New Girl Pilot

Technically this show doesn't premiere until this evening but Fox released the pilot for download on i-tunes, so this is based on the rough cut pilot.

The New Girl is the kind of show they where making 15 odd years ago. Despite this, Fox is having another go at the whole "Gosh aren't Men and Women different" premise. And by "men" and "women", I mean straight men and women, because this show really isn't about to rock the boat in any dramatic way. I had many issues with it and at points it felt like a gender reverse version of the makeover episode of 'Beauty and the Geek'. The suggestion that, for a women to get a man, she would need to hide any Lord of The Rings references seems a sad and (hopefully) unrealistic indictment of 21^st century men. Also, I still find it dispiriting that we're putting glasses on hot girls to make them lame and nerdy. The only time when the men acknowledge that Zooey is ridiculously attractive is after she's taken off her glasses, an acknowledgement that quickly gets dispelled by her doing a silly dance. The message seems to be 'take note women, if you want to look hot take of those god-awful glasses but make sure you don't fuck it up by moving or in anyway expressing your self'. Not a message that seems very helpful.

Despite all this, I didn't hate it as much as perhaps I should have. No I didn't laugh out loud but I did kind of half chuckle at points. Part of the reason its so palatable is the fact that Zooey is a pretty likeable screen presence. Actually, "palatable" is perhaps the best word for the whole thing. Its a television show specifically designed to wash down as easily as a glass of milk and a cookie before bed.

I'm trying to work out which of the three house-mates she's going end up in romantic tension with. My first thought was it would be Nick, the one from 'No Strings Attached'. But it might be Schmitt in some vague "redemption of douche" story line. However, it's been announced that Justin Long has been cast as a love interest for Jessie. I guess this makes sense; if we drove straight into the house mate romance plot this show would have even less far to go. Which brings me to another issue- where the hell is all this going to go? We've supposedly got 22 odd episodes of these highjinks. The easy-to-swallow twee-ness seems like its going to outstay it's welcome rather quickly.

Things I enjoyed:

• The Douche Bag Jar!- love it and have a real desire to set one of these up in my house. Although I'm not sure how full it would ever get. 
• The whole bread bit good/health. It appealed to my deep love of bread.