Veep debuted to 1.4 million people (and 1.7 across the two airings) on Sunday night. This is slightly above the 10:00pm timeslot’s normal 1.0 million average and ties last week’s Eastbound & Down finale. It’s also more than the MUCH talked about Girls debut, which, all kidding aside, isn’t a surprise, considering that Julia Louis-Dreyfus was on one of the biggest television shows ever and Lena Dunham has only appeared in a film (Tiny Furniture) that most people have just hanging around in their Netflix instant queue.
Speaking of Girls, it held the entirety of its debut’s 1.1 million viewers, which is actually quite impressive. It reflects that people thought much of the hype was justified and have ignored some of the backlash that has come up this week. Speaking of transitions, here is another one, speaking of this backlash, Girls star Jemima Kirke recently responded thoughtfully and honestly to two of the biggest criticisms of the show:
On its overly whiteness:
“I mean, I kind of get it. I get it. I totally get it. It’s true, this isn’t every girl. This isn’t … the title is misleading because it’s not all girls. This is a very specific demographic. You know, we’re not talking about girls living in projects, which there are millions. We’re not talking about, you know, girls who live on the Upper East Side with, like, loaded parents who have no idea how to leave home. You know? There are all kinds, and we’re just a very specific … We’re not the average. So I get it. I don’t think there’s any sense in getting mad at it; it’s just a show. It’s just a show about this type of girl. And I think when it claims to be something else, it’s a mistake, but that’s what it is.â€
On the nepotism:
“I know. It looks really bad. [Laughs.] It looks terrible. Come on! It looks shitty. I don’t think that was on purpose. I think that was a mistake. And let’s face it, Lena’s a daughter of someone who’s connected to kind of a world of celebrity, and so she’s naturally going to have friends who are in similar situations, and that’s who she reached out to. She reached into, you know, people that she knew, people that she understood and that she could relate to, because that’s what she was writing about, people with similar feelings.â€
What do you think? Do these answers satisfy you? Did you watch either or both? Are you Team Girls or Team Woman (who used to be on Seinfeld)?