LAURIE: I feel so conflicted! "Sex & the City" almost-final episode....or the Eagles game Sunday night. I figure by 9 p.m., when "Sex" airs on HBO, the game will still be going on. Help!

THERESA: Aaargh. You're right. The game doesn't start until 6:45. Big problem! Yvonne, what's the earliest that game can possibly be over?

YVONNE: VCR, my friend. VCR. You have two TVs, don't you?

LAURIE: Yes, brilliant!

JILL: This is the one time I'm grateful not to have HBO.

THERESA: You mean you're not a "Sex and the City" fan? That surprises me, Jill. I love it. I'm so addicted to it, and even more so now that Mikhail Baryshnikov is Carrie's leading man. With the advent of the DVD player, I don't have a working VCR anymore, so I'll probably have to catch this week's episode in reruns.

Laurie and I were just noting that one of the most appealing fantasies about that show has nothing to do with sex. It's that those oh-so-toned women eat and eat and eat-- cupcakes, ice cream, french fries, huge diner breakfasts, and they almost never seem to exercise. There was passing reference a few seasons back about Miranda training for the New York marathon, and an episode in which a naked Samantha boasted about her Pilates routine, and maybe a scene or two shot at a yoga class. But if you add up the massive amounts of food and drink those ladies down each episode, all their haute couture fashion ought to be plus-plus sizes!

APRIL: I am so sad to say that I haven't followed it all season.

THERESA: Well, it is hard to watch if you have small children in the house who like to stay up past their bedtime!

APRIL: I have been watching some reruns. It is very very sexy this season.....

YVONNE W: It's Sex & the City for me. I've watched Samantha; Carrie; Charlotte and Miranda for years. Since I'm not a football fan I'll curl up with the Sex & the City girls. It was fun to watch them mature or "not mature" thru the years depending on your perception of them.

ELLEN: I am finding this season’s shows a little too intense. They’ve racheted up the angst and disappointment level. So maybe missing it this week and picking it up on rerun will help my cardiac health, which is in question after the Eagles close shave and that Carolina game last week.

By the way my almost-19-year-old asked for the set of reruns for Christmas and I just couldn’t do it. I suppose if she knew that her dad and I watch that show, she’s be in therapy.

JILL: I suppose I should be ashamed to say I've never seen one episode of "Sex and the City" and from what I know of it, I'm inclined to think I'll hate it -- in some part, at least, Theresa, because of what you just said about the unreality of their lives. But then I said the same thing about "The Sopranos," because I hate violence and detest the way we romanticize the mafia, and I wound up becoming a total junkie. We gave up HBO some years ago when we discovered our pre-adolescent son watching porn, and don't want to pay the exorbitant sum to get it back. Although, I must say, Baryshnikov is certainly enough incentive. . .

APRIL: Baryshnikov? I think I willl watch Sunday!

THERESA: Ellen's right about this season's angst, yes, especially with the breast cancer story line that was introduced last week. Escapist that I am, I'm hoping that proves to be as breezy a plot point as Steve's testicular cancer was, but I do shudder to think what the writers may have in store. I don't want the show to veer too close to reality. Next thing you know, the characters could be chatting non-stop about exercise, carbs and calories instead of sex, sex, sex. Laurie: It's all fantasy, all the time, but somehow the characters' emotions seem very real. And where else could you see Jason Lewis. Naked. (Don't know who he is? Check out this link.)