The first season of American

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

television series ''

Girls A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. While the term ''girl'' has other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.com, "Girl"'' Retrieved January 2, 2008. ''daughter'' or ''girlfriend'' regardless of age, ...

'' premiered on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

on April 15, 2012, and consisted of 10 episodes, concluding on June 17, 2012. The series was created by

Lena Dunham Lena Dunham (; born May 13, 1986) is an American writer, director, actress, and producer. She is the creator, writer, and star of the HBO television series '' Girls'' (2012–2017), for which she received several Emmy Award nominations and two G ...

, who portrays the lead character, who based the premise and central aspects of the show on her personal life. It was produced by

Apatow Productions The Apatow Company, doing business as Apatow Productions, is an American film and television production company A production company, production house or production studio is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new medi ...

, I Am Jenni Konnor Productions and HBO productions. The season introduces Dunham's character Hannah Horvath, an immature aspiring writer from

East Lansing, Michigan East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County, although a small portion extends north into Clinton County. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 47,741. The city is located immediate ...

who is in for a surprise when she is informed by her parents that they will no longer support her financially. Having received their support for two years, following her graduation from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

, Hannah struggles with her newly established independence as she is left to her own devices in

Greenpoint, Brooklyn Greenpoint is the northernmost neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bordered on the southwest by Williamsburg at Bushwick Inlet Park and McCarren Park; on the southeast by the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway and East ...

. Within Hannah's circle of friends they include Marnie Michaels (

Allison Williams Allison Howell Williams (born April 13, 1988) is an American actress. She first received attention on YouTube and as a member of the improv comedy troupe Just Add Water. She then played Marnie Michaels in the HBO comedy-drama series ''Girls'' ...

), Jessa Johansson (

Jemima Kirke Jemima Jo Kirke (born 26 April 1985) is a British-American artist, actress and director. She gained international acclaim through her role as Jessa Johansson in the 2012 HBO series '' Girls''. She made her film debut in the 2005 indie short '' ...

) and Shoshanna Shapiro (

Zosia Mamet Zosia Mamet (; born February 2, 1988) is an American actress. She is known for her breakout role as Shoshanna Shapiro in the HBO series '' Girls''. Mamet also starred as Annie Mouradian in the HBO Max original series '' The Flight Attendant'' an ...

Cast and characters

Main

as Hannah Helene Horvath, an aspiring writer living in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, known for her narcissism and immaturity, who struggles to support herself and find a direction in her life. *

as Marnie Michaels, Hannah's best friend, roommate and classmate of Hannah's at

. *

as Jessa Johansson, one of Hannah's closest friends, Jessa is a global citizen of British origin, and is noted for her bohemian, unpredictable, and brash personality. *

as Shoshanna Shapiro, Jessa's bubble-headed and innocent American cousin who's a Media, Culture, and Communications major at New York University. *

Adam Driver Adam Douglas Driver (born November 19, 1983) is an American actor, recognized for his collaborations with auteur filmmakers. Driver made his film debut in ''J. Edgar'' (2011) and played supporting roles in ''Lincoln (film), Lincoln'' (2012), '' ...

as Adam Sackler. Hannah's casual boyfriend - an aloof, passionate young man, Adam works as a part-time carpenter and actor. He is an alcoholic who has been sober for years.

Recurring

Christopher Abbott Christopher Jacob Abbott (born February 10, 1986) is an American actor. He is known for his work in independent films. In 2011, Abbott made his feature film debut in '' Martha Marcy May Marlene'' and his Broadway debut in the revival of the pla ...

as Charlie Dattolo (episodes 1–5, 7, 10) *

Alex Karpovsky Alexander Karpovsky (born September 23, 1975) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and film editor. He is best known for his role as Raymond "Ray" Ploshansky on the HBO comedy drama series '' Girls'' (2012–17), for which he wa ...

as Raymond "Ray" Ploshansky (episodes 1, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10) *

Andrew Rannells Andrew Scott Rannells (born August 23, 1978) is an American actor. He is best known for originating the role of Elder Kevin Price in the 2011 Broadway musical ''The Book of Mormon (musical), The Book of Mormon'', for which he was nominated for th ...

as portrays Elijah Krantz (episode 3, 5, 7, 10) *

Becky Ann Baker Becky Ann Baker (née Gelke; born February 17, 1953) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Jean Weir on the NBC comedy-drama series ''Freaks and Geeks'' (1999–2000) and as Loreen Horvath on the HBO comedy-drama series '' G ...

as portrays Loreen Horvath (episodes 1, 6) *

Peter Scolari Peter Thomas Scolari (September 12, 1955 – October 22, 2021) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Henry Desmond in the American Broadcasting Company, ABC sitcom ''Bosom Buddies'' (1980–1982) and Michael Harris on the C ...

as portrays Tad Horvath (episode 1, episode 6) *

James LeGros James Le Gros () (born April 27, 1962) is an American actor. He was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his role in '' Living in Oblivion''. Career Le Gros starred in Gus Van Sant's film '' Drugstore Cowboy ...

as Jeff Lavoyt (episodes 3–5, 7) *

Kathryn Hahn Kathryn Marie Hahn (born July 23, 1973) is an American actress. She gained prominence appearing as a supporting actress in a number of comedy films, including '' How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days'' (2003), '' Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy'' (2 ...

as Katherine Lavoyt (episodes 3–5, 9) *

Clare Foley Clare Foley is an American actress. She is known for playing the roles of Ruby Taylor in '' Do No Harm'', Ashley in '' Sinister'', a young version of Piper in ''Orange Is the New Black ''Orange Is the New Black'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''O ...

as Lola Lavoyt (episodes 3, 4) *

Mackenzie Gray Alexander Mackenzie Gray (born 22 November 1957) is a Canadian film, television, and stage actor. He is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Canada. He divides his time between Toronto and Vancouver. Life and career Gray was born in Toront ...

as Beatrix Lavoyt (episodes 3, 4) *

Richard Masur Richard Masur (born November 20, 1948) is an American character actor who has appeared in more than 40 films. From 1995 to 1999, he served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). He is best known for playing David Kane on '' One ...

as Rich Glatter (episodes 4, 5) *

Chris O'Dowd Christopher O'Dowd (born 9 October 1979) is an Irish actor and comedian. He received wide attention as Roy Trenneman, one of the lead characters in the Channel 4 comedy ''The IT Crowd'', which ran for four seasons from 2006 to 2010. He has star ...

as Thomas-John (episodes 8, 10)

Guest

Chris Eigeman Christopher Eigeman (born March 1, 1965) is an American actor and film director. Eigeman is best known for roles in films written and directed by Whit Stillman: '' Metropolitan'' (1990), ''Barcelona'' (1994), and '' The Last Days of Disco'' (19 ...

as Alistair (episode 1) * Alexi Wasser as Alexi (episode 1) * Elaine Chun as Joy Lin (episode 1) *

Mike Birbiglia Mike Birbiglia (; born June 20, 1978) is an American comedian, actor, director, producer and Emmy-nominated writer. He has written and performed a series of award-winning solo shows worldwide. His six solo shows, ''Sleepwalk With Me'', ''My Gi ...

as Brian (episode 2) * Morgan Krantz as Morgan (episode 2) *

Sakina Jaffrey Sakina Jaffrey (born February 14, 1962) is an American actress. Early life Jaffrey was born in New York City, the youngest daughter of Indian-born parents, actress and food and travel writer Madhur Jaffrey, and actor Saeed Jaffrey. Her parent ...

as Gynecologist (episode 2) *

Christina Kirk Christina Kirk is an American actress. Career Kirk appeared in Woody Allen's '' Melinda and Melinda'' and Ira Sachs' ''Love Is Strange''. She was also a series regular on '' A to Z'', and most recently played Jackie in the DC Comics TV serie ...

as Reese (episode 3) *

Jorma Taccone Jorma Christopher Taccone ( ; born March 19, 1977) is an American writer, producer, director, comedian, actor, and musician. He is a member of the comedy music group The Lonely Island with his childhood friends Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer. I ...

as Booth Jonathan (episode 3) *

Horatio Sanz Horacio Sanz (born June 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Horatio Sanz, is an American comedian and actor. Sanz was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1998 to 2006. Early life Sanz was born on Ju ...

as Terry Lavoyt (episode 4) *

Skylar Astin Skylar Astin Lipstein (born September 23, 1987) is an American actor. He became known for portraying Jesse Swanson in the musical films '' Pitch Perfect'' (2012) and '' Pitch Perfect 2'' (2015). He originated the role of Georg in the Broadway mu ...

as Matt Kornstein (episode 4) *

Lesley Arfin Lesley Arfin (born 1979) is an American comedy writer and author. Life Arfin was born to a Jewish family in 1979 in Long Island, New York. She grew up in the same complex in Woodbury, Nassau County, New York, as writer Gabe Rotter and they both ...

as Lesley (episode 4) *

Daniel Eric Gold Daniel Eric Gold (born September 19, 1975 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actor. He attended Lee Strasberg's Theater Institute as a teenager, and went on to graduate from Penn State in 1996, with a degree in Theater Arts. Career ...

as Jessa's Ex-Boyfriend (episode 5) *

Lou Taylor Pucci Lou Taylor Pucci (born July 27, 1985) is an American actor who first appeared on film in Rebecca Miller's '' Personal Velocity: Three Portraits'' in 2002. Pucci had his breakthrough leading role in '' Thumbsucker'' (2005), for which he won a Spec ...

as Eric (episode 6) * Philip Ettinger as Zach (episode 6) *

Roberta Colindrez Roberta Colindrez (born May 28, 1986) is a Mexican-American actor and writer. She is best known for originating the role of Joan in the musical '' Fun Home''. Additionally, Colindrez is known for roles in the TV shows ''I Love Dick,'' '' Vida,'' ...

as Tako (episode 7) * Audrey Gelman as Audrey (episode 7) *

Henry Zebrowski Henry Thomas Zebrowski Jr. (born May 1, 1984) is an American actor, podcast host, and comedian, known for his work on the Adult Swim series '' Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell'', the film The Wolf of Wall Street, the NBC series '' Heroes Reborn ...

as Gavin (episode 8) *

Michael Imperioli Michael Imperioli (born March 26, 1966) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Christopher Moltisanti in the HBO crime drama series ''The Sopranos'' (1999–2007), which earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Suppor ...

as Powell Goldman (episode 9) *

Jenny Slate Jenny Slate (born March 25, 1982) is an American actress, stand-up comedian, and writer. After early acting and stand-up roles on television, Slate gained recognition for her live variety shows in New York City and for co-creating the children's ...

as Tally Schifrin (episode 9) * Billy Morrissette as George (episode 10)

Episodes

Release

Critical reception

The first season of ''Girls'' received universal acclaim from television critics. On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the first season of the series holds an average of 87 based on 29 reviews. The website also lists the show as the highest-rated fictional series debut of 2012. James Poniewozik from ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' reserved high praise for the series, calling it "raw, audacious, nuanced and richly, often excruciatingly funny". Tim Goodman of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' called ''Girls'' "one of the most original, spot-on, no-missed-steps series in recent memory". Reviewing the first three episodes at the 2012 SXSW Festival, he said the series conveys "real female friendships, the angst of emerging adulthood, nuanced relationships, sexuality, self-esteem, body image, intimacy in a tech-savvy world that promotes distance, the bloodlust of surviving New York on very little money and the modern parenting of entitled children, among many other things—all laced together with humor and poignancy". ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' also applauded the series and said: "''Girls'' may be the

millennial generation Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s as ...

's rebuttal to ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO, based on Sex and the City (newspaper column), the newspaper column and 1996 book by Candace Bushnell. It premiered in th ...

'', but the first season was at times as cruelly insightful and bleakly funny as ''

Louie Louie may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Louie'' (American TV series), comedy drama television series created by and starring comedian Louis C.K. * ''Louie'' (French TV series), animated series about a young rabbit who draws pictures which ...

'' on FX or ''

Curb Your Enthusiasm ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', also known colloquially simply as ''Curb'', is an American television comedy of manners created by Larry David that premiered on HBO with an hour-long special in October 17, 1999, followed by 12 seasons broadcast from Oc ...

'' on HBO.""The Edges Are Still Sharp in Brooklyn"
''

''. January 10, 2013.

Accolades

* Nominated: Critics' Choice Award for Best Comedy Series — ''Girls'' * Nominated: Critics' Choice Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series — Lena Dunham * Nominated:

TCA Award for Outstanding New Program The TCA Award for Outstanding New Program is an award given by the Television Critics Association. Winners and nominees Total awards by network * NBC – 5 * Fox – 4 * HBO/Max – 4 * FX – 3 * ABC – 2 * AMC – 2 * Netflix – 2 * Apple T ...

— ''Girls'' * Nominated:

TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy The TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy is an award given by the Television Critics Association. Winners and nominees Multiple wins ;2 wins * Louis C.K. (consecutive) * Jane Kaczmarek (consecutive) * David Hyde Pierce (consecutive) * ...

— Lena Dunham * Nominated:

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

— ''Girls'' * Nominated:

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Beginning with the 18th Primetime Emmy Awards, leading actresses in comedy have competed alone. However, these comedic performance ...

— Lena Dunham * Nominated:

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series is presented to the best directing of a television comedy series. Winners and nominations 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Total awards by netwo ...

— Lena Dunham * Nominated:

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series is an annual award presented as part of the Primetime Emmy Awards. It recognizes writing excellence in regular comedic series, most of which can generally be described as situat ...

— Lena Dunham * Win: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series — Jennifer Euston * Nominated: Satellite Awards for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy — ''Girls'' * Nominated: Satellite Awards for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy — Lena Dunham * Nominated: Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy Series — ''Girls'' * Win: Writers Guild of America Award for New Series — ''Girls'' * Nominated: Women's Image Network Award for Outstanding Film / Show Written by A Woman — Lena Dunham * Nominated: Women's Image Network Award for Outstanding Film / Show Directed by A Woman — Lena Dunham * Win: Peabody Award for Area of Excellence — ''Girls'' * Win: Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Comedy or Musical — ''Girls'' * Win: Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical — Lena Dunham * Win: Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series — Lena Dunham * Win: Art Directors Guild Award for Episode of a Half Hour Single-Camera Television Series — Judy Becker * Win: British Academy Television Awards – International Prize — ''Girls''

Ratings

Home media

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Girls season 1 2012 American television seasons Girls (TV series)