Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce | |
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Also known as |
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Based on | Girlfriends' Guides series by Vicki Iovine |
Developed by | Marti Noxon |
Starring | |
Composer | Robert Duncan |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 5 |
No. of episodes | 45 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Cinematography | Florian Ballhaus (pilot only) Scott Williams |
Camera setup | Single-camera |
Running time | 45 minutes |
Production companies | Tiny Pyro Productions Universal Cable Productions |
Original release | |
Network | Bravo |
Release | December 2, 2014 – July 19, 2018 |
Related | |
The 45 Rules of Divorce - Arabic adaptation [1] |
Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce (also known as Girlfriends' Guide to Freedom in season 3, Girlfriends' Guide to Bossing Up in season 4, and Girlfriends' Guide to Ever After in season 5) is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Marti Noxon for the American cable network Bravo. Based on the Girlfriends' Guides book series by Vicki Iovine, [2] the series revolves around Abby McCarthy, a self-help author who finds solace in new friends and adventures as she faces an impending divorce. Lisa Edelstein portrays the main character, Abby. Beau Garrett and Necar Zadegan co-star. Janeane Garofalo was part of the main cast for the first seven episodes of season 1 before departing the cast. She was replaced in episode 8 with Alanna Ubach. Paul Adelstein co-starred as a main cast member for the first two seasons, before being reduced to a recurring character for the third and fifth seasons. Retta recurred during the show's second season before being promoted to the main cast at the start of season 3.
Produced by Universal Cable Productions, it is the first original scripted series for Bravo. [3] A 13-episode first season was ordered by the network, which premiered on December 2, 2014. [4] The show debuted to 1.04 million viewers. Critical reception for the series has initially been generally positive, with particular praise towards Edelstein's performance and the series' quality over the reality series on Bravo. The show was eventually renewed for a second season, which premiered on December 1, 2015. [5] On April 13, 2016, it was announced that Bravo had renewed the show for a third, fourth and fifth season. [6] On August 5, 2016, it was announced that the fifth season would be the show's last. [7]
Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce was met with generally positive reviews from television critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the series received an average score of 69, based on 21 reviews. Lori Rackl of Chicago Sun-Times gave the episode a 4 star rating (out of 4 stars), calling it "a sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking story about an L.A.-based self-help author" and added that the first two episodes "reveal a much more nuanced, poignant tale, punctuated by some genuinely funny scenes." [11] LaToya Ferguson of The A.V. Club gave the series a grade of "A−", calling it "a very solid drama" that should be on HBO or Showtime. Ferguson also praised the characters and the series's messiness, writing "Visually, it's almost flawless (there's one obvious green-screen moment in the pilot, but it's not Ringer level), but every character here is deeply flawed." [12] Los Angeles Times 's Mary McNamara lauded the series' cast's portrayal of the characters and deemed the series "smartly acted, crisply written and willing to address all manner of issues — marriage, betrayal, family economics, friendship, even the pitfalls of public domesticity — in gratifyingly complex ways." [13] Brian Lowry, writing for Variety , applauded the series' cast and material, noting how it sticks to the network's demographic while maintaining a level of quality. [14]
Gail Pennington of St. Louis Post-Dispatch called the series "a smart, solid examination of just how messy relationships are and how hard it is to make them work." [15] Slate 's Willa Paskin highlighted Edelstein's portrayal of the lead character, describing her as "very well cast, both commanding and nurturing enough to seem like the ideal advice-giver" and noted that the series has "a satisfying and complex take on social dynamics in friendship and romance." [16] Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times praised Edelstein and Garofalo as "one reason" the show is entertaining and found the comic side of the series "a lot more fun." [17] Time 's writer James Poniewozik praised the writing and Edelstein's "sympathetic" performance, noting that the latter "grounds a show that often otherwise plays like young-adult fiction for actual adults." However, Poniewozik opined that "there's one lesson Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce has (over)learned from its Bravo peers: that there's no reality so compelling that it can’t be sweetened with a little Photoshop." [18] David Hinckley, writing for the New York Daily News , highlighted the series' best moments as those showing the messy side of marital discourse while heralding Edelstein's performance as "memorably moving." [19] Margaret Lyons of Vulture was critical of the several aspects of the series, including the characters Abby and Lyla's attitude on giving their spouses child support, but found the series to be its best "at its nastiest." [20]
No. in | Episode title | Air date | Time slot (EST) | 18–49 demo rating | Viewership (millions) | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
series | season | ||||||
1 | 1 | Rule No. 23: Never Lie to the Kids | December 2, 2014 | Tuesdays 10:00 P.M. | 0.5 | 1.04 | [21] |
2 | 2 | Rule No. 174: Never Trust Anyone Who Charges By the Hour | December 9, 2014 | 0.4 | 0.85 | [22] | |
3 | 3 | Rule No. 47: Always Take Advantage of "Me" Time | December 16, 2014 | 0.3 | 0.70 | [23] | |
4 | 4 | Rule No. 426: Fantasyland: A Great Place to Visit | December 23, 2014 | 0.3 | 0.77 | [24] | |
5 | 5 | Rule No. 21: Leave Childishness to Children | December 30, 2014 | 0.4 | 0.87 | [25] | |
6 | 6 | Rule No 33: When in Doubt, Run Away | January 6, 2015 | 0.4 | 0.87 | [26] | |
7 | 7 | Rule No. 67: Don't Kill the Princess | January 13, 2015 | 0.4 | 0.77 | [27] | |
8 | 8 | Rule No. 17: Ask the Answer Lady | January 20, 2015 | 0.3 | 0.69 | [28] | |
9 | 9 | Rule No. 32: F-You, Rob Frumpkis | January 27, 2015 | 0.4 | 0.91 | [29] | |
10 | 10 | Rule No. 3: Don't Stand in the Doorway | February 3, 2015 | 0.3 | 0.74 | [30] | |
11 | 11 | Rule No. 46: Keep the Holidays Low Key | February 10, 2015 | 0.4 | 0.83 | [31] | |
12 | 12 | Rule No. 92: Don't Do the Crime If You Can't Do the Time | February 17, 2015 | 0.4 | 0.74 | [32] | |
13 | 13 | Rule No. 101: Know When It's Time to Move On | February 24, 2015 | 0.3 | 0.79 | [33] |
In October 2021, it was announced that MBC Group was developing their own version of the American series, Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce with Sally Wally along with their production company, S Productions in partnership with NBCUniversal Formats. The series was greenlit for a 45-episodes of fifth and final season which premiered on 21 November 2021 on MBC 4, Shahid VIP & S Productions collaborate on their first comedy-drama series: The 45 Rules of Divorce. [1] [34]
Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce premiered in the United States on Bravo on December 2, 2014, in Canada on Slice on January 9, 2015, [35] and in the United Kingdom on Lifetime UK on September 15, 2015. [36]
The first season was released on DVD in region 1 on October 13, 2015. [37] On November 1, 2015 [38] season 1 of Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce became available to stream in the US for Netflix subscribers. [39] The show is also available from electronic sell-through platforms such as iTunes, [40] Amazon Instant Video, [41] and Vudu. [42]
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