New Season, New Girl

New Girl S1 E1: Pilot

First off, I have to really thank Fox for making the pilot of New Girl available On Demand and online before its premiere. (In case you missed it, Fox made New Girl available on iTunes and some cable on demand programs more than a week before its official premiere date, which is Tuesday 9/20) I don’t know how successful of a marketing campaign this will be, but I certainly appreciated it. After the ridonkulously kick-ass hour and a half of television otherwise known as the Sons of Anarchy season four premiere, waiting an entire week for any other new shows to come back seems like torture.

So…thanks, Fox! Having New Girl available early has helped tide me over until the heavier premiere weeks, and also slightly slowed my assault on Netflix’s Instant Watch. Best of all, it was a considerably enjoyable diversion. I’ve always liked Zooey Deschanel and she comes across her most endearing as Jess, the freshly dumped nerd-girl who decides to cohabitate with a bunch of dudes. Although there are definitely traits in Jess that are recognizable from other Zooey Deschanel characters, I think what I found most refreshing about this one is the lack of nerd-worship given to her on screen. (Think 500 Days of Summer or Gigantic with Paul Dano.) Those of us watching at home can clearly see she’s adorable and gorgeous if a little (ok a lot) oblivious, but New Girl doesn’t shy away from making a funny and flawed character in Jess.

My favorite example of this is when new roommate/bro Schmidt (Max Greenfield) decides to cheer up the sobbing Jess by offering to help her find a rebound guy. “I’ll be, like, your guy” he tells her.

“Like Gandalf from middle earth?” she sniffles.

“ …alright let’s take the Lord of the Rings references, let’s put them in a deep dark cave where no one’s going to find them ever.”

“Except Smeagol” she replies, SO earnest and yet just a little smug. She’s not going to let go of her nerd references, man hunting or no!

Of the roommates, Nick (Jake M. Johnson) is my favorite so far. He, like Jess, is fairly recently dumped and lets it get the best of him, even hiding in his hoodie when the guys push him too hard by zipping it up and pulling the hood all the way down to his chin.

Winston, a.k.a. Coach, was recast after the pilot, so I’ve only seen Damon Wayans Jr. play him for the one episode he’s in.

Schmidt has had some good moments, but I can’t help but think that Dave Franco, younger brother of James Franco, should have been cast in that part. He was just so perfectly toolish as Cole Aaronson in the final season of Scrubs (and one of the only good things about that season, I should add).

Actually, now that I think about it every character but Jess could easily have been cast from new players in the last few seasons of Scrubs…

Dave Franco instead of Max Greenfield as Schmidt.

Michael Mosley for Jake M. Johnson as Nick. (I actually do really like Johnson, but I’m doing a thing here!)

Lee Thompson Young can be the new Winston, because what’s the problem with recasting again, especially since we could all use some famous Jett Jackson in our lives?

And… Eliza Coupe as Jess’s model friend Cece because so far Hannah Simone is sort of yawn, and Eliza is much too funny for Happy Endings.

Overall, I'd give New Girl a B+ this is a solid show with a lot of potential, and I look forward to watching the characters grow and develop.