Extremely well-written piece here, thank you for this!

My take on the possibility of the new series is that it will likely go one of two ways:

1. It will be the same show as before. The characters will face 50 and contemplate issues like menopause, sex, marriage and children (or childlessness) within their realm of whiteness, affluencey, and cis gendered heterosexuality. It will represent what many now call “white feminism”. It will try to avoid the political or controversial (especially considering the second movie and its flop).
2. The show will try to incorporate LGBTQ + characters or themes, black characters, or discuss the Trump presidency; anything that will appeal to a liberal, mostly Democrat voting demographic. It will forget that the characters once applauded and admired Trump, dismissed black characters (and were outright racist at times), used derogatory language towards transgender sex workers (only portraying transgender characters as sex workers might we add), and called bisexuals “greedy”. They will forget that the characters used to not vote, or only voted “based on looks”, and try to politicise itself in favour with a more politicised America. It might try to use the new series to apologise for the past. Whether or not it will be forgiven is not for me to decide.

A good number of viewers will slam the revival either way. So why go ahead with the project? Because nostalgia sells. We will all tune in to see the result. Viewers mean money, even if we are “hate-bingeing”.

Some may argue that it seems unfair to judge an old show by contemporary standards, but we can judge norms portrayed in those shows to ascertain how we may have progressed or regressed.

Overall, the revival of the show is symptomatic of the growing contemporary nostalgia market.