Quicky Opinion: Bells proved to be the shows strongest episode yet, in large part due to the fact that the episode was mainly about the male roommates, rather than Jess. Winston finally got a chance to shine, as we see him become ultra-competitive with handbells, and Nick and Schmidt clashed over what ultimately boiled down to their respective lifestyles. It was all very entertaining to watch and full of good moments. Jess was funny too, but this time the roommates stole the show. Quicky Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
-Schmidt: "You know you want in on this, man! A little fatty tune, yellow-T, Cali roll, Samurai snack. So scrummy!"
-Winston: "I'm losing my mind guys. I sometimes touch the frayed part of the power cord just to feel something"
-Jess: "I'm sorry guys. I should've told you but the community centre decided to turn our "rehearsal space" back into a "hallway", so I had nowhere to go.
-Jess: "These kids had a choice between early morning detention and music. And they all chose music!" Nick (feigning suprise): "No kidding?!"
-Dessarae: "Miss Day, can I eat some of these crackers up in here?" Schmidt: "No, no, no! Water crackers are for adults... to eat with adult cheese." Dessarae: "Can I eat a cracker sushi sandwich?"
-Two things women love: Alternative Percussion Players and Role Models..
-Jess: "I know handbells may not be the coolest instrument in the world. They may not even be the fifth coolest".
-Jess breaks into song a couple times this episode. "Winston and me playing bells every day- until Sunday. I'm cool".
-Schmidt: "I left you a check for $30 on your pillow. Your Nanny gave you that thing for free, so as far as I'm concerned, you're up 30 bucks". Nick: "My Nanny is dead! I'm not looking to make money off of her!"
-Jess: "[Hector] really wanted to play drums, so I told him bells were the next best thing, which was a lie so I couldn't keep a straight face while I was telling him. He saw right through me".
-Winston: "Eye Of The Tiger ended the Cold War". Jess: "That's not the least bit true."
-Winston: "Where are your eyes?" EnsemBell: "On the tiger."
-Nick: "I put your couch and your freezer in your room, Schmidt. I didn't want to get my "poor" on them."
-Schmidt: "Lotus Bear Relax! I can smell it on you right now!" Nick: "Stop smelling my hair!" Schmidt: "You know how much that stuff cost?" Nick: "I didn't use your conditioner!" Schmidt: "Why does your hair look so baby soft?!" Nick: "Fine, Schmidt. I ran out of shampoo, and I used your conditioner. We're talking about conditioner, right?" Schmidt: "You used it as SHAMPOO?! It's for moisture, Nick, not for cleaning. I can't believe we're friends!"
-Jess: "I love running this group. It gives me confidence. It gives me.. muscle definition. Yeah, sometimes it gives me blinding optical migraines so I literally can't see 3 feet in front of me".
-Nick: "I want friends who still lie to me because they don't want to hurt my feelings. I sadly kind of mean that".
-The gag of the Handbells concert being just a bunch of random people in the park was great, especially with their random outbursts.
Showing posts with label New Girl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Girl. Show all posts
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Wednesday, 16 November 2011
Memorable Moments: New Girl: Thanksgiving
Quicky Opinion: Thanksgiving was probably the strongest episode New Girl has had to date. Partly because it didn't end with a variation of the climax of the pilot, but also because it allowed us to see new sides of the character. Justin Long was fun in his first guest appearance as basically male Jess, and Schmidt was as enjoyable as ever. I also liked the last-minute twist of the dead body in the neighbors apartment. Hopefully, New Girl will do episodes like this more often. Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
- Jess: "What you doing for Thanksgiving?" Paul: "Well I always spend it with my Grandmother, but -" Jess: "That's so nice!" Paul: "She just died."
-Paul's grandmother died right as he was writing the Halloween Madrigal, which made it very deep. "What's it all about? Is there any point? Do we start dying the moment we were born". Those words sung by kids in monster costumes make for a great sight gag.
-Nick: "No, Jess. We're not doing Thanksgiving. We talked about this. We're just going to watch football, drink beer, and then we're going to Best Buy for Black Friday". Winston: "Or as I like to call it, Friday"
Memorable Moments
- Jess: "What you doing for Thanksgiving?" Paul: "Well I always spend it with my Grandmother, but -" Jess: "That's so nice!" Paul: "She just died."
-Paul's grandmother died right as he was writing the Halloween Madrigal, which made it very deep. "What's it all about? Is there any point? Do we start dying the moment we were born". Those words sung by kids in monster costumes make for a great sight gag.
-Nick: "No, Jess. We're not doing Thanksgiving. We talked about this. We're just going to watch football, drink beer, and then we're going to Best Buy for Black Friday". Winston: "Or as I like to call it, Friday"
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
Sunday-Tuesday Quicky Opinion Time, Yo!
Hey everyone! Due to a couple of days full of wacky adventures, but not much opportunity to maintain this blog, I am doing a quicky opinion for Simpsons, HIMYM, Terra Nova, New Girl, and Glee. Then, I'll probably take a break from the "quicky" thing for a while. Key word: probably. I'm a busy guy.
The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XXII: Treehouse of Horror has been around for 22 years. Almost as long as The Simpsons, so the writers have a pretty good idea on how to make them memorable. And this installment is a good one with only one real weak installment (the first story after the amusing title sequence, where Homer is paralyzed and can only communicate by farting, and even that one had a great (albeit totally unintentional) Breaking Bad Reference), and two stronger ones. My favorite was probably the middle segment, which was a bit of a Dexter spoof, mainly because I've never seen Avatar, so I didn't get many of the various references I assumed were made during that final segment. Quicky Grade: Awesome! (Good)
How I Met Your Mother: The Return of the Slutty Pumpkin: First they brought back Victoria. Now the Slutty Pumpkin (who is Katie Holmes!) is brought back into the show, and this time we actually get to meet her. The episode, which was about wanting to like something, but just not connecting with it, was a good one, with lots of comedy from Ted realizing he and Naomi don't work, and a good twist ending where we find out Naomi feels the same way. The other two stories, were good too, especially the one where we learn that Barney is a quarter Canadian. Classic. Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Terra Nova: Bylaw: Bylaw was a solid episode, that revolved around the first murder committed in Terra Nova. Though someone confessed to the murder early one, which led to an interesting dilemma, where Taylor had to decide whether to carry through with the bylaw that states banishment is the punishment for murder, the actual muder turns out to be more complicated than this. A few twists and turns later and the real culprit is being banished. Also slight advancement on Josh trying to bring his girlfriend to Terra Nova, by making him promise he'll do some mysterious task for Mira. And he's still annoying. Dinosaurs are still sweet though, and the baby Anklyosaur was cute. Grade: Awesome! (Good) Quicky Dinosaur Scene Count: 3
New Girl: Naked: Naked takes one of those classic sitcom conventions: one character walks in on a character of the opposite gender naked, and puts it's own charming, Zooey Deschanel-filled, spin on it. Basically Jess walks in on Nick dancing naked, laughs and shatters his confidence at the worse possible time: his first date since his break-up. Lots of crazy things happen, but the funniest part of the episode has to be Schmidt who is offended that he is the only one who hasn't seen Nick's penis (Winston and Nick grew up together.). His attempts to see it were hilarious. So after a three-week break, New Girl came back as funny as it's been so far. And that's a good thing. Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Glee: Pot O' Gold: After Asian F, I wasn't sure that Pot O' Gold could be as compelling, and I turned out to be... mostly right. There was still plenty of enjoyable moments. I like that Burt will be taking on Sue for the congress seat and that story was good. I also liked new Irish exchange student, Rory and his attempts to get Brittany's "Pot O' Gold" were amusing. Quinn's attempts to get her baby back though just didn't fit in right with me, no matter what justification the writers attempt to give her and Puck/Shelby is kind of creepy. And the whole Santana and Brittany defecting thing wasn't the best plot. But I still enjoyed this episode though and the next one looks to be interesting, to say the least. Grade: Enjoyable Enough (Pretty Good)
The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XXII: Treehouse of Horror has been around for 22 years. Almost as long as The Simpsons, so the writers have a pretty good idea on how to make them memorable. And this installment is a good one with only one real weak installment (the first story after the amusing title sequence, where Homer is paralyzed and can only communicate by farting, and even that one had a great (albeit totally unintentional) Breaking Bad Reference), and two stronger ones. My favorite was probably the middle segment, which was a bit of a Dexter spoof, mainly because I've never seen Avatar, so I didn't get many of the various references I assumed were made during that final segment. Quicky Grade: Awesome! (Good)
How I Met Your Mother: The Return of the Slutty Pumpkin: First they brought back Victoria. Now the Slutty Pumpkin (who is Katie Holmes!) is brought back into the show, and this time we actually get to meet her. The episode, which was about wanting to like something, but just not connecting with it, was a good one, with lots of comedy from Ted realizing he and Naomi don't work, and a good twist ending where we find out Naomi feels the same way. The other two stories, were good too, especially the one where we learn that Barney is a quarter Canadian. Classic. Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Terra Nova: Bylaw: Bylaw was a solid episode, that revolved around the first murder committed in Terra Nova. Though someone confessed to the murder early one, which led to an interesting dilemma, where Taylor had to decide whether to carry through with the bylaw that states banishment is the punishment for murder, the actual muder turns out to be more complicated than this. A few twists and turns later and the real culprit is being banished. Also slight advancement on Josh trying to bring his girlfriend to Terra Nova, by making him promise he'll do some mysterious task for Mira. And he's still annoying. Dinosaurs are still sweet though, and the baby Anklyosaur was cute. Grade: Awesome! (Good) Quicky Dinosaur Scene Count: 3
New Girl: Naked: Naked takes one of those classic sitcom conventions: one character walks in on a character of the opposite gender naked, and puts it's own charming, Zooey Deschanel-filled, spin on it. Basically Jess walks in on Nick dancing naked, laughs and shatters his confidence at the worse possible time: his first date since his break-up. Lots of crazy things happen, but the funniest part of the episode has to be Schmidt who is offended that he is the only one who hasn't seen Nick's penis (Winston and Nick grew up together.). His attempts to see it were hilarious. So after a three-week break, New Girl came back as funny as it's been so far. And that's a good thing. Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Glee: Pot O' Gold: After Asian F, I wasn't sure that Pot O' Gold could be as compelling, and I turned out to be... mostly right. There was still plenty of enjoyable moments. I like that Burt will be taking on Sue for the congress seat and that story was good. I also liked new Irish exchange student, Rory and his attempts to get Brittany's "Pot O' Gold" were amusing. Quinn's attempts to get her baby back though just didn't fit in right with me, no matter what justification the writers attempt to give her and Puck/Shelby is kind of creepy. And the whole Santana and Brittany defecting thing wasn't the best plot. But I still enjoyed this episode though and the next one looks to be interesting, to say the least. Grade: Enjoyable Enough (Pretty Good)
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
New Girl: Wedding
Wedding mainly does 2 things differently from the last episodes of New Girl. It: A. sets the entire episode at a wedding (except for the first scene where they establish they're going to a wedding and set up the stories for the wedding), and B. switches it up at the end, so Jess helps all her roommates instead of them all helping her. This helps and makes this episode of New Girl the most successful one yet. Probably even better than the pilot. Crazy talk that a show would start to improve I know, but true.
Basically, Jess is going with the guys to a wedding as Nick's date. The idea is for her to scare off Caroline, so Nick doesn't get hurt by her again. The guys however request that she not act like herself (she has props like fake hillbilly teeth ready to go.). Meanwhile Winston is taking his duties as an usher at the wedding super seriously, so people don't ask him questions about what he's doing now but he butts heads with a small boy who also takes his usher duties seriously. And Schmidt finds Brooke, a woman he always wanted to sleep with is at the wedding, as is Gretchen, a girl he dislikes but always ends up sleeping with at weddings.
Jess playing the role of Nick's girlfriend is funny. Of course, after it seems to have scared off Caroline, who seems kind of jealous, Nick decides that he's ready to talk to her alone. Of course this goes poorly when Jess tries to intercede on her own (the other two guys are distracted) by acting betrayed and Caroline assures her that she's not into Nick and has a new boyfriend. This revelation causes a drunk Nick to take over the nearby photo booth in a funny sequence, that shows Nick as being more than the straight man.
Meanwhile Schmidt finds that Brooke has changed from when he last saw her (She's sober now) and pretends that he is also not drinking. When Jess tries to get his attention, he claims Jess is an ex and a bit crazy. This backfires on him when Brooke encounters Jess in the bathroom trying to cut off the little girl bicycle shorts she's wearing to fit into her dress. Jess nicely tells her not to hurt Schmidt, but inadvertently threatens her with a knife, scaring her off completely. This means he'll inevitably wind up sleeping with Gretchen and he gets angry with Jess. And Winston gets into a dance-off with the kid usher that turns really creepy, really fast. In a funny way. With all the guys mad at Jess, she gets mad back and tells them she's happy being herself.
Of course, there has to be a happy conclusion so Winston talks to Jess and assures her that they're all happy to have her, even if they don't always act like it. Jess tells Schmidt that maybe Gretchen isn't so bad (She later rejects his attempt to ask her out because she's just using him for his body.) and she talks Nick out of the photo booth, where he finally gets the nerve to break things off with Caroline completely. Then they all dance together with Jess' modified chicken dance (She pecks her head forward instead of clapping because it's more realistic.
Once again, Schmidt was thefunniest non-Jess character. But Winston was way funnier than he was last week, and his scene with Jess was genuinely sweet. Nick was a lot funnier this week too. All in all, this episode shows that New Girl was definitely deserving of getting that full-season plus 2 pick-up. Honestly, I'm this close to having one of my infamous "Moments of Truth" with this show. It's growing on me.
Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Memorable Moments
-No Cece this week. Assumedly, she'll pop up next week as the episode is called Cece Crashes.
-Schmidt: "When I see you, I want to be thinking, " Who let the dirty slut out of the slut house?" Jess with hilarious British accent: Probably the slut butlah, raaaight?
-Jess: “One more time- Carol Lee? Cara Lou? Coraline?”
-Gretchen was a funny character. Hopefully she comes back to say more things like: "I'm gonna tie you down and show you pictures of my river rafting trip. It's a two-hour slide show."
-Jess: “I’m just cutting off my underwear—girl stuff.”
-Nick: “The photobooth is a liar, FYI.”
Basically, Jess is going with the guys to a wedding as Nick's date. The idea is for her to scare off Caroline, so Nick doesn't get hurt by her again. The guys however request that she not act like herself (she has props like fake hillbilly teeth ready to go.). Meanwhile Winston is taking his duties as an usher at the wedding super seriously, so people don't ask him questions about what he's doing now but he butts heads with a small boy who also takes his usher duties seriously. And Schmidt finds Brooke, a woman he always wanted to sleep with is at the wedding, as is Gretchen, a girl he dislikes but always ends up sleeping with at weddings.
Jess playing the role of Nick's girlfriend is funny. Of course, after it seems to have scared off Caroline, who seems kind of jealous, Nick decides that he's ready to talk to her alone. Of course this goes poorly when Jess tries to intercede on her own (the other two guys are distracted) by acting betrayed and Caroline assures her that she's not into Nick and has a new boyfriend. This revelation causes a drunk Nick to take over the nearby photo booth in a funny sequence, that shows Nick as being more than the straight man.
Meanwhile Schmidt finds that Brooke has changed from when he last saw her (She's sober now) and pretends that he is also not drinking. When Jess tries to get his attention, he claims Jess is an ex and a bit crazy. This backfires on him when Brooke encounters Jess in the bathroom trying to cut off the little girl bicycle shorts she's wearing to fit into her dress. Jess nicely tells her not to hurt Schmidt, but inadvertently threatens her with a knife, scaring her off completely. This means he'll inevitably wind up sleeping with Gretchen and he gets angry with Jess. And Winston gets into a dance-off with the kid usher that turns really creepy, really fast. In a funny way. With all the guys mad at Jess, she gets mad back and tells them she's happy being herself.
Of course, there has to be a happy conclusion so Winston talks to Jess and assures her that they're all happy to have her, even if they don't always act like it. Jess tells Schmidt that maybe Gretchen isn't so bad (She later rejects his attempt to ask her out because she's just using him for his body.) and she talks Nick out of the photo booth, where he finally gets the nerve to break things off with Caroline completely. Then they all dance together with Jess' modified chicken dance (She pecks her head forward instead of clapping because it's more realistic.
Once again, Schmidt was thefunniest non-Jess character. But Winston was way funnier than he was last week, and his scene with Jess was genuinely sweet. Nick was a lot funnier this week too. All in all, this episode shows that New Girl was definitely deserving of getting that full-season plus 2 pick-up. Honestly, I'm this close to having one of my infamous "Moments of Truth" with this show. It's growing on me.
Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Memorable Moments
-No Cece this week. Assumedly, she'll pop up next week as the episode is called Cece Crashes.
-Schmidt: "When I see you, I want to be thinking, " Who let the dirty slut out of the slut house?" Jess with hilarious British accent: Probably the slut butlah, raaaight?
-Jess: “One more time- Carol Lee? Cara Lou? Coraline?”
-Gretchen was a funny character. Hopefully she comes back to say more things like: "I'm gonna tie you down and show you pictures of my river rafting trip. It's a two-hour slide show."
-Jess: “I’m just cutting off my underwear—girl stuff.”
-Nick: “The photobooth is a liar, FYI.”
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
New Girl: Kryptonite
Once upon a time there was an actor named Damon Wayans, Jr. He was in a midseason series called Happy Endings, which was pretty funny, but since there was no guarantee it would get a second season, he did another pilot for a show called New Girl. Which got picked up to become a series (and just got a full season pick-up plus 2 extra episodes). And then, Happy Endings got surprisingly picked up for a second season, so Damon Wayans, Jr. couldn't carry on with New Girl. But since his character worked good in the pilot, the producers of New Girl decided not to change anything and instead write him out of the show in episode 2. So, tonight we're introduced to Winston, whose name is on the apartment lease and who Coach had been subletting from, while he was abroad. Does he work as well? Well, it's hard to say because he didn't get that much focus this week, but he seems solid. As for the rest of this episode, it's also pretty solid and keeps up the quality from the pilot.
The main plot of the episode is simple. Jess hasn't got much of her stuff back from her ex-boyfriend's house yet, but when she breaks the TV throwing a ball around, her roommates insist she go confront him and get him back. Of course, her first attempt to do so winds up with her driving his new girlfriend Rochelle to the airport (and she's picking her up the following week too) so the boys and Cece help her confront him. Meanwhile Schmidt tries to justify having the biggest room, now that the original owner of the room, Winston has returned.
Both of the stories work well, though the climax of the A-story, where the roommates rush to Jess' defense is pretty similar to the climax of the pilot (except instead of singing, they put on wacky hats, which is funnier. And Schmidt slaps Spencer, whilst wearing a thumb ring in the funniest scene of the episode). Zooey Deschanel is as adorkable as ever as Jess (though toned down a little from the pilot.) and you really sympathise with her as she tries to stand up to her "Kryptonite" (Spencer, hence the title of the episode). Meanwhile from the roommates, Schmidt is quickly emerging as the next funniest character, with his plot about trying to outsmart Winston and keep the big room (but in the end, he convinces himself that he's being tricked into taking the big room and so he takes the small room) is possibly even funnier than the A-story. As is the bit at the end, when he leaves with the rest of the roommates, when Jess' movie selection to watch on her functioning (but slightly broken) big TV, only to quickly come back and request Curly Sue.
So New Girl remains an entertaining watch on Tuesday nights. Nick, Winston and Cece could still go for some fleshing out as characters, and hopefully every episode doesn't end with the roommates coming to Jess' defense, but it's still solid and I could watch 22 more episodes of this at least.
Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Memorable Moments
-"We seem like the same size". Part of Jess' first bad impression on Winston.
-"That's not fair. She might be a really nice ho."
-"Rochelle? Fancy name. 'Rochelle'. Like a mermaid".
-Jess tries to get a free TV from the pawnshop when her first attempt to confront Spencer fails. But a smiley face doesn't equal 550 dollars apparently.
-"Schmidt happens!"
The main plot of the episode is simple. Jess hasn't got much of her stuff back from her ex-boyfriend's house yet, but when she breaks the TV throwing a ball around, her roommates insist she go confront him and get him back. Of course, her first attempt to do so winds up with her driving his new girlfriend Rochelle to the airport (and she's picking her up the following week too) so the boys and Cece help her confront him. Meanwhile Schmidt tries to justify having the biggest room, now that the original owner of the room, Winston has returned.
Both of the stories work well, though the climax of the A-story, where the roommates rush to Jess' defense is pretty similar to the climax of the pilot (except instead of singing, they put on wacky hats, which is funnier. And Schmidt slaps Spencer, whilst wearing a thumb ring in the funniest scene of the episode). Zooey Deschanel is as adorkable as ever as Jess (though toned down a little from the pilot.) and you really sympathise with her as she tries to stand up to her "Kryptonite" (Spencer, hence the title of the episode). Meanwhile from the roommates, Schmidt is quickly emerging as the next funniest character, with his plot about trying to outsmart Winston and keep the big room (but in the end, he convinces himself that he's being tricked into taking the big room and so he takes the small room) is possibly even funnier than the A-story. As is the bit at the end, when he leaves with the rest of the roommates, when Jess' movie selection to watch on her functioning (but slightly broken) big TV, only to quickly come back and request Curly Sue.
So New Girl remains an entertaining watch on Tuesday nights. Nick, Winston and Cece could still go for some fleshing out as characters, and hopefully every episode doesn't end with the roommates coming to Jess' defense, but it's still solid and I could watch 22 more episodes of this at least.
Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Memorable Moments
-"We seem like the same size". Part of Jess' first bad impression on Winston.
-"That's not fair. She might be a really nice ho."
-"Rochelle? Fancy name. 'Rochelle'. Like a mermaid".
-Jess tries to get a free TV from the pawnshop when her first attempt to confront Spencer fails. But a smiley face doesn't equal 550 dollars apparently.
-"Schmidt happens!"
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
New Girl: Pilot
Do you like Zooey Deschanel? Do you like quirkiness? Do you like Zooey Deschanel's brand of quirkiness? If the answer to any of these questions is no, you probably won't like New Girl. You can give it a try, but the whole pilot is pretty much Zooey Deschanel acts quirky. This show is bound to be polarizing, but plenty of people are bound to like it. Plenty of people including me!
The premise of the show is simple. Jess (Zooey Deschanel) is an adorkable (Yeah, I'm using the word Fox has used to death in the advertising) 20-something teacher who decides to surprise her boyfriend by showing up in the middle of the day naked pretending to be a stripper (her first name idea is Rebecca Johnson) only to discover he's cheating on her. Heart-broken, she answers an ad on Craigslist and moves in with three guys: bartender with a broken heart of his own Nick, womanizing douchebag (There's even a jar he has to put money in everytime he acts douchey) Schmidt and personal trainer Coach (who is getting replaced in the second episode because Damon Wayons Jr.'s show Happy Endings got surprisingly picked up for a second season, making him unable to continue as Coach. The new black roommate is named Winston.). After quickly tiring of Jess' post-break-up state (which involves watching Dirty Dancing several times a day and crying a lot), the boys decide to help her get back on the dating scene by getting a quick rebound. Things seem to be going well, but when the rebound changes his mind without telling Jess, the roommates come to the rescue and they all watch Dirty Dancing together.
So that's the pilot. It's not perfect, but it's got a lot of promise, and a lot of Zooey Deschanel. One thing that surprised me is that the roommates didn't just let Jess steal the show, nor were they just one-dimensional characters (The only one who could use more fleshing out right-off-the-bat is Jess' tough, smart, model friend.Cece.). They were pretty well established and already showed off some hidden depths. So as long as these characters continue to get depth and storylines outside of reacting to whatever crazy hijinks Jess is up to next, this show should be fine. Another thing I liked about the pilot is Jess, who's not quite as ridiculous as the promos would have you believe (though still pretty out there). Even though the role apparently wasn't written with Zooey Deschanel in mind, she totally owns this character and delivers an enjoyable performance.
As I said above, this show is not for everybody. There are going to be lots of people who won't see the appeal of this show. So I'm not going to try and change anyone's minds if they don't like it. All I suggest is that you try the show out at least once. You may be surprised
Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Memorable Moments
-Jess' stripper routine at the beginning is quite funny, as she sings what she's doing. Even when she's apologizing for knocking over the plant.
-I'm a bit sad we won't see more of Coach as I enjoyed his character. Especially the cutaway of us finding out he's not that good at talking to women and his efforts to get Jess to stop crying (He points at her and shouts "Stop!" like she's a dog.
-Another great cutaway: Teenage Jess playing guitar and singing "One of Us" at a party of people who want her to stop.
-Jess' idea of a date outfit involves overalls. "I was going for a sexy farmer's daughter type thing".
-After watching this episode the first time, "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" was in my head for a day.
-I'm going to keep talking about this show for now, by the by.
The premise of the show is simple. Jess (Zooey Deschanel) is an adorkable (Yeah, I'm using the word Fox has used to death in the advertising) 20-something teacher who decides to surprise her boyfriend by showing up in the middle of the day naked pretending to be a stripper (her first name idea is Rebecca Johnson) only to discover he's cheating on her. Heart-broken, she answers an ad on Craigslist and moves in with three guys: bartender with a broken heart of his own Nick, womanizing douchebag (There's even a jar he has to put money in everytime he acts douchey) Schmidt and personal trainer Coach (who is getting replaced in the second episode because Damon Wayons Jr.'s show Happy Endings got surprisingly picked up for a second season, making him unable to continue as Coach. The new black roommate is named Winston.). After quickly tiring of Jess' post-break-up state (which involves watching Dirty Dancing several times a day and crying a lot), the boys decide to help her get back on the dating scene by getting a quick rebound. Things seem to be going well, but when the rebound changes his mind without telling Jess, the roommates come to the rescue and they all watch Dirty Dancing together.
So that's the pilot. It's not perfect, but it's got a lot of promise, and a lot of Zooey Deschanel. One thing that surprised me is that the roommates didn't just let Jess steal the show, nor were they just one-dimensional characters (The only one who could use more fleshing out right-off-the-bat is Jess' tough, smart, model friend.Cece.). They were pretty well established and already showed off some hidden depths. So as long as these characters continue to get depth and storylines outside of reacting to whatever crazy hijinks Jess is up to next, this show should be fine. Another thing I liked about the pilot is Jess, who's not quite as ridiculous as the promos would have you believe (though still pretty out there). Even though the role apparently wasn't written with Zooey Deschanel in mind, she totally owns this character and delivers an enjoyable performance.
As I said above, this show is not for everybody. There are going to be lots of people who won't see the appeal of this show. So I'm not going to try and change anyone's minds if they don't like it. All I suggest is that you try the show out at least once. You may be surprised
Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Memorable Moments
-Jess' stripper routine at the beginning is quite funny, as she sings what she's doing. Even when she's apologizing for knocking over the plant.
-I'm a bit sad we won't see more of Coach as I enjoyed his character. Especially the cutaway of us finding out he's not that good at talking to women and his efforts to get Jess to stop crying (He points at her and shouts "Stop!" like she's a dog.
-Another great cutaway: Teenage Jess playing guitar and singing "One of Us" at a party of people who want her to stop.
-Jess' idea of a date outfit involves overalls. "I was going for a sexy farmer's daughter type thing".
-After watching this episode the first time, "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" was in my head for a day.
-I'm going to keep talking about this show for now, by the by.
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