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Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone.
IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: August 1, 1999
PROGRAM ORIGINALLY AIRED ON THIS DATE: Sex and the City, “Old Dogs, New Dicks” (Season 2, Episode 9) [Stream on HBO GO]
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: Okay, first of all, can we appreciate the artful trashiness of the way Sex and the City titled its episodes? It is both shockingly vulgar yet also satisfyingly predictable that Sex and the City would title an episode about men being set in their ways with a subplot about adult circumcision, “Old Dogs, New Dicks.” It’s just … perfect. Carrie Bradshaw and her pals took a lot of shit for their puns, and rightly so, but next time you’re watching another, less-interestingly-titled comedy and you can’t help but wonder, “Could a Bradshaw pun have Carrie’d this off better?” know that you are right.
Anyway, this episode is the typical Sex and the City of the semi-serious and the silly. Like, the fact that Charlotte is literally frightened by the sight of an uncircumcised penis — followed by a group conversation with the girls where uncut men are discussed like an exhibit in an art museum if honestly wild. Carrie’s plot is kind of a snooze unless you’re really invested in her and Big. Carrie learns to stand up to Big about the bad habits he’s too stubborn to break for her. Like his cigar smoking. (Which is rich considering how rightfully annoyed she is when Aiden later starts hectoring her about her cigarettes, but that’s a whole other discussion. The Miranda/Steve stuff is better, but knowing where that storyline goes, it’s not all THAT compelling to see the two of them haggle over what time of day they get to have sex.
No, the true highlight of “Old Dogs, New Dicks” is when the ladies attend a Drag Queen Bingo night, and Samantha is shocked when one of the queens (played by legendary New York queen Hedda Lettuce) turns out to be an ex-boyfriend of hers. Apparently, he figured some things out as a direct result of his relationship with Samantha. She had so much of an effect on him that his drag name, as we see revealed to Ms. Jones’ horror, is Samantha.
Once again, The City ends up winning this round.
