Thursday, September 29, 2011

Deschanel is the “New Girl” on Fox’s Latest Sitcom”

Fox's new television show starring Zooey Deschanel, "New Girl," premiered Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2011. According to USA Today, the premier scored 10 million viewers, a promising start.

From the big screen in movies like "500 Days of Summer" and "Yes Man," Deschanel is returning to television, where she caught her big break back in 1997 with a guest role on the television show, "Veronica's Closet," according to The Internet Movie Database.


New Girl
Deschanel's awkward, quirky Jess, who has just discovered that her boyfriend is cheating on her. Heartbroken, Jess searches for a new apartment and soon finds a home with three guys, who are hesitant to take her in until they hear that her best friend, Cece Meyers (Hannah Simone), is a model.
Her three new roommates include Coch (Damon Kyle Wayans, Jr.), an intense athletic trainer that has trouble talking to women, Nick (Jake Johnson), who is depressed after being dumped by his successful girlfriend and Schmidt (Max Greenfield), an eager womanizer. The relaxed chemistry between the actors is apparent from start to finish, drawing the audience into the show with ease.

However, while the script is witty and there are a few moments that will surely cause a few grins and maybe some chuckles, this show cannot be described as a landmark in sitcom history.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Damon Kyle Wayans, Jr. will not be on the show for long. In fact, he will appear only in the pilot, because he has left "New Girl" for ABC's second season of "Happy Endings." Actor Lamorne Morris will be replacing Wayans on the show as Winston, a former athlete that moves into the loft with Jess, Nick, and Schmidt.

For most of the episode, the roommates seem more than annoyed by Jess' eccentric quirks. When she wallows on the couch watching "Dirty Dancing" for the umpteenth time, for instance, Nick exclaims that "it has been a week of this madness" and he "can't take this" to Coach and Schmidt. Given this annoyance, it was particularly far-fetched when at the end of the episode, Jess' roommates care so much about her that they valiantly leave their party in order to comfort her after she has been stood up.

Despite a completely cheesy and cliché ending, the show was decent overall. Deschanel was cute and entertaining, if sometimes a bit over the top in her acting. The comedy, while not laugh out loud, was passably humorous.
Some people, like Entertainment Weekly's reporter Kate Ward, suggest that "New Girl" is just too similar to TBS' sitcom "My Boys," which premiered in November 2006 and ran for four seasons before it was cancelled in September 2010. Ward claims that "almost every character in ‘New Girl' has a ‘My Boys' counterpoint," except that the characters in "My Boys" were "multidimensional and funny" while those in "New Girl" are "obvious and bland."

While Ward believes that the characters in "New Girl" are not deep enough, it is important to take into account that pilots cannot go into too much detail, especially with the show being only a half an hour long.
A viewer often has to watch a few episodes to really become attached to a show as well as to see the layers and dimensions of each character's personality and background. So while it is fair to say that the viewers only know the characters on a superficial level so far, future episodes should give the characters more depth.
With a witty script and a few funny moments, "New Girl" does a decent job in catching viewers' interest. While not groundbreaking or outrageously hilarious, this new sitcom hosts a fun cast and has potential to last a good few seasons.

"New Girl" airs on Fox every Tuesday at 9 p.m.

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