''Girls'' is an American
comedy-drama
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
television series created by and starring
Lena Dunham
Lena Dunham (, born May 13, 1986) is an American writer, director, actress, and producer. She is known as the creator, writer, and star of the HBO television series ''Girls (TV series), Girls'' (2012–2017), for which she received several Emmy ...
, executive-produced by
Judd Apatow
Judd Apatow (; born December 6, 1967) is an American comedian, director, producer, and screenwriter, best known for his work in comedy and drama films. He is the founder of Apatow Productions, through which he produced and directed the films ' ...
. The series depicts four young women living in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. The show's premise was drawn from Dunham's own life, as were major aspects of the main character, including financial isolation from her parents, becoming a writer, and making unfortunate decisions.
The first season of ''Girls'' was filmed between April and August 2011. The first three episodes were screened at the 2012
SXSW Festival and the series premiered on
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
on April 15, 2012.
The second season ran on HBO from January 13, 2013, to March 17, 2013. The third season, which contained 12 episodes (the previous seasons had 10 episodes) ran from January 12, 2014, to March 23, 2014. The fourth season of the series started filming in April 2014 and premiered on January 11, 2015.
The fifth season premiered on February 21, 2016. ''Girls'' sixth and final season concluded on April 16, 2017. There were a total of 62 episodes.
The show has received critical praise and awards, including the
and the
.
Synopsis
Aspiring writer Hannah is shocked when her parents, visiting from
East Lansing, Michigan
East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County, Michigan, Ingham County with a smaller portion extending north into Clinton County, Michigan, Clinton County. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 ...
, announce that they will no longer financially support her as they had done since her graduation from
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...
two years earlier. Left to her own devices in
Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Hannah navigates her twenties, "one mistake at a time."
Allison Williams,
Jemima Kirke
Jemima Jo M Kirke (born 26 April 1985) is a British-American artist, actress and director. She gained international acclaim through her role as Jessa Johansson on the HBO series ''Girls''. She made her film debut in the 2005 indie short '' Smil ...
,
Zosia Mamet
Zosia Russell MametAccording to Vermont Births, 1981–2001, and Vermont Birth Records, 1909–2008, at Ancestry.com. (; born February 2, 1988) is an American actress and musician who has appeared in television series including ''Mad Men'', ' ...
,
Adam Driver
Adam Douglas Driver (born November 19, 1983) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including nominations for two Academy Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award; making him one of few performers nominated ...
, and
Alex Karpovsky
Alexander Karpovsky (born September 23, 1975)Rick PorterAlex Karpovsky - Apple TV ''Apple TV'' is an American director, actor, screenwriter, producer and film editor. He is best known for playing Ray Ploshansky on the HBO comedy-drama series ''Gi ...
co-star as Hannah's circle of friends.
Cast and characters
Main cast
*
Lena Dunham
Lena Dunham (, born May 13, 1986) is an American writer, director, actress, and producer. She is known as the creator, writer, and star of the HBO television series ''Girls (TV series), Girls'' (2012–2017), for which she received several Emmy ...
as Hannah Helene Horvath: an aspiring writer living in
Greenpoint, Brooklyn, originally from
East Lansing, Michigan
East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County, Michigan, Ingham County with a smaller portion extending north into Clinton County, Michigan, Clinton County. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 ...
, known for her spunk and bad decisions, who struggles to support herself and find a direction in her life. In season two, she struggles with a relapse of the OCD symptoms she suffered from in her youth. In the final season, she becomes pregnant after a brief fling, and later leaves New York City to take a teaching job upstate and raise her baby.
*
Allison Williams as Marnie Marie Michaels: Hannah's best friend and, at the start of season 1, roommate. Along with Jessa, Charlie and Elijah, Marnie was a classmate of Hannah's at Oberlin College. She worked as an art gallery assistant, but is later fired in Season 2 and is left to pursue her dream: a career in music. Domineering and arguably as self-centred and narcissistic as Hannah, Marnie struggles in her relationships with Charlie and Ray for much of the series, and eventually ends up marrying her musical partner, Desi Harperin. When both her career and her marriage collapse, she eventually moves upstate with Hannah to help raise her baby.
*
Jemima Kirke
Jemima Jo M Kirke (born 26 April 1985) is a British-American artist, actress and director. She gained international acclaim through her role as Jessa Johansson on the HBO series ''Girls''. She made her film debut in the 2005 indie short '' Smil ...
as Jessa Johansson: One of Hannah's closest friends, Jessa is a
global citizen
Global citizenship is the idea that one's identity transcends geography or political borders and that responsibilities or rights are derived from membership in a broader class: "humanity". This does not mean that such a person denounces or waives ...
of British origin, and is known for being bohemian, unpredictable, and brash. At the start of the series, Jessa has recently returned to New York from a stint abroad, and becomes roommates with her cousin, Shoshanna, in
Nolita
Nolita, sometimes written as NoLIta and deriving from "North of Little Italy",Roberts, Sam"New York’s Little Italy, Littler by the Year"''New York Times'' (February 21, 2011) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. No ...
, Manhattan. Jessa navigates many life struggles and poor choices, including a short-lived marriage and a stint in rehab due to heroin and cocaine addiction. When she pursues a relationship with Hannah's ex-boyfriend, Adam, she and Hannah have an explosive falling out. In the final season, she struggles with the realization that her life is in tatters, and is abandoned by Shosh. Ultimately, she manages to make her peace with Hannah before she leaves New York.
*
Zosia Mamet
Zosia Russell MametAccording to Vermont Births, 1981–2001, and Vermont Birth Records, 1909–2008, at Ancestry.com. (; born February 2, 1988) is an American actress and musician who has appeared in television series including ''Mad Men'', ' ...
as Shoshanna Shapiro: Jessa's naive and innocent American cousin who's a Media, Culture, and Communications major at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
. She is a fan of the TV series ''
Sex and the City
''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City (newspaper column), newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the ...
'' and is embarrassed to still be a virgin at the start of the series. The character is fast talking and her lack of enunciation gives her a mumbling, nervous persona. As the series progresses, Shoshanna graduates and struggles to find a career path that suits her. After a brief career stint in Japan, she comes to realize that her friendship with the other three has only ever held her back, and ultimately distances herself from them.
*
Adam Driver
Adam Douglas Driver (born November 19, 1983) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including nominations for two Academy Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award; making him one of few performers nominated ...
as Adam Sackler: an aloof, passionate young man, Adam works as a part-time carpenter and actor. At the start of the series, he is in a casual relationship with Hannah, which becomes serious before ultimately falling apart as he gains success as an actor. He later enters a mercurial relationship with Jessa, which is implied to be ongoing as the series ends. Adam is an alcoholic who has been sober for years.
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
-winning art critic
Jerry Saltz
Jerry Saltz (born February 19, 1951, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American art critic. Since 2006, he has been senior art critic and columnist for '' New York'' magazine. Formerly the senior art critic for ''The Village Voice'', he received the Pu ...
has endorsed the idea that Adam is intended to be a fictional scion of the real-life
Sackler family
The Sackler family is an American family who founded and owned the pharmaceutical companies Purdue Pharma and Mundipharma. Purdue Pharma, and some members of the family, have faced lawsuits regarding overprescription of addictive pharmaceutical d ...
, and that Adam’s substance abuse and art world adjacency are intended as commentary on the real-life family's controversial relationship with the opioid crisis and
arts philanthropy. Dunham has not commented on whether the character’s naming was intentional.
*
Alex Karpovsky
Alexander Karpovsky (born September 23, 1975)Rick PorterAlex Karpovsky - Apple TV ''Apple TV'' is an American director, actor, screenwriter, producer and film editor. He is best known for playing Ray Ploshansky on the HBO comedy-drama series ''Gi ...
as Raymond "Ray" Ploshansky: Originally Charlie's friend, but later a friend of the others, and the group's
straight man
The straight man is a stock character in a comedy performance, especially a double act, sketch comedy, or farce. When a comedy partner behaves eccentrically, the straight man is expected to maintain composure. The direct contribution to the ...
. Eventually, he has sexual and romantic relationships with both Shoshanna and Marnie. At the start of season 3, he is made manager of a spin-off of Grumpy's, called Ray's.
*
Andrew Rannells as Elijah Krantz: Hannah's ex-boyfriend from college, who reveals that he is gay. Despite some initial hostility between the pair, they eventually become friends and later roommates on and off. The two grow much closer as roommates.
*
Ebon Moss-Bachrach
Ebon Moss-Bachrach (born March 19, 1977) is an American actor best known for playing the role of David Lieberman in ''The Punisher'' and Desi Harperin in ''Girls''. Since 2022, Moss-Bachrach has played Richard "Richie" Jerimovich in the drama s ...
as Desi Harperin: Adam's co-star in ''Major Barbara'' and Marnie's bandmate. Despite having a girlfriend, Clementine, he and Marnie engage in a sexual relationship that he keeps secret, to Marnie's chagrin. Clementine eventually breaks up with him. He and Marnie have a public relationship. They become engaged, and later marry. Marnie eventually ends the relationship with him when she tires of his childishness and self-indulgence. In season 6, it is revealed that Desi is addicted to prescription pain killers after Marnie cheats on Ray with him.
*
Jake Lacy
Jake Lacy (born February 14, 1985) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Pete Miller on the ninth and final season of ''The Office'', as Fran Parker in the fourth and fifth seasons of HBO's ''Girls'', and his role as Shane Patt ...
as Fran Parker, a colleague of Hannah's whom she dates. In season 5, Fran moves in with Hannah and Elijah, but he and Hannah break up by the end of the season.
Recurring cast
*
Becky Ann Baker
Becky Ann Baker (née Gelke; born February 17, 1953) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles of Jean Weir on NBC comedy-drama series ''Freaks and Geeks'' (1999–2000) and Loreen Horvath on HBO comedy-drama series ''Girls'' (2012â ...
and
Peter Scolari
Peter Thomas Scolari (September 12, 1955 – October 22, 2021) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Michael Harris on ''Newhart'' (1984–1990), Henry Desmond on ''Bosom Buddies'' (1980–1982) and Wayne Szalinski on ''Hone ...
as Loreen and Tad Horvath (season 1–6): Hannah's parents. They are both college professors at
Michigan State University
Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...
, and they live in
East Lansing, Michigan
East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County, Michigan, Ingham County with a smaller portion extending north into Clinton County, Michigan, Clinton County. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 ...
. Loreen and Tad cut off Hannah's financial support in the pilot episode so that Hannah will become independent and focus on her writing. Hannah then visits them for their 30th anniversary, but does not share her recent financial troubles. In the fourth season, the marriage breaks down when Tad comes out as gay, and after a year of struggling on his own, Tad moves to New York to pursue a relationship with his new boyfriend (
Ethan Phillips
Ethan Phillips (born John Ethan Phillips February 8, 1955) is an American actor and playwright. He is best known for his television roles as Neelix on '' Star Trek: Voyager'' and PR man Pete Downey on '' Benson''.
Personal life
Phillips was raise ...
), while Loreen adjusts to life on her own, starts consuming cannabis and eventually fills the role of grandmother to Hannah's baby. (Baker, 20 episodes; Scolari, 21 episodes)
*
Christopher Abbott
Christopher Jacob Abbott (born February 1, 1986) is an American actor. Abbott made his feature film debut in ''Martha Marcy May Marlene'' (2011). Abbott's other notable films include '' Hello I Must Be Going'' (2012) '' The Sleepwalker'' (2014) ...
as Charlie Dattolo (season 1–2, 5): Marnie's ex-boyfriend, with whom she became increasingly bored. For a while they contemplate their relationship and try to make it work, but eventually this erodes and Charlie leaves the series. Upon Charlie's abrupt return in season 5, he and Marnie briefly decide to run away together until Marnie realizes Charlie isn't the person he used to be. (13 episodes)
*
Kathryn Hahn
Kathryn Marie Hahn (born July 23, 1973) is an American actress and comedian. She began her career on television, starring as grief counselor Lily Lebowski in the NBC crime drama series ''Crossing Jordan'' (2001–2007). Hahn gained prominence ap ...
and
James LeGros
James Le Gros () (born April 27, 1962) is an American actor. He was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in '' Living in Oblivion''.
Career
James Le Gros appeared as Rick in Gus Van Sant's 1989 ...
as Katherine and Jeff Lavoyt (season 1): The parents of two young girls that Jessa babysat. Katherine is a documentary filmmaker, and Jeff is unemployed. Jeff develops a romantic interest in Jessa, which she eventually stops. She is fired, but is later visited by Katherine who offers her job back. Despite deciding not to see each other again, they have a heart-to-heart over Jeff and Jessa's inability to grow up. (4 episodes each)
*
Chris O'Dowd
Christopher O'Dowd (born 9 October 1979) is an Irish actor and comedian. He received wide attention as Roy Trenneman, one of the lead characters in the Channel 4 comedy ''The IT Crowd'', which ran for four series between 2006 and 2010. He has ...
as Thomas-John (season 1–2): An affluent
venture capitalist
Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which hav ...
. After an earlier unpleasant encounter with Jessa and Marnie, he ends up marrying Jessa in a surprise ceremony at the end of the first season. They break up after an unpleasant dinner with his parents. (5 episodes)
*
Jon Glaser
Jonathan Daniel Glaser (born June 20, 1968) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for his work as a writer and sketch performer for many years on '' Late Night with Conan O'Brien'', creating and starring in the Adult Swim ...
as Laird Schlesinger (season 2–6): Hannah's neighbor and a recovering drug addict. (12 episodes)
*
Colin Quinn
Colin Edward Quinn (born June 6, 1959) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. Quinn first gained widespread attention for his work as a cast member and writer for the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2 ...
as Hermie (season 2–6): Ray's boss at the coffee shop. He dies in "Painful Evacuation" from
scleroderma
Scleroderma is a group of autoimmune diseases that may result in changes to the skin, blood vessels, muscles, and internal organs. The disease can be either localized to the skin or involve other organs, as well. Symptoms may include areas ...
. (8 episodes)
*
John Cameron Mitchell
John Cameron Mitchell (born April 21, 1963) is a two-time Tony Award winning American actor, playwright, screenwriter, singer, songwriter, producer and director. He is best known as the writer, director and star of the 2001 film '' Hedwig and th ...
as David Pressler-Goings (season 2–3): Hannah's editor for her e-book. He is either bisexual or gay, as he downloaded the application
Grindr
Grindr () is a location-based social networking and online dating application targeted towards members of the gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community.
It was one of the first geosocial apps for gay men when it launched in March 2009 an ...
in the episode "She Said OK". He is found dead in the episode "Dead Inside" with his funeral taking place at "Only Child" where it is revealed he had a wife named Annalise. (5 episodes)
*
Shiri Appleby
Shiri Freda Appleby (born December 7, 1978) is an American actress and television director. She is best known for her leading roles as Liz Parker in the WB/UPN science fiction drama series '' Roswell'' (1999–2002) and Rachel Goldberg in the L ...
as Natalia (season 2–3): Adam's ex-girlfriend. He abruptly breaks up with her after getting back together with Hannah. (4 episodes)
*
Gaby Hoffmann
Gabrielle Mary Antonia HoffmannStated on ''Finding Your Roots'', November 21, 2017 (born January 8, 1982) is an American actress. She initially found success as a child actress, appearing in ''Field of Dreams,'' ''Uncle Buck,'' and ''Sleeples ...
as Caroline Sackler (season 3–6): Adam's extremely troubled sister. She is very sarcastic towards Adam and Hannah until the latter kicks her out. She then lived with Laird, became pregnant by him and gave birth to their daughter before going AWOL in the fifth season. (8 episodes)
*
Richard E. Grant as Jasper (season 3): Jessa's friend from rehab. He comes to New York to find Jessa but later leaves her to be with his estranged daughter Dot. (4 episodes)
*
Gillian Jacobs
Gillian MacLaren Jacobs (; born October 19, 1982) is an American actress and director. She is known for her roles as Britta Perry on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015) and Mickey Dobbs on the Netflix romantic comedy series ''Love'' (2016â ...
as Mimi-Rose Howard (season 4), Adam's new girlfriend after Hannah moves away to Iowa. (5 episodes)
*
Aidy Bryant
Aidan Mackenzy Bryant (born May 7, 1987) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the late-night variety series ''Saturday Night Live'' (2012–2022), beginning in season 38, and leaving at the end of season 47. For her wo ...
as Abigail (season 4–6): Shoshanna's former boss from when she worked in Japan. She later appears again meeting Shoshanna and Ray by chance and works with Ray to continue Hermie's project of documenting the effects of gentrification. Ray and Abigail get on well together leading to them sharing a kiss. (4 episodes)
*
Corey Stoll
Corey Stoll (born March 14, 1976) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Congressman Peter Russo on the Netflix political thriller series ''House of Cards'' (2013–2016), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination in 2013 ...
as Dill Harcourt (season 5–6): Elijah's love interest. (5 episodes)
Production
Lena Dunham's 2010 second feature, ''
Tiny Furniture
''Tiny Furniture'' is a 2010 American comedy-drama film written, directed by, and starring Lena Dunham. The film premiered at South by Southwest, where it won the award for Best Narrative Feature, screened at such festivals as Maryland Film Fes ...
''—which she wrote, directed and starred in—received positive reviews at festivals as well as awards attention, including Best Narrative Feature at
South by Southwest
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...
and Best First Screenplay at the 2010
Independent Spirit Awards
The Independent Spirit Awards (abbreviated Spirit Awards and originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards), founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with Poly(methyl m ...
.
The independent film's success earned her the opportunity to collaborate with
Judd Apatow
Judd Apatow (; born December 6, 1967) is an American comedian, director, producer, and screenwriter, best known for his work in comedy and drama films. He is the founder of Apatow Productions, through which he produced and directed the films ' ...
for an
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
pilot. Judd Apatow said he was drawn to Dunham's imagination after watching ''Tiny Furniture'', and added that ''Girls'' would provide men with an insight into "realistic females."
Some of the struggles facing Dunham's character Hannah—including being cut off financially from her parents, becoming a writer and making unfortunate decisions—are inspired by Dunham's real-life experiences.
The show's look is achieved by furnishings at a number of vintage boutiques in New York, including
Brooklyn Flea
Brooklyn Flea is a company based in Brooklyn, New York. Founded in 2008 by Jonathan Butler, creator of Brownstoner Magazine, and Eric Demby, the former communications director for Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Flea runs sev ...
and
Geminola Geminola was a New York vintage clothing store located at 41 Perry Street in the West Village. It was founded in 2004 by Lorraine Kirke, the ex of Free and Bad Company musician Simon Kirke. The store's name was a combination of the names of three o ...
owned by
Jemima Kirke
Jemima Jo M Kirke (born 26 April 1985) is a British-American artist, actress and director. She gained international acclaim through her role as Jessa Johansson on the HBO series ''Girls''. She made her film debut in the 2005 indie short '' Smil ...
's mother.
Dunham said ''Girls'' reflects a part of the population not portrayed in the 1998 HBO series ''
Sex and the City
''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City (newspaper column), newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the ...
''. "''
Gossip Girl
''Gossip Girl'' is an American teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series, developed for television by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, ran on The CW network for six sea ...
'' was teens duking it out on the
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...
and ''Sex and the City'' was women who
adfigured out work and friends and now want to nail romance and family life. There was this 'hole-in-between' space that hadn't really been addressed," she said.
The pilot intentionally references ''Sex and the City'' as producers wanted to make it clear that the driving force behind ''Girls'' is that the characters were inspired by the former HBO series and moved to New York to pursue their dreams.
Dunham herself says she "revere
that show just as much as any girl of my generation".
As executive producer,
Dunham and Jennifer Konner are both
showrunner
A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...
s of the series while Dunham is also the
head writer
A head writer is a person who oversees the team of writers on a television or radio series. The title is common in the soap opera genre, as well as with sketch comedies and talk shows that feature monologues and comedy skits. In fictional comedy o ...
.
Apatow is also executive producer,
under his
Apatow Productions
Apatow Productions (or The Apatow Company) is an American film and television production company founded by Judd Apatow in 1999.
The company's first television production was the comedy series ''Freaks and Geeks'' (1999–2000) and its first film ...
label. Dunham wrote or co-wrote all ten episodes of the first season and directed five, including the pilot.
Season one was filmed between April and August 2011 and consisted of 10 episodes. The second season ran on HBO from January 13, 2013, to March 17, 2013, and also consisted of 10 episodes.
On April 4, 2013, Christopher Abbott left the series after sources reported he and Dunham had differences with the direction that his reoccurring character Charlie was taking as the third season entered production. Dunham announced via Instagram on September 6, 2013, that production for the third season had concluded. Season 3, which contained 12 episodes as opposed to the previous 10-episode seasons, ran from January 12, 2014, to March 23, 2014. The fourth season of the series started filming in April 2014.
On January 5, 2016, HBO announced that the series' sixth season would be its last, allowing the writers to create a proper finale.
Episodes
Reception
Critical response
Season 1
The first season of ''Girls'' received universal acclaim from television critics. On review aggregation website
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the first season of the series holds an average of 87 based on 29 reviews.
The website also lists the show as the highest-rated fictional series debut of 2012.
James Poniewozik from ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' reserved high praise for the series, calling it "raw, audacious, nuanced and richly, often excruciatingly funny".
Tim Goodman of ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' called ''Girls'' "one of the most original, spot-on, no-missed-steps series in recent memory". Reviewing the first three episodes at the 2012 SXSW Festival, he said the series conveys "real female friendships, the angst of emerging adulthood, nuanced relationships, sexuality, self-esteem, body image, intimacy in a tech-savvy world that promotes distance, the bloodlust of surviving New York on very little money and the modern parenting of entitled children, among many other things—all laced together with humor and poignancy". ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' also applauded the series and said: "''Girls'' may be the
millennial generation
Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the Western demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 20 ...
's rebuttal to ''
Sex and the City
''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City (newspaper column), newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the ...
'', but the first season was at times as cruelly insightful and bleakly funny as ''
Louie'' on FX or ''
Curb Your Enthusiasm
''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' is an American television sitcom produced and broadcast by HBO since October 15, 2000, and created by Larry David, who stars as a semi-fictionalized version of himself. It follows David's life as a semi-retired televisio ...
'' on HBO."
Despite many positive reviews, several critics criticized the characters themselves.
Gawker
''Gawker'' is an American blog founded by Nick Denton and Elizabeth Spiers and based in New York City focusing on celebrities and the media industry. According to SimilarWeb, the site had over 23 million visits per month as of 2015. Founded in ...
's John Cook strongly criticised ''Girls'', saying it was "a television program about the children of wealthy famous people and shitty music and Facebook and how hard it is to know who you are and Thought Catalog and sexually transmitted diseases and the exhaustion of ceaselessly dramatizing your own life while posing as someone who understands the fundamental emptiness and narcissism of that very self-dramatization."
Season 2
The second season of ''Girls'' continued to receive critical acclaim. On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the second season of the series holds an average of 84 based on 19 reviews.
Tim Goodman of ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' stated that "''Girls'' kicks off its second season even more assured of itself, able to deftly work strands of hard-earned drama into the free-flowing comedic moments of four postcollege girls trying to find their way in life". David Wiegland of the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'' said that "The entire constellation of impetuous, ambitious, determined and insecure young urbanites in ''Girls'' is realigning in the new season, but at no point in the four episodes sent to critics for review do you feel that any of it is artificial". Verne Gay of ''
Newsday
''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...
'' said it is "Sharper, smarter, more richly layered, detailed and acted". Ken Tucker of ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' felt that "As bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as it was in its first season, ''Girls'' may now be even spunkier, funnier, and riskier". In reference to the series' growth, Willa Paskin of ''
Salon
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments
* French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home
* Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment
Arts and entertainment
* Salon (P ...
'' thought that ''Girls'' "has matured by leaps and bounds, comedically and structurally, but it has jettisoned some of its ambiguity, its sweetness, its own affection for its characters. It's more coherent, but it's also safer."
Season 3
The third season of ''Girls'' received generally positive reviews. On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the third season of the series holds an average of 76 based on 18 reviews.
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reports an 89% "Certified Fresh" approval rating from critics, based on 27 reviews with an
average score of 7.8/10. The consensus states: "Still rife with shock value, Season 3 of ''Girls'' also benefits from an increasingly mature tone."
Tim Goodman of ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' lauded the first two episodes, and commented: "Going into its third season, Girls is as refreshing and audacious as ever and one of the few half-hour dramedies where you can feel its heart pounding and see its belly ripple with laughter." In addition, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' and ''
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
'' praised the comedic portrayal of its lead female characters.
Season 4
The fourth season of ''Girls'' received generally positive reviews. On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the fourth season of the series holds an average of 75 based on 16 reviews.
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reports an 83% "Certified Fresh" approval rating from critics, based on 24 reviews with an
average score of 7.5/10. The consensus states: "''Girls'' is familiar after four seasons, but its convoluted-yet-comical depiction of young women dealing with the real world still manages to impress."
Season 5
The fifth season of ''Girls'' received generally positive reviews. On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the fifth season of the series holds an average of 73 based on 13 reviews.
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reports an 85% "Certified Fresh" approval rating from critics, based on 20 reviews with an
average score of 8.14/10. The consensus states: "Though some characters have devolved into caricatures, watching them struggle in ''Girls'' is more fun in season five, with sharper humor and narrative consistency than prior seasons."
Daniel Fienberg of ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' gave the season a positive review writing: "''Girls'' had only a niche audience. It's possible that being freed from the responsibility of the zeitgeist is what has kept ''Girls'' so watchable. The start of the fifth season won't launch an armada of think pieces, but if you still get pleasure from watching these flawed, often awful characters make flawed, often funny choices, ''Girls'' is still ''Girls''."
Season 6
The sixth season of ''Girls'' received highly positive reviews from critics. On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the sixth season of the series holds an average of 79 based on 15 reviews.
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reports an 89% approval rating from critics, based on 35 reviews with an
average score of 8.01/10. The consensus states, "In its final season, ''Girls'' remains uncompromising, intelligent, character driven, compassionate – and at times consciously aggravating."
The broadcast of the season's third episode "American Bitch" in Australia on
showcase
Showcase or vitrine may refer to:
*Cabinet (furniture)
*Display case
Music
* ''Showcase'' (Bill Anderson album), 1964
* ''Showcase'' (Patsy Cline album), 1961
* ''Showcase'' (Buddy Holly album), 1964
* ''Showcase'' (Philly Joe Jones album), 1959 ...
had to be edited, due to a scene which breached the maximum
MA15+ classification of the broadcaster.
Accolades
Racial controversy
The premiere of the pilot was also met with criticism regarding the all-white main cast in the otherwise culturally diverse setting of New York City (the only black actors in the pilot were a homeless man and a taxi driver, and the only Asian actress had the sole trait of being good at
Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the industry standard not only in raster ...
).
Writing at ''
The Hairpin
''The Hairpin'' was a women's website in The Awl network. It was founded in 2010 by Edith Zimmerman. It ceased publication at the end of January 2018.
From 2013 to 2014, ''The Hairpin'' was edited by Emma Carmichael, with Jia Tolentino as contri ...
'',
Jenna Wortham
Jenna Wortham is an American journalist. They work as a culture writer for ''The New York Times Magazine'' and co-hosts ''The New York Times'' podcast '' Still Processing'' with Wesley Morris. In 2020, with Kimberly Drew, Wortham published '' Bl ...
rebuked the show for its lack of a main black character. "It feels alienating, a party of four engineered to appeal to a very specific subset of the television viewing audience, when the show has the potential to be so much bigger than that. And that is a huge fucking disappointment."
Lesley Arfin, a writer for the show, responded to the controversy with the tweeted comment: "What really bothered me most about ''
Precious'' was that there was no representation of ME". Arfin later deleted the comment following the uproar.
Lena Dunham has given interviews where she talks about the diversity question with the series, stating that with HBO's renewal of the series for a second season, "these issues will be addressed".
Donald Glover
Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American entertainer, writer, director, and producer. After working in Derrick Comedy while studying at New York University, Glove ...
guest starred as Sandy, a black Republican and Hannah's love interest, in the first two episodes of season two.
Agreeing that there is a lack of racial diversity on ''Girls'', Maureen Ryan from ''
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' argues that the issue is the industry as a whole. "Where are the think pieces taking networks to task for the millionth procedural about a troubled male cop or the millionth comedy about a guy who has problems with women? Why are we holding Lena Dunham's feet to the fire, instead of the heads of networks and studios? That troubles me, not least because it's easier (and lazier) to attack a 25-year-old woman who's just starting out than to attack the men twice her age who actually control the industry. ...I have to say that I'm absolutely astonished that, of all shows, this is the one that is being attacked for being too white. I could list the shows on television with all-white casts, but then we'd be here all day." Dunham has publicly said, "I really wrote the show from a gut-level place, and each character was a piece of me or based on someone close to me". She adds that she wanted to avoid
tokenism
Tokenism is the practice of making only a perfunctory or symbolic effort to be inclusive to members of minority groups, especially by recruiting people from underrepresented groups in order to give the appearance of racial or gender equality wit ...
in casting. The experience of a black character would involve a certain specificity, a type she could not speak to.
Feminism
''Girls'' has prompted debate about its treatment of feminism. It has been praised for its portrayal of women and female friendship but criticized as classist, racist, transphobic and misguided. In an online review for ''Ms Magazine'', Kerensa Cadenas argues, "Despite its lack of a serious class and race consciousness, ''Girls'' does address other feminist issues currently in play, among them body image, abortion, relationships within a social media age, and street harassment. In another series, these issues might be the focus of one episode (e.g., the abortion episode of ''
SATC''), but in ''Girls'' they become everyday topics."
On the other hand, Catherine Scott of ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
,'' writing about season one in 2012, asked, "What's there to celebrate for feminism when black, Hispanic or Asian women are totally written out of a series that's supposedly set in one of the most diverse cities on earth? But also, what's there to celebrate for feminism when a show depicts four entirely self-interested young women and a lead character having the most depressing, disempowered sexual relationships imaginable?"
Broadcast
''Girls'' premiered on April 15, 2012, on HBO in the United States. The first three episodes were screened at the 2012
SXSW Festival on March 12.
HBO renewed the series for a second season of ten episodes on April 30, 2012.
On January 7, 2014, the premiere of the third season of ''Girls'' was shown at the Rose Theater at
Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...
in New York City.
Models
Karlie Kloss
Karlie Elizabeth Kloss (born August 3, 1992) is an American fashion model. ''Vogue Paris'' declared her one of the "top 30 models of the 2000s" when she was 17.
Kloss was a Victoria's Secret Angel from 2013 until 2015; she resigned to study at ...
, Karen Elson, and Hilary Rhoda; designers Nicole Miller, Cynthia Rowley, and Zac Posen; and editors
Anna Wintour
Dame Anna Wintour (; born 3 November 1949) is a British journalist based in New York City who has served as editor-in-Chief of ''Vogue'' since 1988 and Global Chief Content Officer for Condé Nast since 2020; she is also the artistic directo ...
, Joanna Coles, and Amy Astley were all in attendance.
The after party was at the Allen Room and "hosted by
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
and the Cinema Society".
International
''Girls'' premiered on
OSN in the Middle East on September 7, 2012. In Australia, it premiered on
Showcase
Showcase or vitrine may refer to:
*Cabinet (furniture)
*Display case
Music
* ''Showcase'' (Bill Anderson album), 1964
* ''Showcase'' (Patsy Cline album), 1961
* ''Showcase'' (Buddy Holly album), 1964
* ''Showcase'' (Philly Joe Jones album), 1959 ...
on May 28, 2012. The series began airing on
HBO Canada
HBO (previously known as HBO Canada, and still referred to as such on social media) is a Canadian premium television network from Crave (formerly The Movie Network), which is owned by Bell Media. The channel is primarily devoted to original pro ...
on April 15, 2012. In New Zealand, the
SoHo
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was develop ...
channel premiered ''Girls'' in May 2012.
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the series premiered on
Sky Atlantic
Sky Atlantic is a British pay television channel owned by Sky Group Limited broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel is primarily dedicated to imported programmes from the United States, and holds the domestic rights to HBO ...
on October 22, 2012. The second season premiered on January 14, 2013, and the third season began airing on January 20, 2014. The fourth season premiered on January 12, 2015.
Home media
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Girls
2012 American television series debuts
2017 American television series endings
2010s American comedy-drama television series
2010s American LGBT-related comedy television series
2010s American LGBT-related drama television series
BAFTA winners (television series)
Best Musical or Comedy Series Golden Globe winners
English-language television shows
HBO original programming
Obsessive–compulsive disorder in fiction
Peabody Award-winning television programs
Television controversies in the United States
Television series about cousins
Television series by Home Box Office
Television series created by Judd Apatow
Television shows filmed in New York (state)
Television shows set in Brooklyn
Television shows set in Manhattan