STREAMING: Just Like That, Coming Out Colton

AND JUST LIKE THAT

(HBO Max, Binge) They’re still quick to judge but even quicker to forgive, and that’s the whole point.

here did the time go! It’s

Wa bit of a shock to those of us who’ve been bingeing on reruns that it’s 17 years since Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha were in the last episodes of Sex And The City. And nothing says time f lies as much as Miranda’s little toddler Brady now a grown teenager having noisy sex in the next room.

All our favourites are back (well, most), including Miranda’s now-live-in partner/ Brady’s dad Steve, Charlotte’s husband Harry, Carrie’s gay BFFs Anthony and his husband Stanford, and even Big, who gets a scene-stealing cameo that sets in motion the drama through the next eposodes.

The biggest hole in the show is the absence Samantha and, after the debacle that was the second movie, who could blame Kim Cattrall for saying never again?! And yet, given the quality of the writing, the acting, directing, clothes and shoes here, perhaps she now rues the day she said no way.

The reboot is simply awesome. Anyone who loved the original show will love this. Is it possible it’s even better? Yes. Not only have the characters matured, but the writing has grown up; there are non-white characters for the first time, there’s a broad spectrum of genders, even some great developments on that front for main players.

And yet, the characters are still occasionally silly and vacuous, preoccupied with ridiculously expensive shoes, quick to judge, but, here’s the rub, even quicker to forgive and that’s the whole point. It’s about love and friendship.

Willie Garson, as Stanford, is only in the first three eps, having succumbed to cancer mid-shoot. It was a great way to go out, reprising the role of a lifetime in a triumphant return. It’s the quality of the writing, setting up each scene and mining it for depth and comment, that sets this head and shoulders above so many imitators. Let’s hear it for ageing with grace and style and wit. There are a few signs of too much botox here and there but you be the judge.

Every bunch of gay guys who’ve clung onto each other as BFFs through thick and thin – and there’s been a lot of thick and thin these last 17 years – will be delighted to see themselves in these girls who’ve stuck by each other and come out looking fabulous! The original six seasons and both movies are also on Binge. (MA 15+, 10 eps)

CHARITÉ AT WAR (Netf lix) In 1943 Berlin, the huge Charité Hospital is caught up in the Nazi war effort, training doctors for action at the front, with professors, nurses and med students enthusiastically but blindly pursuing their duty to the Fatherland.

Their work often involves experimenting on orphans, fraudulent psychiatry, and extreme surgery.

We’re presented with seemingly reasonable people who are committed to shockingly unreasonable ideals.

Shreds of an awakening conscience among one or two of the healers threaten their own safety, even their lives.

Nazi doctrine teaches that homosexual practisers and abusers are equally unnatural and are banned; plus, in this scenario, the SS have begun executing offenders. It’s not a good time or place for interns to discover their samesex attraction.

The series opens with one of the esteemed professors teaching alternatives to established methods of amputation; he believes removing just part of the leg of a soldier wounded on the battlefield can allow a skilled surgeon to rebuild the shortened limb by inserting a prosthetic. He demonstrates. Meanwhile, a med student claims the same soldier wounded himself in order to be sent home and she investigates this court-martial offence. Then the soldier falls in love with another man. Boy, is he in strife.

This is well-written drama, very well put together, with the real ugliness between the lines, not so much on the screen. Much is drawn from actual historical records. Horrifying medical experiments were carried out on gay men in Nazi concentration camps. Clive Owen as Bill Clinton. (MA15+, 6 x 50mins eps)

COMING OUT COLTON (Netf lix)

This is billed as a reality show, however, reality has nothing to do with it. It’s stage-managed, manipulated and milked, but there’s still value in it. While there are still young LGBTQIA+ viewers struggling with their identity and their truth, we need genuine coming-out stories.

Colton Underwood was a US pro-footballer made even more famous by a season on The Bachelor. After a meltdown, he took time out to face a few fears, ultimately announcing that he is gay. Like so many, he’d been scarred by religious intolerance. “I just don’t want me being me to be a sin,” he says with anguish.

In episode one, he starts coming out to family and friends. He tells his mum he’s known he was attracted to boys since he was 6 or 7. Mum says she regrets he never saw her as a safe harbour. His best mate, out Olympian Gus Kenworthy, notes: “You can pass as straight and there’s privilege that comes with that.” Regrettably, this interesting gem isn’t explored as fully as it should be.

His brother takes the news well, simply asking if he’s gone on Grindr yet. Colton comments to camera: “My brother didn’t have to come out as straight or announce that when he marries it’ll be to a woman.”

The episode ends as Colton delivers his news to Dad – but we have to wait for the next episode for Dad’s reaction, rather cruelly and cheaply reducing the moment to a very staged cliff-hanger.

The rest of the series is more of the same, with dizzying hand-held camera and quick cuts as though the narrative needed beefing up. One would’ve thought the story of a guy raised as a macho sportsman in a religious home plucking up the courage to admit to the world that he likes guys needed no further embellishment. (MA15+, 6 x 30mins eps)

SAY I DO (Netf lix)

Sometimes reality shows can work, especially if they’re a bit light-hearted. Here, a bunch of couples of varying genders plan their dream weddings with the help of a team of experts on seemingly unlimited budgets. They’re the sort of events you and I can only dream of, so let’s dream!

There are eight eps with eight couples, two of whom are gay: Randy and Will, and Jason and Jonathan. Dive in at episode 6, In Sickness And In Health. Just like Idol, it’s the backstory that makes the episode pop. Jason and Jon became engaged the moment gay marriage was passed but subsequent years of illness for Jason led to piling debts and stage-four cancer.

Says Jon: “Everything came crashing down. How many tomorrows did we have left?” Turns out, quite a few. It’s a genuinely happy story as years of meds begins to take effect, a corner is turned, and Jason’s declared cancer-free.

“Jon took care of me all through my sickness,” Jason says. “Now he deserves the big wedding he’s always wanted.”

Enter interior designer Jeremiah Brent, fashion designer Thai Nguyen, and chef Gabriele Bertaccini with an open chequebook.

Yes, it’s wallow TV. So wallow unashamedly. They’ve done sickness and health. They’ve done poorer. It’s time to do richer with others’ help. It’s fabulous to watch the guys in love and weep with joy as they’re both spoiled rotten.

Now they can make plans for a future they never thought they’d have. We watch them being interviewed at the adoption agency and learn that gay male couples get chosen quicker by expectant mums over straight couples – even if the program costs $US46,000.

Get out the tissues. And there’s still a bunch of stories to go. It’s totally over the top. Let’s say a hearty, “I do!” (PG, 8 x 60 mins eps)