For starters, my family does not have any of the "fancy channels." We don't have HBO, Showtime and whatever else there is that costs extra money, we've never really needed it. After Girls came on and many of my Twitter friends were constantly watching it and I started to feel out of the loop. Instead of asking my parents for HBO, I just decided to watch what I could on YouTube (which was only clips because I can't get around the 18-plus blockage and made no effort too) and read articles about it. I would ask for the seasons on disks for my birthday, then I saw the trailer for Looking.
I got giddy just watching Looking's trailer and listening to the song being played in the background, I knew immediately I had to see this show. Then it said at the end, "only on HBO." I knew that I didn't want my parents to pay for HBO just for me to watch two shows, so after some soul searching and courage from the Internet, I asked my best friend if I could marathon it at her house. She's a Game of Thrones addict and had just recently had a marathon on her iPad, so I knew she had it. Like the beautiful soul she is, she let me and told me not to binge watch too much. This was the Saturday afternoon before Looking premiered. By Monday night I watched all episodes of Girls (23) and Looking's premiere. Twenty-four 30-minute episodes in total.
I can now proudly proclaim these two shows are now in my top five favorite series. I see myself in all the Girls characters: how unsure I am about myself like Hannah, that I want to do what I love like Marnie but need someone to give me a step-by-step plan, how I want to experience everything and be interesting like Jessa and then how I want to stay young and carefree like Shoshanna forever. I also grew to love Ray, Adam and Charlie so much I would love to have a boyfriend that is a combination of all of them. I need Adam's thinking, Ray's caring and Charlie's "smothering love" in my life. All of the characters feel so real and raw to me that it is terrifying.
Looking also seems to have that raw vibe to it, so far. As a huge Glee fan, it feels so good to finally be rooting for Jonathan Groff as the nice guy. The storyline is great so far and solidifies that everyone has that same issues when it comes to love, no matter what their orientation. Despite a decade (plus) older character group, I can still relate to the uncertainty and hesitation each character feels. There is always that sense of being lost, unsure and exasperated that nothing ever seems to be going how you planned it to. Both series have raw characters that I feel are in my immediate friend group because I can relate to them so well. I guess no matter what age you are you still have the pains of growing up.