Who Was the Worst Man on Sex and the City ?

This headline prompts an obvious question: were there any good men on Sex and the City? The answer, by the way, is yes: Steve was good, Harry was good, and that dude Carrie met by a fountain in Season 2 seemed nice. The list, however, basically ends there, which is why we’ve decided to commemorate the 20th anniversary of HBO’s signature romantic comedy by debating which disappointing beau made us cringe the most—starting with the man who, objectively, is probably the biggest jerk of all. (Puns!)

Mr. Big (Chris Noth)

Big is a lie. That’s the fundamental premise of his character; he’s fantasy more than fact, a collection of assumed masculine poses that do not add up to a coherent human being. Big is the longest-running romantic interest in Sex and the City, because he’s designed to be the perfect terrible choice for Carrie—enticing, addictive, but ultimately bad for her. And yes, Big sucks—he leads her on, dumps her terribly, marries someone else, draws her into an affair when she’s happily coupled with Aidan, encourages her to pick up smoking again, and throughout the series chides her for not being more acquiescent to his feelings while gently trampling all over hers. That Noth plays this financially and sexually entitled man so well distracts from the fact that he’s not a Casanova, but a parasite. —Sonia Saraiya

Skipper Johnston (Ben Weber)

Years before the term “Nice Guy” became online shorthand for a man who expects his acts of basic human decency to be rewarded with sex, there was Skipper, one of only two love interests to appear in the first episode of Sex and the City and later show up again (the other, of course, is Mr. Big). He spent all of his screen time bemoaning the fact that he was too nice to get women; when he did date one, it was Miranda, the character most likely to see through his bullshit. He was perhaps the most realistic male character to appear on the show, poorly dressed with an un-glamorous job—but if Sex and the City gave bonus points for realism, Berger wouldn’t be on this list, either. Skipper was phased out by the end of Season 2, when he reappeared to lick his wounds over being dumped one last time. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. —Katey Rich