HBO'S :"GIRLS"

[Jane2]

Posted: 4/17/12 at 4:34pm

Did anyone see the premiere episode of this new series last night? I liked it so far and will be watching the next one. Pretty risque-very HBO!

oops, I mean Sunday night.

Updated On: 4/17/12 at 04:34 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/17/12 at 4:53pm

Yeah, I liked it for a pilot. There were some good laugh out loud moments. It irks me that the circle of friends is all white. And that they somehow managed to find a white actress named Jemima, of all things, to play one of them.

[Jane2]

Posted: 4/17/12 at 5:26pm

yeah, I noticed that too. I was happy to see Adam Driver (the doggie style sex master). I've been a fan since I saw him in Signature's Angels in America as Louis.

Although this is a whole new generation from mine, I related to so much of the dialogue and some of the experiences from my own coming of age. I give kudos to the writer.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/17/12 at 5:30pm

I like the kind of grungy drudgy vision of New York as opposed to the shiny, commodified view on Sex & The City.

[Jane2]

Posted: 4/17/12 at 5:41pm

And I loved the stab at texting, et al-"If he won't answer my emails, tweets, texts, etc, how am I ever going to see him in person?"

[Jane2]

Posted: 4/17/12 at 5:55pm

wow, "Hannah" is the writer! wow. only 26.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/17/12 at 10:28pm

Yeah Lena Dunham had a film out last year, Tiny Furniture. I liked it, but so far I like Girls more. She had a profile in the New Yorker last year (and apparently has a smaller one now...) http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/03/lena-dunham-girls-hbo.html

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/17/12 at 10:30pm

She directed the show too, right?

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/17/12 at 11:04pm

Yes, she directs the first three episodes.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 4/17/12 at 11:44pm

I really liked it but felt uncomfortable in moments that I think the show is well-aware of what it is doing. I know these kind of girls and I have been in similar circumstances (the job and parent issues). I like to think I am and will not that co-dependent on my parents but the first 5 minutes where her parents cut her off were like a bad premonition.

I loved the Chris Eigeman cameo as the boss who tells Hannah the other person in the office they hired is paid because she knows photoshop.

Adam Driver plays creepy boyfriend very well and Andrew Rannells is going to be in either next week's episode or the following week.

Jemima Kirke was in Tiny Furniture as a similar wallflower to Hannah and abettor to her poor decision-making. I think she and Lena Dunham have been real-life friends for a while.

Tiny Furniture for a debut is very good though I was surprised Criterion selected it. Certain similarities to the pilot such as uncomfortable sex scenes with the worst guys ever and Dunham as the lead in an arrested development but it is pretty raw, Dunham's mother, Laurie Simmons, and sister play her mother and sister. The pilot is a much more polished product (Dunham's acting and comedic timing are a lot better) and yet I can think of only a handful of shows (Louie as one example) that are this open and frank about what is.

[Jane2]

Posted: 4/18/12 at 9:25am

"the first 5 minutes where her parents cut her off were like a bad premonition."

For me they were a good premonition. The parents' wanting to give tough love was admirable to me, and by the same token, Hannah had some legitimate reasons for staying under their financial support. Both sides of the issue were accurate to real life situations. At that point I knew I would love the series.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 4:38pm

One of the writers appears to be an asshole

[strummergirl]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 5:09pm

False equivalency, yes, and worse that it was put out on the internet which will never go away. But I get the fact they are trying to deal with the backlash (some of which is unfair and fair game) but that is just a stupid way of answering it. Honestly, I am glad they are not trying to pretend they know how to represent people they have had little interaction or experience with rather than have things like Sapphire pretending to know anything about living under the welfare system in the Reagan 80's (black or white, Precious/Push was pretty terrible in its class issues) or something as so acceptedly middle-brow as Chuck Lorre representing nerds/geeks/smart people on TBBT. But it is also the first episode and I have no idea how diverse it is supposed to be and critic screeners only got 3 out of I think 10 episodes.

I never heard this much buzz ping-pong of good and negative press for a show before even the second episode has aired.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 5:18pm

That doesn't sound like dealing with the backlash. That reads (especially with the rest of that stuff at the link Mr Midwest posted) like someone who is profoundly tone-deaf on why there's backlash.

As for the show, it was okay. I didn't love it but I didn't hate it.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 6:01pm

Dear Lesley Arfin

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 6:38pm

I like it when people have nothing better to be upset over.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 7:15pm

Ugh. She should really just shut up. I get the criticism, and I also get (I think) her point, but she's not doing herself any favours by how she expresses it--does she blog while drunk? I guess she's a story editor or something--she's not listed on the scripts as one of the co-writers, at least up to episode 8...

[Jane2]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 10:48pm

I do not care what is going on behind the scenes or who said what. I enjoyed watching the show.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 11:12pm

That's how I feel. Her comments, while stupid, aren't the equivalent of (to bring up another thread) Mel Gibson's diatribes or anything similar anyway. And I think it must be frustrating when you are writing something based on your own experiences and people complain that you need to incorporate more races, etc (though I can see both points). However, like I said, someone really needs to de-activate her twitter account or something, she made her point, but to now write endless diatribes about it is not doing her any favours.

[Jane2]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 11:31pm

I'm glad I don't text, or tweet, or do anything like that!

[strummergirl]

Posted: 4/20/12 at 12:55am

It's something to note that Lena's whole attitude while doing press for the show is the opposite of that tweet (and she's pretty active on Twitter too and nothing is on par, she is just posting photos of her meeting other famous people) and she has joked about the negative pull-quotes the show did get, much like she handled Tiny Furniture's response.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 4/20/12 at 12:05pm

A couple more interesting pieces about the show:
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/04/girls-through-the-veil/256154/
http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/68331140.html

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 4/20/12 at 1:36pm

Tied to watch but it came off to me as the "privileged young people whining" show. I hated it.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/20/12 at 3:16pm

To be fair--and this obviously doesn't mean you should like it--that's kinda the point of the show and its humour.

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 4/20/12 at 4:14pm

Of course. But I think it's annoying, not funny.