New Girl

New Girl
Intertitle
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Elizabeth Meriwether
Starring	Zooey Deschanel Jake Johnson Max Greenfield Lamorne Morris Hannah Simone
Theme music composer	Michael Andrews Zooey Deschanel Elizabeth Meriwether Dave Finkel Brett Baer
Opening theme	"Hey Girl" by Zooey Deschanel[1]
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	24 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Elizabeth Meriwether Jake Kasdan Peter Chernin Katherine Pope Dave Finkel Brett Baer
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	Elizabeth Meriwether Pictures American Nitwits Chernin Entertainment 20th Century Fox Television
Broadcast
Original channel	Fox
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 720p (HDTV) 1080i (Channel 4 HD)
Original run	September 20, 2011 (2011-09-20) – present
External links
Official Website

New Girl is an American television sitcom that premiered on Fox on September 20, 2011.^[2] It stars Zooey Deschanel, Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield, Lamorne Morris and Hannah Simone. On September 28, 2011, after two episodes aired, Fox ordered an additional 11 episodes to the initial 13-episode order, bringing the first season to 24 episodes.^[3]

New Girl has received favorable responses from critics since its conception, with many giving particular praise for Deschanel's performance. On December 15, 2011, the show was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy and Deschanel was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy.

New Girl was officially renewed for a second season by Fox on April 9, 2012.^[4]

Plot

The pilot starts the story with Jessica "Jess" Day (played by Zooey Deschanel), a bubbly, offbeat, adorable, eccentric woman in her late 20s who teaches at a local middle school. On a trip back from another city, she prepared a surprise for her boyfriend. She then caught him cheating in their house. She is determined to move on from her unfortunate relationship. Jess moves out and starts looking for a new place. She saw an ad on Craigslist, where she meets and moves in with three young men: Nick, Schmidt, and Coach.

Nick is a bartender, who is originally from Chicago. Before he became a bartender, he once had big plans for his future. At one point, he wanted to be a lawyer. He then stopped caring along the way and dropped out of law school. He has always wanted to be among "the rich ones". Ironically, he is the poorest guy among all the roommates. ^{[citation needed]}

Schmidt is a young white-collar professional and a womanizer who fancies himself as the wishful, modern-day Casanova. He is madly in love with himself, and also happens to have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. He often schemes to climb the social ladder and is driven by his obsessive urge of becoming "the center".^[5] He views Jess as the elusive female mind. Also, he wants to get close to Jess's model friend, Cece. Schmidt often makes his roommates mad and disgusted due to his unexpectedly despicable behavior. Nevertheless, they are good friends.

Winston is a former basketball player who happens to be Nick's best friend from childhood. Winston was originally the fourth roommate living in the loft. After Coach Damon Wayans, Jr., a personal trainer with rage issues, left the apartment, Winston moved back in. Winston is intensely competitive and never knows what to do next.^[6] Whatever he does, he wants to win. He was a point guard in the Latvian Basketball League. He is currently a "part-time Nanny" employed by Schmidt's boss, whom he met at a company party. Winston loves his life and lives it to the fullest, but his ambitions somehow get in his way.

Jess's best childhood friend is Cece. She is a street-smart model. Cece is a diva and gets lots of attention from guys. She falls for "good-looking but not-so-smart" guys. She values her friendship with Jess and always supports her, no matter what. She has had a few breakups. After a few "booty calls" with Schmidt, she starts to develop feelings for him. In the 22nd episode, she finally admits her feelings to Schmidt. The season ended with a question mark on Cece and Schmidt's relationship.

Cast and characters

Main cast

• Zooey Deschanel as Jessica "Jess" Day, the eponymous "new girl". She is a cute, bubbly elementary school teacher in her late 20s. She is a free spirit. She acts according to her heart's content, usually in unconventional ways. Her behavior does not reflect social norms, which ends up making her look weird but her quirkiness is loveable and charming. Jess is genuine and kind-hearted. She is imaginative and naïve, much like a child. She opens herself up to everyone and easily trusts, which tends to put her in a vulnerable position. Jess has a tendency to get into awkward situations due to her aversion to confrontation. Regardless of misfortunes, her optimism helps to keep her faith alive. Among her personality traits is her tendency to burst into song, sometimes making up lyrics reflecting her situation.
• Jake Johnson as Nick Miller, one of Jess's new roommates.^[7] Nick is a law school dropout turned bartender who has also gone through a slightly-less-recent break up. He is revealed to be thirty and originally from Chicago. He is somewhat pessimistic as many things in his life have discouraged him. He likes to play it safe, but in small ways he continues to make an effort to try new things and is not completely defeated. He has the traits of a family man, which is seen in how he takes care of his friends, but often acts childish or immature.
• Max Greenfield as Schmidt, one of Jess's new roommates. Schmidt is the stereotypical lothario (which he thinks he is) and so-called "douchebag" of the group. Schmidt is the only male employee in his company and is often the subject of mockery by his female coworkers. Schmidt is a womanizer and is seen to be taking a liking to Cece, who seems to have mutual feelings.
• Lamorne Morris as Winston Bishop, one of Jess's new roommates and the original "missing" roommate who left room for Jess to move in. Winston returns from playing basketball in Latvia in the second episode. Winston is incredibly competitive and has an uncanny ability to pick up new skills with little effort, but he has a difficult time finding and keeping employment because he quickly becomes bored with repetitive tasks.
• Hannah Simone as Cecilia "Cece" Meyers, Jess's childhood best friend and a model. She is feisty and has a tough demeanor. She appears to be confident and knows how to get what she wants. Underneath her cold front, she is a sweet person. Cece is very protective of Jess, whose innocence sometimes poses as a hazard to herself. Cece is the critical onlooker. She teaches Jess on being street-smart and always supports her. Jess and Cece are opposites in some ways, but their differing traits complement each other very well despite their faults.

The character of Coach, played by Damon Wayans, Jr., appeared in the pilot only. He, Nick, Schmidt and Winston were the original four roommates in the apartment. In the second episode, Coach has left, and Winston returns to the apartment.

Recurring cast

• Justin Long as Paul Genzlinger, a music teacher at Jess's school, who she later dates for a time, and has a one-night stand with after breaking up with Russell, only to learn he has a girlfriend.
• Lizzy Caplan as Julia, Nick's ex-girlfriend.
• Kali Hawk as Shelby, Winston's girlfriend.
• Rachael Harris as Tanya, the principal at Jess's school.
• Phil Hendrie as Joe Napoli, sports radio host and Winston's boss.
• Mary Elizabeth Ellis as Caroline, Nick's on-and-off girlfriend.
• June Diane Raphael as Sadie, a lesbian gynecologist and a friend of Jess.
• Dermot Mulroney as Russell, the wealthy father of one of Jess's students who becomes her much older love interest, until they break up when Jess feels they don't share the passion he has with his ex-wife.
• Jeanne Tripplehorn as Ouli, Russell's ex-wife.

Episodes

Fox has scheduled 24 episodes in the first season.^[8]

Production

The series was created, produced, and written by Elizabeth Meriwether for Chermin Entertainment and Fox Television Studios.^[9][10]

In development, the show was provisionally titled Chicks and Dicks, which was temporarily used as the title owing to its description of the storyline at that point. As the script developed, the plot became more socially oriented, rather than being about the sexual endeavors of the roommates, so the title was changed to “New Girl”.^[11]

The series premiered on Tuesday September 20 on Fox, and also airs on Channel 4 in the UK and Citytv in Canada. ^[12]

Zooey Deschanel was once asked if the character was written for her specifically, to which she replied that it was not, but "should have been".^[13] When asked to join the team, Deschanel was questioned if she had any hesitation. Deschanel replied that she loves working with the team and that Jess is definitely the character she would like to play forever.^[14]

Wayans took the role of "Coach" expecting his previous show, the ABC sitcom Happy Endings, to be cancelled. When that show was renewed for a second season, Wayans left New Girl and was replaced by Morris. According to "The Hollywood Reporter", Meriwether says that about 80 percent of the pilot would have needed to be re-shot in order to remove Wayans from the episode, since he was in one of the leading roles of the show. Therefore, Meriwether, 20th Century Fox and the studio decided to keep the characters and the plot of the episode as they were, with Morris joining the show in the second episode of the series. ^[15][16][17]

Reception

In June 2011, New Girl was one of eight honorees in the "most exciting new series" category at the 1st Critics' Choice Television Awards, voted by journalists who had seen the pilots.^[18] Review aggregate website Metacritic gave it a score of 66/100 based on "generally favorable reviews".^[19] BuddyTV ranked New Girl #5 on its list of 2011's best new TV shows.^[20]

The pilot episode drew 10.28 million viewers, a 4.8 adults 18–49 demo rating.^[21] This was the highest-rated fall debut for a Fox scripted show since The Bernie Mac Show in 2001.^[22]

Release

Online

The pilot was first released on such online services as Hulu Plus,^[23] TiVo, and iTunes before the September 20 premiere on Fox.

International broadcast

Country / Region	Channel	Premiere
Canada	Citytv[24]	September 20, 2011
United Kingdom	Channel 4 & E4[25]	January 6, 2012 (currently on hiatus as of March 16, 2012 with 11 episodes aired,to return to E4 instead for the second half of the season)[26][27]
Ireland	RTÉ Two[28]	March 6, 2012[29]
South Africa	M-Net Series[30]	February 11, 2012
The Netherlands	RTL 5	December 6, 2011
Argentina	Fox	April 10, 2012
Colombia	Fox	March, 2012
Chile	Fox	April 10, 2012
Brazil	Fox	April 4, 2012 [31]
Italy	Fox	January 25, 2012
Portugal	Fox Life	March 6, 2012 (as "Jess e os Rapazes" [Jess and the Boys])[32]
Australia	Network Ten[33]	January 22, 2012
Costa Rica	FOX	April 10, 2012
Mexico	FOX	April 10, 2012
Venezuela	FOX	April 10, 2012
Indonesia	STAR World	November 5, 2011
France	M6	TBA
Greece	FOXlife	March 2012
Turkey	FOXlife	March 2012
Philippines	ETC (RPN 9) STAR World STAR World HD	October 7, 2011
Germany	ProSieben	January 5, 2012
Austria	ProSieben	January 5, 2012
South Korea	On Style	October 8, 2011
Singapore	STAR World	November 5, 2011
Taiwan	STAR World	November 6, 2011
Malaysia	STAR World, STAR World HD	December 25, 2011
Japan	Fox Japan	April 22, 2012
Iceland	Stöð 2	February, 2012
Finland	Sub	February 13, 2012 (as "Kolme miestä ja tyttö [Three men and a girl])
New Zealand	Four[34]	February 7, 2012
Israel	Yes Comedy	February 11, 2012
Poland	nTV	December 21, 2011
Norway	TV2 Bliss	December 4, 2011
Denmark	TV 2 Zulu	February 21, 2012
Sweden	TV4	April 13, 2012
Peru	Fox	March 2012
Belgium	2BE	March 22, 2012
Netherlands	RTL 5	January 24, 2012

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: New Girl (TV series)

• Official website
• New Girl at the Internet Movie Database
• New Girl at TV.com