You're listening ad-free on Amazon Music. Hello and welcome to the Double X Gab Fest for Thursday, April 19th. I'm Hannah Rosen, editor of Double X. I am here in the New York studio, not by myself in D.C. with the lovely Noreen Malone from New York Magazine online. Hi. It's hard to say, hi, Noreen, for some reason. Hi, Noreen. Hi, Hannah. And also Seth Stevenson, a writer at Slate. Hi, Seth.

Hi, noorine, for some reason. Hi, Noreen. Hi, Hannah. And also, Seth Stevenson, a writer at Slate. Hi, Seth. Hi, Hannah. How are you guys today? Good. Good. It's nice to see you. I'm just trying to be like casual and girls-ish, since we're going to talk about girls. Like, we're all here together sitting on a park bench. Oh, wow. I'm so formal. I know. I loved it already. It's okay. So we are going to talk about girls, like we're all here together sitting on a park bench. Oh, wow. So, I'm so formal.

I know.

Loved it already. It's okay. So we are going to talk about three things. The first is the HBO, the new HBO comedy girls, which has to be the most hyped show, like, in a decade, I would say. In terms of its hype, I'm not saying in terms of its goodness or awesomeness. The second is we're going to discuss adultish dads and TV commercials based on a story that Seth wrote recently about a huggies commercial because Seth knows a lot about huggies, which you'll find about us.

Personally, what have you. And thirdly, we're going to talk about this week's newsweek cover, which discusses the question of why working women continue to have submission fantasies.

So this is a fairly raunchy podcast.

Be warned of that up front. So the new HBO comedy girls, it rotates around four girls who are living in

Brooklyn in Greenpoint, more specifically, and their travails and their sexual travails more

specifically. And I would, I would, it's fair to say that this show has gotten pretty rave

reviews and kind of bowing down from the press in general. So I will start,

because you guys are both in the New York and probably the Brooklyn dating scene, although maybe

that's getting too specific. I will consider you the authorities for the purpose of this show

and ask you all sorts of specific sociological questions, both about your own life. No, I won't. Don't worry about it. We're just going to talk about the show. But I'll start with you, Noreen. What did you think about the show? What did you think about, you know, the dating in the show, sort of Hannah, the main character? What was your view of, you know, the girlfriends hanging out? Just did it, did you relate to the show? So I have a very complex response to the show.

I think some of it is because it was so hyped. Some of it is because I really love tiny furniture

and I love Lena Dunham as a presence like in the world. But I was kind of underwhelmed by the

show and I can't quite separate out how much of that is just not feeling

like it was quite funny and original enough to live up to the billing that had been given it.

And, you know, a lot of places, including Emily Nussbaum's big New York cover story on it,

that was just the highest praise possible. I also can't separate out my response to it from,

I do identify with these characters in a certain way.

Like, they, you know, they geographically live very close to me.

Lena Dunham is a couple years younger than me.

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