Comments

1

Stranger will get a brief bump in press due to her short stint there.
A reminder that the good writers flee from there.

2

Despite West's words to the contrary -- https://www.thecut.com/2019/03/lindy-west-profile-shrill.html -- people are going to think the asshole boss is Dan Savage. I wouldn't have even known about her denial had I not seen that interview linked in a comment thread elsewhere, just like the interviewer and other people in the comment thread.

3

I think there was a first season episode of “Girls” that dealt with abortion “relaxedly.”

4

Also with the comments section quibble—she gets push notifications on her phone showing her comments on her article??? What????

6

@1 Very true. Except Eli Sanders. Eli still clings to the rails of what is obviously a sinking ship. (Judging by the atrocious quality of the new hires). I can't figure out for the life of me why. He's ridiculously good.

7

Well thanks for the little synopsis from a TV show that I have no interest in watching. It honestly looks like a weaker version of Lena Dunham's Girls and honestly I do not like that woman.

9

This is a weird spot for me. Aidy Bryant is a friend of friend who is cool and fun. Lindy West is my best favorite writer ever, who I hate-read throughout her entire Stranger career.

The show is ok, funny enough to watch. It doesn't capture Lindy's constant trolling, anger, or venality very well. Of course, it's based of her auto, which I haven't read and probably offers nifty excuses for all of West's shortcomings. The bill wasn't called Shrill because West had a reputation for being nice or measured.

10

@9 my God the auto correct: "least" not "most"

11

Too bad @Sportlandia... you own it now.... No Regerts

13

show comes off as female superiority...

There's a scene in the pilot where she finally (after the morning after pill AND abortion) tells the guy she's hooking up with what happened. His reaction was one of relief: "oh good" her reaction: "Don't say that!" But what if he were to ask if her has any say in this? Any right to know? So either reaction would be wrong in her eyes. Towards the end, the character gets fed up with life ( didn't seem like too much of a rough life., loving parents, middle-class household.. She's overweight, okay. ) and starts being rude and telling all of the characters we met in the episode off..

And then walks away smiling and proud of herself. I hope younger Millennials don't see this as a good example. "F*ck everyone else...It's all about me" type attitude. Not cool. It's like playing the victim when you're not even victimized. Won't watch another episode... and this is coming from a progressive liberal Democrat.

14

This American Life gave West an hour to stick it to Dan, and now she has a sitcom to stick it to Dan. He must've really pissed a lot of people off.

15

13

"His [possible future Father] reaction was one of relief: 'oh good' her reaction:
'Don't say that!' But what if he were to ask if her has any say in this?
Any right to know?"

Was he (or, were they) hoping to become parental units?
Did he use a condom (which may have failed)?
Did they discuss risks pre-coitus?

(Apologies -- I have not yet watched Shrill.)

"It's like playing the victim when you're not even victimized."

Bearing fat-shaming one's whole fucking Life is probably like consantly being told one is Ugly. Being able to throw off the bonds of other people's shallow, inconsiderate, stupid, self-centered opinions appears to have Significantly Liberated Lindy.

I highly recomend it.

16

"Dan ... must've really pissed a lot of people off." --Plavalaguna

I'm guessing Dan's 'Helped people-to-Pissed people off' ratio
(NOT counting the right-wingnut Moralizers/hypocrites)
must be around 40-1.

17

You should feel bad about the quality of your writing.

Am I doing it right?

18

As someone who has worked in newsrooms in the Northwest, my first thought at seeing The Weekly Thorn's office was "How does a Portland alt-weekly have such a huge staff?" Are most of the people in the Thorn's office freelancers? Are they the ad reps? Does Aidy Bryant's character, as assistant calendar editor, have employer-provided health insurance to pay for that abortion?

20

It was funny to see the "not Dan Savage" character played as the mean gay guy you always suspected he was.

21

Surprised that I'm so alone in loving this show. I do, to be fair, agree with the writer's quibble: This story was told over a far, far too short span of episodes. It could easily been told over 2 seasons at least. There's plenty of time to get to all the good stuff, and the show got to the main points so quickly that they hardly even felt like main points. They also weren't executed nearly as interestingly or dramatically as the real-life versions of the story. [I really did love the show] My god, that whole episode with her troll and finding him and how the troll actually found a picture of her dead dad and used it as his profile pic! I mean, maybe it was too dark for a sitcom, but that's a lot of rare drama being wasted! And it does occur to me to the final episodes suffered from being less sit-com and more after-school special, I suppose, but that's pretty unfairly harsh.

It's been fun knowing the broad strokes of the story and watching it get played out, but what I love about the show is 1) the dialog. No other sit-com is doing this right and 2) the performances. Every character is so wonderfully original in their subtle variations, that they all deserve credit for what is so successful in the show. Adie is great, but even her boyfriend Ryan is hilarious for his odd boyishness and adorable innocence. Her roomie is unlike any character you see on tv, and there's so much great potential for comedy and humanity in the actor's performance, that I'm almost wanting more seasons in order to just watch her."I don't apologize to white people." Is exactly like something her inspiration would say, but not delivered to ridicule it, as a lesser comedy would have done, and not to state a position on the comment at all, which is exactly right. I'm really proud of Lindy, and happy for her that such a good show has come from this , where it could've gone so wrong.


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