Donald Glover in Girls
By
Ben Sherlock
Published Feb 22, 2026, 9:30 PM EST
Ben Sherlock is a Tomatometer-approved film and TV critic who runs the massively underrated YouTube channel I Got Touched at the Cinema. Before working at Screen Rant, Ben wrote for Game Rant, Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop. He's also an indie filmmaker, a standup comedian, and an alumnus of the School of Rock.
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Lena Dunham’s HBO series Girls is one of the best comedy-drama shows ever made. Girls ran for six seasons from 2012 to 2017. When it premiered, it was hailed as a much rawer, realer version of Sex and the City, reflecting the lives of young women living in New York City with a greater degree of authenticity.
Dunham stars as aspiring writer Hannah Horvath. At the beginning of the series, Hannah gets cut off by her parents and has to finally grow up and become self-reliant. Over the course of six seasons, Girls touched on everything from body image to female sexuality to the #MeToo movement — and it still holds up as a television masterpiece.
Lena Dunham's Girls Is A Pitch-Perfect Blend Of Comedy & Drama
Jessa (Jemina Kirke), Hannah (Lena Dunham), and Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) sitting on a bench talking on Girls
Girls essentially brought the mumblecore movement from independent cinema to mainstream television. It’s a pitch-perfect blend of comedy and drama, switching between the two seamlessly from episode to episode. Sometimes, it’ll have you laughing out loud; other times, it’ll have you crying your eyes out. It accurately reflects the emotional rollercoaster of life with plenty of highs and lows.
Like any social group, Hannah and her friends have times when they’re getting along and times when they have a bitter falling-out and don’t speak to each other for weeks. And just like life, no matter how ugly it gets, the series charges on and keeps following the complicated lives of these characters through thick and thin.
Girls Has One Of The Best TV Casts Ever Assembled
Hannah and Marnie looking uncomfortable in a shower in Girls
The producers of Girls assembled one of the greatest casts on TV. There isn’t an ounce of dead weight in the ensemble; everyone brings their own unique energy to the table. Some of the actors were just about to become huge stars, like a pre-Star Wars Adam Driver, a pre-M3GAN Allison Williams, and a pre-The Bear Ebon Moss-Bachrach.
Everyone plays a character you recognize from real life: Zosia Mamet as the fast-talking neurotic, Jemima Kirke as the lackadaisical bohemian, Alex Karpovsky as the furious voice of reason. Andrew Rannells, Gaby Hoffmann, Jon Glaser, Christopher Abbott, and Richard E. Grant all give standout supporting turns. Dunham leads the cast, and she’s the perfect anchor for the series: unwaveringly honest and painfully relatable.
Girls Has Been Rediscovered By Gen Z
Marnie and Desi's wedding in Girls
Over the past couple of years, Girls has been rediscovered by Gen Z, and it’s really struck a chord with that demographic. The series was created by and for millennials, but Gen Z are relating to all the same insecurities: having no money, getting in and out of bad relationships, realizing there’s no magic age when you suddenly feel “grown up.”
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Girls
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