Parents' Guide to

Tales of the City

By Joyce Slaton, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Nudity, drugs, quirky charm in classic literary miniseries.

TV PBS Drama 1993
Tales of the City Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

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What's the Story?

Based on the series of novels of the same name by Armistead Maupin (which were originally serialized in the San Francisco Chronicle), TALES OF THE CITY is set in oh-so-groovy 1970s San Francisco, where naive twentysomething Ohioan Mary Ann Singleton (Laura Linney) moves on a whim. In short order, she moves into an unconventional apartment complex and becomes entangled in the lives of her neighbors: mysterious landlady Anna Madrigal (Olivia Dukakis), hippieish Mona (Chloe Webb), wistful romantic Michael (Marcus D'Amico), game man-about-town Brian (Paul Gross). Out of her depth in the big city, can Mary Ann avoid the tragic end her disapproving mother fears for her?

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

So controversial when it first aired in 1993 that PBS was positively deluged with complaints, this early experiment in quality TV is dated now, but still charming. Some moments seem tame to today's audiences -- a scene with two men waking up in bed together caused a media firestorm in 1993 is nothing compared to Looking or Queer As Folk -- while others still have the power to shock: Mona pulls out a vial of cocaine and chops up and then snorts four lines, and matter-of-factly whips off her shirt to change for work, scandalizing both Mary Ann and a modern audience mostly unused to free-range breasts, particularly presented in a non-sexual context.

There are also some moments in the series that may upset the sensibilities of woke audience members, principally the all-white main cast -- there are two characters of color in the series, but both are marginalized, and one is subject to a plot twist so strange that it almost reads as speculative fiction. But most of the archaic people and places in Tales of the City are interesting relics: Coed bathhouses! Wealthy socialites with opera glasses! Day jobs that pay enough for a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco! Karen Black as a crazed fat-farm matron! Younger viewers may have to grab their phones to make sense of retro references like Est, Reverend Jim Jones, and Bill Blass, but all in all, this artifact has worn very well and deserved to be watched -- again, or for the first time.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the role sex plays in these characters' lives and how it compares to the lives of actual people, gay and straight. Does Tales of the City play up the importance of sex for the sake of ratings, or is it striving for realism? Does the subplot about the sexual exploitation of a child read as sympathetic, or as exploitative in itself?

  • How does Tales of the City's tone compare to that of other series with a focus on characters who are variously gay, straight, and bisexual, and how well does it succeed at portraying their dreams and struggles? Teens: How have depictions of LBBTQ people in the media changed since your parents were born?

  • Does the drug use in this show seem excessive? What about for the period? For now?

TV Details

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