HBO's Girls Season 2 (1 Viewer)

[Steve Armbrust]

But what's sometimes a good thing about the proliferation of channels and shrinking audience size for even the most popular ones is that shows can be targeted to particular audiences without worrying about offending or catering to the "majority" of people. Kudos to Girls for having a vision and sticking with it, and to HBO for airing it, even though I'm not their targeted audience and I don't like it much. I've been lucky enough to get to watch Friday Night Lights, and Fringe, and Chuck, and Parenthood, and Treme, and The Wire, and for heaven's sake even Secret Life of the American Teenager, all shows that wouldn't have aired in the olden days of three networks.

 

[JohnS]

Allison Williams gets another sex scene. And a weird one at that. "Bad Friend" episode was good yet strange.

 

[TravisR]

Both shows on HBO last night featured their characters doing alot of cocaine in a bathroom.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Allison Williams gets another sex scene. And a weird one at that.

I would pay money to see Brian Williams' reaction when he watches his daughter in these Austin Powers-esque "show nothing, while implying her character is doing PG-13/R rated things" scenes.

 

[JohnS]

To get a leg up on Superbowl, HBO is giving us next weeks episode now. Look for it On Demand.

 

[mattCR]

I'm waiting for Hannah, who was freaked out and nervous over STDs in Season 1 to find out that her one night stand with a cocaine junkie has left her with herpes.

 

[JohnS]

The new epiosde airs tonight. Or find it on demand. "It's a Shame About Ray" was a good episode. I liked Hannah's dinner party and how each couple had their own fight.

 

[Patrick Sun]

We can put the "has Jessa been topless" question to rest after last episode.

 

[TravisR]

^ That episode was up On Demand last week and didn't want to spoil it. Nice use of Wonderwall.

 

[mattCR]

Probably the worst episode of this series. Just brutal in it's bad-ness

 

[TravisR]

Wow, I thought it was one of the best episodes they've ever done. It was fairly unpleasant to watch since you saw a raw side of Hannah but it seemed absolutely real.

 

[JohnS]

I really loved "One Man's Trash" episode. One of the best. Some people online are even thinking that this might have been a dream episode for Hannah

 

[Patrick Sun]

WTF?

 

[schan1269]

I still have hope Allison does Playboy... Maybe Hef will conjure up "more than his normal fee" and do a spread featuring "famous-ish" daughter... McCain Bush x2 Williams Gore (first person to buy the issue would be Dee Snider...so he could burn it...)

 

[WillG]

Sorry in advance for threadcrapping. The more I watch this show, the more I find it completely reprehensible. I saw two episodes of the new season in the last couple of weeks, and I just hate these people that much more. I saw one where the the British one destroys the guy she marries and then gets naked in the tub with Dunham. I know there's not many females on this forum, but can someone tell me if mid 20's women actually do take baths together? Next one I see is where Dunham does a bunch of coke. Since She's the "Voice of a Generation" according to the media, is it a good idea to glorify cocaine use? And it seems with every new episode we get to see more of her awful tattoos. I know they're Dunham's real tats, but if her character is supposed to be so poor, how could she afford to have thousands of dollars worth of tattoos? Despite what I have said, I don't believe shows and movies have to stick to "rules" but I question why this show is such "genius" and such a critical darling. Also, I wonder why Dunham just doesn't go do porn. It seems that she very much likes to expose herself. It seems like every episode I've seen she finds a way to show her tits even there's no real narrative reason t do so.

 

[TravisR]

^ I believe they said in the show (and in real life) that her tattoos were 'homemade' by herself and friends when she was a teenager. I can't see anyone saying that they glorified cocaine use. They both seemed like total morons when they were high, she got into a fight with her friend and then she banged some weird looking scumbag downstairs. If someone looks at those actions and thinks "Cool", I can't muster much sympathy for them. I'd ask why you even keep watching the show but I watch and hate Game Of Thrones every week so I can't talk.

 

[Walter C]

Originally Posted by TravisR
I'd ask why you even keep watching the show but I watch and hate Game Of Thrones every week so I can't talk.

The definition of hate-watching!

 

[WillG]

I can't see anyone saying that they glorified cocaine use. They both seemed like total morons when they were high

True, but it was pretty clear they were having a pretty good time during their high. And then they go back and shovel down some more. Hannah didn't seem to have much trepidation for initially indulging either. It like it was "I need to write an article, so I'm going to snort some coke." None of her friends did much to discourage her. I'd like to think if I had a friend who had never done coke before and was declaring intentions to use it, I'd try to persuade that friend to not do so.

If someone looks at those actions and thinks "Cool", I can't muster much sympathy for them.

You and I both know there are plenty of dummies out there that would be happy to emulate that behavior. Especially if this show is a "real" as the media/fans make it out to be. And if Dunham currently truly represents the Zeitgeist of pop culture as the media would suggest, then I'm sure there are plenty who would say "Hannah went out and had a great time getting coked up, looks like fun". I feel the show really sends a bad message (and granted, I'm a bit sensitive to drug glorification in the media since I've personally witnessed drug abuse seriously derail the lives of friends I've had in the past) but it's not just the drug thing, I think in general the show sends a bad message. Don't work, leach off others, act like a dunce, get bad tattoos, keep giving yourself sexually to people who don't appreciate/mistreat you, be promiscuous then just get an abortion etc. And the media/critics eat this up and seem to look on this with a "Go Girl!" attitude when anyone with a brain in their head should be saying "Don't be these people." Maybe I could forgive some of these character flaws if I could at least find them likeable, but I can't even muster up any general warm feelings for them. If I had a daughter that turned out to be like Hannah, I'd be very disappointed.

I'd ask why you even keep watching the show

I wouldn't necessarily say I keep watching it. I'm not really that drawn to it. But I guess there's some curiosity, mainly due to how the media hypes up the show, I think "Ok, I'll give it another chance, maybe there's something I'm just not getting yet" But, as per my comments, I come away thinking the show just gets uglier. Partly also because at the time last night I watched the episode there was a lack of anything else interesting on.

 

[TravisR]

I missed your reply last week.

You and I both know there are plenty of dummies out there that would be happy to emulate that behavior. Especially if this show is a "real" as the media/fans make it out to be. And if Dunham currently truly represents the Zeitgeist of pop culture as the media would suggest, then I'm sure there are plenty who would say "Hannah went out and had a great time getting coked up, looks like fun". I feel the show really sends a bad message (and granted, I'm a bit sensitive to drug glorification in the media since I've personally witnessed drug abuse seriously derail the lives of friends I've had in the past) but it's not just the drug thing, I think in general the show sends a bad message. Don't work, leach off others, act like a dunce, get bad tattoos, keep giving yourself sexually to people who don't appreciate/mistreat you, be promiscuous then just get an abortion etc. And the media/critics eat this up and seem to look on this with a "Go Girl!" attitude when anyone with a brain in their head should be saying "Don't be these people."

I've never once heard or read someone say that these characters were something to aspire to be like. They're fucked up and the show and critics have never been shy of acknowledging that. I don't have a high opinion of humanity but no person watching this show is going to go from making all the right decisions in life to emulating the behavior of these characters. You can't watch this show and think "These broads got it together, I want to be like them. Time for drugs, random sex and narcissim." I suppose it's possible that some moron could watch the show, ignore the obvious negatives shown in the episode and only see the 'fun' side of cocaine use but if that's the beginning of their spiral into druge abuse, it was going to happen with or without Girls. For what it's worth, Hannah didn't do Whipits with everyone else in last night's episode... then she fucked some kid who might have been underage.

 

[WillG]

I've never once heard or read someone say that these characters were something to aspire to be like.

Maybe not overtly, but I can't help but think that the romance the media/press has with the show "validates" these characters to some degree. And also, Hannah and co may be broke, moronic, promiscuous, have casual attitudes about drug use, and even occasionally quite nasty but they always seem to end up ok in the end so far.

They're fucked up and the show and critics have never been shy of acknowledging that.

I'm not so sure I agree with you on that. I think a lot of the criticism tip toes around how truly dysfunctional the characters are. It seems like they like to view Hannah and co in a "quirky but cute" kind of way.

You can't watch this show and think "These broads got it together, I want to be like them. Time for drugs, random sex and narcissim." I suppose it's possible that some moron could watch the show, ignore the obvious negatives shown in the episode and only see the 'fun' side of cocaine use but if that's the beginning of their spiral into druge abuse, it was going to happen with or without Girls.

I agree with you and maybe I didn't get my point across as well as I could have. I don't blame entertainment as a root cause of antisocial/deviant/violent behavior. Sane people don't play Call of Duty and then decide to shoot up a school, for example. But it doesn't stop facets of the media/politicians etc from placing direct blame on violent video games when a mass shooting occurs. Look at the Janet Jackson Super Bowl incident and how it rocked the whole broadcast industry over barely a second of exposed nipple (and I realize that a public airwaves broadcast watched by an enormous audience of all ages and a show on premium cable are not apples to apples.) But the same media fawns over this show with an amount of glowing praise that I have rarely seen. It's more of a hypocrisy thing to me. Some forms of entertainment are attacked because they "obviously" send wrong messages and lead to deviant behavior, but "Girls" largely gets a pass. I guess on a whole though, I'll never understand why this show is seen as so brilliant. It's definitely not the worst thing I've seen, but I find it immensely over-hyped.