What a week for Lena Dunham. She earned a Golden Globe for best show and another for best actress for her television show “Girls,” which had its season premier this week.
My question is “Why?” I heard the hype, I bought into it, and I just don’t get it. I just don’t. I even watched a marathon of the HBO series to try to discover everyone’s fascination. There wasn’t one episode that I could say stood out from the rest. The “Girls’” star does little more than strip, hop, and hump through the series. I don’t see her as a remarkable actor. In fact, not one of the ensemble cast shines above the rest when it comes to talent. No “wow,” no “gee whiz this is some show.” So why the heck did “Girls” garner two awards? I just sit here bewildered and bemused.
It’s been a week and I still can’t clear the bad taste from my mouth after watching the marathon. Spoiled, self-entitled, hedonistic little brats that don’t have the good-bad switch installed. If “Girls” is a true indication of the up-and-coming generation, we are all in for trouble with a capital “t,” that stands for “h” as in “hipsters” right here in River City.
It just goes to show that the Golden Globes, when it comes to an honest appreciation of the best and brightest, is no better than the Oscars — Politics in Tinsel Town, no more, no less.
But onward and upward to the other trashy shows gracing the little screen.
“Catfish,” the latest endeavor from MTV, surpasses the “Jersey Shore,” “Teen Mom,” “Mob Wives,” and “Honey Boo Boo” when it comes to trailer-park-trash.
The premise of this show is to unite on-line daters that have never met in person.
A hapless gal or guy falls in love with a Facebook person and has no idea if the gal or guy on the other end is real or fake. This person reaches out to the host of the show Nev, who apparently was a victim of an internet dating scam and is now making a living out of his misfortune, then Nev and his crew do some sleuthing to discover the validity of the on-line crush. To date, all of the hapless gal-guys have been sorely disappointed.
The perpetrators of the hoax, once caught, are all rueful and apologetic for leading the love starved on-line crusher on a dating odyssey full of lies and deceit for as long as they do. One was almost two years. Can you believe it? You carry on a steamy, internet-posted romance for two years only to find out that the object of your affection isn’t the beautiful girl in the profile but a gay male who has been stringing you along. One word best describes this: OMG. What is truly worrying is that I am amazed at the naïvety of these people. Is this generation so incapable of performing any act without the benefit of the internet? Don’t they understand how truly dangerous this whole scene is?
Not for Nuthin,™ but the popularity of these shows doesn’t surprise me. If “Girls” can get a Golden Globe for best TV show, and Lena Dunham for Best Actress, than “Catfish” can go down in the annals of TV as the Greatest Show Ever.
Follow me on Twitter @JDelBuono.
Joanna DelBuono writes about national issues — including television — every Wednesday on BrooklynDaily.com. E-mail her at jdelbuono@cnglocal.com.
