The Funniest Series In Years Is On Hulu
The most hilarious show I’ve seen in… maybe ever, New Girl, released its final season on Fox back in 2018, and I still have people tell me all the time that they have rewatched it multiple times since. It’s that good.
I took a long time to get around to watching New Girl. I was busy having small kids and building a business and rarely made time for shows I could watch alone. Indeed, I first fell for the main actors, Zooey Deschanel and Jake Johnson, because of my kids.
Falling In Love With Zooey And Jake
Long before New Girl, Zooey Deschanel won hearts and minds as Jovie, the department store employee with a killer voice, and Buddy’s love interest in Elf, a favorite Christmas film. Long after gaining New Girl fame, Jake Johnson voiced Peter B. Parker in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, one of the all-time greatest animated characters. It was these two experiences, over and over, that finally convinced me to watch the series in which they star together.
Quirky And Fun
Alone, Deschanel and Johnson are great; they’re both quirky and funny in interesting ways that don’t always land as classically comical. They’ve both had some wins and some losses in their careers. But together, they hit those marks every single time, and with the supporting cast, New Girl delivers comedic gold.
The Friends Everyone Wishes They Had
The show opens with Deschanel as Jessica “Jess” Day, a sweet and unsuspecting elementary school teacher finding her boyfriend in bed with another woman. She leaves him and answers a want-ad for a roommate. When she arrives, she finds the four bedroom apartment is inhabited by three men. While everyone involved is a bit uncomfortable at first, they all eventually agree to the arrangement, with Jess as the new girl.
The seven seasons of New Girl revolve around the daily interactions and friendships among Jess, Nick (Johnson), Nick’s childhood friend Winston (Lamorne Morris), and Nick’s best friend and college buddy Schmidt (Max Greenfield). Jess’s lifelong best friend Cece (Hannah Simone) frequently visits the apartment and ends up in an on-again-off-again affair with Schmidt, making things even more complicated and hilarious.
The Cast Dynamic Carries The Series
The dynamic between all the characters in New Girl is what makes this show so great. While the primary focus typically revolves around Nick and Jess in a will they or won’t they kind of tension that lasts throughout the entire show without being super annoying, we also experience the goofy trouble Winston continually finds himself in, the absurd playboy situations Schmidt gets himself into, and the bonds formed among all four of the roommates at various points.
Each character has their own individual personality, but they all offer solace and snide remarks to each other as various plot points arise. They build a solid foundation of love, respect, and audacity so that, by the time the show ends, you feel like these people are family. And the writing and directing are so well done in New Girl that I still find myself pulling up scenes to rewatch them again years later.
Streaming Now On Hulu
REVIEW SCORE
Perhaps the most epic scene in New Girl is that of Jess and Nick’s first kiss, which, even if you haven’t seen the show, you have to have caught on some social media reel or other. It is the best kiss in television history. But there are many other fantastic moments, many of them thanks to Max Greenfield, who I can never see in any other part as anyone other than Schmidt.
If you have not seen New Girl yet, I get it. Maybe you have small kids, and you’re building a business. But once you get the chance to binge-watch something funny, catch this show on Hulu.
