Sex and the City

The sad saga of Lena Dunham

I preface this review by saying that – unless you are the greatest admirer of Lena Dunham or anyone in the (admittedly impressive) cast of her new Netflix series, Too Much – it is very easy to give this particular show a miss. It is a tedious, unfunny collection of clichés, strange American-centric perspectives on life in London, a charmless, Dunhamesque lead, a chemistry-free central pairing and guest appearances from her famous friends that seem somewhere between embarrassed and incongruous. Yet there are many worse shows on streaming services, most of which have not attracted anything like The Discourse that Too Much has thus far – and which, I am painfully aware, this article is contributing to. Why this? Why now?

Lena Dunham and Megan Stalter at "Too Much" screening in the UK (Getty)

Glamorous is prestige TV’s first post-woke show

One of the few certainties about the second season of And Just Like That... is that the Sex and the City reboot is as heavy-handedly woke as the first. Gender-nonbinary podcaster Che Diaz is back, in all of their jargony groansome-ness. Quota-filling black folk are magically incanted with Afropunk-inspired names like Nya and Toussaint. Historically black colleges are blithely name-checked; the requisite trans high-schooler is given equitable airtime; and we even encounter an upcycled wedding dress that carries Carrie Bradshaw to the Met Ball with eco-friendly aplomb.

glamorous