I Want To Love the New Girl

It’s been a long time since I’ve followed a new television series. I think Lost was my last TV love. For the first time in a long time I decided I was going to pick a show from the fall lineup and give it a chance. Because of an On Demand clip that was showing while I was surfing for something interesting to watch, I decided to check out the pilot for New Girl, starring Zooey Deschanel. I saw her as a kind of kindred spirit. She’s a quirky adorable girl who has been hurt and needs to have some hope that life isn’t all cheating men and people that want to sleep with her.

A world where guys DON’T want to sleep with Zooey Deschanel? Yeah, that can only happen on television.
I loved Zooey Deschanel in Elf, and she amused me in the recent DVD release Your Highness (which was a horribly ridiculously bad movie). In New Girl, Zooey plays Jess Day who has been knocked down by love. After stripping down naked to “spice things up” and seduce her boyfriend only to find he was already naked and seducing someone else (also naked) Jess rushes out to find a new place to live. She finds her solace in an apartment with three other guys who have no clue what to do with this crying mess of a girl who does nothing but watch Dirty Dancing all day and sob as she sings along to every song.

Her three roommates are actors Max Greenfield (I remember him from Ugly Betty), Jake M. Johnson (who played piddly roles in Get Him to the Greek and No Strings Attached), and Damon Wayans Jr. (totally looks like a handsome version of his daddy). Somehow the guys get her off the couch and convince her that jumping right into the dating world will make all her hurts go away. But when her first date turns out badly, the guys dump their plans for the night to console her.

I want to love the show because I love the personality and voice of Zooey Deschanel. She’s always been beautiful and entertaining and her singing voice is raspy and enchanting. The pilot however comes across as too much cute, too much flakey, and just too unbelievably stupid. I think that people who don’t already love her aren’t going to understand her and will just roll their eyes in disdain and walk away from the series. I don’t know that the story line of three guys trying to save one girl is going to provide anything interesting. I do love her though so I’m going to give it a shot though and follow it for a couple weeks, granted it lasts that long. I think if they can find their groove this could be a great show, but right now it just comes off annoying and lackluster.