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For what it is — a low-key ensemble comedy with no stars in it, HBO’s new comedy Girls did respectable business in its premiere last night. It drew 872,000 viewers, holding onto 79% of its lead-in, the season finale of Eastbound & Down (1.1 million). Girls‘ debut viewership was slightly higher than that of the last HBO comedy to launch in the time slot, the Ricky Gervais starrer Life Is Too Short, which opened with 810,000 in February despite a stronger lead-in, the season opener of Eastbound & Down (1.3 million). Eastbound & Down‘s finale was down from the premiere despite having 10 times larger lead-in, Game Of Thrones (3.8 million) last night vs. Luck (0.4 million) in February. GOT once again held steady in Week 3 for a total of 4.5 million viewers for the night. Eastbound & Down and Girls‘ cumed averages were 1.6 million and 1.1 million, respectively. Girls, along with new comedy Veep starring Julia Louis Dreyfus, which launches next Sunday, are currently available for free on various platforms. Over at Lifetime, new drama The Client List drew 2.9 million total viewers in its second week, up 4% from its premiere, and also gained 8% in adults 18-49 and 28% in women 18-49.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
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Slow but funny, please pick up the pace.
its the first episode calm down lol
Just watched episode 2 of the Girls. Seriously HBO? Did you test market this show? Pure drivel.
I really enjoyed Girls. Didn’t plan to watch it, but thought it was very good. I’ll keep watching for sure.
Eight-hundred-seventy-two thousand? THAT’S IT???? Geez, that must come to about two viewers for every busboard, billboard, and magazine article I’ve seen for this show. Waaaaaaay, too much hype…
Agreed. I was bored. I should be the target audience – similar generation, into realism in film and TV, prefer dry and topical humor to more broad/slapstick-y stuff – and I found myself despising the lead character and dreading the rest of them (was I supposed to? If I’m supposed to hate them all, then the show is TOTALLY DOING what it’s supposed to). The only moderately interesting one was the British girl, and she didn’t garner enough screen time to make more than a “moderately interesting” impression. Pass.
I could not agree more! And the worst part is, I really wanted to like it.
We lost Bored To Death for THIS?
So much hype. WHAT a letdown.
This is a terrible number given all the press and publicity. There is nothing “decent” here. It’s a shame, but it’s nevertheless kind of a catastrophe.
I liked this premise better the first time when it starred Marlon and Shawn Wayans.
Watching ugly people discuss sex and have sex is not appealing… “Girls” is like the “bizzaro world” of “Sex and the City”
“Ugly girls?!!” Please post your own photo and we’ll rate you on a scale of zero to one.
brian williams’ daughter = break me off a piece of that
It wasn’t a let down, it was a smart and fresh show. It’s just that there was a ton of hype with marketing that painted it to be something it isn’t (SATC 2). The cultural elite are watching – I’ve never seen so many New Yorker articles dedicated to one person or show before.
People who subscribe to the New Yorker usually display it ‘casually’ so friends and acquaintances will THINK they’re observing someone who is a member of the supposed cultural elite. Come to think of it, was there a scene in ‘Girls’ where the star/writer was ‘casually’ ‘reading’ it?
So many haters. Wow. The trolls on this board are out of control. I thought the show was so-so. It had its moments. It wasn’t the best pilot I’ve seen, but good enough to give another chance to.
It’s not haters — it’s backlash. There’s a tipping point for hype, and HBO went way past it. It actually does a terrible disservice to the show, which deserves to find itself before being ordained the second coming of female-centric television on pay cable. Let the viewers figure out who is the voice of a generation. Even if it’s true, (and I’m dubious about that), it’s not something I’m going to believe because it was written in some marketing materials.
HBO Overhyped? Most of the hype came from critics who viewed the pilot and gave it high praise. Yes, HBO put out commercials and billboards – but that’s their job. Anytime someone has a project – don’t they wish for promotion? But the overhype you claim – comes from the critics and people who had seen it – and I believe their job is to review. The fact that they all liked it might have raised expectations but that has nothing to do with HBO or the Producers?
I have to agree with CHG about the “voice of a generation” line. It made me cringe, but I will still give the show a second episode.
I only saw that little clip, and I even know that line was supposed to be sardonic… “I might be the voice of my generation,” immediately followed by “…or A voice of A generation.” Little more self-deprecating, and what 20-something doesn’t think s/he’s going to take over the world? Still, dropped HBO a while back, they blew it by passing on MadMen, nothing that interesting since halcyon Sopranos/Entourage/SATC days.
Becky Ann Baker and Peter Scolari were the best parts of the pilot.
I wasn’t going to even give it a look until you said Scolari.
World needs more Scolari.
I loved loved TINY FURNITURE.
And while the show last night was similar (and I hear it gets better even), I do feel why people are so angry on the blogs today about this show. Forget the entitlement, or the lack of racial diversity, I have no problem with either.
But the nepotism — in a time when so many are struggling — is a real turn-off. There are four stars of the show, and each is a product of nepotism. I think Dunham is a true talent and I liked Jemima Kirke’s acting on the show, but even Gawker exposed Allison Williams pretending Apatow discovered her via YouTube today.
It’s a tough time, and nepotism is a big part of the business. I don’t blame the actors for taking what’s given to them. But it’s hard for your audience to connect to a show about “the struggle” when its stars are a product of their connections, not so much their talent, Dunham aside.
Preach. I knew there was no way Allison was “discovered” via youtube. That literally makes no sense.
This comment is so on point! Well said.
AGREE 100%
Horrible show, and rightly lambasted by audiences and real critics that still own a modicum of integrity as a boring, pandering white-wash of the most annoying hipster larva NYC has to offer. Watching the ratings plummet week after week will be very cathartic.
If only the studios see the writing on the wall, and stop putting out this sort of dreck.
Those are embarrassing numbers for a show that was overpraised to the heavens and back. Watched it and cringed over and over. Respected the writing and all the actors were good (except arguably Zosia Mamet), but the characters are just so absolutely insufferable I couldn’t take it. When she stole the housekeeper’s $20 tip and then dawdled out into the street (where the ONLY non-white person in the whole show — homeless, of course — appeared and said, “Hey girl, why so sad? Does your heart hurt? Well, smile, because your face makes me want to say, I LOOOVE New York!”) I decided I won’t be watching the show again. Gross.
I was so excited for it…and it was terrible. I didn’t want or expect a younger take on Sex and the City, and I cringe to think that there are women who feel this show speaks for them or tells their story…nothing in that show was realistic, unless you’re a spoiled and aimless idiot who lets dudes ride you bareback against your will. Dumb girls, yes…but not typical girls. Awful…and not in the good way.
It was one of the worst pilots I’ve ever seen. If the ratings don’t plummet next week, I’ll be shocked.
It was garbage. I’m one of the 872,000 viewers who won’t be back.
Yes, a disappointment. Not awful, just not special. Feel like there’s gotta be a couple dozen pilots sitting on the shelves at HBO that are better. And while Lena is a decent writer, she is utterly charmless as an actress.
Didn’t plan to watch it until I read the many positive reviews.
Thought it was a decent start and will be watching next week.
I have to agree with a few comments here, the amount of hate, stupidity and trolling done on Deadline is becoming seriously pathetic.
Americans thriving on failures, I can;t help it but a bit sad for all these people.
Uh, did you actually watch the show, because it was about a bunch of failures with zero redeeming qualities. THAT’S why people are being so harsh on it.
These aren’t Americans thriving on failure. America is desperate for quality. Sadly it’s not there.
This show was supposed to be one of the exceptions. How could it be this bad? Seriously how could this many critics offer this many delusional reviews? Now many of these same critics are only NOW grappling with the fact the show has no one who isn’t white in it, isn’t funny, is boring, and the characters are beyond snooze-inducing. What none of them noticed this before? It’s like none of them bothered actually watching it before. They all just parroted the “voice of a generation”, “not conventionally attractive women”, “bad sex”, and “brave” meme HBO sent out.
There are plenty of great t.v. shows people love. Game of Thrones has been universally celebrated. Ditto Breaking Bad.
But when you put something as bad as this show out there, HBO and the media which blew this show up to ridiculous proportions and literally called it the most important comedy in decades and the voice of a generation need to explain how they missed so many glaring weaknesses in it.
i think there is a lack of oxygen in your studio apartment. Why so angry? It’s a great show, but maybe not for you. Go join the 3 people watching the Big C, I am sure they would appreciate the help.
Ooof – that’s a terrible number. I think if you subtract out the critics/bloggers who proclaimed this show to be a “voice of a generation”, you would have about 73 viewers.
Don’t really care whether it succeeds or not, and it certainly may do well critically (e.g., get some Golden Globe nominations), but it won’t be much of financial success for HBO. Nowhere to go but down from here, in terms of viewers.
Come on, this was a hundred times better than THE NEW GIRL.
Exactly right.
Gotta side with the droves of the disappointed. Also loved “Tiny Furniture.” The pall of self doubt and poor self image hangs like a miasma over the series’ settings & stories. Look forward to Lena’s next feature.
So banal
you don’t know what that word means
I think it’s lightyears better than HBO’s recent efforts Enlightened, Bored to Death, Hung, How to Make it in America and most of the equally unfunny half hours on Showtime. And unlike just about every comedy pilot on network TV, I’m looking forward to seeing more from these characters. Subjective business we’re in. How else do you explain that millions of people love a show like Two and a Half Men and I think it’s a steaming pile of crap.
I know. I’m all over the map. Bring back Larry Sanders.
I wouldn’t call all the negative comments “haters.” Just people expressing a real opinion of many people watching a bad show, knowing that it’s taking the spot of many more worthy shows. Paying viewers don’t want to be preached to that do-nothing wastoid dipshits are the voice of their (or any) generation… give us good stories with interesting characters. We’ve all been 24 before, and most of us would like to forget it.
people who are criticizing the show aren’t “trolls” or “haters” they’re people who expected a decent tv show based on advanced “praise” and hype, and got a really mediocre, bland, irritatingly self conscious show…when you’re trying to be “hip” or “quirky” you aren’t
one diablo cody is ENOUGH
hey we all know how hard it is to do a tv show…even the makers of cop rock busted their humps and still gave us a lousy show…just because you bust your behinds doesn’t mean you don’t suck!
the feedback here is, don’t tell us you’re the second coming then make us feel like we’re watching the television equivalent of the class know-it-all who wouldn’t shut up