...of 2012 Part I: TV Show

One of my favorite parts of the internet is Cracked's ...of the year lists. I've been a loyal Cracked reader since middle school, and the end of the year breakdown of all things that best represented the year is one of my favorite running articles they have. So I figured I would do a similar series of blog posts, about the shows, movies, people, etc. that are those that most encapsulate the ideas of the year 2012. And since Cracked hasn't yet published their TV Show article, I figured that would be the first post I would do.

The TV Show of 2012: HBO's Girls

It's not the grandest show on TV (Game of Thrones), or the most polarizing (Homeland), and it doesn't include any zombies. But no show really shouts 2012 like Girls does. I saw the season 1 trailer and was pretty intrigued, and from the get-go, the show has been one of the most consistently funny half-hours on television. Lena Dunham is brilliant on screen as main character Hannah, and her writing is top notch. Critics have hailed Girls as this generation's Sex and the City, the show about four other New York females that our moms watched.

And though Girls is indeed funny, and about women in New York, I find it appealing for broader reasons. Simply put, no other show is more self-deprecating about the state of the current youth generation in the year 2012. Let's face it. We're the hipster generation. We're entitled. We think we're more cultured than everybody else. We think our liberal arts degrees will land well paying jobs in this economy and if not, we think our parents will give us money for our apartments in Brooklyn until somebody discovers how artistic we are. 

The show takes a jab at both the men and women of the hipster generation, a group of people who, though they might like to think they are in the minority, is much bigger than one might think. Don't believe me? Acoustic folk music is more popular right now than it has ever been. Vinyl records have had a 500% increase in sales in two years. And nobody watches network TV anymore, because it's too 'broad' and not 'niche' enough. And yes, these qualities apply to me too. I'll be the first to point out that I am an English major with both Mumford and Sons albums on vinyl, and I wear Sperrys and flannel shirts just like everybody else. Which is why I love Girls, because it's a great reminder that our generation kinda sucks, but it's ok to laugh at that.

I guess this post was slightly shorter than what I was expecting. I guess I'll go tweet about it or something.

Season 2 of Girls premieres on January 13.