Watch the trailer for Girls, Judd Apatow and Lena Dunham's new HBO series
By Colette McIntyreDecember 13th, 2011, 1:15 pmComments (5)
Lena Dunham won my heart and mind with her 2010 debut film, Tiny Furniture. Awkward, unfiltered, and a bit oppressive, Tiny Furniture is like a page ripped out of a twentysomething's diary (or Wordpress), with little cleaning up around the selfish, discontented edges. So when I heard that Dunham was launching an HBO series, Girls, that was set to be executive produced by some "Judd Apatow" schlub, I was overwhelmingly excited. (Because of Dunham, not the schlub.) Judging by Girls' new teaser, which features scenes of Dunham tweeting existentially and questioning the functionality of lube, my excitement was well-founded.
Dunham and Apatow's half-hour comedy follows three young female friends living in New York, showcasing their various humiliations and triumphs in the social and professional realms. So, it's like Sex and the City, but with half the wardrobe budget and three times the brain. Or, if you rather, it's a funny version of 2 Broke Girls. (Oh, 2 Broke Girls is supposed to be funny? I thought it was a Kafka-esque tragedy in which a laugh track served to demonstrate the world's contempt for human strivings and the perpetual "broke-ness" of our fragile identities. My bad.)
And, in case you were worried, the series promises to embrace the same kind of raunchy candor that made Tiny Furniture so distinct. "I can always promise awkward sex," Dunham said, "not sex in a pipe, but I won't disappoint you. It's still cringe-worthy." Cringe-worthy sex scenes on a HBO series? Well, that's nothing new.
Commentarium (5 Comments)
I've seen the pilot of this and it was alright. they really try to bring the anti- Sex and the City in this thing - one of the characters even has the movie poster on her wall - but mostly the characters in the pilot seemed to not be able to stand each other but are still friends.
I'm not a big fan of the show, but I think it's a shame that women have turned against Sex and the City to shore up their young, hip bona fides. If it wasn't for Sex and the City a show like this could not get made today.
sex in the city was very popular but not really groundbreaking, pretty sure this show would've gotten made without it. seems like it stems from various other things like dunhams movie and current popular culture.
Are you sure about that, @yeah, no? Can you think of many primetime series (i.e. not soap operas) with entirely female main characters, prior to SATC? I'm not saying that this "Girls" show could not or would not have happened, but SATC definitely brought something different in its day.
@Nope, I'm not ashamed to say I watched every episode of that damned show. It got pretty shitty toward the end, but what doesn't? The hate probably comes more from the movies, because good GOD were they awful. "And then feminism cut itself to see if it could still feel anything." -Lindy West SATC2 review
Regardless of Sex and the City, the entertainment industry have an extremely short memory. Girls (along with 2 Broke Girls, Whitney, The New Girl) all exist right now because Bridesmaids was such a big hit. At first I thought Tiny Furniture was overrated, but she's young and has a unique voice and I'm really excited to see how she develops.