Girls and Veep Update

As promised, I watched Veep on Sunday. Really enjoyed it. I liked the tone, the directing, the actors, it was really funny and good. No complaints.

I was really impressed how confident it felt for a pilot. It seemed like they had been doing the show a long time, and that's a hard thing to pull off.

I'm not sure why the "critics" have to slobber all over themselves about Girls and yet, although they liked Veep, didn't feel the need to pronounce it the greatest new thing on TV. I'm sorry, but Veep is a far better pilot than Girls. It just is.

Okay, onto Girls. I watched the 2nd episode, and I have to say, it was WAY better than the first episode. Way better. I actually laughed and thought it was a huge improvement.  The job interview scene was great, as was the last scene with the doctor. Good stuff.

But I'm still angry! Because from what I've been reading, if you say you don't like this show, you must be a jealous, misogynist, bitter human being with a penis and testicles.

Fuck you. That first episode wasn't that great. I'm allowed to not like things!

The people who like this show are so God Damn sensitive. Relax.

Part of the problem, I think, is that the critics got the first 3 episodes of the show to watch before the rest of us saw anything. And from those episodes they thought they had a great show on their hands. Meanwhile, they forgot that the FIRST of those three episodes sort of sucked a dick, so to speak. Again, that's not our fault.

Here's Molly Lambert from Grantland:

"Girls is hilarious, and that is why it's so contentious"

Yeah, you know how angry people get at shows for being so hilarious. That's why everyone hated Seinfeld.

No, the pilot was not hilarious. I did not laugh at it. And I know a lot of others who didn't laugh either. Did you ever think, even for a moment, that maybe it's contentious because YOU kept telling us it was hilarious and it wasn't? No? It's because I have a cock? Got it.

Another segment of the backlash against the backlash, is the argument that Lena Dunham (and the rest of the actresses) did not get ahead because of nepotism. I've seen this in various places but here's Molly Lambert again:

"Girls writer/director/creator Lena Dunham, is not well-known outside of the New York art world, and being Laurie Simmons's daughter is hardly the kind of key that opens doors in Hollywood"

Okay, bull fucking shit. Look, I don't care about nepotism, that's just the way the world works. But let's not start pretending that Lena Dunham didn't have a leg up on someone who came to New York (or Hollywood) not knowing a soul.

The fact is, growing up in New York amongst artists helps. Big time. Compare that to someone who grew up in Kansas and flies to Manhattan after college without any idea who anyone is or how to get a job. Yeah, I think a few doors were opened for Dunham at an early age.

I have friends who grew up in LA and friends who didn't grow up in LA. And there is a gigantic difference between them. The LA people are wired in on a completely different level. Same with people from Harvard. Tons of successful comedy writers have come from there, and it's a huge advantage to go there and work on the Lampoon. This isn't a bad thing, and I would never complain about it in a million years, but let's not deny how helpful it is.

Meanwhile, Brian Williams's daughter is going around telling everyone that she got the role because she made a youtube video that was miraculously spotted by Judd Apatow. Unfortunately for her, there are pictures of her and her dad palling around with Apatow years and years ago. But I'm sure that had nothing to do with it, right Tori Spelling?

Again, I'm fine with nepotism. But don't piss on my head and tell me it's raining. You got ahead because of who you knew, just like almost everyone else in New York and LA. Just be honest about it.

But back to the positives. The second episode was better. Hopefully the rest of the series will be more like that and not like the pilot. We can only hope. Because if it isn't, that means all of you not only hate Girls, you also hate girls.