WOMEN AND MEN: When I went to camp as a kid back in Minnesota, there was one cabin that was a little bit bigger and nicer than the others, and it was called the Arrow Cabin. Each year, for the week-long overnight portion of camp, the boys and girls would be split up, with all of one gender sleeping in the Arrow Cabin and the other being split among several smaller, inferior cabins. The Arrow Cabin was always coveted by each sex, though it was assigned on a year-by-year rotating basis, and my year (unfortunately) was the girls' turn.
As "Sex and the City" is ending for the year tomorrow night and "The Sopranos" is returning next Sunday, I think we can safely say that Sunday 9PM timeslot on HBO is the 21st century adult national television equivilant of the Arrow Cabin. One is the obsession of males and the other of females, though only one can have it at any given time- and when they don't have it, they must merely wait their turn (in the "The Sopranos"' case they must wait, literally, 'til next year).
Men have had to deal with the women in their lives (as well as the women on the subway, in their offices, and everywhere else) constantly yapping about "Sex and the City" for the entire summer. But thankfully our day has come: every Sunday from next week until next January, there will be both a full afternoon of NFL football, and a new episode of "The Sopranos." Hallelujah.
(However, since the "Sopranos" premiere is scheduled for Erev Yom Kippur and last year's premiere of the "Bruce Springsteen Live in New York City" concert fell on the first night of Passover, I can't help but wonder if HBO is actively discriminating against Jewish people from New Jersey).