Yellow PagesIn many countries, the Yellow Pages refers to a telephone directory for businesses organized by the category of product or service. As the name suggests, they are usually printed on yellow paper. In generalYellow Pages directories are usually published annually and distributed for free to all residences and businesses within a given coverage area. The majority of listings are in plain small black text. Yellow Pages publishers make their profits by selling special value-added features to businesses such as a larger font size for their listing, or an advertisement box next to the listings in a category. Since the mid-1990s, there has been a trend among Yellow Pages publishers to add four-color printing for some advertisements. Many publishers also offer the option to have advertisements appear with a white background to make them stand out more. Interestingly, most yellow pages are not printed on yellow paper; rather the yellow is printed onto the paper. When an advertisement is printed with a white background, its part of the page does not receive yellow ink - so the white is actually the natural color of the paper. Many publishers now make their listings available on the World Wide Web, on "Yellow Pages" Web sites. The information contained in the Yellow Pages is essentially a commodity, so publishers often engage in product differentiation tactics like bragging that their listings are more comprehensive or up-to-date. In 1999, a new tactic was pioneered by France Télécom's Pages Jaunes, which dispatched photographers to record nearly every possible view in front of nearly every address in certain French cities. Thus, French Yellow Pages users can see a photograph of a business along with its phone number and street address. In 2004, the search engine A9.com added a similar feature for many cities in the United States when it launched its Yellow Pages feature. United StatesAt least until the anti-trust breakup of the Bell System in the late 20th century, the term "Yellow Pages" was a trademark for commercial directories and the commercial portions of the by-commercial-category sections of directories that also include by-name listings. Directories were published on behalf of the component Bell companies by the various publishing companies. Then and since, phone companies or their agents sell the right to place advertisements within the same category, next to the basic listings. Since the Bell breakup, other companies publish directories that compete with those of local telephone companies for advertising business. Some of these publishers are pure advertising operations with no phone infrastructure. Others are telephone companies who provide local telephone service elsewhere. For example, SBC Communications is the dominant local telephone service provider in California, but since Verizon acquired GTE, it now provides service in many pockets such as West Los Angeles. Los Angeles telephone users can select from telephone directories published by SBC, Verizon, and several independent advertising companies. United KingdomWith the encouragement of The Thomson Corporation, at the time an advertising sales agent for the nationalised General Post Office's telephone directory, a business telephone number directory named the Yellow Pages was first produced in 1966 by the GPO for the Brighton area, and was rolled out nationwide in 1973. The Thomson Corporation formed Thomson Yellow Pages in 1966 to publish and to distribute the directory to telephone subscribers for the GPO, and later for The Post Office. Thomson Yellow Pages was sold by The Thomson Corporation in 1980, at the same time as Post Office Telecommunications became the (then) state-owned British Telecom (BT). The Yellow Pages directory continued to be distributed to all telephone subscribers by BT. At the same time, The Thomson Corporation formed Thomson Directories Ltd, and began to publish the Thomson Local directory, which would remain the Yellow Pages' main, and often sole, competitor in the UK for more than the next two decades, and would be the competitive driving force behind such changes to Yellow Pages as the adoption (in 1999) of colour printing and "knock-out-white" listings. In 1984, the year that BT was privatized, the department producing the directory became a stand alone subsidiary of BT, named Yellow Pages. In the mid-1990s the Yellow Pages business was re-branded as Yell, although the directory itself continued to be known as the Yellow Pages. Yell was bought by venture capitalists in 2001, and in 2003 was floated on the Stock Exchange. After the one year "no competition" clause expired BT too went into competition with the Yellow Pages, re-entering the market by adding similar content to their existing "The Phone Book", adding a classified section to the traditional alphabetical domestic and business listings. References
AustraliaAustralia's business directory was first published in its own volume in 1973 as the Yellow Pages. The directory was originally produced by the Postmaster General, and continued to be produced by the government, as the telephone system transferred to Telecom Australia and now Telstra. Today, the Yellow Pages is produced by Sensis, a wholly-owned advertising subsidiary of Telstra. The Yellow Pages have for many years produced some of Australia's most popular television commercials, often highlighting the perils of not placing an advertisement in the directory on time. The most famous of these immortalised the phrase 'Not happy, Jan!' in the Australian vernacular. FranceIn France Yellow Pages are referred to as Pages Jaunes. They are distributed free by Pagesjaunes.fr, a company affiliated with France Télécom. pagesjaunes.com, the .com version of Pages Jaunes, was the issue of a major court case at WIPO; the original registrant, an individual from Los Angeles, won against France Télécom. This court decision defended by the Parisian Lawyer, Andre Bertrand, was path-setting for the whole European Yellow Pages industry, as it decided that the phrase "Yellow Pages" cannot be considered the property of a single company. Previously, many former state monopoly telecom companies outside the US had tried to ban competition by claiming the term "yellow pages", or the translation of "yellow pages" into the vernacular, as their exclusive trademark. Vivendi Universal moved to enter the French Yellow Pages market in 2001 with scoot.fr, but the attempt was a killed by a reorganisation of the struggling company. Since the liberalization of .fr domains in May 2004, the domain yellowpages.fr has been registered by Phonebook of the World.com. Another French editor of Yellow Pages is Bottin. More competition is expected in November 2005 from the libralisation of "12", the former unique "4-1-1" number of Renseignements Telephoniques, french for Directory Inquiry. Other countriesIn (The Republic of) Ireland the equivalent directory is titled Golden Pages while in Northern Ireland it is "yellow pages" In Belgium the equivalent directory is titled Pages d'Or (French) or Gouden Gids (Dutch), and is distributed free to each telephone subscriber. In Canada the company Yellow Pages Group owns the trademarks Yellow Pages and Pages Jaunes. It produces and distributes directories in both English and French. Yellow Pages Group is the market leader in print and online commercial directories and one of the largest media companies in Canada, producing the official directories of Bell Canada, Telus and Aliant. Other ILECs such as MTS and SaskTel publish their own directories and use the Yellow Pages name under licence. Competitive local directories often include commercial directories on yellow paper, but cannot use the Yellow Pages brand. In Czech Republic and Slovakia the equivalent directory is titled Zlaté stránky and is distributed free to each telephone subscriber. In China, the modern yellow pages industry was started in the late 1990’s with the formation of two international joint ventures between US yellow pages publishers and China’s telecom operators, namely: a joint venture started in Shenzhen between RHDonnelley and China Unicom (later including Hong Kong’s PCCW and InfoSpace); and a joint venture between China Telecom Shanghai and what later came to be known as the yellow pages operations of Verizon Communications Corp.(NYSE:VZ). Later, another mainly state-owned telecom operator, China Netcom began to produce, either directly or on a sub-contracted basis, yellow pages in selected cities around the country. By early 2005, there were a number of independent local and international yellow pages operators in numerous cities including Yilong Huangbaoshu, based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province with operations in Hangzhou and Ningbo. In Colombia, the standard yellow and White Pages are published and distributed every year free of charge by Publicar, a Colombian subsidiary company of Carvajal, which also publishes and distributes yellow and white pages in other Latin American countries. In Denmark the equivalent directory is titled De Gule Sider is distributed free to each subscriber, by TDC Forlag. In Finland the directory is called Keltaiset sivut. In Germany a directory titled Die Gelben Seiten is distributed free to each subscriber, by the Deutsche Telekom, owner of T-Mobile In Indonesia, the telecommunication company TELKOM with PT. Infomedia Nusantara (one of its subsidiaries), regularly publishes phone books. The phone book consisted of white pages and yellow pages. The phone book is updated regularly (typically every six months or a year) and is published in various editions (depending where the book is published). In Mexico the commercial phone directory is called Sección Amarilla (Yellow Section), while the personal phone directory is called Sección Blanca (White Section). The Sección Amarilla is distributed yearly and free of charge by the homonimous company in association with Telmex; older issues are returned to the company, recycled, and used to print the latest issue. In Netherlands the equivalent directory is titled Gouden Gids; within the district concerned it is distributed free to each telephone subscriber. In Nigeria, the Nigerian Yellow Pages is produced as internet-based yellow pages in English language by the company Xybertek Systems. The company Xybertek Systems provides additional business information on all Nigerian companies. In Norway the directory is called "Gule Sider" (i.e. Yellow Pages) which is a registered trademark belonging to Findexa, which is owned by Eniro. In December 2005 the Norwegian Supreme Court decided that Findexa holds an exclusive right to the trademark. In Spain it's called Páginas Amarillas, distributed by Telefónica Publicidad e Información, S.A In Sweden it's called Gula Sidorna, distributed by Eniro AB. In Switzerland the company Swisscom Directories AG produces and distributes directories in several forms including internet-based yellow pages in four languages, including English. The company Swissguide AG provides additional business information on all Swiss companies. This page about yellow pages includes information from a Wikipedia article. Additional articles about yellow pages News stories about yellow pages External links for yellow pages Videos for yellow pages Wikis about yellow pages Discussion Groups about yellow pages Blogs about yellow pages Images of yellow pages |
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The company Swissguide AG provides additional business information on all Swiss companies. House and Electronica Sounds from the Show's Soundtrack. In Switzerland the company Swisscom Directories AG produces and distributes directories in several forms including internet-based yellow pages in four languages, including English. Irma at Sex and the City - Part 2 - Nightlife Session In December 2005 the Norwegian Supreme Court decided that Findexa holds an exclusive right to the trademark. Sex and the City - Official Soundtrack In Nigeria, the Nigerian Yellow Pages is produced as internet-based yellow pages in English language by the company Xybertek Systems. The other two releases have little or no tracks that appear on the programme's actual soundtrack. In Netherlands the equivalent directory is titled Gouden Gids; within the district concerned it is distributed free to each telephone subscriber. The two albums from Irma Records are seen to be the best because they contain tracks used in the show's actual soundtrack that are difficult to find elsewhere. The Sección Amarilla is distributed yearly and free of charge by the homonimous company in association with Telmex; older issues are returned to the company, recycled, and used to print the latest issue. These releases span various record labels and some are even unofficial. In Mexico the commercial phone directory is called Sección Amarilla (Yellow Section), while the personal phone directory is called Sección Blanca (White Section). There have been several CD Albums released to accompany the series Sex and the City. The phone book is updated regularly (typically every six months or a year) and is published in various editions (depending where the book is published). American and Canadian DVD's were released through the programme's original broadcasters, HBO. The phone book consisted of white pages and yellow pages. In Europe, "Sex and the City" boxsets were released through Paramount Pictures - who own certain rights to the programme's broadcast as well. Infomedia Nusantara (one of its subsidiaries), regularly publishes phone books. Thankfully, the Season 1 boxset is the only one to suffer from this problem, and all subsequent Region 2 DVD releases of the programme were appropriately transferred to PAL Video. In Indonesia, the telecommunication company TELKOM with PT. This caused some compatibility problems with some European television sets and DVD Players. In Germany a directory titled Die Gelben Seiten is distributed free to each subscriber, by the Deutsche Telekom, owner of T-Mobile. Unfortunately, the show was not converted into a PAL video signal, and remained in its original American NTSC format. In Finland the directory is called Keltaiset sivut. As well as missing out on some Special Features, many fans in Europe had trouble with the Region 2 edition of the Season 1 DVD. In Denmark the equivalent directory is titled De Gule Sider is distributed free to each subscriber, by TDC Forlag. Oceania's edition came packaged in a Beauty Case. In Colombia, the standard yellow and White Pages are published and distributed every year free of charge by Publicar, a Colombian subsidiary company of Carvajal, which also publishes and distributes yellow and white pages in other Latin American countries. While Europe got a complete set that came with special "Shoebox" packaging (A reference to Sarah Jessica Parker's character's love for shoes in the show), the USA and Canada version came packaged in a more traditional fold-out suede case and with an additional Bonus DVD including many Special Features. By early 2005, there were a number of independent local and international yellow pages operators in numerous cities including Yilong Huangbaoshu, based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province with operations in Hangzhou and Ningbo. Even these vary between Region 1 2 and 4. Later, another mainly state-owned telecom operator, China Netcom began to produce, either directly or on a sub-contracted basis, yellow pages in selected cities around the country. In addition to standard single season DVD Boxsets of the show, Limited Edition Collectors Editions have also been released that include all 6 seasons in one complete set. In China, the modern yellow pages industry was started in the late 1990’s with the formation of two international joint ventures between US yellow pages publishers and China’s telecom operators, namely: a joint venture started in Shenzhen between RHDonnelley and China Unicom (later including Hong Kong’s PCCW and InfoSpace); and a joint venture between China Telecom Shanghai and what later came to be known as the yellow pages operations of Verizon Communications Corp.(NYSE:VZ). Region 2 DVD's of "Sex and the City" have been criticised by some fans for having little or no special features, but Region 1 editions have included Director Commentary, Cast Interviews and more. In Czech Republic and Slovakia the equivalent directory is titled Zlaté stránky and is distributed free to each telephone subscriber. In addition to their region encoding, releases vary depending on which region they were released in. Competitive local directories often include commercial directories on yellow paper, but cannot use the Yellow Pages brand. They have been released officially on Region 1 (Americas), Region 2 (Europe) and Region 4 (Oceania) formats, but illegal bootleg editions have also surfaced for Region 3 (Korea, Thailand) as well as Region 0 (Universal) and can even be found on eBay. Other ILECs such as MTS and SaskTel publish their own directories and use the Yellow Pages name under licence. All six seasons of "Sex and the City" have been released commercially on DVD. Yellow Pages Group is the market leader in print and online commercial directories and one of the largest media companies in Canada, producing the official directories of Bell Canada, Telus and Aliant. Others have charged that the ridiculing of men with small penises is wrong, contributing to body issues for men similar to that of young women over their weight or breast size. It produces and distributes directories in both English and French. The frequent obsession with penis size by one character is taken to be atypical of women and more typical of a phallocentric male focus. In Canada the company Yellow Pages Group owns the trademarks Yellow Pages and Pages Jaunes. Some commentators criticized Sex and the City's distorted presentation of female sexuality, claiming the sexuality is more akin to that of the allegedly gay, male writers of the show. In Belgium the equivalent directory is titled Pages d'Or (French) or Gouden Gids (Dutch), and is distributed free to each telephone subscriber. When Sex and the City was run in syndication on TBS, some viewers organized boycotts of the station, arguing that this would put the program within access of young children. In (The Republic of) Ireland the equivalent directory is titled Golden Pages while in Northern Ireland it is "yellow pages". Still others take issue with the show's depiction of New York City, pointing out that though New York is one of the most culturally diverse cities on the planet, the show rarely features any minority characters.[1]. More competition is expected in November 2005 from the libralisation of "12", the former unique "4-1-1" number of Renseignements Telephoniques, french for Directory Inquiry. Others have noted that the show tends to portray its main characters as shallow and superficial. Another French editor of Yellow Pages is Bottin. Others claim in response that Sex and the City is an attempt to realistically – yet artistically – portray sexual behavior in the urban United States. Since the liberalization of .fr domains in May 2004, the domain yellowpages.fr has been registered by Phonebook of the World.com. The characters are also wealthy and unabashedly elitist, which raises further questions about the morality of the show. Vivendi Universal moved to enter the French Yellow Pages market in 2001 with scoot.fr, but the attempt was a killed by a reorganisation of the struggling company. Additionally, they argued that it is at times mere pornography with a superficial plot. Previously, many former state monopoly telecom companies outside the US had tried to ban competition by claiming the term "yellow pages", or the translation of "yellow pages" into the vernacular, as their exclusive trademark. Some commentators have criticized the television show as promoting immorality by encouraging a hedonistic lifestyle and treating women as sexual objects. This court decision defended by the Parisian Lawyer, Andre Bertrand, was path-setting for the whole European Yellow Pages industry, as it decided that the phrase "Yellow Pages" cannot be considered the property of a single company. HBO Romania also aired all seasons. pagesjaunes.com, the .com version of Pages Jaunes, was the issue of a major court case at WIPO; the original registrant, an individual from Los Angeles, won against France Télécom. In Romania the show was aired by ProTv and later by the sister channels Acasa TV and Pro Cinema. They are distributed free by Pagesjaunes.fr, a company affiliated with France Télécom. In Turkey it is broadcast by ComedyMax channel. In France Yellow Pages are referred to as Pages Jaunes. In the Philippines, its reruns are being aired by RPN 9. The most famous of these immortalised the phrase 'Not happy, Jan!' in the Australian vernacular. In Denmark it is currently shown on TV3 as well. The Yellow Pages have for many years produced some of Australia's most popular television commercials, often highlighting the perils of not placing an advertisement in the directory on time. In Latvia this serial can be seen on TV3. Today, the Yellow Pages is produced by Sensis, a wholly-owned advertising subsidiary of Telstra. Sex and the City was banned in Singapore until July 2004, when the government allowed the television series to be aired on cable after being censored. The directory was originally produced by the Postmaster General, and continued to be produced by the government, as the telephone system transferred to Telecom Australia and now Telstra. Hong Kong's TVB Pearl also aired the show at midnight before. Australia's business directory was first published in its own volume in 1973 as the Yellow Pages. In Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, and Pakistan the show airs on HBO Asia (season 1-6). After the one year "no competition" clause expired BT too went into competition with the Yellow Pages, re-entering the market by adding similar content to their existing "The Phone Book", adding a classified section to the traditional alphabetical domestic and business listings. In Japan, the show is aired by Lala.tv. Yell was bought by venture capitalists in 2001, and in 2003 was floated on the Stock Exchange. Australian Cable and Digital channel W airs 2 episodes each weeknight. In the mid-1990s the Yellow Pages business was re-branded as Yell, although the directory itself continued to be known as the Yellow Pages. It has now returned to Network Ten on Friday nights. In 1984, the year that BT was privatized, the department producing the directory became a stand alone subsidiary of BT, named Yellow Pages. Rerun rights were sold to Network Ten, where it was briefly shown on Monday nights before low ratings forced it off the air. At the same time, The Thomson Corporation formed Thomson Directories Ltd, and began to publish the Thomson Local directory, which would remain the Yellow Pages' main, and often sole, competitor in the UK for more than the next two decades, and would be the competitive driving force behind such changes to Yellow Pages as the adoption (in 1999) of colour printing and "knock-out-white" listings. In Australia it was broadcast on the Nine Network. The Yellow Pages directory continued to be distributed to all telephone subscribers by BT. In Italy the show airs on La7. Thomson Yellow Pages was sold by The Thomson Corporation in 1980, at the same time as Post Office Telecommunications became the (then) state-owned British Telecom (BT). In the Netherlands, the show is aired by NET 5, and in Sweden it is aired by TV3 and ZTV. The Thomson Corporation formed Thomson Yellow Pages in 1966 to publish and to distribute the directory to telephone subscribers for the GPO, and later for The Post Office. In Canada, the show airs on Bravo! Canada and Citytv Toronto, and in Germany it is shown on Pro7. With the encouragement of The Thomson Corporation, at the time an advertising sales agent for the nationalised General Post Office's telephone directory, a business telephone number directory named the Yellow Pages was first produced in 1966 by the GPO for the Brighton area, and was rolled out nationwide in 1973. In the United Kingdom, Channel 4 and its digital sister channel E4 broadcast episodes of "Sex and the City", while older episodes are rerun on Paramount Comedy 1. Los Angeles telephone users can select from telephone directories published by SBC, Verizon, and several independent advertising companies. and who you want to spend it with.". For example, SBC Communications is the dominant local telephone service provider in California, but since Verizon acquired GTE, it now provides service in many pockets such as West Los Angeles. Kim Cattrall: "Being single used to mean that nobody wanted you, now it means you're pretty sexy and you're taking your time deciding how you want your life to be .. Others are telephone companies who provide local telephone service elsewhere. David Eigenberg: "They were honest about sex, they were honest about the humor of sex.". Some of these publishers are pure advertising operations with no phone infrastructure. Kim Cattrall: "The show is a valentine to being single.". Since the Bell breakup, other companies publish directories that compete with those of local telephone companies for advertising business. Sarah Jessica Parker: "What the show has to have, and has had to have in order to survive six years, is a soul.". Then and since, phone companies or their agents sell the right to place advertisements within the same category, next to the basic listings. and basically the battlefield of trying to be in love – whether it be with another person or with yourself.". Directories were published on behalf of the component Bell companies by the various publishing companies. and sex .. At least until the anti-trust breakup of the Bell System in the late 20th century, the term "Yellow Pages" was a trademark for commercial directories and the commercial portions of the by-commercial-category sections of directories that also include by-name listings. and relationships .. In 2004, the search engine A9.com added a similar feature for many cities in the United States when it launched its Yellow Pages feature. And then slowly over the years people start to see it's really about love .. Thus, French Yellow Pages users can see a photograph of a business along with its phone number and street address. Michael Patrick King, Executive Producer: "People thought, oh it's just about sex or it's just about fashion. In 1999, a new tactic was pioneered by France Télécom's Pages Jaunes, which dispatched photographers to record nearly every possible view in front of nearly every address in certain French cities. The following are quotations from the TV special, Sex And The City: A Farewell, that aired introducing the final episode:. The information contained in the Yellow Pages is essentially a commodity, so publishers often engage in product differentiation tactics like bragging that their listings are more comprehensive or up-to-date. These include the following:. Many publishers now make their listings available on the World Wide Web, on "Yellow Pages" Web sites. As Sex and the City gained popularity, a number of celebrities had cameos on the show, some playing themselves and some playing characters. When an advertisement is printed with a white background, its part of the page does not receive yellow ink - so the white is actually the natural color of the paper. In most cases, these characters have played large roles in as many as two story arcs. Interestingly, most yellow pages are not printed on yellow paper; rather the yellow is printed onto the paper. The main characters all went on dates or had sex with characters who appeared in only one episode, or small story arcs spanning two or three episodes, but the characters listed below are the focus of multiple episodes that form story arcs significant to the show's continuity. Many publishers also offer the option to have advertisements appear with a white background to make them stand out more. The twenty episodes of the final season, season six, aired in two parts: from June until September 2003 and during January and February 2004. Since the mid-1990s, there has been a trend among Yellow Pages publishers to add four-color printing for some advertisements. Season five, truncated due to Parker's pregnancy, aired on HBO during the summer of 2002. Yellow Pages publishers make their profits by selling special value-added features to businesses such as a larger font size for their listing, or an advertisement box next to the listings in a category. Season four was broadcast in two parts: from June until August 2001 and then in January and February 2002. The majority of listings are in plain small black text. Season three aired from June until October 2000. Yellow Pages directories are usually published annually and distributed for free to all residences and businesses within a given coverage area. Season two was broadcast from June until October 1999. . Season one of Sex and the City aired on HBO from June to August 1998. As the name suggests, they are usually printed on yellow paper. These continued through season two; then they were phased out. In many countries, the Yellow Pages refers to a telephone directory for businesses organized by the category of product or service. Each episode in season one featured a short montage of interviews that Carrie supposedly conducted while researching for her column. URL accessed on February 15, 2005.. The first season of the show is a free adaptation of its source material, but from the second season on, it took on a life of its own and went further than the book ever could. Yell: UK Operations. Receiving consistent critical and popular acclaim, it was based on the book that was compiled from the New York Observer column "Sex and the City" by Candace Bushnell. UK History: 1990-1999. The show became famous for shooting scenes on the streets and in the bars, in restaurants and clubs of New York City while pushing the envelope of fashion and shattering sexual taboos. URL accessed on February 15, 2005.. Carrie Bradshaw and her three best girlfriends navigate the rocky terrain of being single, sexually active women in the new millennium. Yell: UK Operations. . UK History: 1980-1989. Sex and the City premiered on June 6, 1998, and the last original episode aired on February 22, 2004. URL accessed on February 15, 2005.. A sitcom with soap opera elements, the show often tackled socially relevant issues, such as the status of women in society. ketupa.net media profiles. Set in New York City, the show focuses on the sex lives of four female best friends, three of whom are in their mid-to-late thirties, and one of whom, Samantha, is in her forties. Thomson Group: chronology. It was originally broadcast on the HBO network from 1998 until 2004. URL accessed on February 15, 2005.. Sex and the City was an American cable television program based on the book of the same name. TELEPHONE DIRECTORIES & DIRECTORY ENQUIRIES UK 2004. Will Arnett as Jack, "La Douleur Exquise!". Thomson Directories. Tony Hale as Tiger, "The Real Me". Valerie Harper as Wallis, "Shortcomings". Carole Bouquet as Juliette, "American Girl In Paris; Part Deux". Geri Halliwell as Phoebe, "Boy, Interrupted". David Duchovny as Jeremy, "Boy, Interrupted". Tatum O'Neal as Kyra, "A Woman's Right to Shoes". Jennifer Coolidge as Victoria, "The Perfect Present". Heather Graham as herself, "Critical Condition". Candice Bergen as Enid Mead, "A 'Vogue' Idea". Lucy Liu as herself, "Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda". Molly Shannon as Lily Martin, "Cover Girl" etc. Ed Koch as himself, "The Real Me". Heidi Klum as herself, "The Real Me". Alan Cumming as O, "The Real Me". Margaret Cho as Lynn Cameron, "The Real Me". Sarah Clarke as Melinda, "Politically Erect" (as Sarah Lively). Hugh Hefner as himself, "Sex and Another City". Carrie Fisher as herself, "Sex and Another City". Sarah Michelle Gellar as Debbie, "Escape from New York". Vince Vaughn as Keith Travers, "Sex and Another City". Matthew McConaughey as himself, "Escape from New York". Alanis Morissette as Dawn, "Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl...". Jon Bon Jovi as Seth, "Games People Play". Donald Trump as himself, "The Man, The Myth, The Viagra". Amy Sedaris as Courteney Masterson, "Cover Girl" etc. Nathan Lane as Bobby Fine, "I Love A Charade". In the final episode, Jerry tells her that he loves her, which she counters with "You mean more to me than any man I've ever known", which, for Samantha is a far greater statement. Just when she thinks Jerry's age and experiences aren't enough for her, he gives her unconditional support during her fight with breast cancer. He is a wannabe actor whose career Samantha jump starts using her PR connections, getting him a modelling job that turns into a film role. She tries to maintain her usual sex-only relationship with him, but he slowly pushes for something more. Jerry Jerrod (Jason Lewis) is a young waiter Samantha seduces in a trendy restaurant. Towards the end of the series, Richard re-surfaces, admitting that Samantha was the best thing that ever happened to him. In the end, Samantha still has her doubts about Richard, and breaks up with him. When she does catch him cheating, she breaks up with him, but eventually takes him back after he begs for her forgiveness. Eventually, they give in and attempt exclusivity, but, being a stranger to monogamy, Samantha is plagued by suspicion at every turn. He seduces her, and when their no-strings-attached sexual relationship begins to escalate, both parties struggle to keep their emotional distance. Richard Wright (James Remar) is a successful hotel magnate who doesn't believe in monogamy until he meets Samantha. The two separate, after they have sex with a strap-on. Unfortunately, Samantha begins to grow uncomfortable when the relationship talk starts to replace the sexual activity and Maria is equally uncomfortable with Samantha's sexual history. At first, Samantha has a great time "getting an education" as Maria teaches her about lesbian sex and how to make an emotional connection while making love. Maria is immediately attracted to her, but since Samantha doesn't believe in relationships they try to maintain a friendship, the chemistry proves to be too strong and it isn't too long before Samantha is introducing her lesbian lover to her stunned friends. Maria Diego Raez (Sonia Braga) is a sensual lesbian artist that Samantha meets at a solo exhibit while admiring her work. She begins pulling away physically and cannot bring herself to tell him--until she is faced with the prospect of couples counseling. When they finally do have sex, she discovers that he is under-endowed to the point that she cannot enjoy herself. James (James Goodwin) is a man Samantha meets while out by herself at a jazz club, she makes a conscious effort to not sleep with him until she gets to know him first. Robert and Miranda have lots of fun and great chemistry, but when the time comes, she is unable to declare her love for him. He is the seemingly perfect man: successful, sexy, and utterly devoted to her. Robert Leeds (Blair Underwood) is a sports medicine doctor who moves into her building during season six. They decide to raise the child (Brady Hobbes) together, separately, but are back together towards the end of Season Six, they have a small intimate wedding ceremony and he convinces her to move to a house in Brooklyn. In season four, he opens his own bar, called Scout (alongside Aidan) and gets Miranda pregnant (despite losing a testicle to cancer and Miranda having only one functioning ovary). Over the course of the show, Miranda puts Steve through the wringer quite a bit, but he looks beneath her cynical exterior and finds her softer side, while at the same time, choosing his battles carefully. Their differences in income, aspirations and status, as well as their attitudes about living together and having kids are the catalysts for their break ups. Having been stood up by Carrie, she meets him unexpectedly at the bar at which he works, what she thinks is a one night stand but turns into dating. Steve Brady (David Eigenberg) is a bartender who has an unconventional on-again, off-again relationship with Miranda. They date for a short time, before Miranda breaks up with him due to "being in different places". From the moment they meet, Skipper is enamored with her, but Miranda is unimpressed and irritated by him. Skipper Johnson (Ben Weber) is a geeky, sensitive twenty-something web designer whom Carrie introduces to Miranda. In the end, they are approved for a Chinese adoption. After her conversion to Judaism and one big argument that sends them in separate directions for a few weeks, the two marry and begin trying to have/adopt a child. She is not attracted to him, but tries to pursue a sex-only relationship with him, which leads to one of exclusivity and love. Harry Goldenblatt (Evan Handler) is Charlotte's divorce lawyer who is incredibly attracted to her from the beginning. Eventually, their disagreements on whether or not to pursue in vitro fertilization leads to divorce. After a brief separation, they reunite with a healthy sex life only to discover that Charlotte will have difficulty getting pregnant. Trey MacDougal (Kyle MacLachlan) fits Charlotte's knight in shining armor archetype to a tee; a Scottish American heart surgeon from family money, their whirlwind engagement and a fairy tale wedding stop cold with a sexless honeymoon, brought on by Trey's impotence. After spending some time there, she realizes that he will never reciprocate the level of emotional involvement that she offers because his life and career will always come first. When he's preparing to return to Paris for a solo exhibit he invites Carrie to come live with him, which she does, after several deliberations (and one fight) with her friends. Her relationship with him brings up all sorts of questions in Carrie's mind about finding love past "a certain age" and whether or not she wants children. He sweeps her off her feet with huge romantic gestures and shows her the foreign pockets of New York that she has never seen before. Aleksandr Petrovsky (Mikhail Baryshnikov) is a famous Russian artist who becomes Carrie's lover in season six. Carrie learns, when it comes to relationships, Berger's talk is just that; after they agree to try and make things work, he breaks up with her through a post-it note. Theirs was a relationship of witty banter and common thoughts, but everything falls apart when his defeated attitude clashes with her contented state. Jack Berger (Ron Livingston) was Carrie's intellectual counterpart, a sardonic humorist writer whose career is cooling down just as Carrie's is heating up. It is revealed that Aidan married another furniture designer named Cathy. Carrie and Aidan unexpectedly see each other on the street; Aidan holding his baby son Tate. In season three, Aidan ends "it" when she comes clean about the affair, they get back together a year later, eventually move in together and she accepts his marriage proposal before the break up for the second and final time. At first, Carrie is put-off by their seemingly perfect relationship and over time works through her issues of emotional unavailability, but ultimately, she cannot meet his needs and they break up for good. Big's emotional opposite. He is a sweet, good natured furniture designer and Mr. Aidan Shaw (John Corbett) is Carrie's other long-term boyfriend. At the conclusion, we discover that Big's name is actually John. In the end, the two prepare for an open, honest relationship in New York. He doesn't give up, and, after the blessing of Charlotte, Samantha and Miranda, tries to re-claim her love one last time in Paris. In the end of the series, he returns to tell Carrie he is ready to commit to her, but is brutally rebuffed. He eventually moves to the Napa Valley in California, but is visited once by Carrie, while on her book tour and he returns to New York a year after that for an angioplasty. After divorcing Natasha, Big and Carrie become friends, with their sexual history always lying just beneath the surface. Within seven months of his marriage he begins to pine after Carrie and starts to have an affair with her, until Carrie breaks it off. Big marries a twenty-something socialite Ralph Lauren executive named Natasha (Bridget Moynahan). After two years of commitment issues and emotional unavailibility, Mr. Carrie and Big's on again, off again relationship begins and ends in season one and then a second time in season two. A wealthy financier (Samantha calls him "the next Donald Trump" in the pilot), who is based on New York publisher, Ron Galotti. Big (Chris Noth), referred to by Carrie and her friends simply as "Big", both excites and eludes Carrie throughout the run of the show, as she always believes he is the man for her, but many times, he's not able to fulfill her emotional needs. Mr. It's good for a woman to make pies.") and intrusive (replacing her vibrator with a statuette of The Virgin Mary). Her attempts to push traditional marriage/motherhood attitudes on Miranda are both subtle (buying her a rolling pin "To make pies. Magda (Lynn Cohen), the Ukrainian housekeeper-cum-nanny who was introduced in the third season becomes an ersatz mother figure and a thorn in Miranda's side. (Upon hearing that she hadn't had sex since her divorce, he exclaims; "if you don't put something 'in there' soon it'll grow over!"). He is not self-effacing like Stanford and freely presents no-nonsense (often bawdy) advice to Charlotte. Anthony Marentino (Mario Cantone) is an event planner who becomes close to Charlotte after styling her first wedding - he goes on to style Charlotte's H&G photo shoot, her second wedding and Carrie's book release party. In the last two seasons of the show, he is partnered with Broadway dancer, Marcus Adente. The only supporting character to receive his own storylines (occasionally), he represents the show's most constant gay point of view to sex on the show; generally based around the physical insecurities and inadequacies of someone who doesn't "have that gay look". A gay talent agent with a sense of style parallel only to Carrie's, you get the impression that they have a long standing relationship built within their younger, wilder days on the New York City club and bar scene. Stanford Blatch (Willie Garson), often referred to as the show's "Fifth Lady", is Carrie's best friend outside of the three women. Fuck me badly twice, shame on me.". Defining statement: "Fuck me badly once, shame on you. Over the course of the show, she does have a handful of real relationships, including one with a woman. In Season 3, she moves from her full-service Upper East Side apartment to an expensive loft in the then-burgeoning Meatpacking District. She believes that she has had "hundreds" of soulmates and insists that her sexual partners leave "an hour after I climax". A seductress who avoids emotional involvement at all costs while satisfying every possible carnal desire imagineable. Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall), the oldest and most promiscuous of the group, she is an independent publicist whose relationship pattern could be considered stereotypically masculine. I could barely find time to schedule this abortion.". Defining statement: "I can't have a baby. In the final season, Miranda and Steve marry and relocate to Brooklyn in order to make room for their growing family. Of the four women, she is the first to purchase an apartment (an indicator of her success). In the early seasons, she is portrayed as masculine and borderline misandric, but this image softens over the years, particularly after becoming pregnant by her on again-off again boyfriend, Steve Brady. A Harvard University graduate from Philadelphia, she is Carrie's best friend, confidante, and voice of reason. Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) is a career-minded lawyer with extremely cynical views on relationships and men. Where is he!?". Defining statement: "I've been dating since I was fifteen, I'm exhausted. She is a graduate of Smith College. She eventually remarries to her less than perfect, but good hearted, divorce lawyer, Harry Goldenblatt (after converting to Judaism). She gives up her career shortly after her first marriage, divorces upon irreconcilable differences around in vitro fertilization and receives a Park Avenue apartment in the divorce settlement. Despite her conservative outlook, she has been known to make concessions (while married) that even surprise her sexually freer girlfriends (such as her level of dirty talk, oral sex in public and "tookus-lingus"). Often scoffing at the lewder, more libertine antics that the show presents (primarily in Samantha), in her own way, she presents a more straight forward attitude about relationships, usually based around "the rules" of love and dating. She is the most conservative and traditional of the group, the one who places the most emphasis on emotional love as opposed to lust, and is always searching for her "knight in shining armor". Charlotte York (Kristin Davis) is an art dealer with a Connecticut blue-blooded upbringing. Defining statement: "I like my money right where I can see it - hanging in my closet.". Big during her relationship with Aidan. Her blemishes include having had an abortion after a one-night stand (ten years prior to the show's continuity) and an affair with a married Mr. Another source of her New York pride is her apartment, a one-bedroom place in an Upper East Side brownstone, it is her home for the entire run of the series, which she purchases in the fourth season. (Though she has been known to wear Christian Louboutin and Jimmy Choo as well.) Often meeting "her credit card limit" in one shopping trip, it is unclear how the modest income of a newspaper columnist could support such an addiction, but in later seasons, her essays are collected as a book and she begins taking assignments from Vogue and New York Magazine. A self proclaimed shoe fetishist, she focuses most of her attention, and bank account, on designer footwear, primarily Manolo Blahniks. A member of the New York glitterati, she is a club/bar/restaurant staple who is known for her unique fashion sense; violently yoking together various styles into one outfit (it is not uncommon for her to pair inexpensive vintage pieces with high-end couture). Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) is the literal voice of the show as each episode is structured around her train of thought while writing her weekly column, "Sex and the City" for the fictitious newspaper, The New York Star. |