Zooey Deschanel does TV

"The New Girl" is a refreshing take on the female/male friendship. Especially in a current cultural obsession with "friends with benefits", The New Girl shows that males and females can still have genuine friends that don't include sleeping with each other.

Zooey Deschanel as the main character Jess is the obvious vehicle that moves the show. Most of the comedic parts are centered on her. The storyline is about her rebound from her cheating boyfriend. This isn't surprising seeing as she is the reason why most people, especially guys will tune in to the show. Although strong male characters would be nice.


Yes, it is just the pilot episode, but asking for atypical guy characters isn't asking for a lot. We have the recently dumped 'i don't care about the world' bartender. The 'I can't talk to women' personal trainer. And finally the corporate financial douchebag. It is like the writers were given a formula for what characters needed to be added to the series. A similar thing was done on the most recent take on the male/female friendship on "My Boys". I may have been the only person that watched that show, but the male characters brought something to the story. So far, these male characters are just props for Jess' story.


Jess is a strong character. She is quirky, nerdy, everything that any guy obsessed with Zooey Deschanel is going to want when choosing to watch the show. It works though. Jess can create her own theme song and it is believable. She can walk up to a stranger at the bar and say 'hey sailor' and no one thinks it is contrived. Jess is able to walk the fine line of pretty girl playing "ugly" but still leaving room for potential character growth. But do the male characters have the same potential?

By the end of the episode, the friendship between Jess and the boys starts to build. They start to care about her and want to help her get over her ex-boyfriend. The corny but still endearing "Time of Your Life" rendition at the restaurant shows that these secondary characters aren't the focus for character development; the friendship is.

That is what I expect from the coming episodes of "The New Girl". The only thing I can hope for is that the writers don't create a storyline where one of the guys falls for Jess. Although, this seems somewhat inevitable. Until then, I will just enjoy Jess' random singing outbursts because hey, I do it too... a lot.