Surprise?! HBO has ordered a five-episode limited revival of "Girls," ten years after the show ended. Lena Dunham is back, and so are Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet and Andrew Rannells. Adam Driver is not. Can't say I'm shocked.
Dunham's memoir, "Famesick," which came out earlier this year, described Driver’s temper on set, including an incident in which he threw a chair at a wall near her. I don't think that friendship is getting rebuilt anytime soon. And honestly, Driver doesn't need this. The guy has graduated to making big movies ("Heat 2").
Dunham says she only wanted to come back if there was a story worth telling, and that the characters started "talking to me in the shower" around her 40th birthday. Okay. She also mentioned the chance to “wear yellow mesh again.” Fine.
HBO's head of comedy, Amy Gravitt, says the show will move from the “mess of your 20s to the milestone of turning 40.” No plot details yet. Production starts in 2027. Judd Apatow is back as an EP. Jenni Konner, who co-ran the show with Dunham, is not. They split as producing partners back in 2018.
"Girls" lost me somewhere around season four. The first two seasons were sharp, uncomfortable and at times hilarious. Then it started repeating itself. I clocked out after that season and only sporadically watched episodes of the fifth and sixth seasons, but the magic formula was gone by then.
The show was actually never a huge hit, but it was very zeitgeisty. Every critic and their mother had a take on what the show said about millennials. It picked up two Emmys, a couple of Golden Globes, and a lot of people who loved to hate it. One cannot deny the influence it has had on the TV that followed. Shows like "Broad City," "Insecure," "Fleabag," "I May Destroy You," owe it a debt.
That being said. Do we need it back? Probably not. Will I watch it? Yeah, probably. Without Driver, though, a big piece of what made it work is gone. His Adam Sackler was one of the best things about that show.
Surprise?! HBO has ordered a five-episode limited revival of “Girls,” ten years after the show ended. Lena Dunham is back, so are Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, and Zosia Mamet.