Marriage In, Sex Out at HBO?

Sex and marriage usually go together, but sometimes they can prove to be
mutually exclusive. Time will tell if that's Home Box Office's fate with a
couple of its series.

HBO chairman and CEO Chris Albrecht announced Tuesday that the network will
begin shooting next year on Marriage, a co-production with Steven Bochco
Productions, which will bow in 2004.

The 13-episode series will be created, written and executive-produced by
Alison Cross and Bochco, whose credits include NYPD Blue, L.A. Law
and Hill Street Blues.

A total of 13 episodes have been ordered of the drama, which will focus on a
couple and their strong union while examining the tensions, conflicts and crises
inherent to their relationship.

Set in New York, the series will take place in the bedroom, bathroom and a
closet. A network spokesman said those perspectives will provide a voyeuristic
sense of how a couple deals with each other and their marriage. As such,
Marriage may be construed as having reality-series overtones.

Meanwhile, Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon (Miranda), speaking on
a Fox News Channel morning show Monday, said the comedy's next season -- its
sixth -- would be its last.

Production on the show may resume in February, after both Nixon -- who is
scheduled to give birth to her second child in December -- and Sarah Jessica
Parker (Carrie Bradshaw), who gave birth to a son last month, return from
maternity leave. The series could return next summer.

An HBO spokesman said, 'No decision has been made on the future of the
series.'