Thursday, October 6, 2011

Girls, Girls, Girls...

I have to admit that this is the best pilot season I have seen in a long time, usually one or two new shows will make it to a season pass but this year even the CW made it into regular rotation on my tivo. I already shared my witty remarks on my new favorite sitcom, "Up All Night" which is still going strong as it heads into it's fourth episode, so in another tivo or forgo entry, I'm tackling two more new sitcoms!

First up, "Two Broke Girls". Since the show was created by Michael Patrick King who also executive produced and wrote one of the greatest female ensemble shows...well, ever, "Sex and the City" (Let's all try to forgive him for "Sex and the City 2") and Whitney Cummings, frequent "Chelsea Lately" contributor and also creator of perhaps the worst sitcom pilot of this year, "Whitney" the show had a 50/50 chance of being watchable.

The pilot, starring Kat Dennings as Max, a tough talking, poor girl living in Brooklyn and working two jobs as a waitress and a nanny and Beth Behrs as Caroline, a fallen from grace socialite who finds herself broke after her father is caught participating in a Ponzi scheme, wasn't awful. The jokes were funny, some even pushing the envelope for an 8:30 p.m. time slot, and Dennings who I have loved since she played Norah in "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" has enough talent to make you forget (for a little while) about how cliche the rich girl/poor girl relationship really is. In typical odd couple fashion, the two can't stand each other at first but 30 minutes later they are fast friends, talking about opening their own cupcake business and going to Caroline's house in Manhattan to pick up her only possession, a horse. They then ride the horse back to Brooklyn and keep it in the backyard of their apartment building...which begs the question, can you jump the shark in the first episode?  


The second episode resorted to jokes about poop, and it only got worse from there. The envelope pushing turned into cheap sex jokes that resulted in over the top amounts of laughter from the studio audience but only made me want to change the channel. Overall, "2 Broke Girls" isn't the worst thing you could watch this fall, but it's definitely not the best, so it's getting a forgo from me. It's mediocre at best but if you need something to pass the time, it won't kill you.


Next up, Fox's "New Girl", which is so far my second favorite sitcom of this season. Whoever thought Zooey Deschanel should play a giant nerd, fresh from a breakup and living with three guys she met on the internet, is a GENIUS.  Deschanel plays Jess so perfectly with an equal balance of awkwardness and lovability (yah, sometimes I make up words) that her performance is reminiscent of one of the greatest female nerds of all time, Liz Lemon. 

The pilot focused on Jess moving in with her new three male roommates who try to get her back into the dating world. When she gets stood up the guys rise to the occasion and by the end of the episode, they are in the middle of a restaurant singing Jess' comfort song "I've had the time of my life" to cheer her up. I think I need to spend some more time on Craig's List... There is a really strong chemistry between the cast and even though one of the roommates was recast by the second episode because Damon Wayan's Jr. is busy working over at "Happy Endings" (blog post coming on that soon) the show still works. 
 
Season pass "New Girl" and I don't think you will be disappointed, and even if you hate the show, the theme song alone is worth watching!

1 comment:

  1. Fantastic blog Joie! Thanks for doing the homework so I don't have to!

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