Good on HBO for pushing Girls into the forefront of topical culture discussions. It’s quite a clever publicity tactic: get everyone weighing in on your Sunday night show, from James Franco to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (seriously), and then all of a sudden it seems like everyone is talking about it, and your ratings soar. Even better is if there’s backlash and controversy, so that not having an opinion on the show is a sign of really being out of the loop. Whether or not you like it, you have to at this point be aware of Girls. Right now it’s probably the most talked about television show, although Enlightened is starting to enter more and more conversations.
The cultural significance of the show isn’t what those critical of the show are arguing against, although it’s likely that this is what they’re reacting to, thinking it doesn’t deserve this status as one of the most well-regarded shows on TV today. The backlash is pointed and harsh. There’s a real resentment behind the objections people have to the show, often though not always with a misogynistic tinge. It’s not good enough to be lukewarm about Girls; it is to be either adored or despised. I happen to be of the opinion that a lot of people hate the show for reasons that are utterly asinine. Not only that, they’re usually reasons that are filled with hypocrisy, applying a standard to Lena Dunham that is rarely or never applied to other showrunners and artists.
I’ve compiled a list of 7 different things I hear from people who think the Girls is the worst show ever. They’re all horsecrap, obviously, and I’ll try to explain why that is, and why the show is actually one of the best TV has to offer right now.
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