Syndication and the City
TBS
Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 p.m. / 9 p.m. Central

"Sex and the City" fans disappointed by the cancellation of the highly anticipated movie were recently offered a bit of a silver lining when the show made its basic cable premiere (in a newly cleaned up, syndication-friendly incarnation). For five straight nights beginning June 15, TBS will air a random sampling of back-to-back episodes. On June 22, when the show settles into its regular time slot, the series will air in its entirety, from beginning to end.

It's a bit shocking that a show remembered and, to some extent, celebrated for its explicit sexual content has found an afterlife in the far more family-friendly realm of commercial TV. But how will this neutered version of the pop culture classic hold up against the original? Or as Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) might write, "Can 'Sex' survive syndication?"

The premiere episode — season four's "The Real Me" — is quintessential "Sex." There is the requisite amount of high fashion, female empowerment and salty dialogue. There's even an exhaustive conversation about Charlotte York's (Kristen Davis) vagina. In the unedited version of the episode, variations of the word "fuck" are used nine times, primarily by guest star Margaret Cho, who plays a foul-mouthed fashion show producer. In the TBS version, the cuts were deftly handled and virtually undetectable. A photography shoot involving a completely nude Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall) was shown from an alternate angle and the transition was flawless. Whether graphic sex scenes in future episodes will be handled with similar finesse remains to be seen.

In another episode, "The Man, the Myth, the Viagra," the only significant changes were the dubbed expletives. In fact, it's obvious that the most noticeable tweaks will involve cleaning up the language. The looped dialogue is awkward at best, but eliminating the often gratuitous swearing shouldn't alter the show's overall tone. The more problematic changes and omissions will be to the show's the sexual vernacular. Tits, orgasm and pussies (when used to reference cats) have made the cut, but there are a plethora of colorful euphemisms whose fate is still up in the air.

Some of the show's funniest storylines are also some of its bawdiest. Season two's "The Awful Truth" has Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) getting in touch with her inner dirty talker with some help from straight-laced Charlotte. During this same season, viewers are introduced to "Mr. Pussy," a man with an uncanny talent for oral sex. In season three, Samantha has a fling with a dildo model and during season four she explores the intricacies of lesbian lovemaking. These are just a few of the sexual misadventures that are discussed at length throughout the show's six-season run. Where "Seinfeld" gave us "man hands", "close talkers", and "yada, yada, yada," we have "Sex" to thank for sexual slang like "funkyspunk" and "tuchislingus."

But the heart of the show lies in the friendships that exist between the four main characters, not in its sexual content. And there are also several significant storylines that shouldn't be affected by creative editing. Carrie's relationships with Mr. Big and Aidan, Charlotte's struggle to conceive and Miranda's adjustment to motherhood will all be just as engrossing now as they were during the show's run on HBO.

Diehard fans are unlikely to fully embrace this knock-off version of the original. It could feel like shopping at Payless when you are accustomed to wearing Manolo Blahniks. Most will be better off buying the uncut version of the show on DVD. First-time viewers, however, will likely find themselves faithfully in front of the TV set every Tuesday and Wednesday night, as will some of those who were turned off by the no-holds-barred tone of the original. Will they find basic cable "Sex" satisfying? As an uncensored Mr. Big would say, "Absofuckinglutely."

— Jennifer Lind-Westbrook (jlind4@mindspring.com)