Episode 1209: New Girl(/Low?)

In an effort to procrastinate in this final stretch of the essay, I finally caved and watched the first three episodes of New Girl. I found myself liking it more than I thought I would, but I still found myself unable to laugh with the show, as opposed to at it. It's definitely Zooey Deschanel's fault. Or at least that of the writers writing for her character on the show. I've decided that if they dialled her back a few notches, she would be okay and the whole show would be a perfectly okay comedy. Sort of like the twee opposite to the crudity of 2 Broke Girls, which I really enjoy even though it trades in racist stereotypes a lot. Frustratingly, the guys playing her roommates are entertaining to watch in and of themselves. Except for Lamorne Morris, who replaced the much funnier Damon Wayans Jr. from the pilot when the latter's Happy Endings got picked up for a second season, which is so good right now, by the way. Now Morris just seems like the stereotypical 'token black guy'. Max Greenfield's Schmidt, on the other hand, is clearly becoming New Girl's Barney Stinson. (You know, because that character isn't terribly groundbreaking anymore, not after seven seasons.) As TV critics have repeatedly pointed out, never has a douchebag been played so sympathetically.