Blogging A to Z: New Girl

New Girl is in its first season on Fox (hooray for a good show not on cable!). It's a lighthearted comedy about a group of late 20-somethings living together. Zooey's Jess moves into a loft with three guy roommates after her long term relationship ends.

The show smartly takes the focus from Jess to equally feature the guys and their quirky escapades (along with Jess' model bestie Cece). Nick is a self-depreciating law school dropout miserable in his job as a bartender. He and Jess have a lot of romantic tension that is explored at times but thankfully not too much. Schmidt could've been a one-note metrosexual (do people even use that term anymore? seems most appropriate), but he's morphed into a delightfully strange control freak who seems like a walking issue of GQ complete with grooming advice. Winston still feels a bit underdeveloped as former basketball player returning from an overseas traveling team only to find he has no idea what to do with his life. I particularly liked the episode where he tried to cram in all the pop culture he'd missed for several years prior to a job intereview.

Why You Should Watch: As more adults delay marriage, living situations like this are increasingly common. While the show mostly remains light, a few more serious themes are explored, and each character struggles with at least one aspect of where they feel stuck in life. This says a lot about our culture actually, that we have milestones to acheive, and when those aren't met, we aren't quite sure what to do. Also, Schmidt is hilarious.

Here are some memorable Schmidt quotes to get you started:

• "Where in the room do I look sexiest?"
• "I'm gonna have to run all the way home and I have my slippiest loafters on!" 
• "This is a horrible neighborhood. There are youths everywhere!" 
• As sexy Santa: "I have a really bad case of Santa Lap. The entire marketing department is wearing wool. It's not good down there." 

Factoid: You probably all know this, but Zooey sings with indie artist M. Ward on the project She & Him.

UPDATE: New Girl has been renewed for season two -- yay!