By Celia Papavasileiou,
I love watching sitcoms. They are my favorite type of show to watch. I find them funny, relaxing and even comforting. Nothing hits as close to home as a good sitcom. As you can probably already guess, I’ve watched a lot of them. Usually, it’s hard for me to pick out my favorite things. However, this isn’t the case with sitcoms. From the moment I watched the first episode of “New Girl”, I instantly knew it would take the number one spot on my list.
A lot of my friends didn’t know of the show until I introduced them to it. It isn’t one of the classics like “Friends” or “How I Met Your Mother”. I imagine you’re wondering why I believe “New Girl” can even compare to the shows mentioned above. Well, I hope after reading this, I will have convinced you to at least give it a try.
Let’s start with the basics. The series was created by Elizabeth Meriwether and produced by 20th Century Fox Television for Fox. It aired from September 20th of 2011 to May 15th of 2018 with its seven seasons now available in most streaming platforms. It was titled as one of the best new comedies of the 2011 fall season and was the highest-rated fall debut for a series scripted by Fox since 2001.
The series follows Zooey Deschanel’s character Jessica (Jess) Day, a quirky and extremely loving teacher from Portland, Oregon. She’s in her late 20’s trying to get her life back on track after breaking up with her cheating boyfriend. The initial success of the show is all because of Deschanel. Having previously starred on “Elf” (2003) and “500 Days of Summer” (2009), she was the main focus of the show’s advertising, which turned out to be fairly successful.
To get away from her ex-boyfriend, Jess responds to a Craigslist ad and ends up moving to a loft in LA with three other guys: Nick Miller (Jake Johnson), a law school dropout who works in a bar, Schmidt (Max Greenfield), a player with a successful marketing career and Winston Bishop (Lamorne Morris), a former (not really successful) basketball player trying to find a new job. Throughout the series two more characters play a major role in Jess’s life: Cece Parekh (Hannah Simone), her childhood best friend who is also a model and Coach, whose real name is Ernie (Damon Wayans Jr.), another friend of the guys who also moves in the loft later in the series.
We follow the characters along in all the changes in their lives. Each of the characters has their own development, in their love life, career and overall behavior and personality. Jess manages to sneak her way into their life, forming a unique bond with each of them. They all grow up and fall in and out of love, sometimes even with each other, leaving the viewer wanting more every time.
“New Girl” is special for many reasons, the main one being that it’s unimaginably funny. At first glance the characters being friends doesn’t make a lot of sense. Who would imagine that a dorky teacher would become best friends with a cranky bartender who can’t figure out his feelings for the life of him? However, they all have such a natural chemistry that makes even the most typically boring scenes exciting. It is no coincidence that many iconic moments of the show were improvised.
I watched “New Girl” for the first time last year. The fact that I’ve already rewatched it twice should show how much I love everything about it. I love that Winston is tragically bad at pranks but somehow loves doing them, I love how Schmidt mispronounces simple words and I love how Jess is an adult that loves arts and crafts and is more often than not involved with glitter. But most of all, I love how the series touches upon serious themes while at the same time managing to present them with a unique touch of humor. If you love sitcoms and want to try something new, I highly suggest you to give “New Girl” a try.
References
- New Girl is 146 episodes of quirky comedic enjoyment, and it’s all on Netflix. Vox. Avaialbel here
- New Girl: screwball comedy gets funnier and smarter – and is best when binged. The Guardian. Available here
