This week on The Collision, we are joined by Allison Keene and Charles Judson.  Our conversation is sparked by a Mad Men spec script from actress Erika Anderson, which brings African-American characters into Matthew Weiner‘s critically acclaimed show.  From there, our conversation expands to explore diversity in popular TV series, if showrunners should feel obligated to diversify their casts, the difficulty in writing minority characters, and much more.  As always, we finish up with our recommendations.

Click here to listen to the new episode of The Collision, click here for the previous episode (“Violence and Evil Dead“), click here to add the podcast to your RSS, and click here to find us on iTunes. To keep up to date with The Collision, you can follow us on Twitter at @MattGoldberg, @AdamChitwood, and @DrClawMD (Dave Trumbore). Hit the jump to check out the trailers for this week’s recommendations.

After a very strange season of ups and downs for both the characters and viewers, Girls‘ second season ended on an upbeat note for (almost) all involved.  However, with Christopher Abbott, who plays the suddenly-rich-thanks-to-an-app Charlie, leaving the show just as filming on season three begins, that puts one of the finale’s major storylines in a quandary.  Though Abbott’s official statement is that he is leaving to pursue work on other projects, the rumor is that he and the polarizing HBO show’s creator, Lena Dunham, fought over creative differences.  Hit the jump for the specifics, and what it could mean for the third season (Note: Season Two spoilers).

Oh my.  I’m not sure what to do with this season of Girls.  It’s been all over the place — from a strong, legitimately funny start to some strange, meditative episodes (Hannah and her affair with the doctor, Jessa’s trip back home), to the odd and boring (“On All Fours”).  This season has become less of a commentary on girls, these or otherwise, and more of a ritualistic humiliation that has zapped one character off of the map completely (please come back, Jessa, please!)  As for this week, the best I can do with “On All Fours” is that it seemed to be about returning to your base instincts and coming to terms with who you really are.  Or something.  Hit the jump for why “I’ve been known to dabble in the Macintosh arts.”

The freight train that is Argo kept on trucking last night.  Though the film’s Best Picture Oscar chances were all but dashed when Ben Affleck was snubbed for Best Director (it’s incredibly rare for a movie to win Best Picture without a Best Director nomination), the film picked up the top awards at two major guilds—the Screen Actors Guild and the Producers Guild.  Now two becomes three, as the Directors Guild Awards were held last night and Argo pulled off the hat trick by landing Affleck the Best Director DGA trophy.

There is one major precedent that everyone keeps pointing towards with regards to Argo: 1995’s Apollo 13.  That film won the PGA, DGA, and SAG awards, only to find Ron Howard left out of the Best Director Oscar nominations and it ultimately lost Best Picture to Braveheart.  Is Argo in the same boat as Apollo 13 or can it pull off the win?  Furthermore, who wins Best Director at the Oscars?  Hit the jump for more, along with the full list of DGA winners that includes Looper’s Rian Johnson for his work on Breaking Bad and Girls’ Lena Dunham.

Did anyone count the seconds Shoshanna and Jessa turned up on screen in this episode of Girls?  More than twenty, but less than a full minute, surely.  The problem with any episode that focuses entirely on Hannah is that Hannah is, by far, the least likable of the foursome.  In small doses she can be fine — the cold open was a thing of beauty to anyone who works in, or pays close attention to, media.  Hannah, looking to do some kind of Woody Allen-esque “I just want to talk about how awkward I am” piece, or maybe some kind of long-form old-school journalism is told, “have a threesome with strangers you meet off of Craiglist.  Or go on a cocaine binge.  Just an idea.”  Hit the jump to see how that played out, as well as why you should “look at the doll and describe her!”

In a move that surprises no one, HBO has renewed its highly discussed, popular and divisive series Girls for a third season with an expanded episode count, totaling twelve.  The series was already brought back early this year (returning in January after premiering last spring in April with the sharp political comedy Veep), and HBO seems eager to ride the zeitgeist wave and bring even more of the series as fast as it can.

Elsewhere, the premium cable channel has ordered a half-hour pilot from Jay and Mark Duplass who are set to write, direct and produce (though not star or appear in) the series called Togetherness.  Togetherness will focus on two couples living under one roof, working through their relationships and pursuing their dreams.  Hit the jump for more.

The 2013 Golden Globes have just wrapped up.  I only watched the last hour of the ceremony because the Globes no longer have their awards season power due to voting schedule changes.  Reading tweets and Facebook posts, it seems like it was a fairly entertaining show (keep an eye out for Jodie Foster‘s acceptance speech for her Lifetime Achievement Award).  As for the winners, they were very “Globes” in that they were more populist choices that are unlikely to have much bearing on the Oscars.  Argo may have had a good night at the Globes by winning Best Picture (Drama) and Best Director, but I still think Lincoln is the picture to beat when it comes to the Academy Awards, especially since Ben Affleck was snubbed for the Best Director Oscar nomination.

Hit the jump for the full list of winners.

“I watched Girls, but I didn’t really have an opinion of it” – said no one ever.  Last year the show started off shaky and turned some viewers off, but got progressively better as the reality of what the series is — and not what the divisive hype claimed it was — became clear.  Girls is really a fine show.  Series creator and star Lena Dunham is not “the voice of the generation” (which was a satirically uttered line that HBO turned into a sincere tagline), but she has moments where she gets it really right.  So maybe getting the most out of the show means accepting it as an ironic embrace of White Girl Problems, without being dismissive of its truths.  Hit the jump to find out where all of the girls are now, and why things are already so much better than before.

The first trailer for the second season of HBO’s comedy series Girls has arrived, and it’s pretty great.  The first season of the Judd Apatow-produced series was met with a surprisingly polarized response, but creator/writer/producer/star Lena Dunham took it all in stride and is back with a vengeance.  Some of the season one criticisms were valid, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t find this season two trailer incredibly funny.  The events of the season one finale look to be reverberating throughout the show’s second season, as we see Hannah (Dunham) taking advantage of her single life, Jessa (Jemima Kirke) getting to know her new husband (Chris O’Dowd), and the unendingly creepy/affable Adam (Adam Driver) going full stalker on Hannah.  Oh yeah, and Jorma Taccone’s back.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  Season two of Girls, which will also feature Donald Glover, Andrew Rannells, Rita Wilson, Patrick Wilson, and Colin Quinn, premieres on HBO on January 13th.

A couple new clips to share with you this evening:

• Stephen Fung’s Tai Chi Zero, a mash-up of steam-punk and kung-fu, stars Yuan Xiaochao, Angelababy, Tony Leung, Ka Fai and Shu Qi.  Tai Chi Zero opens stateside in limited release on October 19th.  Check out the trailer if you missed it earlier.
• Co-written by Lena Dunham (Girls) and director Ry Russo-Young (You Won’t Miss Me) comes Nobody Walks, starring John Krasinski, Olivia Thirlby, Jane Levy and Rosemarie DeWitt. Nobody Walks also opens October 19th.

Hit the jump to check out the clips. 

Olivia Thirlby plays a young New York artist who comes to Los Angeles to complete her experimental film in Nobody Walks.  Soon after her arrival, personal connections begin to veer away from professional terrain and everyone is forced to confront the new landscape that emerges in her wake.  The ensemble drama, which opens in theaters on October 19^th, also stars John Krasinski and Rosemarie DeWitt.

During my roundtable interview with Thirlby, she discussed her character, what drew her to the script by Lena Dunham and director Ry Russo-Young, how sexual energy and sexual expression are big themes of the film, and why one of the film’s strengths is that it doesn’t offer the audience any clear cut notions on who’s right or who’s wrong.  Thirlby, who shot Nobody Walks immediately after the action-packed Dredd 3D, also revealed how her appearance changed for the role of Martine, why she enjoyed playing a bad-ass in Dredd, and why she’s a big fan of Girls.  Hit the jump to read more.

A new trailer and images for director Judd Apatow‘s new film This Is 40 have been released.  The film follows Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann‘s characters from Knocked Up as they approach middle age.  The laughs aren’t as big here as they were in the first trailer, but I’m encouraged by the promise of a really sweet and candid story about family.  Rudd and Mann can walk the line between comedy and drama like few others, and Apatow has been trying to nail that James L. Brooks balance with his previous directorial features to varying degrees of success.  There’s a clear emotional throughline with This Is 40 that I think could be the key, and the pairing of Albert Brooks and Rudd as father and son is an inspired move that I’m eager to see play out.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer and see the images.  The film also stars Albert Brooks, Megan Fox, Chris O’Dowd, Lena Dunham, Ryan Lee, Charlene Yi, Robert Smigel, Wyatt Russell, Melissa McCarthy and Jason Segel.  This Is 40 opens on December 21st.

The first trailer and poster have gone online for Nobody Walks, a drama starring John Krasinski, Rosemarie DeWitt and Olivia Thirlby.  From director Ry Russo-Young (You Won’t Miss Me), who co-wrote the picture with Lena Dunham (Girls), Nobody Walks centers on Martine (Thirlby), a young New York artist who moves to LA and stays with a local family while completing her art film.  What first appears as an idyllic and happy family soon begins to unravel after Martine’s arrival.  The trailer does a nice job at building tension and interest while separating itself from similar fare by what looks to be wide-ranging performances from the principal actors.  Hit the jump to check out the first trailer and poster for Nobody Walks.

HBO has announced that the second seasons of the original comedy series Girls and Enlightened will debut in January of 2013.  The first seasons of Girls and Enlightened began airing in April and October, respectively, but the network now has a hole to fill in January after the unexpected cancellation of Luck.  I’ve yet to catch Enlightened, but I was a big fan of Lena Dunham’s Girls.  At once raw, hilarious, candid, and sweet, Girls proved to be one of the most entertaining offerings of the 2011-2012 TV season.

For those keeping score at home, next up on HBO’s original programming docket after True Blood and The Newsroom wrap up their current seasons is Boardwalk Empire and Treme, which both premiere in September.  Hit the jump to read the full press release.