New Girl (2011-2018)

‘New Girl’ is a great sitcom, one of those comedy shows you can watch any episode and understand what is happening, just alike to ‘Friends’ or ‘Scrubs’, or any other American sitcom to be honest. It has to be one of my favourite sitcoms. I recently just binge-watched the whole six series. It is currently still going but the seventh series will be the final. Around 20 minutes per episode, they’re easy, hilarious and enjoyable.

This is definitely a programme you get invested into all the characters. They are all great, one episode I know my favourite, next episode it’s someone completely different, they are all fantastic, and they all make me laugh. But if you force me to choose, Nick, Nick, Nick. There are five main characters, Jess Day (Zooey Deschanel), Nick Miller (Jake Johnson), Schmidt (Max Greenfield), Winston Bishop (Lamorne Morris) and Cece (Hannah Simone). There’s of course other characters who appear more than once, one of the most important being Coach (Damon Wayans Jr.), and also Megan Fox appears in the series five and six as Reagan when Zooey Deschanel is on maternity leave – just so you are aware that sadly Jess is not present for all episodes, but happily everyone else is. Luckily, there isn’t many without Jess, as is ‘New Girl’ ‘New Girl’ without the new girl Jess?

So as there is a different plot per episode, I have to explain the brilliance of these characters. Ok so starting with Jess. Jess is the new girl from the beginning; she moves into 4D (the loft) with three other guys, and this where is all begins. Just a side-note, she moves in with Nick, Schmidt and Coach in the first episode, but by the second Coach is replaced by Winston, but don’t worry Coach comes back in later series. Anyway, back to Jess. She’s a bright, bubbly character, first introduced to us heart-broken and obsessed with ‘Dirty Dancing’. She spends many of the episodes doing whatever she can to please everyone. Her life is full of knitting with yarn, positivity and teaching. She is hilarious with random singing, and her new appearance in the loft is the discovery to new great relationships.

Secondly, is Nick Miller. “Nick Miller, Nick Miller from the streets of Chicago”, “he pores a hundred drinks and none have ever spill, unless he’s super high on a bunch of pain pills”, “he’s got a hairy chest because he eats a balanced meal”, “Nick Miller, Nick Miller, never does anything”. Just a snippet of a random rap in a random episode to explain a little bit about Nick. Nick is such a great character, he’s described so many times as a grumpy old man with a turtle face. His negativity and hatred of technology and anything modern is hilarious as he lives his life as a law student drop out, now bartender. With his awkward moonwalk or his bad analogies, his alias Julius Pepperwood, his turn to alcohol, or my favourite his relationship with Tran (some random guy he found on a bench in a park), Nick is always welcomed onto my screen.

Thirdly (and these are definitely not in order – because I honestly don’t think I could do one), is Schmidt. This man is controlled by a douchebag jar, suits, tight jeans, and his teased past life as a fat kid. Yet he is hilarious. He is over-loving, he aspires to be an original Cece’s boy from the beginning, and he will do anything for his friends. His mispronounces way too many common words and he is petrified of one little spider. Schmidt aims to fly higher in a job I have no idea what he does, maybe a transponster like Chandler? The things he comes out with is both stupid and hilarious – hence the douchebag jar. ‘New Girl’ wouldn’t be nearly as funny without Schmidt.

Next, Winston Bishop. Winnie the Bish. The man who loves his cat Ferguson more than anything. The man who owns way too many bird shirts. The man whose dedication to puzzles is admirable, even if he is terrible at them. The man with “kind eyes”, the man who is awful at pranking, either too way small or way too big. The man who is colour-blind. The basketball player who was forced to leave Latvia because he wasn’t good enough. The one who doesn’t quite understand everything that is happening. Winston brings so much comedy to the show. Both Winston and Schmidt I’d have to say make me laugh the most – and obviously that is crucial for a sitcom.

Finally, Cece. Cece is the childhood best friend of Jess. The one who doesn’t actually live in the loft. The one marked as perfect and out of everyone’s league. She’s the model of the group. She’s fierce and loyal. She’s definitely a character that becomes more involved in the later series, for reasons I will not say. She is a great friend and a great addition.

If you’re looking for an easy-watching, hilarious sitcom, then this one has to be near at the top of your list. It is inappropriate for younger ages, as the humour is adult, but this isn’t extreme at all, it’s on par with ‘Friends’ in that sense. All episodes are great, I don’t think I can say I’ve disliked any. You become so invested in the characters, in the relationships, in the friendships. It is a brilliant programme created by Elizabeth Meriwether and I recommend all to watch it. Plus there’s an episode with ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ and it is so great! It’s at the loft of 4D with Jess, Nick, Schmidt and Winston. At least, I urge you to try and understand what the drinking game True American actually is, because I have no idea.