Toni, while I never watched the show as I am not much of a fan of television, and having lived briefly in NYC and HATING it with every bit of bone and gristle in this rural girl's body, your article still hits home. Partly because too many people today see such shows as reality or validating their version of reality. Your visceral reaction is spot-on. I don't care about the characters or their lives; they are immaterial to mine. What troubles me far more is society's - or part of society's habit- of selecting shows and movies and characters to make a point about real life. For example, the far right idiot evangelical's hijacking of Braveheart, which is not only regurgitated and manipulated history as are most movies but a great deal of false hubris. Which is likely what's attractive about it. We so desperately want to see "normalcy" that we will slide either into nostalgia, which is dangerous, or denial, which is worse, or both, which makes us really a pox on society. I live in Oregon where we remain under mask mandates, most of my fellow Oregonians where I live (not in the red parts of the state) are perfectly okay with masking and distancing, and I feel one hell of a lot safer. While I'm watching old favorite movies, I don't feel any longing. Quite happy to be where we are, and coping, because consider the alternatives. Too many have already lived the alternative. Or rather, died from it. I appreciate your viewpoint particularly as someone who admired the show, but I also value your points about the lack of safe sex which is yet another pox on society (literally). People use Hollywood fantasies to justify real life behavior. We really are that stupid, Toni. We really are. Great piece and thank you.