I don’t get the love for HBO’s “Girls,” though I probably should. It’s produced by Judd Apatow; it’s from the brain of 26-year-old triple-threat Lena Dunham; and there are pretty girls being hipster-y out in Brooklyn. Theoretically, I should be singing its praises, if only for the fact that I can imagine my own life playing out in a similar fashion, were I were to throw away the fact that I’m living comfortably and happily in the desert, and take a life in a fifth-floor walk-up somewhere in Bushwick where I’d pay twice as much for the same size space that I’m currently living in.
But I just don’t like Dunham’s show. The characters are unrepentantly self-involved, frequently make terrible decisions that are justified in the stupidest possible ways, and seem to “resolve” issues with some combination of sex, alcohol and/or partying, followed by an obnoxiously long, self-serving scene of dialogue where one character attempts to convince another that they are (or are not) a terrible human being. If I wanted to watch that, I’d go find YouTube video diaries—or at least hire someone to follow me around with a video camera.
Either way, here’s the trailer for the new season.
This article appears in Nov 29 – Dec 5, 2012.