YMMV / Central Park West

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Is Rachel a Fish out of Water who is repeatedly humbled by being unaware of the nuances of American culture, or is she an Alpha Bitch who repeatedly takes advantage of Gil in order to further her own position? Looking at her character through a more modern lens, she comes across as an extremely-predatory woman who defrauded her husband, fled to the U.S. and shacked up with a man she didn't even like out of desperation, jumping to the next man in a position of power she could woo (Tyler Brock) the moment she had the opportunity.
• Broken Base: Whether or not the second-season Retool is better than the first season. Some enjoy it for introducing Adam Brock (who becomes the most proactive character in the narrative), his relationship with his snarky ex-wife, the Stealth Parody elements and the fact that the plot started to gel better after getting rid of periphery characters. Others trash the retool because it comes off as a clone of Dynasty, changes two characters into Ax-Crazy stalkers, and generally doesn't do much besides further Carrie and Adam's respective storylines.
• Designated Hero: Carrie Bradshaw isn't necessarily meant to be "good", but it's hard to sympathize with her antics or the fact that she's the POV character when her role in the series largely revolves around trying to seduce her publisher's husband for little point beyond "because I can". The second season has her undergo a protracted Humiliation Conga because of her antics in the first season, as she's hounded by a character (Mark) who's become much more villainous in the interim.
• Escapist Character: The main cast are a group of high-society influencers, working in fields such as publishing, art and law, who have opportunities thrown at them left and right, and the majority of the drama in the first season is mined out of characters making showy gestures of romantic interest (throwing around plenty of money, to boot) or getting into arguments at expensive parties.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Paul Guilfoyle plays a hardnosed lieutenant who browbeats a suspect in order to get information. Sound familiar?
• Hype Aversion: With millions of dollars spent on the show, CBS hyped it by continually assaulting viewers with advertisements. The commercials promised that the series would totally change the landscape of television by introducing racy subject matter. There were banner ads on almost every bus in the United States, and massive billboards in major U.S. cities. Multi-page advertorial sections in entertainment trade magazines showcased the cast members and talked about the adult nature of the program. Yet, when it premiered, viewers were reportedly so incensed at being continually hounded by ads for the show that they didn't bother to watch it, which led to it getting trounced in the ratings.
• Magnificent Bitch: Rachel, the conniving editor of Communique, who shows up and upends the culture of the magazine by getting into conflict with Stephanie (and Carrie), trying to seduce Peter, taking Gil for herself and later cheating on him with Adam Brock's son, Tyler.
• Moral Event Horizon: Mark (Stephanie's ex-husband) buys a puppy and leaves it in front of Carrie's room, then (when she adopts it and leaves it in her apartment) puts it in a microwave and cooks it. He then produces a second, identical puppy (when called out for it) in an attempt to make Carrie believe she's going crazy.
• Narm:
  • The original promos, which have been blamed for the show's Hype Aversion, are just as likely to inspire laughter as they are curiosity, with slogans like "rhymes with witch" and "liar, liar, pants on fire" causing no end of snarkiness from viewers.
  • Rachel's "afro hat" in "The History of Gil and Rachel". The character wears a comically-oversized black feathered hat during two serious moments, including Peter rejecting her Anguished Declaration of Love and her confrontation with Gil after Drowning My Sorrows. It's hard to take anything she says seriously when she looks like a circus performer.
• Once Original, Now Common: Even though the show was heavily touted for its "risque" material, the implied sex and suggestive content (CPW's main selling point) looks downright tame compared to other primetime soap operas that came soon after, like Desperate Housewives and The O.C..
• Retroactive Recognition: Among many others, Kim Raver, Amanda Peet and Robert Knepper can all be seen in minor roles, years before they became famous.
• Romantic Plot Tumor: The relationship between Peter Fairchild (one of the main characters) and his girlfriend Alex (a writer at Communique) takes up more and more screentime during the first season, and ends with her accidentally stabbing herself and Peter having to flee the country early in the second season.
• Seasonal Rot: The show had to turn itself into a Dynasty (1981) snowclone in order to try to claw back some of its ratings for its second season, losing the edge it had in the first season. This was the straw that broke the camel's back, as it appeared to convince CBS to burn off the remaining episodes in the Friday Night Death Slot.
• Unintentional Period Piece: The show is a time capsule of mid-90s culture, including email (which had just been introduced into the workplace at the time the series was produced, and looks very primitive), songs from the era, bulky cell phones, 90s fashions, references to the 1996 election and more.

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