it didn't seem strange to me at all either, just kinda a cliched tv way to go about it (announcing it dramatically as an argument shocka)
xp
― iatee, Friday, 20 April 2012 15:02 (twelve years ago) link
hard for me to believe it's only been one week since this aired considering the amount of dissection it's earned. I know it's been said before but I do wonder how different the publicity/backlash would have been if the show was called Lena!
― da croupier, Friday, April 20, 2012 11:01 AM (38 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
i think its more because it's about young ppl in brooklyn having sex + criterion-approved super-young female director, i mean, it hits all the agitated-internet sweet spots
― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Friday, 20 April 2012 15:02 (twelve years ago) link
plus nudity from a non-model and peter scolari; perfect storm imo
― boy, was that Dan Fielding hungry for some cake! (forksclovetofu), Friday, 20 April 2012 15:05 (twelve years ago) link
ya, if it was just peter scolari alone, we would be talking about it and nothing else for weeks
― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Friday, 20 April 2012 15:06 (twelve years ago) link
i don't know about you guys but i think that there has been some GREAT and thoughtful criticism written about this show that i have enjoyed reading way more than i enjoyed watching the show...this is one of those weeks i am actually happy to be living in the age of blogs.
― bene_gesserit, Friday, 20 April 2012 15:06 (twelve years ago) link
Obviously it still would have gotten a lot of attention, but I think such an ambitious title validated both the wave of initial praise and the wave of people holding it to a higher standard than everything else on TV. Which isn't to say the criticism isn't valid, just - as Coates notes - a bit blinkered.
― da croupier, Friday, 20 April 2012 15:06 (twelve years ago) link
I should watch this Tiny Furniture movie, huh?
― mh, Friday, 20 April 2012 15:07 (twelve years ago) link
opinion on that is p divided itt, but i really liked tiny furniture.
― horseshoe, Friday, 20 April 2012 15:08 (twelve years ago) link
if you think about the other options for vanity projects currently on major networks that you could compare this i got two immediate analogues: Louie (which is incredible and is gonna be an unfair comparison at least until GIRLS gets through two seasons) and Whitney, which is so AMAZINGLY shitty that GIRLS is already leaps and bounds ahead of it, so
― boy, was that Dan Fielding hungry for some cake! (forksclovetofu), Friday, 20 April 2012 15:08 (twelve years ago) link
say whatever you want about GIRLS but no one in their right mind would say it's worse than Whitney
― boy, was that Dan Fielding hungry for some cake! (forksclovetofu), Friday, 20 April 2012 15:09 (twelve years ago) link
and I say this as someone who has forced himself to watch the entire first season of Whitney, mostly on ffwd
wth is Whitney?!
― wolf kabob (ENBB), Friday, 20 April 2012 15:10 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.nbc.com/whitney/
― boy, was that Dan Fielding hungry for some cake! (forksclovetofu), Friday, 20 April 2012 15:11 (twelve years ago) link
i don't want to live in a world where "not as bad as whitney" is any kind of laudable achievement
― bene_gesserit, Friday, 20 April 2012 15:17 (twelve years ago) link
yeah that looks dreadful
― wolf kabob (ENBB), Friday, 20 April 2012 15:17 (twelve years ago) link
bene, no argument; what i'm asking is what is it WORSE than within its field? how many directed by/written by/starring sitcoms are better than GIRLS even after one episode?
― boy, was that Dan Fielding hungry for some cake! (forksclovetofu), Friday, 20 April 2012 15:30 (twelve years ago) link
currently running of course, i know "Mary Tyler Moore was so much better"
Whitney is the most trad-sitcom crap ever. Characters and plots calculated to appeal to a cross-section of groups that might watch tv in that timeslot and everything.
― mh, Friday, 20 April 2012 15:31 (twelve years ago) link
xp not that she wrote MTM, whatever, you get what i'm getting at
― boy, was that Dan Fielding hungry for some cake! (forksclovetofu), Friday, 20 April 2012 15:32 (twelve years ago) link
Can I just take a moment to lament abt my v wonderful but maybe a bit too feministy friend who seems to think the only reason people don't like this show is that it's centered around women, and that How To Make It In America is the EXACT SAME SHOW but with men and how nobody hated on that, etc.
― Time, a group with Jam and Lewis (Stevie D(eux)), Friday, 20 April 2012 15:33 (twelve years ago) link
i think that definitely makes it more of a target, there is no doubt
― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Friday, 20 April 2012 15:35 (twelve years ago) link
xpost
No one watched it either
― Moodles, Friday, 20 April 2012 15:35 (twelve years ago) link
i think it's true that a lot of pressure is being placed on this show in part because a young woman created it. i mean, i am putting a lot of pressure on this show for that reason. but it's a little more complex than people hate this show because they hate women. i think part of the reason i was a little bummed there were no people of color in prominent roles is because i was so excited about and invested in the show.
xxp
― horseshoe, Friday, 20 April 2012 15:35 (twelve years ago) link
but yes, also, s1ocki otm. the bruni response is frankly insane, for example.
― horseshoe, Friday, 20 April 2012 15:36 (twelve years ago) link
haha bruni frankly
― lag∞n, Friday, 20 April 2012 15:38 (twelve years ago) link
How To Make It In America is the EXACT SAME SHOW but with men and how nobody hated on that, etc.
well nobody hated on 'how to make it...' cuz nobody watched it, tbf
― Lamp, Friday, 20 April 2012 15:38 (twelve years ago) link
I h8d on it and also did not watch it
― lag∞n, Friday, 20 April 2012 15:39 (twelve years ago) link
what was bruni's thing
― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Friday, 20 April 2012 15:39 (twelve years ago) link
part of the complexity at play is that it's a show about easy-to-hate women, written by/directed by/starring a womanso you're supposed to hate the characters but they want you to like the showexcept many people connect the characters to the creators which is a ley line she's seemingly intentionally left intactso everybody gets to play hunt the wumpus on everyone involved's social media and promo press to get an AHA they ARE really just dumb bitcheswhich tbf is absolutely NOT the way any normal male-centric sitcom would work but they're absolutely intentionally playing to that dynamicthough i suppose if james franco started an HBO sitcom...
― boy, was that Dan Fielding hungry for some cake! (forksclovetofu), Friday, 20 April 2012 15:40 (twelve years ago) link
http://bruni.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/31/naked-in-new-york/
― horseshoe, Friday, 20 April 2012 15:40 (twelve years ago) link
no such thing as a bit too feministy tbrr
wait no:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/opinion/sunday/bruni-the-bleaker-sex.html
― horseshoe, Friday, 20 April 2012 15:41 (twelve years ago) link
I never saw How To Make It In America but didn't Kid Cudi star in that?
― da croupier, Friday, 20 April 2012 15:42 (twelve years ago) link
i watched this with my anarchist activist NYU assistant professor friend and her take was that all the characters were perfect dopplegangers for her undergrads (and i felt the same way, just about my fleet of interns) but that she didn't want to spend time with these people in real life and had no interest in spending leisure time with them either
― boy, was that Dan Fielding hungry for some cake! (forksclovetofu), Friday, 20 April 2012 15:42 (twelve years ago) link
yeah thats why I couldn't watch the sopranos
― iatee, Friday, 20 April 2012 15:43 (twelve years ago) link
― horseshoe, Friday, April 20, 2012 11:40 AM
for realllllll
― bene_gesserit, Friday, 20 April 2012 15:47 (twelve years ago) link
i wouldnt want to spend time in real life with the characters on a lot of shows i enjoy, that argument is silly whether you're an assistant NYU professor or not
― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Friday, 20 April 2012 15:51 (twelve years ago) link
"if i could only hang out with littlefinger! :("
xps
sorry, that was totally and stupidly misworded; I just meant she sometimes oversimplifies or reduces things to "People hate this bcz WOMEN" which is often but certainly not always true.
― Time, a group with Jam and Lewis (Stevie D(eux)), Friday, 20 April 2012 15:52 (twelve years ago) link
slocks, you're missing the point; it's more like it you work in a hospital that it's coals to newcastle to watch, say, nurse jackieit's not enlightening and it's exposure to a world you're exhausted with already
― boy, was that Dan Fielding hungry for some cake! (forksclovetofu), Friday, 20 April 2012 15:54 (twelve years ago) link
I get the comparisons to How To Make It In America (young, New York) but they're really not very alike.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Friday, 20 April 2012 15:54 (twelve years ago) link
Stevie I've read that a couple places and agree that it probably has something to do with it but don't think that's the sole or overriding reason it's gotten so much criticism. It's oversimplifying it.
― wolf kabob (ENBB), Friday, 20 April 2012 15:55 (twelve years ago) link
ha x-posts
not all of us have a fleet of these lil stereotypes
― lag∞n, Friday, 20 April 2012 15:55 (twelve years ago) link
I want to watch a show about asshole nyu profs
― iatee, Friday, 20 April 2012 15:56 (twelve years ago) link
'profs'
― boy, was that Dan Fielding hungry for some cake! (forksclovetofu), Friday, April 20, 2012 11:54 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
k fair enough, but as i'm not a nyu prof, and few ppl are, it's like...
― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Friday, 20 April 2012 15:58 (twelve years ago) link
I don't have to watch the show... I lived it
― lag∞n, Friday, 20 April 2012 15:59 (twelve years ago) link
loooooooool
― Lamp, Friday, 20 April 2012 15:59 (twelve years ago) link
the nieghborhood has changed so much