The 'Girls' Thing

All of Iowa City is abuzz with rage, disappointment and other negative feelings following the University's decision to deny HBO's request to film on campus for their hit show, Girls.   Why would Girls be coming to our fair metropolis?  Well in the 3rd Season Cliffhanger, it was revealed that the main character, Hannah Horvath had, in fact, been accepted into the Writer's Workshop right here in Iowa City.

So why the denial?

Well, first came the rather weak kneed response about 'the potential disruption to campus.'  If they film during the summer, as I expect they probably will, then the disruption will be minimal, because, well, no one is here.  Denial reasoning:  weak.

Next came the rather laughable notion that the University had to say no to 'protect their reputation.' Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...  No, seriously.   They want to protect their reputation as the Number One Party School in America.  Denial reasoning: ridiculous.

Finally came the interesting one:  they had read the plot line and it wasn't necessarily a positive one- they are, of course, not going to reveal the plot line out of respect to the show's producers, but I think they might be on firmer ground with this one.  I'll admit I have only seen Season 1 of Girls, so I have no idea if the characters have developed any more (Lord, I hope they have) but if Season 1 was anything to go by, Hannah Horvath was self-absorbed, superficial, shallow and the most annoying person I've ever seen on television.  If I would have Hannah Horvath in real life, I would have avoided her like the plague or gotten mildly drunk with her, lost my shit and told her to STFU and get a damn job and quit whining so damn much.

Point is:  she's an East Coast Hipster type and I could buy that she would spend her time in Iowa City shitting all over the University and the town.  Which would make us look bad and be very annoying.  (Other possibilities include: she could get drunk and crazy down on the Ped Mall, she could get raped- I would hope not, obviously- but it's HBO, so I have no idea what goes into making a storyline for a character.)

But, there's also an argument that any exposure is good exposure and seeing Iowa City right there in HD on premium cable would have been pretty damn cool, I have to admit.  But, I get it.   They can't control the plot-line and if it doesn't make us look good, I'd say, 'take a hike.'