EXCLUSIVE: Lena Dunham, creator/star/executive producer of hot comedy Girls, has teamed with her Girls co-showrunner, executive producer Jenni Konner, for another potential HBO comedy series set in New York. The pay cable network has optioned All Dressed Up And Everywhere To Go, the upcoming memoir by long-time Bergdorf Goodman personal shopper and New York institution Betty Halbreich. Dunham and Konner plan to write together the TV project, which will delve into the life of Halbreich who has spent decades working with the rich and famous.
At age 85, Halbreich is still running her Bergdorf-based personal shopping service, which she launched in 1976. She has been the dresser and confidante of three generations of Manhattan socialites and stars including Joan Rivers, Meryl Streep, Sarah Jessica Parker, Katie Couric and Glenn Close. Additionally, she works with top Manhattan stylists and has consulted for movies and TV shows, including helping design the signature look for HBO’s Sex And The City and capture the New York style of the early Woody Allen films. Halbreich is known as much for her unparalleled eye for fashion as she is about her unpretentious attitude and tart one-liners. The brassy Chicago native’s manner has been described as “part Angela Lansbury and part Lucille Ball.” Her memoir is said to provide behind-the-scenes glimpse into the world of high fashion, as well as inspiration for women from all backgrounds.
HBO’s Girls became an instant pop culture phenomenon when it premiered last April, triggering passionate reaction. It landed five Emmy nominations, including best comedy series, and triumphed at the Golden Globes earlier this month with two wins, for best comedy series and best actress in a comedy series, Dunham. The series, which recently launched its second season, has already been renewed for a third. UTA-repped Dunham and Konner executive produce it with Judd Apatow. Halbreich, repped by APA and The Carol Mann Agency, is also the author of the 1998 book Secrets Of A Fashion Therapist.
Please portray her as a woman over 50 (not some 30 yr old version of herself from decades past). What a plum role that would be for a great actress!
and while we are asking please try and produce something that people want to watch. Girls is dying a quick death due to Lena and her over active political imagination.
Yes. Dying quickly. Clearly. Wait! Was that the season 3 renewal announcement?
yeah, before season 2 even aired… so it apparently doesn’t matter what numbers the show gets (or doesn’t get) they’ve already made up their minds they’re going to promote this damn thing regardless of what it does viewer wise.
I really don’t want to see more stuff from Lena (is she) “Dun” (whining yet) -ham”.
Nope. But try again.
This IS perfect for Linda Dano who played flamboyant Felicia Gallant and who is, in her civilian life, a fashion consultant and designer!
How can a show that has a viewership of just over a million be considered a “hot comedy”? Does the writer simply mean that it is well recieved? Just curious, thank you.
They’re going the “if you repeat the lie often enough it will eventually become the truth” route.
So they’re call it a ‘hit’ until everyone calls it a ‘hit’… and they’ll call her ‘the voice of her generation’ until everyone call her ‘the voice of her generation’
Brace yourself as this is going to take a while.
Exactly. Remember Michael Jackson was the “King of Pop”– a completely self-designated, self-invented moniker that simply stuck because he insisted everyone use it when referring to him and his career.
yeah, but MJ was talented. Like uber talented. Not saying she is not talented just not multi-multi platinum type talented.
Just over? Try Just Under. Girls premiered this season with just 870,000 viewers, and that number dropped to 570,000 the second week. Things improved somewhat last week with 750,000 viewers, but compare those numbers to Dexter, Homeland, or the debut of the final season of Sparticus. If not for the nepotism involved, this mess wouldn’t have made it beyond it’s first season.
I’m curious: what nepotism are you talking about? I watched the first episode and found it hollow, trying too hard to be hip. But I never knew she had an uncle or something high up at HBO, I just figured I was out of the demo for this show. What’s the connection?
Her parents are in the business and have been forever. Also, all of the cast from Girls are her BFF, including the British chick, whose dad is a multi-billionaire or something.
Lena started with a movie called Tiny Furniture (don’t waste your time, I’m sorry I did) and it’s basically Girls in a lower budget format. The cast is the same and most characters are the same. She pushed her way into SXSW with it and it snowballed into HBO.
Though it’s not my cup of tea, this idea sounds like a good one. But if the lead gets a bunch of county fair tattoos, then the show is doomed.
Sigourney Weaver!
Yes. If it’s a good script!
Ugh. Another show six people will care about. Even more rarified than This Is 40.
I just cant help it. Why on earth would HBO give Lena another deal? This is a serious question, someone please answer me.
haven’t you heard…. she’s the voice of her generation.
i feel insulted
HBO has been trying to find the right comedy vehicle for Diane Keaton for years. This could be the one.
The campaign to make Lena Dunham famous is one of the best in a long time. Considering her talents are aimed at a very very narrow spectrum of the shrinking demo it’s catered to. Rich white city trash. Even Harvey wouldn’t have been able to make this girl so famous, well, he wouldn’t have even tried. She’s not that talented.
Everyone can relate to the story of a well-connected Bergdorf Goodman personal shopper! She’s the voice of her generation!
I like the idea and would like to see a mature actress in the role, but I’m not sure Lena would be a good fit.
1 mill on a premium channel? That’s pretty good. 1 mill on cable? Terrible.
Where are you getting “1 mill?”
Week 1: .87
Week 2: .57
Week 3: .75
That’s all viewers, btw, not just key demo. Season 1 and 2 of Bored to Death were 20-30% higher, but that show didn’t receive a fraction of the buzz Girls has. Instead of making a hit show, they’re spending millions trying to convince us it’s a hit show, and Dunham is some creative genius. Either she has some embarrassing photos of HBO executives, or someone high up has a real fetish for dumpy, entitled little white girls.
I don’t understand all the Lena Dunham backlash. Forget the critical essays on Girls’ politics and the media attention, it’s just a damn funny show. And Dunham certainly has a unique voice, which we could use more of on TV. I for one am really looking forward to this project!
I think the back lash is because there are huge numbers of people who don’t like the show but have had it stuffed down their throats to the point that they begin to hate it and hate her. Nelly’s description of it as a “pop culture phenomenon” may be the way it has been promoted, but I am not so sure it is one. There are a lot of people, many of them in Lena’s demographic, who actually don’t like or watch the show. If they did, the numbers would be way higher.
A premium cable channel like HBO you have to PAY FOR doesn’t equate to “stuffed down your throat.” Nor is “Girls” hype ever-present, except for the usual NYC-centric suspects, like Vanity Fair, New Yorker, etc. both easily ignored.
Contrast that with the obnoxious “Community” cult who live on Deadline. Always screaming about it. Talk about a show nobody watches.
Wow. That’s intense. You really don’t like Community.
Nah, it’s mainly a group of embittered would be-writers and producers who think that Dunham was given a show they were entitled to or something. Connections are very important in ANY industry, yet many commentators here was to whine about Dunham’s success … as if her success stops them from being successful. It’s easy to blame others for your own failings.
define success for me please. The show in which she leads will not get another season.
The third season is shooting in March. Developing, writing and starring in three seasons of a HBO show is a ‘success’: whining in the comments section isn’t. She also got paid a shitload ($3.7 million) for her book. I am not sure what standards you are setting for ‘success’, but I would say that someone who is getting paid that much money is pretty successful.
What’s interesting to me is how few women watch the show. It’s kind of a young dorky male’s fantasy. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s certainly not the “pop culture phenomena” that the media touts it to be. It’s more of a media obsession. Inexplicably.
Absolutely agree with you. Lena Dunham is talented and I don’t see why all the hate and anguish about her.
Why did they stop giving shows to people with actual life experience?
Great idea for some ‘mature’ female writers and prods to tackle. This is totally off-brand for Lena
<3 young one & girls fan
Funny that a woman best known for undressing herself is writing a project about a woman best known for dressing others.
Gimme some DVDA and I’m in!
Ye Gods, when did HBO turn into Lifetime?
Someone please explain the following to me. Why the hatred for Dunham? She created a show that is true to her and who she is. She is not saying it is for everyone. (and before you go with the voice of a generation quote – it was a) a character, b) she was under the influence and c) look up irony). She put on a show. HBO’s job is to market it. That’s what they are doing. You can choose to watch or not. Either is fine. Its a show appealing to a certain audience. Premium cable cares about subscription not about advertisers. Its not a numbers game for them in the same way as broadcast. They can do niche shows. 3.2 million people watch it a week. That works for them. It wins awards. And most importantly – love it or hate it – people talk about the show. That’s what any network strives for. There are plenty things on tv or in pop culture I dont like or that don’t appeal to me. Doesn’t mean that I go on message boards with anger and vehement opinions trashing that person or project. I just don’t watch it. There are things that critics love and I don’t. Its subjective. I don’t believe people are forcing it down my throat. Its just someone’s opinion. Magazines and people are putting Lena on their cover etc because they are trying to dictate to you. They are a business. They are trying to sell things – and if there was NO audience for her – they just wouldn’t get it. I love the conspiracy that there is an agenda “to make her famous”. She is a woman who made a film for $50,000 and some people liked it and it lead to opportunity (and no not from her parents – but because she was ambitious and created something that some people actually responded to). God forbid people who graduate college have drive and ambition to do what they want. In the end – I love that people feel that every show should be accessible and created to appeal to everybody and when they feel as if the show doesnt appeal to them its as if they were intentionally and maliciously wronged.
THANK YOU
Though I am as annoyed by Girls and Dunham as most of the commentators on this post, I must admit that I do watch the show – probably for the same reason why I pick up Star magazine on the grocery store line. However, the fact that there’s a lack viewership for Girls does not make it a completely unworthy show. If it were all about the ratings, then Keeping Up with the Kardashians and American Idol would be on every network- and that would be waaaay more tragic than this little overhyped show about some clueless slutty, white girls, which at least attempts to be astute.
I wanted to like “girls” bcuz I genuinely liked “tiny furniture.” but she hasnt yet learned how to craft a longform story. Perhaps working from a book will help. She’s certainly being given lots of chances.
I canceled hbo years ago nothing I enjoy coming from them.
When you call your show Girls, you’re saying “this is an examination of women my age.” A more descriptive title would be Wealthy Navel-gazing Sluts in Brooklyn.
“When you call your show Girls, you’re saying “this is an examination of women my age.””
And when August Wilson called his play ‘Fences’, he meant to explore every single fence in every single part of America. When Rowan Woods, called his film ‘The Boys’, he also meant every single male in the world, right? If THIS is your complaint, then I doubt you’ve got anything interesting to say about the show … or television in general.
This discussion about Girls reminds me of Arrest Development. It may follow the same path.Hollywood insiders loved AD. Critics loved AD. Entertainment media wrote articles after articles hyping the show. AD was mostly ignored by the tv audience. AD was canceled. Now for some reason an AD movie is being made even though people did not want to watch it when it was free. Girls is loved by Hollywood insiders…
Holland Taylor.