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jamie

#1 April 24, 2012, 08:20:34 pm

ruined former youth seeking atonement
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I've seen the first two episodes, which are all to have aired right now, of this and both have been pretty good and I like what the show seems to be about. It is pretty funny, and I guess you could say it is a comedy but it isn't broad. Well, most of it isn't.

It's about a group of women in their early 20's (22-25 I think) who live in New York and are all kind of useless in the ways that young people with arts degrees can be. Apparently it is based off of a book which the creator, writer and star of this show has written - I don't know anything about the book. I figure as far as that goes, I've got other stuff to read and this is the kind of thing I want to watch rather than read.

The first two episodes are good, funny, accurate and pretty free of stupidity. It's pretty accurate about a few things - uselessness, sex, certain personality types - and I definitely recognise some of the stuff in these two episodes from my own life. That's all fine, so I wonder if the show is going to progress from that accurate reflection, deconstruct it and say some new things about it, or if it is just going to be content with being able to observe the lives of this particular part of society and mine it for jokes and storylines (which could get repetitive and make the show end up crappy - plenty of precedent for this, especially in this genre although all those shows were mostly made by and are about men (and were never really any good to begin with, so i'm hopeful))

I'm making a topic because I think it's an interesting show, there aren't many that are quite like it and definitely none I can think of that are good, and I think it's something that would probably slip past most people and definitely most people here. Despite that, I think it's something people here might like. I do like it. I'll keep watching and saying what I think. Think it airs on sundays?

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jamie

#2 April 24, 2012, 08:22:45 pm

ruined former youth seeking atonement
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oh and judd apatow apparently has something to do with this (probably not much at all but his name is in the credits) - but don't let that put you off. there isn't a rogen in sight.

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ATARI

#3 April 26, 2012, 02:40:37 am

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I hate starting shows like this and then having to wait weeks and such between episodes when they're just starting out, but maybe i'll check it out later in the year? I heard about this from somewhere else before, and thought it sounded interesting at least when I read a summary/press release whatever about it .

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rvp12Bet

#4 May 07, 2012, 07:53:05 pm

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But those girls in this show are beautiful or hot? That's very importance for me

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Saleop

#5 May 07, 2012, 08:06:09 pm

I R WIZARD >:O
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I saw the pilot and ended up enjoying it. I was actually taken aback at how a lot of people hate it because of how privileged and white the main characters are, particularly the spoiled starring girl. Maybe it was just me, but I didn't sense that you're SUPPOSED to like the characters. Not on the surface, at least. I got the feeling the whole point of the show was for it to be a satirical look at entitled, white millennials. If I'm actually supposed to relate with and like these characters, then yeah, fuck this show.

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esiann

#6 May 08, 2012, 03:10:33 am

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rvp12Bet, it's kind of a mix of hotties and notties... try it out, maybe you'll like it. They're all beautiful in some way.

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Warped655

#7 May 11, 2012, 03:08:00 am

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I might have to give it a shot but I've been flooded with so many TV recommendations from people that it seems impossible for me to catch up with everything. For instance, I'm WAY behind on Mad Men.

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jamie

#8 March 05, 2013, 07:43:19 pm

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I've actually been skipping episodes of this that sound really irritating or, uh, emotionally volatile to me lately. Well, I've skipped two. One was the one where Hannah shacks up with an older doctor, and the other was the episode where Jessa runs away to live with her Dad or something. The show isn't that heavily serialised, and things seem to occur for these people off screen pretty often anyway, so it isn't like it is hard to follow and this show has always been about 60% really fucking relevant and 40% fluffy bullshit for me anyway so I feel like I'm just cutting out the crap.

I continue to identify with Adam a crazy amount and in the latest episode, It's Back, I enjoyed every single storyline for the first time, I think. Oh wait, no, I didn't like that Shoshana just decided to cheat on Ray because she can't connect with her old idiot friends anymore. I don't feel like she would do something like that, although she is pretty wet clay still so maybe she would. I just wish she didn't cos I liked her a lot, and I still like Ray.

This show has a particular effect on me, it's hard to explain. I enjoy it.

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Barack Obama

#9 March 08, 2013, 04:52:30 am

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this show grates on me really bad and it's hard to put my finger on why.
i saw the first season with my wife and it seems to want to capture the life (non-)experience of a bunch of ambitionless homely emotional children slumming it in Brooklyn, waiting for their parents upstate to die so they can inherit everything. which is fine in and of itself but I can't think of anything more banal.

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Barack Obama

#10 March 08, 2013, 04:57:09 am

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it's like a showcase of the people i actively avoid irl

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tristero

#11 March 08, 2013, 05:29:43 am

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it stinks

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jamie

#12 March 08, 2013, 06:08:03 am

ruined former youth seeking atonement
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Quote from: Barack Obama on March 08, 2013, 04:52:30 am

this show grates on me really bad and it's hard to put my finger on why.
i saw the first season with my wife and it seems to want to capture the life (non-)experience of a bunch of ambitionless homely emotional children slumming it in Brooklyn, waiting for their parents upstate to die so they can inherit everything. which is fine in and of itself but I can't think of anything more banal.

i'm more like them than i want to be, ideally, apart from the money part because I've never had zip but it feels like maybe it is heading somewhere and since lena dunham obviously doesn't expect you to think any of these people really have their shit together in any way, i don't get why they would annoy you. they're all dumb. it's a pretty good representation of being in your early 20's and realising you have no fucking skills and that just being you doesn't mean anything.

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Barack Obama

#13 March 08, 2013, 08:46:32 pm

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Quote from: jamie on March 08, 2013, 06:08:03 am

Quote from: Barack Obama on March 08, 2013, 04:52:30 am
this show grates on me really bad and it's hard to put my finger on why.
i saw the first season with my wife and it seems to want to capture the life (non-)experience of a bunch of ambitionless homely emotional children slumming it in Brooklyn, waiting for their parents upstate to die so they can inherit everything. which is fine in and of itself but I can't think of anything more banal.

i'm more like them than i want to be, ideally, apart from the money part because I've never had zip but it feels like maybe it is heading somewhere and since lena dunham obviously doesn't expect you to think any of these people really have their shit together in any way, i don't get why they would annoy you. they're all dumb. it's a pretty good representation of being in your early 20's and realising you have no fucking skills and that just being you doesn't mean anything.

That's the thing, it's just so goddamn boring. Bunch of white losers from upper-middle class background who don't have their shit together, but at the same time face no real adversity outside of their own malaise... big deal, may as well watch cat videos on YouTube you know? There's opportunity for some gritty shit about on how fucked up it gets for kids out there but instead it seems like it actively avoids these things to be something like a conversation-starter that cool-mom can watch with her teenage daughter.

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EvilDemonCreature

#14 March 08, 2013, 09:17:34 pm

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Even if it doesn't have it's own shit together as a series, It still opens the door though.

Think of it like this: You cannot have the zombie apocalypse spinoff of Girls (either called GirlsZ or GrrrrlZ), without first having Girls to base it off of.

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Warped655

#15 March 08, 2013, 09:44:43 pm

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While I've never seen the show and can't talk about it's merits plot or writing wise, I can at least say the fact that its a critically lauded and has a main character that appears to be an 'authentically average girl' as a main character is something it should be proud of.

Its the equivalent of a necessary cultural 'baby' step. I'm not usually one to chant and cheer for that. But I imagine most people would and I can certainly see why. Though maybe I'm out of touch and there already are other shows that are currently airing that are more progressive. I have not been paying too much attention to TV lately.

Last Edit: March 08, 2013, 09:45:17 pm by Warped655

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ATARI

#16 March 09, 2013, 05:49:52 pm

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Quote from: Barack Obama on March 08, 2013, 04:52:30 am

this show grates on me really bad and it's hard to put my finger on why.
i saw the first season with my wife and it seems to want to capture the life (non-)experience of a bunch of ambitionless homely emotional children slumming it in Brooklyn, waiting for their parents upstate to die so they can inherit everything. which is fine in and of itself but I can't think of anything more banal.

wait have you always been married?

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EIias

#17 March 09, 2013, 07:17:21 pm

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Quote from: Warped655 on March 08, 2013, 09:44:43 pm

While I've never seen the show and can't talk about it's merits plot or writing wise, I can at least say the fact that its a critically lauded and has a main character that appears to be an 'authentically average girl' as a main character is something it should be proud of.

Its the equivalent of a necessary cultural 'baby' step. I'm not usually one to chant and cheer for that. But I imagine most people would and I can certainly see why. Though maybe I'm out of touch and there already are other shows that are currently airing that are more progressive. I have not been paying too much attention to TV lately.

i havent seen this show and most ppl whose opinions i trust seem polarized by it but if i had seen this show and didn't like it i might snarkily say " Ah yes a show about an upper class white yuppy in new York obsessed with her own malaise, but, heh, with a pinch of self loathing to make it alright . . . glorious victory for progressivism indeed! really captures the authenticity of being a banal trust fund absolute piece of nothing, that's the real groundbreaking thing here, how realistically depicted this worthless degeneracy is . . . "

then again ive seen ppl go in w/ those kinds of preconceptions and come out meekly shrugging "i liked it . . . " so what the hay do i kno. its just the notion of Lena Dunham at all being average or encapsulating any meaningful cumulative experience of what it means to be alive on this planet we call earth, no less a woman, invokes a lot of knee jerk hostile reactions for me. but maybe it's good anyway.

Last Edit: March 09, 2013, 07:24:58 pm by EIias

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Barack Obama

#18 March 10, 2013, 04:35:18 am

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Quote from: ATARI on March 09, 2013, 05:49:52 pm

Quote from: Barack Obama on March 08, 2013, 04:52:30 am
this show grates on me really bad and it's hard to put my finger on why.
i saw the first season with my wife and it seems to want to capture the life (non-)experience of a bunch of ambitionless homely emotional children slumming it in Brooklyn, waiting for their parents upstate to die so they can inherit everything. which is fine in and of itself but I can't think of anything more banal.
wait have you always been married?

yeah.. quite a while now

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thosepeople

#19 April 01, 2013, 08:52:12 pm

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jamie are you still watching this? i've only seen like the first four episodes, but i was curious why you've connected with/praised the believability of multiple characters. from the ones i saw i got the impression that most of the characters outside of the main one herself (and her love interests i guess) are sort of peripheral in the sense that they mostly seem present to interact with dunham's character and little else. like, her three friends all have much less fleshed out personalities than her and her roommate in particular seems... pretty one dimensional.

i stopped watching because a) dramedy detailing the lives and struggles of upper-middle class white people whose problems are limited by the sheer amount of resources thrown at them their entire lives seems a little self-indulgent, particularly when all the characters are deeply oblivious and self-involved, and i'm a little suspicious the only reason it's on the air is because its target demographic has enough money to buy things and is self-indulgent enough to think it's raw and insightful, and b) for a show about women most of the female characters seemed pretty flimsy. does it get better? because my girlfriend kept watching it and she says the characters more or less continue to be tropes used in service of dunham's character development.

idk maybe it is raw and insightful. but it's also a lot of other things that i can't really get past, and it seems sort of ironic to me that a show championed as a response to the disenfranchisement of women in television (which is, to be clear, something i agree merits a response) manages to so thoroughly disenfranchise, ignore, or otherwise alienate virtually every group/experience outside of the exceedingly narrow slice of life it represents. i'm not saying their problems aren't legitimate, but i wanted to know how you watched it and thought "yeah, good. good." instead of "finally, a show about REAL women. who are white. and have money. and college degrees. and robust support systems."

Last Edit: April 01, 2013, 08:55:07 pm by thosepeople

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Barack Obama

#20 April 01, 2013, 09:34:36 pm

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Part of why the show is funny is the response it gets from people. I mean the actual content is pretty boring for all the reasons that've been listed, but it's interesting how much flak it's caught over not being 'representative' enough by people who are about as boring as the show itself.

Do we really want 'representative' television shows? To me, most of the criticism sounds like people whining about the fact that HBO isn't reifying their own life experience and selling it back to them. "I want to consume images of myself!!!"

I'd be horrified if I actually identified with anything on television besides the perps on COPS

Last Edit: April 01, 2013, 09:41:44 pm by Barack Obama

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