The search for a new Girls continues – just weeks after Netflix whiffed the ball in a big way with its new Lena Dunham show Too Much. Now it’s HBO’s turn, the original home of the era-defining sitcom that peeled back the glitz to show what it was really like being painfully trend-chasing in New York.
This time around, HBO has turned to another huge rising comedy star, Rachel Sennott, and the action takes place in LA instead of New York, for a very new feeling. In fact, I should probably clarify that there’s no connective tissue between I Love LA and Girls – it’s more of a vibe, to be honest.
Sennott writes and stars as Maia, who’s desperately trying to make it in what looks like some form of PR job in LA, struggling to make the city live up to her glamorous expectations. She’s in a steady relationship and living with her boyfriend Dylan (Josh Hutcherson of Hunger Games fame).
Her life gets a bit of a twist, though, when one of her best friends shows up unexpectedly: Odessa A’zion as Tallulah. Tallulah is a force of nature, and their friendship slightly broke down when she pulled out of living with Maia and went off to chase her own fortune – successfully, from the looks of it.
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So, Maia’s got some stuff to juggle – continuing to have fun adventures in the city with her friends, but working out how to get a work-life balance that doesn’t depress her. The magic of the show will all depend on how much fun it can wring out of everyday situations, though, as befits the genre’s name (sitcom).
Sennott has great form, though, and seems to have a bit of a golden touch at the moment. Getting your own full HBO show is a big moment for any comic, and the network will doubtless be hoping she can stick the landing and create a buzzy hit for it – it’s missed a top-class comedy since Succession ended.
The show will also doubtless come to Sky TV and Now here in the UK, since those are the standard ways to access HBO content, at least with HBO Max still absent in our lands. It starts on 2 November in the US, either way.
