On its 10th anniversary, Girls' reputation is the worst it's ever been

Entertainment Weekly

Friday's 10th anniversary of Lena Dunham's divisive HBO comedy has "brought out profound defenses, but I don't think the show has ever had a worse reputation than right now," says Darren Franich. "Not because suddenly people don't like it. It was always hated — so much knee-jerk distaste and in-depth political takedown feeding right off the counterbalancing voice-of-a-generation praise. (Remember: A decade ago, the average TV viewer still had constant opinions about shows they barely cared about.) Now the whole thing just feels absent. Its stars have faded, with a single exception whose centaur masculinity proves the rule. (The point of Girls was never inventing Darth Vader's grandson.) The show's influence, though profound, is generally disavowed. The head of programming at HBO has specifically said he is not discussing a revival, and the head of programming at HBO is a man who seems to discuss seven revivals before breakfast. A shame, because Girls could be unbelievably awesome."