New Girl: First Thoughts

The TV Month That Was: New Girl

It's Zooey Deschanel, the douche goofball, the love interest, and the not!Coach.

There were quite a number of debuting television shows that I was looking forward to seeing this year than any of the previous years, simply because there were a lot of shaking up taking place—a boob tube icon returning to TV-land, also more reality shows, more sexified dramas, and more movie veterans trying out the small-screen gig for the first time. Excitement!

But, after catching the pilot you end up with only a handful of these that you want to see go the distance. A good three seasons, at the very least. Hey, One Tree Hill lasted nine seasons.

Subtitled: The Series that Refused to Die

One of the few new shows that really made a big impact on its first day was the Zooey Deschanel-led sitcom New Girl on Fox. Yes, from (500) Days of Summer; yes, half of She & Him; yes, Emily Deschanel’s younger sister. What, you didn’t know that last tidbit?

Moving on…

If you want a ha-hee-ha ha, feel good, cringe-fest fix on your sets, New Girl is just for you. Zooey plays the main protagonist Jess Day, a bubbly preschool teacher, who loves to sing to herself and do awkward things in front of guys. The boys from The Big Bang Theory don’t hold a candle to Jess in situations that involve socializing with the opposite sex. Miraculously enough, she was able to keep a model boyfriend for three whole years, although that ended horribly, which was the premise of the entire show, actually. How does one very likable but awkward girl (more awkward than seeing Ellen judge on American Idol) move on from a tragic relationship, especially when she moves in with three single but attractive guys, who also have their own issues with the opposite sex? SHENANIGANS, I tells ya.

SHENANIGANS! Also: Spoiler.

So anyway, not to give away too much about the show (so far, the third episode’s just aired), methinks it’s still kind of riding on the success and momentum of the first episode. This could just be me, but the last two episodes left me a bit underwhelmed by the supposed-to-be funny parts. (A few exceptions would be the driving scene in the second episode and the group chicken dance scene in the third.) Maybe because the first one was just plain hilarious from start to finish. It had the sweet moments, and the flat-out witty ones. 

It may also have something to do with the role-change situation. It’s either Damon Wayans Jr., despite his uber short-lived part as Coach, is as epic a comedy actor as his old man, OR the replacement has not been given the best material to work with. Damn, I can’t even remember him or his character’s name. I mean, a dance-off with an obnoxious kid at a wedding? Come. On. Still not likable at this point, unfortunately.

Still, given the small disappointments, I do think it’s already found itself a growing fanbase, who will forgive them for the little mistakes. Personally, I will still be watching New Girl mainly because of: 1. Zooey Deschanel playing Jess (“It’s Jess!”) is her most lively role YET, 2. Zooey singing is always adorable, and 3. THE DOUCHEBAG JAR.

Probably the funniest thing on the show.

- Soc

As much as Soc and probably quarter of world is falling head over heels over the New Girl, I’m not exactly jumping in the bandwagon just yet. I’m still not feeling the show just yet or maybe I’m one of those boring TV watcher kind – I like my dramas, procedural and my funnies, sitcom-y. Though I give some exceptions to some, I find that I keep going back to the formulaic kind, to keep my mind numb and happy.

When Soc reminded me about this show, I checked it out right away because Zooey Deschanel is in it. I like Zooey. She’s warm and fuzzy like a summer’s day (heh).

Raised expectations towards quirky girls to unreasonable levels.

Ms. Deschanel is going all out with her quirkiness and awkwardness as Jess, which basically means she’s being almost like every other character she plays. (Almost, meaning she’s being quirky and another adjective.) But, I like her all the same. Then we have the 3 guys whose worlds are going to be rocked (I’m assuming) by the new girl – Nick (who is obviously the romantic interest), Schimdt (the only other potentially interesting character), and Winston (who is so not Coach). And lastly, Jess’ best friend Cece, who I’ve decided is my favourite character because she balances the embarrassment moments with her super deadpan expression. Love her.

Cece, save her from too much dorkiness!

So, I liked the first episode of the New Girl in a finger-curling-oh-my-god-somebody-please-hit-her-over-the-head kind of like. Maybe, I’m just not into those shows which centralize on a constant stream of embarrassing moments. I like those situations in small dosages or else I’m going to be rendered incoherent from so much 2^nd hand embarrassment, which this show is proving to be good at starting at episode 2. But, I’m giving this show a very wide berth because after all, it’s just been 3 episodes and I don’t think it’s fallen into a good rhythm yet.

New Girl is the kind of comedy that I probably wouldn’t get into as fast if I wasn’t watching it real time and, I’m not waiting in anticipation for it to warm the cockles of my non-heart. As for now, I’m just waiting for it to let me watch without curling my fingers every other second.

- Tula