What to Watch in December: 18 Notable TV Shows & Streaming Movies

Comedy series debuts December 9 on HBO Max

If you're a Samantha, you're out of luck. This streaming-only revival of the long-running HBO hit Sex and the City brings some important changes to a franchise that has been off the air since 2004 (though a pair of lackluster feature films followed in 2008 and 2010). Formerly the show's fifth character, the city of New York has been bumped up to #4 thanks to the departure of Kim Cattrall's Samantha, who won't appear in this retitled sequel series. But Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, and Cynthia Nixon all reprise their co-leading roles (tempted by a $1 million per episode payday), joined by other returning faces from the original series like John Corbett's Aidan, Chris Noth's Mr. Big, Mario Cantone's Anthony, David Eigenberg's Steve, Evan Handler's Harry, and Willie Garson's Stanford. (It's the final on-screen role for the latter, who died during filming.) Newcomers include Sara Ramirez and Nicole Ari Parker. Two of the 10 episodes stream on day one, followed by weekly installments.