While my initial thoughts on New Girl were pretty positive, the pilot wasn't love at first sight for me. Some parts felt a bit awkward, which isn't necessarily an unusual feeling for a pilot episode. But I think my main issue was the character of Coach (Damon Wayans Jr.). I've never been a fan of "screaming" characters, which explains my dislike of Ruth Fisher. I just don't get it. People don't really talk that way, so it just comes off as really annoying. With Damon Wayans Jr.'s other show Happy Endings getting renewed, New Girl was forced to either recast the character or have him leave. They chose the latter and instead had the original roommate that Jess replaced, Winston (Lamorne Morris), return. I for one am happy they opted to do this as opposed to simply recasting Coach. It's not uncommon to recast characters from a pilot so I'm wondering if the decision to have a different character all together was based on early reactions to the character of Coach. For me, he definitely was the weakest link in the pilot. In contrast to Coach, Winston is a man of fewer words, but his facial expressions do enough. I'm a less is more person, so I'm liking this change a lot. Winston gives the show a bit of a different feel and by episode 3, I found the characters really clicking and the show starting to hit its stride.
What works best about this show right from the beginning is Zooey Deschanel. Just like Dennings and Behrs are the gems of 2 Broke Girls, she is the gem of this one. Not that Jess is much different than most of the characters that Deschanel has played, but no one plays this type of character better that she does. She's the go to girl for this type of role and power to her for cornering the market on quirkiness. I've seen Fox criticized for marketing the character as "adorable" but I don't really see this as a negative. She IS adorable, but maybe not in the way we normally use that term. What's adorable about her is her tendency to break out into song about herself, her desire to wear costume teeth to a wedding just for fun, essentially her ability to be, as a friend of mine recently termed it, "un-self-aware". Characters like this are rare on TV, so she really is a breath of fresh air.
One more final thing before I bring this one to a close. The show seems to be hinting at a possible Jess/Nick pairing. Though I've said that I don't want to see Jess eventually hooking up with all of the guys, I would support this pairing. My hope is that he show will take the time to build this relationship in the right way. Both characters have recently gotten out of relationships and I would hate for them to be each other's rebounds.
Well, as you can see, I'm pretty invested in this show. I actually think it might be my favorite new show of the season. This one's on my watch list for sure. I hope it's on yours too!
Showing posts with label fall TV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fall TV. Show all posts
Monday, October 10, 2011
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Ms. Taco Checks In With The 'Girls' Of Fall Pt. 1
The buzz this fall is that female characters are taking center stage in a number of new TV shows, two of which even have 'girl' in the title. Three weeks in, much to my surprise, I'm hooked on both.
2 Broke Girls and New Girl, both recently gifted with full season pickups, follow girls on new ventures. 2 Broke Girls sees formerly rich and currently broke Caroline (Beth Behrs) taking a job as a waitress where she butts heads with Max (Kat Dennings). Both girls couldn't be more different, but by the end of the pilot they are sharing an apartment and have agreed to start a cupcake business together. Max has the baking chops and Caroline has the business smarts. The only catch is that they need about $250,000 for start-up costs. New Girl's Jess (Zooey Deschanel) is also starting fresh. After recently catching her boyfriend cheating, she ends up filling the fourth roommate spot with three single guys: Schmidt (Max Greenfield), Nick (Jake Johnson), and Winston (Lamorne Morris) (formerly Coach-more on this in a later post). Jess has a quirkiness about her that makes her unlike any girl they've met, but by the end of the pilot, Jess has settled in as their new roommate.
I don't think my initial thoughts on 2 Broke Girls were off the mark. I'm perplexed by some reviewers calling it the best new comedy of the season. The lines are flat, the supporting characters are stereotypical and one-dimensional, and many of the jokes are borderline offensive. However, something about the banter between Dennings and Behrs shines, and I'm hooked to watching them play off each other.
The show clearly needs a lot of work. The writing needs to improve. I don't know series co-creator Whitney Cummings at all, but having watched six seasons of other co-creator Michael Patrick King's Sex and the City, I'm surprised by the predictability of the jokes. One good point I read was that this show would have been better suited for HBO where it would have the freedom to be the show that it wants to be, and that may be the case. But the reality is that the show is on CBS and needs to make it work within those parameters. In my perfect world, the supporting characters would be squashed. For me they serve no real purpose except to perpetuate stereotypes that don't need to be perpetuated. However, considering the show is doing so well, I doubt they will consider making any major changes such as this. The question of offensiveness looms and is not as clear cut for me as my previous two points. Some of the show's jokes seem pretty clearly offensive, but in the spirit of South Park, if you are an equal opportunity offender are you really being offensive? Time will tell for me on this one, but considering the way I breezed through the first three episodes the other day, I'm thinking this show will be on my weekly to-do list. The show has already hinted at some deeper character development a la How I Met Your Mother, especially for Max. If they can hit the right notes on this the way Mother does, I will keep this one on my watch list for a long time.
Tune in tomorrow for my thoughts on New Girl!
2 Broke Girls and New Girl, both recently gifted with full season pickups, follow girls on new ventures. 2 Broke Girls sees formerly rich and currently broke Caroline (Beth Behrs) taking a job as a waitress where she butts heads with Max (Kat Dennings). Both girls couldn't be more different, but by the end of the pilot they are sharing an apartment and have agreed to start a cupcake business together. Max has the baking chops and Caroline has the business smarts. The only catch is that they need about $250,000 for start-up costs. New Girl's Jess (Zooey Deschanel) is also starting fresh. After recently catching her boyfriend cheating, she ends up filling the fourth roommate spot with three single guys: Schmidt (Max Greenfield), Nick (Jake Johnson), and Winston (Lamorne Morris) (formerly Coach-more on this in a later post). Jess has a quirkiness about her that makes her unlike any girl they've met, but by the end of the pilot, Jess has settled in as their new roommate.
I don't think my initial thoughts on 2 Broke Girls were off the mark. I'm perplexed by some reviewers calling it the best new comedy of the season. The lines are flat, the supporting characters are stereotypical and one-dimensional, and many of the jokes are borderline offensive. However, something about the banter between Dennings and Behrs shines, and I'm hooked to watching them play off each other.
The show clearly needs a lot of work. The writing needs to improve. I don't know series co-creator Whitney Cummings at all, but having watched six seasons of other co-creator Michael Patrick King's Sex and the City, I'm surprised by the predictability of the jokes. One good point I read was that this show would have been better suited for HBO where it would have the freedom to be the show that it wants to be, and that may be the case. But the reality is that the show is on CBS and needs to make it work within those parameters. In my perfect world, the supporting characters would be squashed. For me they serve no real purpose except to perpetuate stereotypes that don't need to be perpetuated. However, considering the show is doing so well, I doubt they will consider making any major changes such as this. The question of offensiveness looms and is not as clear cut for me as my previous two points. Some of the show's jokes seem pretty clearly offensive, but in the spirit of South Park, if you are an equal opportunity offender are you really being offensive? Time will tell for me on this one, but considering the way I breezed through the first three episodes the other day, I'm thinking this show will be on my weekly to-do list. The show has already hinted at some deeper character development a la How I Met Your Mother, especially for Max. If they can hit the right notes on this the way Mother does, I will keep this one on my watch list for a long time.
Tune in tomorrow for my thoughts on New Girl!
Sunday, August 21, 2011
It's that time of year again...
Greetings TV junkies!
As the fall approaches us, I am inspired to finally start this blog, which I have been mulling for a while now. Even though the TV world has changed dramatically over the years (many new shows no longer start in the fall, TV shows are streaming on the internet, etc.), I'm still filled with excitement when the fall rolls around and I know that a large amount of new shows will be premiering as well as many favorites returning. Over the next few weeks, I will be exploring what new viewing options are going to be coming our way and hope to provide some thoughts on what I think might be worth our time and what would have better been left on the shelf. Here's to an awesome fall TV season!
Ms. Taco
As the fall approaches us, I am inspired to finally start this blog, which I have been mulling for a while now. Even though the TV world has changed dramatically over the years (many new shows no longer start in the fall, TV shows are streaming on the internet, etc.), I'm still filled with excitement when the fall rolls around and I know that a large amount of new shows will be premiering as well as many favorites returning. Over the next few weeks, I will be exploring what new viewing options are going to be coming our way and hope to provide some thoughts on what I think might be worth our time and what would have better been left on the shelf. Here's to an awesome fall TV season!
Ms. Taco
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