Armistead Maupin’s Tales Of The City would rather be too obvious than attempt to be complex

Vulture

"In its effort to replicate the earnest sentimentality of the original series, the new Tales of the City too often mistakes sweetness for simplicity," says Kathryn VanArendonk. "There is no easy answer for the impasse between Ben and the older gay men, and the fact they cannot join hands and sing songs of unity is what gives that scene its hair-raising power. Much of the rest of the season, though, is too willing to fall back on obviousness. Even in the stories where it swings at moral complexity, as in the backstory we learn about Anna’s life, or in the eventual revelations about Mary Ann and Shawna, Tales is too anxious that we root for its characters, and none of their complexities end up feeling all that complex."

ALSO:

• Tales Of The City wants to be considered radical without being radical
• The new Tales feels like a mopey Freeform soap when it focuses on the new generation
• It's astonishing the Tales of the City characters can live in San Francisco, where the median rent for a one-bedroom is $3,600 a month
• Tales from the City primarily and very sweetly works as a solid and meaty blend of fantasy and nostalgia
• Tales of the City remains uniquely committed to showcasing a fuller spectrum of the LGBTQ experience
• Laura Linney: "It’s wonderful to be given the opportunity to evolve the story, evolve the characters over many cultural shifts and changes"
• Amistead Maupin on handing Tales of the City to a new team: "It was scary, but when I saw what they were doing I was entranced by it"
• Showrunner Lauren Morelli on creating the sequel series: “The writers’ room board looked like we were serial killers. It was elaborate graphs of, ‘What does the audience know, and what do they need to know, and what do we withhold?’ You’re never quite sure how to calibrate how much the audience needs to know and how do you know if they’re going to get ahead of you?”