Thursday, June 21, 2012

1747 - Girls: season one

I'd seen Lena Dunham's Tiny Furniture a while back (still on netflix, I believe) - you can find my thoughts on it by clicking her tag below.  And I was pretty intrigued to see that she'd scored a show with HBO and Apatow working with her.  And then I totally forgot about it until twitter went all ablaze the day after it's debut.
No point in burying the lead - I loved it from the get-go.  The characters were all real and interesting, fucked up, yet loveable.  It's the world of people just trying to figure out who the hell they are and what they hell they're doing - and it's done with such a strong sense of self mockery that you can't help but be absolutely charmed by it.  The show has this bizarre backlash to it, that was almost condemning it for being the level of quality that it is, feeling the need to attack it in other ways like saying that the cast was "too white".  I know it's the hip thing to do, but any time I see a show where there's the token black friend I almost always roll my eyes.  I'm not against ethnic diversity in casting at all.  My rule is always - best person for the job.  But there's a lot of people in this industry that cast roles and enforce racial diversity where it doesn't perhaps fit.  And that's all I'll say on that.
It's hard to describe this series.  It's about a group of twenty-something women who are trying to find their place in the world - pretty low concept idea - but the execution is wonderful.  Dunham is a tour-de-force on screen, but then when you realize that she penned and directed a good bulk of the series as well, you realize just what a tremendous talent she is.  She's not interested in making herself or her cast mates look pretty or likeable.  She makes them interesting and that's more than enough.  This isn't Entourage where the characters go through hell and then some magic offer comes in that puts the characters back on top - this is the real world where the characters go through hell… and then they are stuck in hell for a little bit and have to fight their own way back out.
I'm trying to avoid spoilers so that you can discover this beautiful show on your own, but one thing I will say that was the absolute stand-out of the season for me was the relationship between Adam and Hannah - the way they shifted perspective and gave you insights into these people and then turned that around on us was absolutely masterful. 
The only thing that sucks now is having to wait till season two comes back around.  I want to do a spec of this show for my writing portfolio and so now it's just a matter of coming up with the perfect episode concept.  Other than that I can't wait to check in on these girls when they return.  It'll make my wife happy too (it's her new favourite show - and could be mine as well...).

2 comments:

Jennifer Bragg said...

I don't give any credence to the 'too white' complaints about the show or the bitching about how all the stars are children of rich/famous people. That's irrelevant. But I think some of the backlash was because a lot of people felt like they HAD to love it because certain critics fawned all over it and it's a very polarizing show that in my personal opinion isn't as well written as some have suggested. I definitely didn't love it. I found most of the characters selfish and annoying - especially Hannah. And while that may be realistic, it's hard for me to really enjoy a show where the main character is insufferable. And the first half of the season was more of HBO's standard 'shocking' boobs, masturbation and awkward sex scene'. But I will say that the 2nd half of the season picked up steam. It was funnier, had more depth and relied less on random sex plot lines. I still really, really hate Hannah, but I'm interested enough to see how the series plays out ;)

Unknown said...

HBO wouldn't officially confirm the renewal of girls Season 3 DVD Box Set to TheWrap, but Dunham's interview makes it sound like she will call the premium cable network home for years to come. She admits it's "not clear" how many seasons of "Girls" ,but the girls Season 3 DVD Box Set has announced ,she is contractually obligated to continue writing and directing, but says she's locked in as an actor for six years.
"HBO contractually has me I think as an actor for six years but as a writer and director -- I should pay more attention to my deals, but I'm just so excited to have my job," she said. "I just go, 'Okay, whatever you say.'" 
Another thing she should start getting excited about is the possibility of not just talking to Baldwin -- one of her idols -- but working with him, too.
After she revealed girls Season 3 DVD Box Set , the "30 Rock" star was quick to add: "I'll be available. I'll come and play your therapist."
"That would be the most fun thing in the world," she responded before later adding: "Working with you is one of my longstanding dreams."