TV Shows »Girls

on HBO

Girls. It’s about hipsters. It’s about millennials. Of course there’s a rage filled backlash against its hype and popularity. No two peoples are more scoffed at on the planet.

I expected to be thoroughly annoyed myself. I know these girls. They crowd restaurants in the weekday afternoons. They dress like Blossom. They never give a seat to a pregnant lady on the subway feeling more entitled to rest their own feet. They make me feel old as they spill out of Bedford Avenue bars – and make me feel good about being old. It’s not that I hate them, I just assumed that watching a show glamorizing their bankrolled lifestyle wouldn’t be my idea of fun.

And fun its not, but Girls is in its own way rather smart and interesting. It’s not glamorizing but quite self critical, often cringe inducing (reminding me of Todd Solondz). Creator Lena Dunham knows her subjects well and thrives on the old adage “go with what you know”. Her characters are realistic, horribly flawed (but not in that script writing class “fatal flaw” kind of way) and more interesting for it. The only exception is the character Shoshanna who comes of as an over the top improve character delivered by a girl who hates other girls. Some empathy and subtler acting could have gone a long way here.

The pilot was better that the second episode which focused on sex in a desperate and often icky way (realistic? Possibly for some. Enjoyable to watch? Eeh.) and whether the entire season can hold my attention remains to be seen. More Chris Eigeman wouldn’t hurt.

I will say Girls surprised me. And at the very least, it’s a very welcome point of view compared to the often veiled sexist crap that litters premium channels (just try to watch the horrendous House of Lies to get an idea of what I mean).


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Posted on April 27, 2012

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