Tonight, the last episode of Sex and the City will air to much fanfare and tears by fans.

I haven't seen the show in years (last i saw, Amanada just got pregnant), but I respect and admire a show like Sex and the City. A lot of TV shows have very simple premises that they stretch over and over again for maximum effect. Some shows have very narrow premises that force the creative minds behind the camera to really try new things, challenge their characters, introduce a bevy of supporting characters to populate a pseudo-reality. Sex and the City falls into the latter. It's a show about Sex, in New York City, that became more and more about the characters and less the setting and random sexual encounters of the first few seasons.

You tune in to watch Carrie go all Woody-Allen because of her man-of-the-week. You tune in to see Miranada, the fiery-feminist, struggle and try to hold her head up high in a male-dominated profession. You tune in to see Charloette's upper-class-neurosis, on display each and every week. You tune in to hear Samantha's one perfect biting comment. (Or maybe you tune in to see the shoes.)

Character development is the main reason I prefer the television format over film. Characters become your friends. You can guess what they're going to say. When they do something drastic, possibly out of character, you're enraged but fascinated. You trust the writers to guide the character in the right direction. This is only possible with years and years of character development. Vast season-long plans to nudge a character in a certain direction. I find that, more than anything else, amazing to watch. And when the show, like all things, eventually ends, you're sad. "You mean, my friends won't be coming over anymore?"

So. To all the Sex and the City fans out there, enjoy tonight's episode. And hopefully it won't be the last chapter in this story.