A24's 'It Gets Worse' Is 'Girls' for London Gen Z — SkimNews
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- A24 produced 'It Gets Worse' for the U.K.'s Channel 4, where it premiered last month, and the show will air on Paramount+ in the U.S.; it runs a typically British half-dozen episodes.
- Leo Reich wrote and stars as Ethan, a gay 20-something whose college friends Abi and Sam become his roommates; the review says the 'Girls' influence is unmistakable but that the show 'beats you to the punch,' with a non-all-white friend group in London rather than the Big Apple.
- Lena Dunham guest stars as the boss breaking bad news to an underemployed intern — a beat the reviewer calls straight out of 'Girls,' and a cameo read as a millennial-to-Gen-Z passing of the baton.
- Zadie Smith narrates every character's inner monologue, opening with 'Ethan had one of the easiest lives in recorded human history' — a setup that makes the group's misery largely self-inflicted, since relative comfort only multiplies opportunities for self-sabotage.
- Too Much, Dunham's Netflix show, cast Reich as one of the heroine's chaotic co-workers, the prior collaboration the review cites as the likely reason Dunham spotted a kindred spirit in the comedian.
- Ethan (Reich) loses the roommates' security deposit after getting distracted by internet scrolling instead of fixing a hole in the wall; Abi (Emily Fairn) hides her plan to move in with boyfriend Tom (Sean Delaney), and Sam (Olive Gray) supplements her Substack essays with standardized test tutoring that may not cover London rent.
- Andrew Scott guest stars alongside Dunham, and the review flags Reich's 'paradox of early comedic success': his character is a hot mess even though the actor counts Pulitzer finalist Smith and a BAFTA winner among his collaborators, while Ethan's abandoned suicide plan — sourcing enough paracetamol was too much hassle — supplies the gallows-humor baseline.
Why it matters: For A24, the Channel 4-to-Paramount+ rollout gives the studio a six-episode comedy positioned as a millennial-to-Gen-Z successor to 'Girls' rather than a remake: a gay lead, a non-all-white friend group and a London setting distinguish it from Dunham's original, while Dunham's cameo and Smith's narration attach two trusted names to a first-time creator's series.
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