When Girls premiered in April, the HBO comedy's twenty-something female characters were heralded as generation-defining, and the show was quickly tagged as a younger, grittier Sex and the City. So it's somewhat surprising that a New York analysis reveals that the show's single largest viewer demographic is "white dudes over 50." (They make up 22 percent of the audience.) Beyond that, a full 56 percent of the show's "linear audience" — those who watch it either on HBO or through a DVR, but not online — is male. (By contrast, HBO's female-friendly True Blood has an audience that is 48 percent male.) Is Girls really a show for boys?
This makes sense: Of course, men like this show, says Cassie Murdoch at Jezebel. Much of the pre-debut buzz focused on the numerous sex scenes and creator-star Lena Dunham's frequent and unconventional nudity. Guys could be tuning in to see that. Or perhaps "they're sincerely interested in understanding more about the lives of this generation of wealthy white girls." Meanwhile, the twenty-something females we assume are watching are "too broke to afford HBO." They're probably just downloading the show illegally.
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