“As someone who writes about entertainment, it was embarrassing to see so many writers attack this actress (who they once praised) from atop their high horses. There’s a difference between having an opinion of what is entertaining or what is art and staying in touch with reality.” —Michael Errigo

How I Met Your Dad, the cleverly titled spin-off of the CBS hit How I Met Your Mother, has long been in the works. For the most part, consensus has been: meh. It seems it will be just another cookie-cutter parasite show, trying to live off the success of its famous predecessor. But CBS threw a wrench into things last week when they gave delightful indie movie darling Greta Gerwig the main role. The public’s response? Indie apocalypse.

The tweets came quickly and viciously. One movie critic tweeted, “Greta Gerwig may’ve just secured her financial future but officially became of no interest to me anymore.” Another: “Wow. No, Greta Gerwig. No. I mean… Greta Gerwig’s gotta eat. But… No.”

Many employed a word I thought only still existed in funny hipster impersonations: sellout. Gerwig, star of indie hits such as 2012’s Frances Ha and 2007’s Hannah Takes the Stairs, will play Sally, a character the network describes as “a female Peter Pan who has never grown up and has no idea where she’s going in life.” Turns out, that’s basically the same role she played in the two aforementioned movies. 

Gerwig has been doing mostly indie projects for eight years. Here’s a wild idea: Maybe she actually wants to use her talents to make real money. This is nothing against indie films — Frances Ha was one of my favorite movies of 2012 — but it’s a fact they don’t really break the bank. Does her desire to make some good money depreciate her talents, her view of film as art or her standing in the hearts of her (real) fans? No. Her joy of possessing currency makes her a human being.

Not only will she make money but she’ll be working with a team that has had success before with How I Met Your Mother. Indie fans all over will deny this until the day they die, but in its prime, that show was clever, funny and extremely self-aware. With Gerwig taking on the role of producer and writer in addition to star, it will be exciting to see what she can do in collaboration with HIMYM writers Carter Bays and Craig Thomas.

This isn’t the first time Gerwig has gone mainstream. In 2011, she had minor roles in the cheesy No Strings Attached and the just plain awful Arthur and no one freaked out about that. So, is it the TV thing? It shouldn’t be. Television has become a revamped vehicle for stars to show their stuff. Matthew McConaughey starring in HBO’s True Detective in the middle of what may be the greatest run of his career, is a prime example of TV’s star resurgence. But therein lies the problem: If Gerwig were going to HBO or even Showtime, she wouldn’t catch any flak at all. Network television stations just happen to be hipster kryptonite.

No matter what the specifics might be, this kind of reaction is indicative of a problem that’s bigger than just Gerwig. The idea fans, media members or just about anyone not named Greta Gerwig could attack a decision with such fury is ludicrous. Who are we to act like we know what’s best for her?

This especially applies to celebrities because — wait for it — we don’t know them at all. As much as we think we do, we most definitely do not. So to pay such close attention to their personal lives and their decisions is insane. Obviously there are some exceptions: Moral issues and ethical problems deserve criticism in the right situation. But, as hard as this might be to believe for some people, choosing to star in a show on a majorly popular television network is not a moral oversight.

As someone who writes about entertainment, it was embarrassing to see so many writers attack this actress (who they once praised) from atop their high horses. There’s a difference between having an opinion of what is entertaining or what is art and staying in touch with reality. In this case, and in far too many others, I’m afraid it has been crossed. 

So, to all those people still pouting over Greta Gerwig joining the mainstream: Get over it. And then get over yourselves.