His quotes could belong to Christopher Hitchens. “Men face reality. Women don’t. That’s why men need to drink.”

His WASPy airs recall George Plimpton.

George Christopher, the hapless sage played by Ted Danson in the HBO comedy detective series “Bored to Death,” was conceived as an amalgam of legendary New York journalists. And this season, when George opened a fashionable downtown restaurant, it was a move reminiscent of Graydon Carter (as are his initials).

The journalist as the urbane sophisticate — immortalized by real-life characters like Truman Capote and fictional ones like Tess Harding, played by Katharine Hepburn in “Woman of the Year” — has faded as the fortunes of the profession have declined. But in George Christopher, it is alive and well.

Image Ted Danson Credit... Paul Schiraldi/HBO

Jonathan Ames, the show’s creator, did not just sketch George’s persona from the likes of famous journalists. He modeled George’s clothes after studying pictures of Gay Talese’s colorful wardrobe. He drew inspiration for plots from news about the Manhattan media. And he infused the script with references to the state of print publishing.