Product Details

• Actors: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon
• Format: Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 20
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Hbo Home Video
• DVD Release Date: November 1, 2005
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (200 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0011UBDTK
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,390 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  #9 in	Movies & TV > Comedy > Series & Sequels > Sex and the City
  #71 in	Movies & TV > Television > HBO

• For more information about "Sex and the City - The Complete Series (Collector's Giftset)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

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Sex and the City is based on Candace Bushnell's provocative bestselling book. Sarah Jessica Parker stars as Carrie Bradshaw, a self-described "sexual anthropologist," who writes "Sex and the City," a newspaper column that chronicles the state of sexual affairs of Manhattanites in this "age of un-innocence." Her "posse," including nice girl Charlotte (Kristin Davis), hard-edged Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), and party girl Samantha (Kim Cattrall)--not to mention her own tumultuous love life--gives Carrie plenty of column fodder. Over the course of the first season's 12 episodes, the most prominent dramatic arc concerns Carrie, who goes from turning the tables on "toxic bachelors" by having "sex like a man" to wanting to join the ranks of "the monogamists" with the elusive Mr. Big (Chris Noth). Meanwhile, Miranda, Cynthia, and Samantha have their own dating woes.

The second season builds on the foundation of the first season with plot arcs that are both hilarious and heartfelt, taking the show from breakout hit to true pop-culture phenomenon. Relationship epiphanies coexist happily alongside farcical plots and zingy one-liners, resulting in emotionally satisfying episodes that feature the sharp kind of character-defining dialogue that seems to have disappeared from the rest of TV long ago. When last we left the NYC gals, Carrie had just broken up with a commitment-phobic Mr. Big (Chris Noth), but fans of Noth's seductive-yet-distant rake didn't have to wait long until he was back in the picture, as he and Carrie tried to make another go of it. Their relationship evolution, from reunion to second breakup, provides the core of the second season. Among other adventures, Charlotte puzzles over whether one of her beaus was "gay-straight" or "straight-gay"; Miranda tries to date a guy who insists on having sex only in places where they might get caught; and Samantha copes with dates who range from, um, not big enough to far too big--with numerous stops in between.

The third season was the charm, as the series earned its first Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series to go along with its Golden Globes for Best Comedy Series and Best Actress (Parker). One of this season's two principal story arcs concerned hapless-in-love Charlotte and her pursuit of a husband; enter (if only...) Kyle McLachlan as the unfortunately impotent Trey. Meanwhile, Carrie has a brief but memorable fling with a politician who's golden, but not in the way she anticipated. She then sabotages her too-good-to-be-true relationship with furniture designer Aidan (John Corbett) by having an affair with Mr. Big (Chris Noth), who himself has gotten married. Like I Love Lucy, the series benefited from a brief change of scenery with a three-episode jaunt to Los Angeles, where Carrie and company encountered, among others, Matthew McConaughey, Vince Vaughn, Hugh Hefner, and Sarah Michelle Gellar.

The fourth season is just as smart and sexy as ever, mixing caustic adult wit and sharply observed situation comedy on the mean streets of Manhattan, though this time the quartet of singleton city girls must endure even tougher combat in the unending war of love, sex, and shopping. Carrie finally seems to have found her ideal life partner when she is reunited with handsome craftsman Aidan. But can their relationship survive trial by cohabitation? Meanwhile Charlotte seems to have both her dream Park Avenue apartment and a solution to her marital problems with Trey. But when the subject of babies comes up, everything starts to unravel for her, too. It's not just Charlotte who has baby issues either: after what seems like an eternity of enforced sexual abstinence Miranda is horrified to discover she's pregnant. And as for the sultry Samantha, she's on a quest for monogamy, first with an exotic lesbian artist, then with a philandering businessman, with whom to her utter dismay she just might have fallen in love.

It was a short but sweet fifth season, as HBO's resident comediennes found themselves affected by forces beyond their control--the pregnancies of both Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Nixon. A truncated shooting schedule to accommodate the actresses forced this season to be reduced to a mere eight episodes, but they and creators forged ahead, creating a handful of episodes that if short in content were long on emotion and laughs. Carrie and Miranda wrestled with their solitary lifestyles, albeit with new attachments--Miranda had new baby Brady and single motherhood, while Carrie found herself in the world of publishing as the author of a real-life book of her columns. Charlotte wondered if she'd ever find another man, while Samantha finally got rid of the one that had been vexing her far too much. If the season as a whole felt less than the sum of its parts, those parts were some of the best comedy in the show's history. The season's climactic episode, "I Love a Charade," was one of the series' best episodes ever, equally touching and funny, and grounded the show in an emotional maturity that announced that after all their wild travails, these women had truly grown up.

After a long wait--like the entire fifth season--Carrie is dating again. The sixth season starts with Carrie and her sparkly new potential, Berger (Ron Livingston), trying to leave past relationships and hit it off, with mixed results. Meanwhile Carrie's friends seem to be settling down, relatively speaking. Miranda decides that her affair with TiVo cannot compete when Mr. Perfect (Blair Underwood, at his most charming) moves into her building. Charlotte's feelings for her "opposites attract" boyfriend (Evan Handler) deepen, but they still have a few things to iron out. Most surprising is Samantha's hot relationship with waiter-actor-stud Smith Jerrod (Jason Lewis) taking on something resembling love, despite Samantha's best intentions. Before the sixth season started in the summer of 2003, a bombshell hit: it was announced that this would be the finale. But it would be a long season, and these 12 episodes plant the seeds for the final 8 airing the following winter. These dozen episodes illustrate the maturity of the show: there's not a bad one in the bunch, and the show is still flat-out funny. The comedy blends serious points of how we perceive singles, couples, and parents (and the gifts we lavish on the latter two). Carrie's method of celebrating her singlehood is just another gem in this treasure of a series.

With the last eight episodes of the sixth season, HBO's grand sitcom concluded, leaving untold numbers of women--and many men--feeling deprived. The six-year series certainly did not outlast its welcome; the final season is some of the best TV had to offer in 2004. In many ways, the eight episodes served as a single finale, with all four characters approaching a kind of destiny and happiness, the theme of this last half-season (which aired weeks after the first half). Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) continues her romance with Russian artist (Mikhail Baryshnikov), a flippantly arrogant man who's been around the block, but able to supply Carrie's needed desire for magic. Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) has settled down with Steve (David Eigenberg), but there is more that will change with her, including her address. Charlotte (Kristin Davis) continues to make baby plans now that the husband slot is filled quite nicely (Evan Handler). Going down the final stretch--and Samantha's (Kim Cattrall) cancer--gives the series a more serious tone, but there's always a jab to tickle the funny bone: Miranda's awkwardness with happiness, Charlotte's latest passion, Carrie typing someplace new, and Samantha getting into Paris Hilton territory. Like any series winding down, there is a wedding, a baby, old faces popping up, and some star-ladened new ones. In the final two-part episode, "An American in Paris," Carrie faces her romantic destiny, but also solidifies herself as a fashion icon, an Audrey Hepburn for 21st-century television. In the penultimate episode, she asks her friends an emotional question: "What if I never met you?" Certainly fans can ask of themselves the same question and reminisce how much better TV became since they first tuned in these four women of the City.

Product Description

Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 12/31/2007

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

137 of 140 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just received my SATC Complete Series today! Yipee!!, May 15, 2008

By	C. Tong (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Hi all SATC fans! Like the the first two reviewers, I wondered what the difference between this collection, currently on sale for $109.99, and the "Collector's Edition" on sale for $196.99. But since all I really wanted was to have all the episodes on DVD I went ahead and ordered the cheaper set. When I received it today, I read the back and toward the end of the top paragraph it said:

"Celebrate the show that explores the day-to-day - and night-to-night, world of single women in this, the definitive collector's edition.

With that read, I wanted to see if I really got the "Collector's Edition" so I called my girlfriend who bought her "Collector's Edition" at the regular price of $300 back a few years ago to compare the difference. Good news! Sounds like they're the exact same thing! What I received in my $109.99 set is a pink velvet spiral binder with various color pictures of the ladies and scenes from the show and short summaries of each episode. The DVDs are nicely tucked away, by seasons, in pockets of thicker pages after the summaries. The pink velvet spiral binder comes in a plastic sleeve for protection from scratches, etc. There's no way, however, to see if this DVD set was made in 2007. Everywhere I looked said 2005. Oh well, I'll be happy if all the DVDs work!

If you want to peek at what this set looks like I suggest clicking on the "Collector's Edition" for $196.99 and looking at Picture 4 of 9. It's the picture with the binder (closed and open) with the DVDs nicely scattered in front of it. That is exactly what I received today.

Happy shopping and I hope this helps!

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clearing up which version you'll receive from Amazon.com, June 7, 2008

By	Anonymous (Florida) - See all my reviews

I ordered the 2007 set from Amazon last week, and despite the fact that the package says 2005 on the back, it actually is the newer one that was released on December 18, 2007. You have to look at the UPC...that's the only discernable difference between them (even the sets currently selling in stores with the free movie ticket say "2005 Home Box Office" in the fine print on the back, but they have the 2008 UPC..i checked at Target the other day!). There are three different releases floating around: 2005, 2007, and the 2008 release that comes with the free movie ticket. Amazon is not even selling the 2008 version at this time so I doubt anyone will be getting the free movie ticket. However, those of you who are disappointed that you believe you received the 2005 set from Amazon, check the UPC on the back to see which one you really have:

2008 # UPC 883929018062
2007 # UPC 026359445828
2005 # UPC 026359866128

Hope this helps clear up some of the confusion.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sex and the City - The Complete Series, May 19, 2008

By	Sara A. Williams "Sara" (Manteca CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the 2005 edition. However it has all 94 episodes and the Bonus Disc that includes: En-Sex-Lopedia, Sex Essentials, Location Location Location, You can quote me on it, and The Quest list.
I think it is a good deal for the price.