one man's words

thatfrenchman replied to your post: liligolightly replied to your post: What’s your…

How many episodes of Girls did you give a chance to? From episode 3 forward it has been great.

Sadly, I have watched every episode of Girls. I don’t know why I keep clicking “play.” I think it’s hate-watching at this point. But I’m drawn to it. Like eating three-day-old pizza or watching TMZ when it comes on after Jeopardy!.

My name is Harry, and I’m part of the problem.

liligolightly replied to your post: What’s your favorite TV show on HBO, past or present? What’s your favorite HBO movie? Has anything on that network ever been bad?

I love love love that you love Angels in America. And Band of Brothers. And that you hate John From Cincinnati, because I watched that one week after the Sporanos and was horrified. (I also hate Girls. I know I’m alone.)

SO, basically, Girls is the worst show on TV ever. And I know my opinion doesn’t count because I don’t have a vagina, but c’mon women, you can do better.

1. New Dark Knight Rises trailer
   http://is.gd/puPLmb (YouTube)
   
   
2. Clooney’s $10M Obama fundraiser biggest campaign event
   http://is.gd/vvACzI (Deadline)
   
   
3. HBO renews Girls and VEEP for second seasons
   http://is.gd/XSbkGe (Hollywood Reporter)
   
   
4. Mark Ruffalo signed on for six Marvel pics
   http://is.gd/AnOZkq (Collider)

Discuss…

1. American Psycho to become a stage musical
   Link: http://is.gd/rW2v1m (BBC)
   
   
2. 30 Things Featured in Girls thus far that girls don’t do
   Link: http://is.gd/jfqnJs (HuffPo)
   
   
3. Ian Somerhalder “potentially” playing Christian Grey in 50 Shades of Grey adaptation (video)
   Link: http://is.gd/EMlVWT (Celebuzz)

Discuss…

I’m not really sure what to think about it. I may have been a bit harsh earlier in discussing it, especially considered I hadn’t seen it nor creator Lena Dunham’s scene-bursting debut, Tiny Furniture.

But now that I have seen it (it being the Girls pilot), I feel qualified and compelled to comment.

To be sure, Dunham is a talented woman. You have to be to create, write and direct a piece of entertainment that gets both noticed and bankrolled by one Judd Apatow, he of almost every maturely comedic entity created since 1999. But Dunham, in this semi-autobiographical attempt at serving as a generational voice, comes off as all style, no substance.

Girls isn’t funny, and I’m not convinced it’s aim is to be funny. It tries to be real, but its end result is a sheeny version of reality, the low points augmented for the sake of story and the high points weighed down at the expense of satire. The brief moments where Girls seems magical — a few choice lines and one brief appearance by a character meant to serve as a righteous foil to Dunham and her decidedly totes profesh besties — come across about as genuine as a Copperfield act, a construction meant as much for entertainment as for distraction.

Ultimately, it’s a pilot that’s weakened by shortcomings. The acting is passable, but the script has that Garden State/Juno/Little Miss Sunshine smarmy, whiny quality that makes every line feel like a ploy for your affection. The premise is solid and the pacing kept me interested, but the characters are wholly unlikeable people. In trying to portray the mid-20s everywoman, Dunham and company go for shock and awe instead of sincerity and understanding; their characters’ arcs are crafted with a pickaxe instead of a chisel.

Watching the Girls pilot reminded me of watching Entourage for the first time, watching these people live a life that seems entirely uncompromising and unfulfilling. But where Entourage glorifies its excesses, Girls bemoans the ensuing emptiness, like Sylvia Plath with a MetroCard. And ultimately, I’d rather have seen Girls strike a middle ground between the two, creating an entry point for some nuance.

• Mitt Romney
• Lena Dunham/Girls
• Mel Gibson’s career resurrection (see what I did there?)
• This Day Ending
• “Fetch”