Yeah, the nepotism angle sounds absolutely ridiculous.
The only person on that poster I've ever heard of is Brian Williams. I doubt being the daughter of a playwright or general "artist" has much sway when it comes to making TV.
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Stern: 'Girls' star Lena Dunham 'is a little fat girl who looks like Jonah Hill...'
- Thread starter GK86
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Yeah, the nepotism angle sounds absolutely ridiculous.
The only person on that poster I've ever heard of is Brian Williams. I doubt being the daughter of a playwright or general "artist" has much sway when it comes to making TV.
I've watched the show from the beginning, and for the most part, enjoyed it for what it is. However, I don't delude myself into thinking it's some kind of intense social commentary, or remotely reflective of "real life". As well, I agree that the lack of diverse characters does not do the show any favors. Lena Dunham is not that attractive (sry, higher standards brah) but she has occasional insights and she does add something to the mix.
The writing is solid, the characters are (mostly) entertaining, and it's better than 90% of what else is on TV. Therefore, I will be watching. Haters can hate, but HBO will still make bank.
The writing is solid, the characters are (mostly) entertaining, and it's better than 90% of what else is on TV. Therefore, I will be watching. Haters can hate, but HBO will still make bank.
ReturnOfTheRAT
Member
I knew about Brian Williams' daughter. Didn't know the rest. Very interesting.
Hey, if you have connections, use them. I don't see anything wrong with that.
GremlinFool
Member
Girls is a MARVELOUS show (had the finest season of any show in 2012) and Lena is absolutely beautiful.
NeoGAF will never get it.
NeoGAF will never get it.
They've (producers/actors) talked for years about how "there's a script out there", but at this point I doubt it will ever happen.
Bam Bam Baklava
Member
starchild excalibur
Member
Exactly. I think nepotism is an issue more so when it comes to choosing people you don't feel are right for a part out of peer pressure or expectation. If you have the opportunity to create a show it's inevitable that you'll seek to include people that you already have a comfortable working relationship with.
Nepotism is only an issue to those that aren't benefiting from it. I include myself in this category.
B For Bendetta
Member
Definitely didn't get the same vibe you did watching it. The tone of the show seems like it absolutely thinks its characters are likable, decent human beings
faceless007
Member
No, that poster is just wrong. Does anyone really think being the daughter of a New York painter in any way was responsible for Dunham getting a movie into Sundance and then getting a meeting with Judd Apatow? Or that being the daughter of a drummer or a playwright or a news reporter is what got them cast in a comedy? Those things might have helped them get their names to casting people, but they certainly weren't hired solely because of it. The whole industry runs on connections and networking, and showbiz people do often tend to come from showbiz families, but that's no more "nepotism" than Joss Whedon or Shawn Ryan or hell, Apatow casting their friends in all their projects. Girls isn't exceptional in that regard.
And to go from there to saying the actresses themselves are entitled is just an unjustified personal attack. What, should only actors with absolutely no familial or friendly connections to the industry get cast now? That's taking the privilege argument too far.
SteveWinwood
Member
But Brian Williams is super awesome.
ReturnOfTheRAT
Member
I saw that he worked a Friday the other week. I was suprised.
Will never happen again hah.
faceless007
Member
In the pilot Hannah argues with her parents about not paying her own cell phone bill, calls herself the "voice of a generation" to explain why her parents should keep supporting her, and steals tip money her parents leave for the hotel maid.
Messofanego
Banned
I'm no big fan of Girls, but I think Lena Dunham is a better role model for girls than glamor mags or other superthin models. Flaunt your flaws.
True I would rather have my daughter watching and admiring this girl then a ..... "girl" like Kim Kardashian. I will say that much.
meltingparappa
Member
Comedy the way Entourage was a comedy, in that the characters are purposefully unlikeable, at least initially.
RobotMafia
Banned
Back to discussing Howard, you know ... the important part of this thread.
He is a really ugly dude who lucked out on his career. I've never seen Girls.
As long as its not will Smith's family, nepotism is perfectly fine.
Glorified G
Member
I can see where the Jonah Hill comparison comes from
B For Bendetta
Member
I did remember this when you brought it up, but it seemed more like an exception than indicative of what her character was by the end of the season. Characters are often a bit different in pilots than what.they end up being so I chalked it up to that as well, but you are right, I did get that vibe exactly from that dinner scene, just didn't maintain it through the season and it ended up feeling like a mix of Friends and Sex in the City.
Lucked out....yeah....
ReturnOfTheRAT
Member
Personal preferences aside, if you can put that aside, would you not want you daughter to work the system to her advantage, as many males before her have?
Stern worked very hard in his career to get that Sirius contract. Was some luck involved along the way? of course there was, but Howard Stern isn't the example of, "luck got me here," that you're trying to push.
Jaden has acquitted himself twice in Happyness and Karate Kid.
Shes in NY....it will happen sooner or later. Especially now that she knows who she is and is interested.
he said something and she said that he has pretty much spent his entire life looking at glammed up celebs and pornstars to the point where he is flabbergasted at anything less that a product of The Industry. she didn't agree with him, she removed any impact from stern's comment by reminding everyone that the guy is a weirdy.
and yeah, it's a comedy. it's a comedy where you're supposed to be laughing at what they're saying, whether it is with them or at them is another thing. if you can laugh at david brent then you can probably laugh at the dirty talk.
i wonder if lots of 'internet people' hate the show because of how hard the first few episodes ripped on the nice guy persona.
So... Crispin Glover wrote a rebuttal to that poster. Yes, that Crispin Glover.
It starts:
http://crispin-glover.tumblr.com/post/21278674697/newsweek-nepotism-this-is-so-much-bullshit
EDIT: A little more digging and I'm not sure that this is actually Crispin Glover. DOH.
It starts:
http://crispin-glover.tumblr.com/post/21278674697/newsweek-nepotism-this-is-so-much-bullshit
EDIT: A little more digging and I'm not sure that this is actually Crispin Glover. DOH.
Femmeworth
Banned
I suppose I need to finally check this show out.
The fuck?
blame space
Banned
uh, what?
BadAss2961
Member
I'm sure he'd ask her if she does anal.
Is this back peddling?
SolidSnakex
Member
How the hell is he overweight when he basically starves himself?
skinny fat
I don't think it's back peddling. When he said it, he had only seen the first two episodes of the show. He probably watched the rest of the first season and changed his mind. This is coming from a guy who loved Sex and the City, he loves girly television.
I agree. Although I wouldn't call girls "creative".
Jason's Ultimatum
Member
OH GOD Brian William's daughter was on Letterman a couple nights ago. I want to marry this woman:
Rick Ross *HUFF*/
I think Lena is attractive
I'd smang it repeatedly, probably show up for Thanksgiving, maybe even date if she asked. She kind of looks like the other girls sitting on that bench with her though. They all have slight differences, but you know...it's all sort of I don't even know. I don't want to say boring or uninteresting, but it's like they all look alike.
Crispin Glover said:
Goddamn. Crispin Glover makes a good point. If this show is comparable to Louie than I will definitely watch it.
Why is watching an overweight middle-aged man fumble through sexual situations and life A-OK, but watching an overweight young woman do the same is horrible?
OH GOD Brian William's daughter was on Letterman a couple nights ago. I want to marry this woman:
Rick Ross *HUFF*/
She is very pretty indeed
Back to discussing Howard, you know ... the important part of this thread.
terrible radio host with awful fans?
i've never even seen the show Girls but chances are it's much better than whatever stern's doing these days
Lena Dunham's character, who she uses as a mouthpiece, has said precisely that she's speaking for a generation of people like her, and later implied it in interviews with the language she uses to describe her show. She's aware but, like many white persons, doesn't correlate it with her whiteness and well-connected upbringing.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/04/lena-dunham-girls-race.html#ixzz2HtbhmxrC
That's how naive and blind she is, and that's why I loathe junk like Girls. The nonchalant, casual attitude of people like her who "don't notice" minorities (or the complete lack of). The utter lack of black and hispanics people in depicting Prospect Heights (70%+ of the pop.!) doesn't register mentally in her life of privilege. It may just be a show, but Dunham panders to the self-obsessed, passively racist person in NY: the kind who interacts with minorities as little as possible (otherwise it's inconvenient), says he "has a black friend" and therefore can't possibly be racist when behaving in a racist manner, and who quietly becomes upset if ethnic minorities move into her upper-class (white) neighborhood in any significant numbers.
The people who want diversity on the show don't want pandering with token stereotypes. Why is that the most common rebuttal? That's the erroneous conclusion from those who hastily misunderstand the desire of minority groups to be fairly represented on television and film. Over half of the city's population is black and hispanic! I would love it if a season of the show took place in Harlem with no black people anywhere in sight (or Washington Heights with no Dominicans!), to illustrate as painfully as possible why some of us are so sick of this shit.
But you're right, the show will likely go down the path I described with one-off token characters. If the show made a real effort to introduce permanent minority characters that weren't one-dimensional, the show would probably lose the interest of its insular, self-absorbed white audience.
I heard it from a coworker but didn't know the specifics until that image. An average show from an average writer with lots of nepotism and big-name backing to make sure it's "critically acclaimed" and succeeds no matter what.
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