"That night, I couldn't stop thinking about time."
--Carrie Bradshaw, "The Big Time"
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Warning: This timeline now contains details from And Just Like That...!
This timeline is intended as a guide to the events depicted in the television series Sex and the City (as well as its feature film continuations of the same name) and its followup And Just Like That..., as well as the internal history described in those series. The format of the timeline is based more or less on that found in Star Trek Chronology: A History of the Future, by Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda. The television series Sex and the City is, of course, © 1998-2004 Darren Star Productions and Home Box Office Inc., while the feature film Sex and the City is © 2008 and the feature film Sex and the City 2 is © 2010 HBO Films and New Line Cinema, and this timeline is in no way affiliated with any of those entities.
Given the nature of the series, it should be clear that coarse language and explicit references to sexual situations are included in this timeline.
The only direct sources used in constructing this timeline were the ninety-four episodes of the series itself (naturally), along with the feature film, its sequel, and the followup series (just as naturally). None of it was based on the original columns by Candace Bushnell or her novels The Carrie Diaries and Summer and the City (about a teenaged Carrie Bradshaw), which bear only a passing and superficial resemblance to the continuity of the series. Similarly, the television series based on those novels is also incompatible with the continuity of Sex and the City, despite being marketed as a direct prequel.
Under each entry, there is an explanation of how I arrived at the date in question. For simplicity, I have grouped many references to the past into periods such as months instead of exact points in time since admittedly, examples of specific dates in the episodes themselves are pretty scarce.
Seasonal indicators have also generally been ignored, reflecting the creators' description of Sex and the City as occurring in an "Eternal Spring" rather than accurately depicting the climate to be found in New York.
Should you dispute any of the dates in this timeline, or you want to provide your own speculations, feel free to contact me with your thoughts. You can find many more fictional timelines at The History of Things That Never Were.
The expanded New York City is officially created by consolidating the existing City of New York with some of its surrounding areas into five boroughs (The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island), each of which will eventually become coextensive with their respective state counties.
[Historical accounts.]
The first day of trading occurs on the floor of the relocated New York Stock Exchange Building at 18 Broad Street in Manhattan, with the signal to start and stop trading changed from a gong to a bell.
[Historical accounts. Carrie rings the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange in "To Market, To Market."]
New York State grants women the right to vote.
[Historical accounts. The fact that Carrie has never voted in New York is a plot point in "Where There's Smoke..." and "Politically Erect."]
The US Congress passes the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting the federal and state governments in the United States from denying any citizen the right to vote on the basis of sex. The amendment is then submitted to the states for ratification.
[Historical accounts.]
The first issue of The New Yorker magazine, founded by Harold Ross and Jane Grant, is published.
[Historical accounts. Miranda dates a cartoonist for The New Yorker in "Defining Moments," and Carrie gets a negative review for her memoir I Do! Do I? in the magazine (from the mysterious "Harold Mangis") in Sex and the City 2.]
The Chrysler Building is officially completed.
[Historical accounts. The building appears alongside actor Cynthia Nixon's name in the opening credits of the series.]
The Empire State Building is officially opened.
[Historical accounts. The building appears alongside actor Sarah Jessica Parker's name in the opening credits of the series, beginning with "The Good Fight" in Season Four.]
Radio City Music Hall is officially opened to the public.
[Historical accounts.]
Fiorello La Guardia is elected Mayor of New York City.
[Historical accounts.]
It Happened One Night, directed by Frank Capra and starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, premieres at Radio City Music Hall. The film will go on to be the first to win all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay).
[Historical accounts. Carrie and Big watch the famous hitchhiking scene from this film in Sex and the City 2, which later inspires Carrie to pull a move similar to Ellie's whilst in Abu Dhabi.]
The first issue of Elle magazine, founded by Pierre Lazareff and Hélène Gordon, is published.
[Historical accounts.]
William O'Dwyer is elected Mayor of New York City.
[Historical accounts.]
Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, written by Alfred Kinsey, Wardell Pomeroy, and Clyde Martin, is published.
[Historical accounts.]
The first annual Costume Institute Gala, established by Eleanor Lambert, is held as a fundraiser to benefit the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute.
[Historical accounts. The main characters attend what is most commonly known as the Met Gala in "Met Cute," though they conspicuously avoid using that specific term (presumably for trademark reasons) and consistently refer to it as the "Met Ball" instead.]
Aleksandr Petrovsky is born.
[Conjecture based on the age of actor Mikhail Baryshnikov.]
Le Deuxième Sexe, written by Simone de Beauvoir, is published.
[Historical accounts.]
Vincent Impellitteri is appointed Acting Mayor of New York City, resulting from the resignation of Mayor William O'Dwyer. Impellitteri will remain in that office after winning a special mayoral election on November 7.
[Historical accounts.]
Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, written by Alfred Kinsey, Wardell Pomeroy, Clyde Martin, and Paul Gebhard, is published.
[Historical accounts.]
The first issue of Playboy magazine, founded by Hugh Hefner and Eldon Sellers, is published.
[Historical accounts. Hefner appears as himself in "Sex and Another City."]
Richard Wright is born.
[Conjecture based on the age of actor James Remar.]
Robert F. Wagner Jr. is elected Mayor of New York City.
[Historical accounts.]
John James Preston is born.
[Carrie's voiceover refers to Big as "a self-centred 42-year-old baby" in "The Man, The Myth, The Viagra," while she tells the girls he is "a handsome, wealthy, and emotionally unavailable 43-year-old man" in "The Fuck Buddy." This makes Mister Big three years younger than actor Chris Noth.]
Samantha Jones is born. She has two siblings.
[Sex and the City. Samantha's 50th birthday is celebrated at the end of the movie. This makes Samantha two years younger than actor Kim Cattrall. In "All or Nothing," Samantha tells the girls that her mother "was saddled with three kids and a drunk husband" at her age. Samantha Jones should not, of course, be confused with the fictional character of the same name who served as a companion to the Eighth Doctor in a series of Doctor Who novels from BBC Books.]
Trey MacDougal is born. He has a brother named Charles and a sister named Patty.
[Conjecture based on the age of actor Kyle MacLachlan. Trey says only that he is "of a certain age" in "Cock a Doodle Do!" Trey's siblings are named in "What Goes Around Comes Around."]
Anthony Marentino is born. He is Sicilian.
[Conjecture based on the age of actor Mario Cantone. Anthony is described as Sicilian in "The Real Me."]
The Food and Drug Administration approves the first combined oral contraceptive pill for use in the United States.
[Historical accounts.]
Aidan Shaw is born.
[Conjecture based on the age of actor John Corbett.]
Sex and the Single Girl, written by Helen Gurley Brown, is published.
[Historical accounts.]
The Feminine Mystique, written by Betty Friedan, is published.
[Historical accounts.]
Diana Vreeland becomes editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine.
[Historical accounts.]
Harry Goldenblatt is born. He is Jewish.
["Hello It's Me." Harry describes himself as "a 58-year-old Jew." This makes Harry three years younger than actor Evan Handler.]
Stanford Blatch is born to Leo and Gloria Blatch.
[Conjecture based on the age of the late actor Willie Garson. Stanford's parents are seen at his wedding in Sex and the City 2, with their names given in the end credits.]
John Lindsay is elected Mayor of New York City.
[Historical accounts.]
Seema Patel is born.
[Conjecture based on the age of actor Sarita Choudhury.]
Carrie Bradshaw is born.
[Carrie's voiceover indicates she is "definitely 34 going on 35" in "Hot Child in the City," and she actually turns 35 in "The Agony and the 'Ex'-tacy." This makes Carrie one year younger than actor Sarah Jessica Parker, and eight years younger than alter ego Candace Bushnell.]
Charlotte York is born. She is Episcopalian.
[Charlotte is described as 32 in "The Turtle and the Hare," while Carrie's voiceover describes her as 34 in "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." This makes Charlotte two years younger than actor Kristin Davis. Charlotte mentions being Episcopalian in "Secret Sex."]
Steven Brady is born.
["Easy Come, Easy Go." Miranda derisively describes Steve as a "34-year-old guy with no money and no place to live." This makes Steve three years younger than actor David Eigenberg.]
Jack Berger is born.
[Conjecture based on the age of actor Ron Livingston.]
Miranda Hobbes is born. She is a middle child.
[Miranda is vaguely described as having a "thirtysomething" birthday in "Sex and the City," but is explicitly said by Carrie's voiceover to be "only 33" in "Evolution." Later on, Miranda describes herself as "a 34-year-old woman with a job and a great home" in "Easy Come, Easy Go;" Carrie's voiceover indicates that she is "a 34-year-old bridesmaid" in "Don't Ask, Don't Tell;" and Miranda again describes herself as "a 34-year-old woman with braces" in "Hot Child in the City." This makes Miranda two years younger than actor Cynthia Nixon. George correctly guesses that Miranda is a middle child in "All or Nothing."]
The first standalone issue of New York magazine, founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker, is published.
[Historical accounts.]
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask), written by David Reuben, is published.
[Historical accounts. The copy on the bus ad for Carrie's column is a play on the title of this book.]
The Stonewall Riots begin after a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in the Greenwich Village neighbourhood of New York City.
[Historical accounts.]
The second Ziegfeld Theatre opens on West 54th Street in Manhattan.
[Historical accounts. In Sex and the City 2, the world premiere of Smith Jerrod's film Heart of the Desert is held at the Ziegfeld, with celebrity guests including Miley Cyrus and Tim Gunn.]
The Female Eunuch, written by Germaine Greer, is published.
[Historical accounts.]
Lisa Todd is born.
[Conjecture based on the age of actor Nicole Ari Parker. This rendering of Lisa's birth name is an inference based on her in-laws all sharing the surname Wexley.]
The North Tower of the World Trade Center is officially completed.
[Historical accounts.]
Grace Mirabella becomes editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine.
[Historical accounts.]
Playboy Enterprises purchases the property at 10236 Charing Cross Road in Los Angeles from Louis D. Statham, eventually turning it into the new Playboy Mansion.
[Historical accounts. The Playboy Mansion, and a customarily lavish party therein, appear in "Sex and Another City."]
Skipper Johnston is born.
["Valley of the Twenty-Something Guys." An onscreen graphic indicates that Skipper is 27. This makes Skipper one year older than actor Ben Weber.]
At this time, Samantha Jones is serving Dilly Bars at Dairy Queen, as she can't afford to buy anything.
["Hot Child in the City." Samantha tells Carrie and Miranda this was the case "when (she) was 13" in order to contrast her life with that of Jenny Brier.]
The South Tower of the World Trade Center is officially completed.
[Historical accounts. The Twin Towers appear alongside actor Sarah Jessica Parker's name in the opening credits of the series, from "Sex and the City" in Season One to "Just Say Yes" in Season Four.]
The first standalone issue of Ms. magazine is published.
[Historical accounts. Magazine co-founder Gloria Steinem is mentioned as attending the same Women in the Arts luncheon as Carrie in "Attack of the 5'10" Woman," then later appears as herself at the launch party for Vivant! magazine in "Alive!"]
Magda gets married.
["Attack of the 5'10" Woman." Magda tells Miranda she's been "married 28 years."]
The US Congress passes the Equal Rights Amendment, guaranteeing that equal rights under any federal, state, or local law in the United States cannot be denied on the basis of sex. The amendment is then submitted to the states for ratification, but fails to gain ratification from the necessary number of states before its proposed deadline.
[Historical accounts.]
Manolo Blahnik opens his first designer shoe boutique on Old Church Street in Chelsea, London.
[Historical accounts.]
The United States Supreme Court issues its decision in Roe v. Wade, holding that a woman's right of privacy includes her right to choose to terminate her pregnancy for any reason, thus overturning individual state laws against abortion by ruling them unconstitutional.
[Historical accounts.]
Abraham Beame is elected Mayor of New York City.
[Historical accounts.]
CBGB & OMFUG opens on the Bowery in Manhattan.
[Historical accounts. Sex and the City 2 reveals that Samantha worked at CBGB around 1989, and that it's where she first met Carrie.]
The American Psychiatric Association removes the listing of homosexuality in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
[Historical accounts.]
Natasha is born.
["Attack of the 5'10" Woman." Carrie describes Natasha as "only 25" when talking to Charlotte. This makes Natasha four years younger than actor Bridget Moynahan. Natasha's maiden name is never given in the series, but she presumably could've gone by the name Natasha Preston whilst married to Big.]
Cheryl Diaz is born.
[Conjecture based on the age of actor Sara Ramirez. Che tells Miranda about their previous name in "Little Black Dress."]
Samantha Jones begins attending university. During her time there, she has two abortions, and is alone when they happen.
["Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda." Asssumes Samantha started college right after high school. Samantha explicitly states that she's had two abortions, and when Carrie asks her why she didn't ask somebody to go with her, she replies that "(i)t's not the kind of thing you list on the dorm activities board," implying that both of them occurred while she was a university student.]
Carrie Bradshaw cheats on a test with two friends who later confess, get grounded, and fail the class in question. Carrie never tells anyone, and suffers no consequences for it.
["Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Carrie's voiceover indicates this happened "in the fifth grade."]
Studio 54 opens on West 54th Street in Manhattan.
[Historical accounts.]
Ed Koch is elected Mayor of New York City.
[Historical accounts. Former Mayor Koch has a cameo as himself, modelling a suit for Gucci, in "The Real Me."]
Charlotte York makes up a "secret baby name," Shayla, to give to her eventual daughter.
["The Baby Shower." Charlotte says she did this when she was 11.]
Manolo Blahnik opens his first US store on Madison Avenue in Manhattan.
[Historical accounts.]
Carrie Bradshaw smokes pot out of a homemade bong her boyfriend created out of tinfoil, a Bic pen, and a two-litre bottle of his mother's lemony Pepsi Light.
["Hot Child in the City." Carrie's voiceover indicates that it was her "eighth-grade boyfriend" who did this.]
The Learning Annex is founded by Bill Zanker.
[Historical accounts. Carrie teaches a disastrous class at the Learning Annex in "Frenemies."]
The first issue of Juggs magazine, founded by George Mavety, is published.
[Historical accounts. Trey uses an issue of Juggs as masturbatory material in "Hot Child in the City."]
Miranda Hobbes institutes a strict no-visitors policy in the dressing room--although her mother never observes it.
["My Motherboard, My Self." Carrie's voiceover indicates that Miranda has been doing this "(f)rom the age of 14."]
The Centers for Disease Control publishes the first report recognising a pattern of opportunistic infections caused by what is eventually known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
[Historical accounts.]
Carrie Bradshaw hangs out in her bedroom with a guy who is "really beautiful," though her parents think she is helping him with his chemistry homework.
["Models and Mortals." Carrie says this happened when she was 16.]
Carrie loses her virginity to Seth Bateman on the ping-pong table in his smelly rec room. After half a joint and three thrusts, it is over.
["The Big Time." Carrie tells Charlotte this happened in the eleventh grade. It's theoretically possible that Seth Bateman is the "really beautiful" guy mentioned above.]
Charlotte York becomes a junior varsity cheerleader at her high school.
["Three's a Crowd." Given that junior varsity is typically made up of high school freshmen and sophomores, this is the latest Charlotte could've started cheerleading.]
The collection Sister Outsider: Essays & Speeches, written by Audre Lorde, is published.
[Historical accounts.]
Vibratex releases the first version of its Rabbit Pearl vibrator.
[Historical accounts. A later version of the Rabbit Pearl plays a central role in "The Turtle and the Hare."]
Miranda Hobbes begins attending Harvard University. At one point, she gets drunk and wakes up in someone else's bra, leading her to think she had a threesome.
[Conjecture. Asssumes Miranda started college right after high school and that she graduated at 17, as this is the only way for her to have gotten both degrees by 1990. Miranda only ever refers to attending Harvard, so I've also assumed that she got her undergraduate degree as well as her law degree from there. The first indication of Miranda's alma mater is the Harvard hoodie she wears in "Bay of Married Pigs." Miranda mentions her possible threesome in "Three's a Crowd."]
Charlotte York begins attending Smith College, where she studies the work of artist Neville Morgan.
[Conjecture. Asssumes Charlotte started college right after high school. Charlotte is described as a Smith alumna in "Valley of the Twenty-Something Guys," and tells Neville Morgan she studied him in "The Power of Female Sex."]
Carrie Bradshaw is caught in the boys' dorm, and has to get dressed very quickly.
["The Drought." Carrie says this happened to her "sophomore year," and the indication of a dorm would generally suggest she meant university and not high school.]
The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses rules that the aetiological agent of AIDS, independently identified by multiple researchers, should be consistently referred to as the Human Immunodeficiency Virus.
[Historical accounts. One of the pioneers researching the HIV/AIDS epidemic at this time was the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, Doctor Anthony Fauci.]
Nya Wallace is born.
[Conjecture based on the age of actor Karen Pittman.]
At 3:30 PM, Carrie Bradshaw arrives in Manhattan. Over the next decade, she will have "countless dates" and five real relationships, all ending in breakups.
[Sex and the City 2. Carrie's voiceover is very precise about when she got to the city, but that actual date was a Wednesday and not a Tuesday as she claims. Carrie had merely indicated she had spent "(t)en years playing in New York" in "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," also saying in that episode that she "was here first" before Big; and "(f)ifteen years in New York" in "What Goes Around Comes Around," which more precisely matches this date. Although she lists the other stats, she doesn't specify who the other four real relationships were besides the one with Big. It is unclear how Carrie's move to New York can be reconciled with her being halfway through college at the time.]
Miranda Hobbes completes her undergraduate degree at Harvard University and begins attending Harvard Law School.
[Conjecture. Asssumes Miranda took three years to complete her undergrad, since Harvard Law School requires an undergraduate degree as a prerequisite for admission.]
Carrie Bradshaw and Charlotte York are both on a subway at two in the morning when a homeless man drops his pants in front of them. That shared experience leads them to start a friendship.
[Sex and the City 2. Carrie's voiceover describes how they met "the very next year" after she arrived in New York, and a quick flashback shows a glimpse of them from that time period. The circumstances seem somewhat inconsistent with Charlotte attending Smith College in Massachusetts at the time, and with indications in early episodes such as "The Baby Shower" that Charlotte didn't know the other girls this long ago.]
Anna Wintour becomes editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine.
[Historical accounts.]
At this time, Samantha Jones is the snooty hostess at a trendy restaurant.
["The Power of Female Sex." Samantha implies this to have been the case ten years ago.]
Carrie Bradshaw meets Mike Singer, but never has sex with him.
["Secret Sex." Carrie indicates she has known Mike for ten years.]
Jenny Brier is born to a wealthy New York restaurateur.
["Hot Child in the City." Multiple characters are perturbed that a thirteen-year-old would have Jenny's demeanour. This makes Jenny two years younger than actor Kat Dennings. The fact that Jenny is celebrating her bat mitzvah at 13 instead of 12 implies that her family practices Reform Judaism.]
Charlotte York has a crush on Dan Quayle. She later believes this is because of his "crisp white shirts," which remind her of her father.
["Politically Erect." Charlotte calls this "a college crush," and she probably would not be aware of Quayle at all until he rose to prominence as the Republican vice-presidential candidate during the 1988 US presidential election.]
Carrie meets Chad, a waiter on roller skates with "Tony Danza Taxi hair" at The Saloon, after coming in a few times and always ordering a half lemonade, half iced tea. Although they barely know each other, they sleep together once without a condom after a drunken night at Tunnel, and Carrie ends up pregnant as a result. She chooses to have an abortion and is not alone when it happens, but never tells Chad about it.
["Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda." Carrie describes various details of this event throughout the episode, explicitly indicating both that she was 22 at the time and that this happened in 1988.]
Carrie Bradshaw, who is working in the dress department at Bloomingdale's, meets Miranda Hobbes when she finds Miranda crying in the dressing room there.
[Sex and the City 2. Carrie's voiceover describes how they met (with Carrie specifying the year), and a quick flashback shows a glimpse of Miranda from that time period. The flashback seems to imply that Miranda was already living (or at least working) in New York at the time, though she was still attending Harvard Law School then.]
Carrie meets Samantha Jones while Samantha is bartending at CBGB.
[Sex and the City 2. Carrie's voiceover describes how they met, and a quick flashback shows a glimpse of Samantha from that time period. The sequence of flashbacks appears to reflect the order in which Carrie met the other girls, and the flashback in "The Baby Shower" shows that Carrie already knew Samantha by 1990. Carrie also indicates in "Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda" that if she had had a baby in 1989, she "wouldn't have known" Samantha.]
David Dinkins is elected Mayor of New York City.
[Historical accounts.]
Miranda Hobbes completes her Juris Doctor at Harvard Law School. She finished first in her Litigation class, and graduates first overall.
[Miranda identifies with her "Harvard Law School Class of 1990" coffee mug, which first appears in "Attack of the 5'10" Woman," as well as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," "The Good Fight," and "Change of a Dress." I've asssumed that she took the standard three years to complete her law degree. Miranda mentioned her Litigation class placement in "Valley of the Twenty-Something Guys," and Raina Torres mentions her graduating first in her class as one of the reasons for having Miranda fill in for her at Human Rights Watch in "A Hundred Years Ago." The real-life Class of 1990 was profiled in the landmark Esquire article "Who's Killing the Great Lawyers of Harvard?" by Robert Kurson. For her last two years, Miranda's time at Harvard Law School would overlap with that of future President of the United States Barack Obama.]
Carrie Bradshaw, Miranda Hobbes, Samantha Jones, and Laney Berlin are at a party at Samantha's place where Laney makes out with both a guy and a girl and takes off her clothes. Samantha and Laney have a longstanding rivalry: "both wild, both sexy, both incredibly insecure."
["The Baby Shower." These events are shown in flashback, and Carrie's voiceover describes the rivalry. Laney Berlin seems to have been intended as the original fourth girl of the group, before Charlotte came along, but she never comes up in any other episode.]
The Beauty Myth, written by Naomi Wolf, is published.
[Historical accounts.]
Carrie Bradshaw "makes a mistake" with Kurt Harrington. Carrie considers him scum and a creep, and Stanford Blatch "cleans up the mess" each time, but she also considers him the best sex of her life.
["Sex and the City." Carrie says she first made this mistake when she was 26.]
Lisette Alee is born.
[Conjecture based on the age of actor Katerina Tannenbaum.]
Natasha begins attending Tulane University. In her freshman year, she lives in the same dorm as her friend Jenna, and at one point, she showers with a guy in a community bathroom.
[Conjecture. Asssumes Natasha started college right after high school. Natasha is described as a Tulane alumna in "Attack of the 5'10" Woman," in which Jenna also describes the communal showering incident.]
Carrie Bradshaw dates Jim, who has hair so long he can sit on it and is in a band called Uncle Ted's Ass, though Carrie never hears the band play. Jim seems great at first, but when they both know it isn't working and Carrie breaks up with him, he becomes an "asshole," engaging in snide comments and rumour-spreading about her. She never calls him after the breakup.
["Frenemies." Carrie claims they dated a "grillion" years ago, but Jim clarifies that it was eight. Carrie and Jim describe different aspects of the relationship and its aftermath throughout the episode.]
Rudy Giuliani is elected Mayor of New York City.
[Historical accounts.]
Natasha gains ten pounds.
["Attack of the 5'10" Woman." Jenna shares this inane piece of gossip with Carrie, saying it happened "sophomore year."]
Carrie Bradshaw again "makes a mistake" with Kurt Harrington.
["Sex and the City." Carrie says she also made this mistake when she was 29.]
Carrie Bradshaw believes she has come to terms with her looks, when she realises she no longer has the energy to be completely superficial.
["Models and Mortals." Carrie says she thought this "the year (she) turned 30."]
Carrie goes out with Kevin and sleeps with him, though it isn't serious. She ultimately breaks up with him because he is "a sex maniac."
["The Drought." Carrie indicates this was three years ago, which Kevin says was "before Prozac."]
Miranda Hobbes joins her mid-size law firm as an associate.
[Miranda says she has been with the firm for two years and has yet to make partner in "Bay of Married Pigs," later describing it to Dwight as "a mid-size firm" where she "was recently made partner" in "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."]
Laney Berlin marries a Wall Street investment banker and moves to Connecticut, but Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, and Samantha fail to visit her there.
["The Baby Shower." Laney is described as having gotten married two years ago, and the episode is the foursome's first visit to her new home.]
Carrie Bradshaw once again "makes a mistake" with Kurt Harrington.
["Sex and the City." Carrie says she also made this mistake when she was 31.]
Samantha Jones sleeps with a "gorgeous kid" in Spy Bar who turns out to be in high school.
["Secret Sex." Samantha indicates this happened "last year."]
Miranda Hobbes dates Eric, considering him the love of her life until he leaves her for another woman. She claims to get over him right away, but almost never mentions him after that.
["Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Miranda indicates this was "a couple of years ago." Charlotte is unaware of the details of this relationship, one of a number of early references implying that Charlotte's friendship with the other three girls is relatively recent.]
"Sex and the City"
[Miranda celebrates a "thirtysomething" birthday in this episode. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, most episodes have been evenly spaced between those episodes whose occurrence has a more conclusive date attached.]
"Models and Mortals"
"Bay of Married Pigs"
[This episode spans about a week and a half and explicitly ends on "the night of the 12th." Miranda is shown wearing a Harvard hoodie for the first time in this episode.]
"Valley of the Twenty-Something Guys"
"The Power of Female Sex"
"Secret Sex"
The Food and Drug Administration approves sildenafil citrate, most commonly sold under the brand name Viagra, for use in the United States to treat erectile dysfunction.
[Historical accounts.]
"The Monogamists"
[This episode has been placed here to reflect various statements in "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" that Carrie and Big were initially together for a year, even though it squeezes half of Season One into the first few months of 1998 and stretches the second half over that year.]
Laney Berlin conceives a girl with her husband. At some point, she has a photo taken of herself in the style of Annie Leibovitz's More Demi Moore cover for Vanity Fair.
["The Baby Shower." Laney is seven months pregnant in the episode. The photo of Laney can be seen in her bathroom.]
"Three's a Crowd"
"The Turtle and the Hare"
Miranda has sex for the last time before a significant dry spell.
["The Drought." Miranda indicates that she hasn't had sex in three months, adding that it's "not normal" for her.]
Carried spends 395 dollars on a pair of open-toed Gucci shoes.
["The Baby Shower." According to Carrie, this happened "last week."]
"The Baby Shower"
[Even though this episode actually shows Carrie using a calendar (the baby shower is scheduled for Saturday, April 25, 1998 on it), I've chosen to ignore that evidence because of the stated length of Carrie's initial relationship with Big. To do otherwise would either squeeze even more of Season One into the first third of the year or force the earlier episodes into 1997, and this season spans long enough as it is.]
"The Drought"
"Oh Come All Ye Faithful"
[In "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," Carrie says she is "just four weeks out of my last relationship," placing this episode here. Miranda indicates that she and Skipper have spent "months apart," and also mentions once being with a guy whose penis was "the size of one of those miniature golf pencils," but doesn't say when the latter happened.]
"Take Me Out to the Ballgame"
[In league with the episode title, baseball provides most of the evidence for when this episode takes place. The episode begins with a home game for the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium which they win (against an unspecified team), while the Dolce & Gabbana party is explicitly stated to be on a Friday night, both of which line up with Friday, May 7, 1999, when the Yankees won the first of three home games against the Seattle Mariners. Joe and Carrie later go on a date "(s)omewhere between playing the Royals and the Red Sox," and various references to Joe as the "New Yankee" imply it is early in the baseball season. Given all of this, May 10 is the earliest date between games with those two teams when the Yankees didn't have a game against anyone else.]
"The Awful Truth"
"The Freak Show"
"They Shoot Single People, Don't They?"
"Four Women and a Funeral"
"The Cheating Curve"
The hit Off-Broadway play Shower of Shame by Thomas John Anderson contains a sarcastic speech he had previously made to Miranda Hobbes about sex and sinfulness.
["Oh Come All Ye Faithful." Carrie's voiceover indicates that this was six months after the episode.]
"The Chicken Dance"
There is "an unfortunate incident with Joyce Carol Oates" at the Women in the Arts luncheon in New York City because of a failure to wear nametags.
["Attack of the 5'10" Woman." At the registration table, Mimi Lebenthal implores Carrie to wear her nametag for this reason, saying the incident happened "(l)ast year." The placement here assumes the luncheon happens around the same date every year.]
"The Man, The Myth, The Viagra"
[The plot of this episode requires Miranda to call Carrie's mobile phone while the latter is standing her up to spend time at Big's apartment, which leads to Miranda meeting Steve for the first time, but several later episodes make a point of establishing that Carrie doesn't own a mobile phone yet. Future impeached insurrectionist, indicted felon, and professional wrestling personality Donald Trump has a brief cameo talking to Ed before Ed starts hitting on Samantha.]
"Old Dogs, New Dicks"
"The Caste System"
"Evolution"
"La Douleur Exquise!"
"Games People Play"
"The Fuck Buddy"
"Shortcomings"
"Was It Good for You?"
"Twenty-Something Girls vs. Thirty-Something Women"
[This episode spans about eleven days and ends on a Sunday.]
"Ex and the City"
[This episode spans about twelve days, ending on the Tuesday of Big and Natasha's engagement brunch.]
"Where There's Smoke..."
[This episode spans about six days and ends on a Sunday. Bill Kelley is "campaigning for New York City Comptroller" in this and the following episode, but elections for that office coincide with mayoral elections, so there was no such election in 2000. (The Comptroller at the time was Alan Hevesi.) Bill also tells Carrie that her Manhattan address, 245 East 73rd Street, is in "District 23," even though that City Council District is actually in Queens, while her address would be in District 04.]
"Politically Erect"
[This episode spans about thirteen days and ends on a Wednesday, if we assume Carrie's column always appears on Wednesdays. Carrie's voiceover says that she "had been dating politician Bill Kelley for three weeks now," and Bill himself says it is "so close to the election." Carrie is shown using a payphone in this episode, even though she had already been shown to have a mobile phone in "The Man, The Myth, The Viagra."]
Bill Kelley loses the election for New York City Comptroller as a result of Carrie's column "To Pee or Not to Pee, That Is the Question" in The New York Star, which reveals his urolagnia fetish.
[Conjecture. Since there was no real election for this office in 2000, I've timed the fictional election to coincide with the other US elections held that year. The episode "Politically Erect" doesn't explicitly say that he lost the election, but the implication would be undermined otherwise.]
John James Preston marries his fiancée Natasha at her parents' estate in Southampton, New York. There are "only" fifty guests at the wedding, due to a stated desire to "keep it intimate" with "just family and close friends," but a reporter from The Sunday Times is there to cover the event. Natasha carries lillies tied with a red ribbon, and as she walks down the aisle, a saxophone plays "When a Man Loves a Woman."
["Attack of the 5'10" Woman." Charlotte reads all of these details from the article "A Socialite's Very Intimate Wedding" in The Sunday Times, which specifies that the two were married "yesterday."]
"Attack of the 5'10" Woman"
[This episode spans about nine days, beginning on a Sunday (although the choice of this particular Sunday is conjectural), with an epilogue that occurs two weeks later. Miranda's "Harvard Law School Class of 1990" coffee mug makes its first appearance in this episode, establishing her graduation date. Miranda also says she is "a 34-year-old single woman," implying that it is at least early 2001, but I've allowed for the idea that she is rounding up because it is already close to her birthday. According to Carrie, Gloria Steinem and Wendy Wasserstein are at the Women in the Arts luncheon she attends, but neither appears in the episode.]
Samantha Jones's PR firm handles a Columbia Records party for Jennifer Lopez. Chivon Williams, an artist representative for Tommy Boy Records, attends the party and sees Samantha, but the two do not meet.
["No Ifs, Ands, or Butts." Chivon and Samantha discuss the party, with Samantha assuring him that she'd remember if they had met. The placement here represents my assumption that this party would have been thrown to promote the release of the album J.Lo at the time.]
Carrie Bradshaw meets Sean at a downtown party celebrating a new Internet magazine that Sean runs and that Carrie can't find on her computer. They later go on two dates, and nothing about this younger man seems typical to Carrie.
["Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl..." Carrie's voiceover describes how they met and states that the date they're on at the beginning of the episode is their third.]
"Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl..."
[This episode spans about fourteen days. I would not have normally placed such a gap between this episode and the previous one, but the stated length of Big's marriage in "Easy Come, Easy Go" and the multiple references tying together much of Season Three around that point in time make this the only option. Carrie is bothered by the perceived generational divide between herself and Sean, whom she dates in this episode, but if he is 26 in early 2001, both of them are members of Generation X.]
"No Ifs, Ands, or Butts"
[This episode spans about ten days and ends on a Saturday, with Aidan and Carrie first meeting the previous Saturday.]
"Are We Sluts?"
[This episode spans about seven days. On the third day, Carrie's voiceover indicates that she's been seeing Aidan "for ten days." Conveniently for the producers of the series (if not for my purposes), the security camera footage in Samantha's building has a timestamp but no datestamp on it. As of this episode, Miranda has had "about 42" sexual partners, while Steve's number is "a lot higher" than 60, and Charlotte and Aidan are both implied to have similarly high statistics.]
"Drama Queens"
[This episode spans about fifteen days and ends on a Tuesday, since Charlotte has tickets to Aida on the Saturday three days earlier. At the beginning of the episode, Carrie's voiceover indicates that she and Aidan have "been seeing each other for about three weeks."]
"The Big Time"
[This episode spans about ten days, with Miranda making partner at her firm (which is said to already have 15 partners) on the last day. Miranda tells Steve that they've "only been living together for...two months." At one point, Aidan jokes that a search party will be sent for him and Carrie when "the spring thaw" arrives, but that point has come and gone. According to Carrie, Dominick Dunne, Madonna, Regis Philbin, "and every fired editor of The New Yorker" are at the party for gab magazine, but none of them appear in the episode.]
"Easy Come, Easy Go"
[This episode spans about eight days. Charlotte and Samantha state that Big has been married for "seven months," establishing a basis for the timing of several episodes before and after this one. Carrie's voiceover indicates that Steve and Miranda have "been doing the polite avoid-each-other breakup dance for about three weeks."]
"All or Nothing"
[This episode spans about twelve days. Carrie's voiceover indicates that she slept with Big "a week ago." At one point, Miranda expresses admiration that you can have DVD's delivered, but services such as the original rental-by-mail iteration of Netflix were already well-established by this time.]
"Running with Scissors"
[This episode spans about fourteen days, with a three-scene montage depicting Carrie's deteriorating affair with Big beforehand. Carrie tells Miranda that the affair has been going on for "three weeks." In turn, Charlotte tells Carrie she is "getting married in three weeks." Before this episode, Samantha had never been tested for STD's, but Carrie has had two HIV tests and Miranda has had three.]
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
[This episode spans about five days, ending on the Sunday of Charlotte's wedding to Trey. Carrie's voiceover indicates that at the beginning of the episode, Charlotte's wedding is already "less than a week away." The DVD commentary for this episode confirms that it is Charlotte's father walking her down the aisle at the wedding, even though he has no lines. Dwight, one of Miranda's prospective multi-dates, brags that he speaks Portuguese, but he mispronounces the common word "obrigado."]
Trey MacDougal and Charlotte York MacDougal spend ten days on a honeymoon in Bermuda, but never have sex because Trey can't "get it up." After trying twice, it proves so frustrating that they just start playing golf instead.
["Escape from New York." Charlotte tells Carrie what happened.]
A "little production company" begins talking to Carrie about the possibility of optioning the film rights to her columns for The New York Star. Matthew McConaughey is amongst the potential producers who take to the material, so he arranges to have Carrie meet him in his office at Warner Brothers Studios once she arrives in Los Angeles.
["Escape from New York." Carrie clarifies for Samantha how tentative this is, while Debbie later tells Carrie about McConaughey's interest. Since none of this was mentioned in any previous episode, I've assumed Carrie was first contacted about the project during Charlotte's honeymoon.]
"Escape from New York"
[This episode spans about six days, with the three girls arriving in Los Angeles on the second day.]
"Sex and Another City"
[This episode spans about six days, with the third day being a Wednesday. Charlotte tells Miranda she's been married for "over a month," but adhering to that statement would lengthen the girls' stay in Los Angeles to almost as long, so I've overlooked it. Holly Madison was already one of Hugh Hefner's "official girlfriends" at this point, but she does not appear with him in the episode. When Carrie Fisher catches Keith Travers in her home with (the other) Carrie and mentions having a child, she is referring to then-nine-year-old Billie Lourd.]
Nineteen terrorists (fifteen from Saudi Arabia, two from the United Arab Emirates, one from Egypt, and one from Lebanon) hijack four passenger airliners, intentionally crashing two of them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and a third into the Pentagon near Washington, DC. The fourth aircraft crashes in Pennsylvania after its passengers mount an assault against their hijackers.
[Historical accounts. Despite being by far the most significant event to happen in New York City during the time period of the series, this is never directly referenced in any episode.]
"Hot Child in the City"
[This episode spans about twenty-two days and starts on a Wednesday, if we assume Carrie's column always appears on Wednesdays. The title of the column shown in this episode, on Page 7 of The New York Star, is "The Finance and 'Alone' Department," but the actual copy on the prop newspaper is recycled from Carrie's column about peeing on her boyfriend from "Politically Erect." Although a mailing label gives the address of the paper as 37 Fifth Avenue (and the zip code is correct for that address), the real-life equivalent appears to be a nondescript office building owned by New York University. Jenny Brier directly references Carrie's prior column from "Secret Sex."]
"Frenemies"
[This episode spans about ten days, ending before Samantha's Friday night dinner reservation.]
"What Goes Around Comes Around"
"Cock a Doodle Do!"
Michael Bloomberg is elected Mayor of New York City.
[Historical accounts.]
"The Agony and the 'Ex'-tacy"
"The Real Me"
"Defining Moments"
"What's Sex Got to Do with It?"
"Ghost Town"
"Baby, Talk Is Cheap"
"Time and Punishment"
"My Motherboard, My Self"
"Sex and the Country"
"Belles of the Balls"
"Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda"
"Just Say Yes"
"The Good Fight"
"All That Glitters"
"Change of a Dress"
"Ring a Ding Ding"
"A 'Vogue' Idea"
"I Heart NY"
"Anchors Away"
"Unoriginal Sin"
"Luck Be an Old Lady"
"Cover Girl"
"Plus One Is the Loneliest Number"
"Critical Condition"
"The Big Journey"
"I Love a Charade"
"To Market, To Market"
"Great Sexpectations"
"The Perfect Present"
"Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little"
"Lights, Camera, Relationship"
"Hop, Skip and a Week"
"The Post-It Always Sticks Twice"
"The Catch"
"A Woman's Right to Shoes"
"Boy, Interrupted"
"The Domino Effect"
"One"
"Let There Be Light"
"The Ick Factor"
"Catch-38"
"Out of the Frying Pan"
"The Cold War"
"Splat!"
"An American Girl in Paris (Part Une)"
"An American Girl in Paris (Part Deux)"
Carrie Bradshaw writes a memoir titled I Do! Do I? which chronicles her first year of marriage to John James Preston.
[Sex and the City 2. The fact that the book is finished and ready to come out in hardcover in the summer of 2010 generally implies that she would've initially written it over the previous year.]
Smith Jerrod films the action movie Heart of the Desert, directed by J. Thomas Scott, on location in the United Arab Emirates.
[Sex and the City 2. The setup for much of the main plot revolves around the premiere of Smith's movie and the attempted business connection Samantha makes by attending that premiere. The director's name is indicated on the movie poster.]
Stanford Blatch gets engaged to Anthony Marentino. Despite Anthony's job as a wedding planner, Stanford designs and plans their own wedding in Connecticut, which includes arranging for Liza Minnelli to officiate the marriage ceremony and perform at the wedding reception. The two agree that Anthony can continue to "cheat" on Stanford, but only in the states where they're not legally married.
[Sex and the City 2. The movie is unclear about how long Stanford and Anthony have been engaged, but Carrie's stated disbelief at the concept suggests she is still getting used to the idea.]
Charlotte York Goldenblatt and Harry Goldenblatt hire Erin, an Irish live-in nanny, to help them raise their daughers, Lily and Rose.
[Shortly before Sex and the City 2, as the other girls are seeing her for the first time in the movie.]
Aidan Shaw arranges a buying trip through Bali, India, and the United Arab Emirates to acquire rugs to sell at his furniture store. This will be at least his fourth visit to the UAE.
[Shortly before Sex and the City 2. Aidan has memorised the name of four emirates, telling Carrie that he learns one each time he visits the country. Given the length of time the movie covers, it's possible that Aidan's trip begins during the events of the film itself.]
[This film spans approximately two months, with an epilogue covering events the following summer. Stanford and Anthony's wedding is on a Saturday in July (per their invitation), while Carrie and Big celebrate their second wedding anniversary the following month and the girls' trip to Abu Dhabi occurs the week of August 26. The trailer for this film also indicates that "(i)t's been two years" since the last one. Rose is explicitly described as being in the midst of the "terrible twos," while Samantha emphatically states that she is "fifty-fucking-two" years old. If the wedding is in July and the trip is in August, how can Brady have a school science fair in between them?]
Bill de Blasio is elected Mayor of New York City.
[Historical accounts.]
Peloton Interactive releases their first Internet-connected stationary bicycles for sale.
[Historical accounts. Peloton became rather notoriously associated with this franchise when Big was shown dying of a heart attack shortly after riding a Peloton bike in "Hello It's Me."]
The United States Supreme Court issues its decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, holding that states are required to licence a marriage between two people of the same sex and to recognise a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licenced and performed out-of-state, thus overturning individual state laws against marriage equality by ruling them unconstitutional.
[Historical accounts. One of the consequences of this ruling is that Anthony would no longer have anywhere in the US to "cheat" on Stanford under the terms of their previous agreement.]
The World Health Organisation adds mifepristone and misoprostol to its Model List of Essential Medicines.
[Historical accounts.]
The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in New York City is detected, though genomic analysis will later determine that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was already circulating there for over a month beforehand.
[Historical accounts. Much like many other aspects of this franchise reflecting an alternate world, the societal effects of COVID-19 are depicted onscreen as being almost entirely resolved within a year or so, rather than the ongoing global pandemic we continue to experience in reality.]
Eric Adams is elected Mayor of New York City.
[Historical accounts.]
Carrie Bradshaw sends the last in a series of text messages to Samantha Jones, without getting a reply to any of them.
["Little Black Dress." The date is visible as Carrie looks through her recent texts, with the chronological listing making it clear that this was less than a year ago even though the day of the week is given as Wednesday, which is inconsistent with the calendar for either 2021 or 2022.]
"Hello It's Me"
[This episode spans two days and ends on the night of Big's death. Miranda checks her phone on the second day and it indicates the date as Thursday, May 13, which is consistent with the calendar for 2021 but inconsistent with both her and Charlotte describing themselves as 55 years old, so I have favoured the latter.]
"Little Black Dress"
[This episode begins almost immediately after the previous one, then spans an indeterminate amount of time which includes Big's memorial service and cremation. The last specific date visible on Carrie's Blackberry as she scrolls through her text messages is June 23, but it seems unrealistic for over a month to have passed by then. Miranda yells at Che that Brady is 17, but that is starkly at odds with how long ago he was born during the original series.]
"When in Rome..."
"Some of My Best Friends"
"Tragically Hip"
"Diwali"
[This episode must occur around the period when Diwali was observed in 2022.]
"Sex and the Widow"
"Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered"
"No Strings Attached"
"Seeing the Light"
"Met Cute"
"The Real Deal"
"Alive!"
"Trick or Treat"
"Bomb Cyclone"
"February 14th"
[Valentine's Day is explicitly described as falling on a Thursday in this episode--but February 14 does not fall on a Thursday in any year between 2019 and 2030, so the creators of this series are clearly unconcerned with having such dates align with the actual calendar.]
"A Hundred Years Ago"
"There Goes the Neighborhood"
"The Last Supper Part One: Appetizer"
"The Last Supper Part Two: Entrée"