Lena Dunham's new HBO show starring Jennifer Garner, 'Camping,' is already hated by critics and audiences alike

HBO

• HBO's new comedy "Camping," created by "Girls" creators Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner, is getting panned by critics.
• The show is an adaptation of a British series about a group of friends that goes on a big camping trip to celebrate a milestone birthday.
• The show has a 23% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with an even lower audience score of 14%.

"Girls" creators Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner's new show, "Camping," which premiered on HBO Sunday night is already a total misfire with critics and audiences, despite a stellar cast including Jennifer Garner, David Tennant, and Juliette Lewis. One critic even called it "the TV viewing equivalent of nails on a chalkboard."

"Camping," based on a six-episode British series of the same name that aired in 2016, follows a group of friends that goes on a camping trip to celebrate a birthday. HBO's Americanized version, adapted by Dunham and Konner, has a 23% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 14% score with audiences.

And, unfortunately, "Camping" really is unpleasant, despite Garner and Tennant trying their best to sell the nearly unwatchable material and characters they're given.

Allison Shoemaker of RogerEbert.com wrote that the show is "a camping trip you'd never want to take, with people you'd never like to meet, doing things you're almost embarrassed to watch."

For Vox, Todd VanDerWerff wrote that "'Camping' seems to be fixated on showcasing people behaving badly - whether on their own or due to outside influence - without necessarily having a larger point to make."

And that's not even the worst of it. Amy Amatangelo of Paste wrote that "the series is grating -- the TV viewing equivalent of nails on a chalkboard. The worst part of all of this is that it's Garner's first regular TV role since Alias ended. Maybe SD-6 is behind the whole thing."

This is in huge contrast to Dunham and Konner's previous show, "Girls," which featured a set of flawed characters to positive critical reception that faded over the course of its six-season run that ended in 2017.

"Camping" airs Sunday nights on HBO.