate.” She also joked it’s “so boring and un-evolved to be a straight white woman,” before citing The New York Times’ review of the series, in which a critic called out the show for feeling “as if it speed-read How to Be an Antiracist in June of 2020.” McCain added, “Wokeness kills everything and I am disappointed to tell you that ‘And Just Like That’ is another victim of Hollywood trying to placate a specific audience and not the original one, which made it a hit in the first place…The [new] supporting cast exhibits commendable racial and identity diversity, but we don’t learn much about their characters. It’s almost if they were written into the script to satisfy the PC censors.” Cynthia Nixon, whose character Miranda begins an extramarital affair with non-binary comedian Che (Ramirez), added that fans “don’t want to see these characters comfortable” in the modern era. “We want to see them out of their comfort zones,” Nixon said. McCain responded to the “AJLT” cast clap back via Twitter.

“Honestly, I’m just entertained the cast of ‘and just like that’ took time to respond to my column,” McCain tweeted. “I continue to disagree and felt the reboot was a missed opportunity (as do many longtime fans) but that’s ok, and what’s so great about freedom of opinion in America!” Previously, Nixon told Vogue that she was shocked by the “bizarre reaction” from “SATC” fans. “I think people were looking for us to be a little more tame and benign, but that has never been our show,” Nixon said. “If you’re looking for ‘Sex and the City,’ you should watch the reruns. This is a new show for this moment, and for the moment in these original characters’ lives.”

I continue to disagree and felt the reboot was a missed opportunity (as do many longtime fans) but that’s ok, and what’s so great about freedom of opinion in America! https://t.co/4XftgDfWz6 — Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) February 21, 2022 Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.