The ‘Girls’ Cast and Producers on Their Favorite Memories and Series Finales
Heading into the final season of any show is guaranteed to put those involved in a reflective mood. And that’s how Yahoo TV found the cast and executive producers of HBO’s Girls during a recent New York City press day. Debuting in 2012, the series — which launches its final season on Feb. 12 at 10 p.m. with an expanded season premiere — instantly grabbed attention (and headlines) for its no-filter portrait of life as a 20-something female Brooklynite and all the assorted struggles (and privileges) that entails. We asked the Girls crew — including Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, and Zosia Mamet — about their favorite memories from the show’s six-season run, as well as their favorite series finales.
Ebon Moss-Bachrach: Desi Harperin
Favorite Girls Memory: All those times where you’re naked on a soundstage at 6:30 in the morning — that seems like a typical sort of Girls day from my point of view! [Laughs] I really liked the day from the fourth season where Desi and Marnie are playing a jazz brunch. It was chaotic with all these kids running around and getting bored and screaming. I really liked anytime we got to perform. Another time we were shooting a scene at a place in Williamsburg doing amateur night, and I remember Andrew Rannells looking down at us and improvising, “Only cheaters wear Henleys!” It was really funny.
Favorite Series Finale: I feel like there’s an old Doctor Who from the ’80s [that I really liked]. I just heard Peter Capaldi is leaving; I’ll miss him.
Andrew Rannells: Elijah Krantz
Favorite Girls Memory: Lena and I doing fake cocaine on a toilet seat during Season 2. Jesse Peretz directed that episode [“Bad Friend”], and Lena and I were forever bonded because of that experience. We were running all over the city. She was wearing that crazy mesh top, and we were all sweaty because it was summer. It was so much fun, and we got to be such a**holes and act the fool. When I think about Girls, I think about that time.
Favorite Series Finale: Six Feet Under. That’s the best one. It really stayed true to the footprint of the show and embraced the fact that [death] is where we’re all headed. They showed step by step what happened to each of the characters, and I love that they did that with the people we had grown to love. The other one that’s really good is Big Love. That’s a really beautiful finale. It’s a real head-scratcher as to why that show didn’t get trophies left and right. It ran for five seasons, but why wasn’t it a trophy show?
Alex Karpovsky: Ray Ploshansky
Favorite Girls Memory: Two things come to mind: One is a scene in the fourth episode of Season 2, “It’s a Shame About Ray,” where he tells Shoshanna he loves her. It was the first time that we started to see another side of Ray — a vulnerability and tenderness. That opened the door to exploring a lot of other elements of Ray, his insecurities and vulnerabilities. The other memory was directing an episode in Season 5, “Love Stories.” It was amazing to interact with all of those people from the perspective of having more creative control over the situation.
Favorite Series Finale: I liked the end of The Wire. It was sort of a symphonic, cosmopolitan view of the entire city. It felt grandiose but in a way that was fitting for the finale of that kind of thing.
Judd Apatow: Executive Producer
Favorite Girls Memory: The thing I’m going to miss is reading the scripts. I’d print out a script in the morning, sit down to read it and would always be surprised at how wonderful it was. When you read a lot of screenplays or TV episodes, it’s so rare to find that something really makes you laugh or touches you. So many times Lena and Jenni [Konner] would send me something, and I’d sit alone laughing or crying. It always felt like a gift to get a peek at something beautiful like that.
Favorite Series Finale: The one I think about all the time is the end of St. Elsewhere. The entire show turns out to be in the imagination of Dr. Westphall’s son, who had autism. I don’t remember the reaction to it, but I do remember thinking it was so beautiful, thoughtful, and unique. That kid was a character in the show, and that ending made him so important.
Related: Judd Apatow Talks Final Season of Girls, His Next HBO Series, Crashing, and the Return of Love
Jenni Konner: Executive Producer
Favorite Girls Memory: When we were working on the pilot, Judd and Lena and I sat in Judd’s hotel room working on the final draft of what the script was going to be. We sat around, ate terrible-for-you room service and pitched jokes; it was just the three of us, and it felt so magical. It was one of those creative experiences where you were like, “This is what it should feel like all the time.” Even though I’ve had incredible experiences since then, I still look at that as being the most romantic night of my life. I was with two of my closest friends, and we were making each other laugh so hard.
Favorite Series Finale: I loved the Newhart finale. It was so simple and yet made me so happy. I remember being like, “You can do that?” All the girls are going to say Six Feet Under, I guarantee you.
Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Lena Dunham, and Zosia Mamet: Marnie, Jessa, Hannah, and Shoshanna
Favorite Series Finale
Dunham: Six Feet Under and The Mary Tyler Moore Show are the two greatest finales of all time.
Williams: I agree.
Kirke: Prime Suspect — best finale ever.
Dunham: It’s amazing! You’re like, “Oh, Jane Tennison’s not going to quit drinking. She’s just going to keep avenging the same psychotic murders until she dies.” If you’re a female actor, Prime Suspect is a f***ing masterclass.
Kirke: It makes Law & Order: SVU look like My Little Pony.
Mamet: I have a weird thing where I forget series finales, because I get kind of sad. But maybe Friday Night Lights? That was really good.
Williams: I also love Breaking Bad. It was perfect, because it was so real and was the period at the end of the sentence.
Dunham: Under the radar killer finale: Felicity. She made some big choices, and they turned some stuff around.
Favorite Girls Memory
Dunham: I had a memory recently from when we were shooting all-nighters at a warehouse in Williamsburg. Jemima already had one kid, but it was a more innocent time. Life wasn’t tugging us away from set at all. We were just fully there from 4 p.m. to 6 a.m., sitting in video village with our heads in each other’s laps because we were so tired from shooting these montages. [Later on] those times where we were all together and uninterrupted were so rare. By Season 3, Zosia and I were buying houses and were crying about real estate between takes!
Mamet: I remember Jenni kept getting so mad with us. She was like, “No phones on set.” And I said, “Jenni, you don’t understand. I’m losing my home!” [Laughs]
Girls airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on HBO.
