{"id":53564,"date":"2023-09-21T10:00:14","date_gmt":"2023-09-21T15:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/?p=53564"},"modified":"2026-01-16T20:16:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T02:16:29","slug":"and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\/","title":{"rendered":"And Just Like That\u2026 the Viewer Cringes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Miranda Hobbes mistakes her new Black law professor for a student and, in the process, misgenders another student. In self-defense, Miranda spirals into a monologue, which includes her saying, in a panic, \u201cThis is not at all who I am.\u201d Watching this scene in the Sex and the City <\/em>reboot, And Just Like That\u2026<\/em>, one might feel a deep sinking of second-hand embarrassment. Viewers know Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) is a whip-smart lawyer, and they might want to believe she wouldn\u2019t make microaggressions toward her professor (Karen Pittman). But, the truth is, we don\u2019t have evidence that she hasn\u2019t spent the last few years with anyone else but her white, upper-class girlfriends.<\/p>\n

Regardless of how cringe-inducing it was to watch, it was believable\u2014to me, at least\u2014that there were white women of this generation just now confronting their own identities in Trump\u2019s America and the space they occupy in the world. \u201cCringing is a bodily posture of turning inward, and laughter is an affect that opens us to others,\u201d Lori Marso writes on cringe feminist comedy in Politics & Gender<\/em>. \u201cTo cringe and laugh at the same time is an uncontrollable, disruptive response, a spectator reaction that exposes our collective investments in gendered fantasies.\u201d1<\/a><\/sup> Viewers may wince watching Miranda stumble around her life, and all the other characters stumbling around theirs. But, still, that very bodily discomfort is still useful information.<\/p>\n

Put another way: the reboot of Sex and the City <\/em>reflects how far mainstream media literacy on the nuances of identity has come. And, for those who rallied against the show, it shows just how much work is left to be done.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarrie Bradshaw,\u201d \u201cMiranda Hobbes,\u201d and \u201cCharlotte York\u201d are, at this point, household names. And so, when they returned to the screen, they were sewn into the fabric of the post-2020 antiracist discourse, as an attempt to repair the original show\u2019s prior missteps. As such, And Just Like That<\/em> mirrors\u2014accurately\u2014a certain white, middle-aged, and upper-class segment of the liberal population that was clumsily attempting to come to terms with its privilege in 2020. It is this <\/em>messy milieu that is depicted in And Just Like That<\/em>\u2019s first season, instead of merely showcasing our well-known characters on either side of the spectrum: as fully formed allies, or as privileged and unconcerned.<\/p>\n

To address this gap, the show utilizes second-hand embarrassment and cringe as affective viewer responses. In this context, affect<\/em> is a philosophical concept related to bodily and sensory response, a focus on the subjective experience of watching television. That is, AJLT<\/em> consciously works to shape how viewers experience watching the show. Sometimes, it does so in a way that reminds me of the original series\u2019 propensity for scenes of physical shock. But the reboot\u2019s innovation is also to tap into viewers\u2019 second-hand embarrassment regarding contemporary representational politics, like Miranda\u2019s microaggressions.<\/p>\n

Indeed, it was the \u201cwokeification\u201d of And Just Like That<\/em> that dominated online discourse, from viewers pointing out that it didn\u2019t make sense Miranda would be so uncomfortable discussing race to Charlotte\u2019s scramble to find a Black attendee for her dinner party. These were certainly less than compelling attempts on the show\u2019s part to unpack more nuanced conversations around race. After all, it\u2019s not like there hadn\u2019t been poignant stories about Black identity on television that, in the years since Sex and the City <\/em>ended, had already paved the way, including some of HBO\u2019s very own projects: Insecure<\/em>, I May Destroy You<\/em>, and Lovecraft Country<\/em>. Instead, AJLT<\/em>\u2019s first season (with notable improvements in the recently aired second season) brings to mind Kristen J. Warner\u2019s concept of plastic representation, or \u201ca mode of representation that offers the feel of progress but that actually cedes more ground than it gains for audiences of color.\u201d2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n

\n\n
Related readings<\/div>\n\n
\n\n
\n
\n \"\"<\/a> <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n\n
\n Reviews<\/a>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n Virtual Roundtable on \u201cFuture Sex\u201d<\/a>\n <\/h5>\n\n
\n \n Sarah Brouillette <\/a>, et al.\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n \n

Ultimately, the promise of diversification through four new characters (played by Karen Pittman, Nicole Ari Parker, Sarita Choudhury, and Sara Ramirez) felt largely tangential. Each was only employed to legitimize our three leads as white women who may just have read How to Be an Antiracist<\/em> for the first time.<\/p>\n

Yet, at first, the criticism of the show flowed in the other direction. \u201cAnd just like that \u2026 Sex and the City <\/em>became woke, and that\u2019s why we can\u2019t have nice things anymore \u2013 1 star,\u201d an anonymous Metacritic commenter wrote in December 2021, days into the two-episode debut of And Just Like That<\/em>. The comment section is splattered with bright red angry reviews, with users deploying words now too commonly found about storylines related to social justice and people of color: box ticking, PC, reverse racist, woke. This visceral reaction was in response to the reboot\u2019s attempts to paint Sex and the City<\/em> in a new light\u2014one that imagines its cosmopolitan characters, 20 years later, as now tuned in to social injustice.<\/p>\n

On and offline discussions that surrounded the announcement that HBO would be rebooting one of its flagship pieces of intellectual property focused largely on its lack of late 1990s self-awareness. Specifically, the original series constructed a white New York that erases its prominent of-color population. Meanwhile, it uplifts white women who conspicuously consume designer brands. When looking back on Sex and the City<\/em>\u2019s 1998 to 2004 run\u2014followed by two lucrative feature films, the latter of which was so damaging to the brand it effectively alienated one of its four stars (Kim Cattrall) from returning to the franchise and put a script for a third film on ice\u2014the word of choice became \u201cproblematic<\/a>.<\/u>\u201d<\/p>\n

Reopening the SATC <\/em>universe for a reboot was placed into context with the George Floyd protests during the summer of 2020. At this time, books on white fragility and antiracism were surging<\/a> on bestsellers lists, and social media was plastered with both well-intended, genuine support and more superficial performances of antiracist awakenings, black boxes, and grand statements from organizations pledging structural change.<\/p>\n

Even representational politics aside, the reboot was probably doomed to a lukewarm reception. And Just Like That<\/em> would never recapture the material conditions that led to Sex and the City<\/em>\u2019s explosive arrival on the cultural scene. From the beginning, there were major shifts in the show\u2019s production. Darren Star, who cocreated the show with Michael Patrick King, was too busy producing Emily in Paris<\/em> to return to the helm. Evidently, Kim Cattrall did not return to the series (until a cameo in the second season\u2019s finale). Even the role of costume designer, an integral and much-lauded element of the original series, a character in and of itself, would be in new hands: this time by Molly Rogers and Danny Santiago, instead of Patricia Field, who was also tied up with Emily in Paris<\/em>. Even the name of the series itself suggests the creative team were aware this was not, nor would ever be, Sex and the City<\/em>. Not to mention, episodes of And Just Like That<\/em> aired directly on the HBO streaming platform, Max, as opposed to the prestigious HBO cable network, and were decidedly more dramatic in tone (with a 40\u201350 minute running time to match). The reboot was set up to tackle new ground.
\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n

I can\u2019t help but wonder if any show under the burden of mainstream success is doomed to try and fail to capture anything but nostalgia.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

The original Sex and the City<\/em> was transgressively concerned with the body, from its various graphic sex scenes to a cumshot landing on Miranda\u2019s face during a tantric sex demonstration to Carrie asking Samantha to remove her diaphragm when it gets stuck. Who could forget Samantha Jones \u201closing\u201d her orgasm and trying every sex position to find it again, discussions on \u201cfunky-tasting spunk\u201d over brunch, or Natasha smashing her tooth on a stairwell while running after a cheating Carrie Bradshaw?<\/p>\n

And Just Like That<\/em> does awaken a familiar corporeal reaction from the original series: Carrie accidentally soiling her bed trying to pee after hip surgery, while Miranda is getting aggressively fingered by Che Diaz in the kitchen; Carrie burning her hands after spilling coffee on herself, shocked to have opened the door on Natasha in a public restroom; Charlotte\u2019s period staining the back of her white jumpsuit. A more egregious example occurs when Carrie projectile vomits on the street with her date after drinking too much at dinner. On set, Parker\u2014after a failure to make the mechanical vomiting tubes look adequately realistic\u2014drank two liters of fake vomit<\/a> in order to throw up herself: a gruesome scene sufficient enough to arouse revulsion in the viewer.<\/p>\n

Performances and visual design, according to Marsha Cassidy in her analysis of Mad Men<\/em>, can operate \u201cto provoke deep-rooted sensations\u2014but always made meaningful within socially charged circumstances. It is by means of cognitive understanding of a scene\u2019s narrative subtleties that the viewer\u2019s own viscera are called into response mode.\u201d3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Even outside of the text itself, the show\u2019s snowballing controversies were nauseating to keep up with. There were constant speculations around Cattrall\u2019s involvement, or lack thereof; Chris Noth (Mr. Big) was wrapped up in sexual assault allegations shortly after his character\u2019s death (all of which must have kept Peloton\u2019s PR teams on their toes); and Willie Garson passed away during production which led to an awkward resolution of his character. Not to mention the attention surrounding Che Diaz, Sara Ramirez\u2019s character that captured the internet\u2019s fascination (\u201cHey, it\u2019s Che Diaz!\u201d<\/a>) as a \u201cqueer, nonbinary, Mexican-Irish diva\u201d and comedian who hosts a conversational relationship podcast with Carrie. Intentionally and unintentionally, the show relied on the viewer\u2019s affective responses to shocking scenes and events to tell its story.<\/p>\n

Still, in this new iteration of the series, the reflex is more akin to cringe. A viewer might feel an inward, red-hot flush of embarrassment on behalf of the show\u2019s awkward attempt to virtue signal\u2014affect of a different register. The embarrassment elicited by these body horrors spills over into the nonphysical realm: into language and identity.<\/p>\n

\n

At the height of HBO\u2019s prestige emergence, The Sopranos<\/em> and Sex and the City<\/em> were its two flagship series: one, a masculine-coded drama; and the other, a fashion-forward, fun, \u201cfrivolous\u201d (but salaciously groundbreaking) comedy. Rebooting SATC<\/em> was always going to be a struggle against the cultural amnesia of the original impact the show had in telling imperfect stories of women on television. Of course, the original now contrasts sharply with how far those stories have evolved since the 2000s\u2014an \u201cunexamined hierarchy\u201d within the \u201cpink-tinted genre\u201d of romcoms, writes Emily Nussbaum in her 2013 essay on Sex and the City<\/em> for the New Yorker<\/em>.4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

To reboot cherished mainstream properties\u2014to seek to recreate affect twice over\u2014has seen failure before: think of The Many Saints of Newark<\/em>, the 2021 reboot film of The Sopranos<\/em>, which flopped at the box office and received a lukewarm reception from critics. In the face of such failures, I can\u2019t help but wonder if any show under the burden of mainstream success is doomed to try and fail to capture anything but nostalgia. We may be better off with cult favorite reboots like Party Down<\/em> or Twin Peaks<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Nostalgia is an inherent element of any reboot. After all, a network\u2019s motivation to bring back an original series is the guaranteed, built-in audience. Television is a capitalist medium, and there is money to be made from furthering the Sex and the City<\/em> brand around the world. When Carrie wakes up in her original apartment in episode four, or later rewears her Atelier Versace gown from the two-part SATC<\/em> Paris finale, nostalgic viewers feel awash in warm familiarity: a sigh of relief from the cringe whiplash of watching Miranda trying to navigate race, queerness, and her dissolving marriage. And yet, a reboot without contemporary sensibilities, without self-awareness about the missteps of its past would feel disingenuous, and, at worst, ignorant.<\/p>\n

Even so, in those nostalgic moments\u2014in the softness of remembering who I was during those high school years when I binge-watched Sex and the City<\/em> all night\u2014I feel thankful we got to revisit this world at all. Maybe that\u2019s all we should expect from reboots, in the end.<\/p>\n

  1. Lori Marso, \u201cFeminist Cringe Comedy: Dear Dick, The Joke Is on You,\u201d Politics & Gender<\/em>, vol. 15, no. 1 (2019), p. 108. \u21a9<\/a><\/li>
  2. Kristen J. Warner, \u201cIn the Time of Plastic Representation,\u201d Film Quarterly<\/em>, vol. 72, no. 2 (2017), p. 36. \u21a9<\/a><\/li>
  3. Marsha F. Cassidy, Television and the Embodied Viewer: Affect and Meaning in the Digital Age<\/em> (Routledge, 2020), p. 59. \u21a9<\/a><\/li>
  4. Emily Nussbaum, \u201cDifficult Women: How Sex and the City<\/em> Lost Its Good Name,\u201d I Like to Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution<\/em> (Random House, 2019), p. 53. \u21a9<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The show\u2019s white, middle-age, upper-class liberals clumsily realizing their privilege are an accurate mirror of some of its viewers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":53569,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2497],"tags":[100,1124,2330,1928,80,2331,1875],"pbpartner":[],"section":[1139],"pbseries":[],"class_list":["post-53564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-nostalgia","tag-reboot","tag-reboots","tag-sex-and-sexuality","tag-television","tag-the-reboot-will-be-televised","tag-tv","section-tv"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAnd Just Like That\u2026 the Viewer Cringes - Public Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The show\u2019s white, middle-age, upper-class liberals clumsily realizing their privilege are an accurate mirror of some of its viewers.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"And Just Like That\u2026 the Viewer Cringes - Public Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How much should we expect from TV reboots? And Just Like That\u2026 shows how any reboot, especially one that had such impact for its time, is going to struggle with contemporary sensibilities.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Public Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Public-Books\/201143656634392\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-21T15:00:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-17T02:16:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/And-Just-Like-That-1024x753.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"753\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Megan Cummins\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Megan Cummins\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b19bf7ff83a002c3b5052cbd14ee7d42\"},\"headline\":\"And Just Like That\u2026 the Viewer Cringes\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-21T15:00:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-17T02:16:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":2124,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/And-Just-Like-That.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nostalgia\",\"Reboot\",\"Reboots\",\"Sex and Sexuality\",\"Television\",\"The Reboot Will Be Televised\",\"TV\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\\\/\",\"name\":\"And Just Like That\u2026 the Viewer Cringes - Public Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/And-Just-Like-That.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-21T15:00:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-17T02:16:29+00:00\",\"description\":\"The show\u2019s white, middle-age, upper-class liberals clumsily realizing their privilege are an accurate mirror of some of its viewers.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/And-Just-Like-That.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/And-Just-Like-That.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1412},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"And Just Like That\u2026 the Viewer Cringes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Public Books\",\"description\":\"a magazine of ideas, arts, and scholarship\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Public Books\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/pb_logo_2x.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/pb_logo_2x.jpg\",\"width\":212,\"height\":362,\"caption\":\"Public Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/pages\\\/Public-Books\\\/201143656634392\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/public_books\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b19bf7ff83a002c3b5052cbd14ee7d42\",\"name\":\"Megan Cummins\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"And Just Like That\u2026 the Viewer Cringes - Public Books","description":"The show\u2019s white, middle-age, upper-class liberals clumsily realizing their privilege are an accurate mirror of some of its viewers.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"And Just Like That\u2026 the Viewer Cringes - Public Books","og_description":"How much should we expect from TV reboots? And Just Like That\u2026 shows how any reboot, especially one that had such impact for its time, is going to struggle with contemporary sensibilities.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\/","og_site_name":"Public Books","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Public-Books\/201143656634392","article_published_time":"2023-09-21T15:00:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-17T02:16:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":753,"url":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/And-Just-Like-That-1024x753.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Megan Cummins","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\/"},"author":{"name":"Megan Cummins","@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b19bf7ff83a002c3b5052cbd14ee7d42"},"headline":"And Just Like That\u2026 the Viewer Cringes","datePublished":"2023-09-21T15:00:14+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-17T02:16:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\/"},"wordCount":2124,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/And-Just-Like-That.jpg","keywords":["Nostalgia","Reboot","Reboots","Sex and Sexuality","Television","The Reboot Will Be Televised","TV"],"articleSection":["Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\/","url":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\/","name":"And Just Like That\u2026 the Viewer Cringes - Public Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/And-Just-Like-That.jpg","datePublished":"2023-09-21T15:00:14+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-17T02:16:29+00:00","description":"The show\u2019s white, middle-age, upper-class liberals clumsily realizing their privilege are an accurate mirror of some of its viewers.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/And-Just-Like-That.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/And-Just-Like-That.jpg","width":1920,"height":1412},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/and-just-like-that-the-viewer-cringes\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"And Just Like That\u2026 the Viewer Cringes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/","name":"Public Books","description":"a magazine of ideas, arts, and scholarship","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#organization","name":"Public Books","url":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/pb_logo_2x.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/pb_logo_2x.jpg","width":212,"height":362,"caption":"Public Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Public-Books\/201143656634392","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/public_books\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b19bf7ff83a002c3b5052cbd14ee7d42","name":"Megan Cummins"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53564"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62054,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53564\/revisions\/62054"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53564"},{"taxonomy":"pbpartner","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pbpartner?post=53564"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=53564"},{"taxonomy":"pbseries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pbseries?post=53564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}