Sex on TV is... ...Not Sexy!

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Bed hoppers, however, have no monopoly on sexual angst. TV has also become obsessed with virgins, from Felicity, Buffy and Dawson to next season's Popular and Wasteland. The medium loves titillating and moralizing, and virgin dramas allow both, a situation that has changed little since the 1978 controversy over NBC's James at 15. Dan Wakefield, who created James, says NBC then balked not at James' deflowering but at his using birth control: "They said that if James has sex at age 16 and is not married, he must suffer and be punished." Just so, Buffy can lose her maidenhead--but Angel must risk damnation.

Still, there are signs of progress even here. Felicity's virginity loss last season, though tinged with guilt, was refreshingly free of melodrama. And TV's embrace of bad sex is, at best, a stab at honesty, which isn't always pretty. Carrie wonders, "Have we put such a premium on being open and honest with one another that we've misplaced the boundaries of propriety?" Perhaps, but they often came with fictions and stereotypes. For City's cool superwomen, a little cynicism can be empowering, as on an episode about an acquaintance's whirlwind wedding. A lesser sitcom would have played the bouquet toss for pathos, but Carrie & Co. let the flowers hit the carpet so as not to spill their champagne. Love is lovely, and sex can be fun. But hey--it's nothing to ruin a perfectly good evening dress over.