TV production is a funny thing. While the first few seasons of a show tend to easily come through the writers' consciousness, it can be difficult to keep the same momentum and interest as the years (and seasons) go by. And what's even more difficult is the seemingly impossible task of crafting a series finale. While shows like Six Feet Under and Buffy managed to create a beloved ending, there are plenty of series that fall short. And according to Candace Bushnell, aka the real real life Carrie Bradshaw, HBO's Sex and the City definitely missed the mark. Why? Because Carrie shouldn't have ended up with Mr. Big in the series finale.
Candace Bushnell's life, sex column, and book were adapted by HBO in the 90s to create Sex and the City. And given that she knows Carrie basically as well as she knows herself, Bushnell believes that Carrie wouldn't end up with big IRL. She told The Guardian,
Well, I think, in real life, Carrie and Big wouldn't have ended up together. But at that point the TV show had become so big. Viewers got so invested in the storyline of Carrie and Big that it became a bit like Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett. They had become an iconic couple and women really related to it; they would say 'I found my Mr Big' or 'I just broke up with my Mr Big.' It became part of the lexicon. And when people are making a TV show, it's show business, not show art, so at that point it was for the audience and we weren't thinking about what the impact would be 10 years later.
Candace Bushnell makes a pretty great point. What is best for the show might not always be what is best for the characters. And while she basically IS Carrie Bradshaw, she respects HBO's choice to give the protagonist the ending and man that she always wanted.
As a reminder, the series finale of Sex and the City saw Carrie with her boyfriend Petrovsky in Paris. But she soon finds that the most romantic city in the world isn't so fun when your partner is too busy to enjoy it with you. She eventually runs into Big in her hotel, and the two finally reunite and get their happy ending. Plus, we learn Big's name (not that it matters).
But Candace Bushnell maintains that she would've rather seen Carrie live on without Big. But the audience followed their on again/off again relationship for six seasons, and they likely would have been very disappointed if the couple didn't end up together.
That being said, it seemed like Candance Bushnell was right, as the first Sex and the City movie saw Big leaving Carrie at the alter. They would eventually become man in wife, but clearly Big has Big problems.
