New Girl, created by Elizabeth Meriwether which premiered on Fox in 2011 and ran for seven seasons up until 2018, remains one of the most beloved sitcoms of its era. The continual large number of streams even after the show took its final bow cemented its status as sitcom royalty.
The Premise
This show follows Jessica Day, an unapologetically-herself schoolteacher who after returning from a trip finds her boyfriend cheating on her, resorts to moving into a loft that had an ad on craigslist looking for a third roommate. The three men who constantly live in the loft are Nick, a law school drop out turned bartender, Winston, a professional basketball player in Latvia who moved back into the loft and Schmidt, a meticulous marketing professional who is obsessed with women. On occasion, there are appearances from Coach, a hyper-competitive personal trainer who navigates life like a game. Jess navigates life and her new living situation with the help of her childhood best friend, Cece, who is a professional model. This eclectic group of people navigate the ups and downs of dating, jobs and learning how to be adults in LA with a comedic flair.
Stand Out Episodes
The most popular episode of New Girl is season 3 episode 14 titled Prince, and it is the most streamed episode with 26.3 million live views when it was first broadcasted. Jess and Cece get invited to a party hosted by the legendary musician Prince, and right before the party, Jess’s boyfriend Nick tells her that he loves her. Jess panics, doesn’t say it back and goes to the party. . Nick, Schmidt, Coach and Winston all decide to crash the party so Nick can talk things through with Jess, while Prince ends up running into Nick and Jess and gives them advice on their relationship.
My personal favorite episode is season 4 episode 6 of New Girl titled Background Check. Winston decides to join the police academy and the final task before he can be a recruit is having a police academy evaluator do a surprise home visit. When the loft sits down to talk to the evaluator, Jess realizes that a little bit ago, she thrifted an ottoman and inside of it was a plastic bag with an unidentified bag of what Jess thinks is crystal meth. Instead of trying to figure out what exactly is in the bag, she immediately resorts to trying to destroy the bag and all of the items in it with help from everyone except Winston who is being interviewed by the evaluator in the loft. When the evaluating Sergeant finally discovers the bag, she reveals that the bag was filled with aquarium rocks the entire time.
What Makes The Show Unique
This sitcom follows this group of people who live together which helps develop each individual character so they all get their time to shine. Although the title character is Jess Day, each member of the loft gets fairly equal screen time. The show’s writers and directors also trusted the actors with knowing their characters enough that a small part of the show’s dialogue is improvised, and this improvisation led to some of the show’s most iconic dialogue.
If you are looking for a T.V. series with characters who show continual growth and will have you laughing so hard you can’t breathe, this show is for you. I recommend this series to all of my friends and by the end of the first episode they are hooked. The next time you want a new show to watch, I hope you consider New Girl.