Isn't it time for these two Sex and the City mainstays graduate from BFF guest stars to part of the core crowd -- or more? Carrie's child-like/oft-beleaguered buddy, Stanford Blatch (Willie Garson), and Charlotte's sassy/angry bestie, Anthony Marantino (Mario Cantone), have seen them through hook-ups, break-ups, wedding planning, and more, but these two characters never made it to the brunch table aka, "Table for 6, please!"
Not only that, but the two men were rivals, sometimes even enemies, until one day they did a 180. "Her best gay friend is marrying my best gay friend!" squealed Charlotte in SATC 2. So now what? With And Just Like That..., the HBO Max revival in the works, don't these two characters deserve to be higher profile?
10 Acceptance As Just A Couple
Stanford and Anthony deserve more than just being a "gay" couple, with their sexuality as the main focus. Instead, they need to be just your basic garden variety couple. In the original series and two big-screen versions, Sanford and Anthony were the girls' "gay friends." They had a "gay" wedding and even their besties saw them as nothing more, as when Carrie announced: "Just when you thought everyone was too old to get married, here come the gays."
Perhaps in the reboot, the same-sex couple will be viewed in the same casual way Carrie and Big, Charlotte and Harry, and Miranda and Steve are spoken of: simply two people in a relationship.
9 Parenthood
Why shouldn't Stanford and Anthony join the ranks of Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka, Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent, Sir Elton John & David Furnish, Ricky Martin, Perez Hilton, Andy Cohen, and Anderson Cooper, to name just a few.
In an interview, Garson said that in his mind, Stanford and Anthony were living a very quiet life together now. "I could see them with a little trinket shop in Connecticut with two adopted children." They could play with Charlotte's kids, Lily and Rose, as well as with Miranda's son, Brady.
8 Their Day-To-Day Lives
Over the years, we watched Carrie sit on her stoop and smoke cigarettes or flip through Vogue while waiting for an idea for her column. We watched Miranda go to the gym, Charlotte walk her dog, and Samantha pick up men while hailing a cab, grabbing a cocktail, or window shopping.
Wouldn't it be good to see Anthony and Stanford have equally regular (sometimes uneventful) lives as well, where they do everything that the four friends do, rather than always being wrapped up in some drama or just being an accessory to a story that is all about Charlotte or Carrie?
7 Their Careers
We've seen Stanford on the set of Carrie's notorious "Single & Fabulous?" New York Magazine shoot, as well as backstage at fashion shows. We've seen Anthony as a stylist for Charlotte's wedding to Trey and we watched as they both walked around NYC with their respective BFFs. But what else did they do with their lives?
These are colorful people in a colorful city. Their jobs in fashion are no doubt as fun and interesting (and glam) as that of a writer, publicist, gallery manager, and attorney and it would be nice to learn more about their careers.
6 Friendship With The Husbands
Anthony and Stanford may be like siblings to Carrie and Charlotte, and friendly with Miranda and Samantha, but at the same time, they're men. Why not show them being friends with Big, Steve, and Harry?
They all know and love the same women, why couldn't they form their own friendships and go for a drink at Steve's bar, talk business with Big and Harry, or have the husbands go to the two pals for advice when on the outs with their wives?
5 Their Families
Stanford is "the first man to accept [Anthony] for the man that [he] actually [is]," at their wedding. Does this mean that perhaps his family and other people in his life, in general, didn't accept him?
We already met Stanford's mom, when he introduced her to Carrie, pretending that the author was girlfriend who he wanted to marry so Stanford could get his inheritance. Now that he's married to a man, what happened? Wouldn't it be nice to see them both embraced by their relatives?
4 Marching For Gay Rights
Of all shows that one would expect to have had a Gay Pride Parade episode, this was it. But alas, there was none. This is surprising because not only did the show have a big gay following, but its creator, Darren Star, and showrunner, Michael Patrick King, also happen to be gay.
Perhaps the revival can right this, by having Stanford and Anthony out and proud and marching as a couple, with their best female friends along side them showing support. It could also make up for some the insensitivity the show had back in the day, like when carrie called bisexuality a "layover on the way to gay town."
3 Educate People On How To Speak To Gay Couples
In SATC the series and in the movies, Stanford and Anthony are always shown surrounded by cisgender people who interact (mostly) appropriately with gay people, apart from some instances of stereotyping. In reality, though, there are a lot of "well-meaning" straight people who say things that are offensive.
Perhaps the married couple could find themselves in some of these situations and how they handle it when someone asks, "Are you guys brothers?" "Who's the guy and who's the girl in the relationship?" "Can you help me decorate?" and other offensive questions, in order to educate any oblivious viewers.
2 Their Enduring Charlotte/Carrie BBF Relationships
One episode of the original series dealt with was how, when people get married, they have a tendency to drop their friends and focus on their new relationship. It would be nice to see that Charlotte and Antony as well as Carrie and "Stanny" are still close as ever.
Perhaps they could even go out as a foursome. Now that everyone has a better half, they could talk about how being wed compares to their single lives, including what they miss and what they don't. They have a lot to reminisce about.
1 They Get Their Own Spin-Off
How could blunt and bawdy Anthony and his "broom" (bride/groom combo) who has been know to say things like: "How can you not have a shrink? This is Manhattan. Even the shrinks have shrinks. I have three," not make great leads for TV show? Especially when gay couples on TV are the norm.
There's Martin Sheen and Sam Waterson in Grace and Frankie, Jack Falahee and Conrad Ricamora on How to Get Away with Murder, Eric Stonestreet and Jesse Tyler Ferguson on Modern Family, as well as Madelaine Petsch and Vanessa Morgan from Riverdale, just to name a few.
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January 20, 2021 at 04:30AM
