Gaby’s thoughts: When a show can awesomely allude to Dirty Dancing, it is guaranteed an A+ from me. So I guess you already know my feelings about New Girl, Zooey Deschanel’s new TV comedy premiering tonight. If you have been living under a rock and missed the big, bold advertisements of New Girl, the show is about a 20-something girl named Jess in need of a new place to stay. After a bad breakup, Jess doesn’t want to live with her model friend, so she answers an ad from three guys looking for a roommate. They agree to have her move in, and well, hilarity ensues.
And I mean it; hilarity does ensue because it’s been forever since a sitcom has made me laugh so much. For starters, I think Jess is the most lovable character in television history. Jess is weird, dorky, and adorable. She’s not afraid to be herself, and often acts the way most girls do in their heads, like the occasional weird happy dance or LoTR references. Her three roommates counteract Jess perfectly. Max Greenfield plays Schmidt, the “ladies man” of the group who is constantly adding money to the douchebag jar. Jake M. Johnson plays Nick, a nice guy who is still heartbroken over his ex-girlfriend. Damon Wayans Jr. plays Coach, an athletic trainer who has a very difficult time talking to women. The group’s chemistry is dead-on, and unfortunately, after the pilot episode, Coach is replaced by a new roommate, Winston, because Wayans Jr. had scheduling conflicts with his other show, Happy Endings. Lamorne Morris will play Winston, and I just really hope he fits right in with the cast.
This pilot episode was perfect. The chemistry, jokes, acting, everything fit right into place. New Girl is here to stay, and I totally recommend this show to EVERYONE. The jokes and characters appeal to both men and women, young and old, all demographics. I guarantee all of you will have the time of your life watching this show.
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Lucy’s thoughts: Who’s that girl? Its Jessie!
After Gaby told me how hilarious the show was and the fact that the pilot was for free on iTunes I was like “Okay, I definitely have to check this out”. And you guys, the writing is hilarious, I was laughing throughout the whole show. I love characters like Jessie, because she’s awkward, quirky and overall funny without her even knowing it. All the pop culture references from Dirty Dancing to Lord of The Rings make the show relatable to any type of audience as well as the variety of the characters, especially her roomates, because even I could point out some of my friends that are exactly like them. However, I am bummed because of the fact that the character of Coach had to leave the show because I really liked him, hopefully Lamorne Morris does a good job. And if you’re wondering, yes, now I have my own Douchebag Jar.
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Nick’s thoughts: The New Girl is a walking, talking, self aware romantic comedy. The whole cast runs through every single conflict (with good reason) like they’re well aware everything is going to be fine because at the end of the day for them LIFE IS AWESOME. And I have to say as some one who also lives by that motif, I’m totally okay with that.
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Zooey Deschanel is adorable as “Jess” though I don’t buy the whole “socially clueless girl” shtick for a second. I’m hoping rewrites from the pilot to future episodes will drop that aspect because it’s been done to death and doesn’t really work with Deschanel in my opinion. Unlikely pratfalls aside though, Jess is a funny and sincere character that I can easily see carrying the show not that she’d need to.
This brings me to the supporting cast, I love these guys. Her roommates include the harmless douche bag, the Wayans brother (who is actually funny), and the neutral guy/future love interest. These guys are pretty hilarious given their typically boring roles and all have great chemistry with each other leading to many classic scenes including one that was easily the highlight scene of the night for me involving a sit down with Jess’ model best friend.
I could talk about the story but all in all the cast is what sells this show so it doesn’t really matter what happens. Unfortunately for the show, Damon Wayans Jr.’s other comedy Happy Endings was renewed so his character had to be recast. It’s a shame because I really liked what his bizarre take on his character brought to the table. Alas I’ll have to wait and see what will change between the pilot and the follow up episodes before dubbing myself a fan, but for now, so far so good.
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If you want to watch the first episode of New Girl early, you can download it for free on iTunes now. Or you can watch its TV premiere tonight after Glee at 9/8c on FOX.
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