Rebecca Chan takes a look at New Girl and finds it to be perfectly adequate

Having been relentlessly referred to as the ‘indie darling’ of Hollywood, it is unsurprising that there were more than a few cynical responses to the news that Zooey Deschanel was going to be starring in a new Fox sitcom. Amongst the criticisms came the theory that New Girl was just an opportunistic venture to capitalise on the popularity of 500 Days of Summer; an attempt to make Deschanel into a product to be marketed to the swathes of 13-30 year olds already aspiring to be her, and to rope in the ones who don’t quite yet. Perhaps this suspected trickery played a part in how critics received the show – after all, there’s nothing more annoying than being sold aspirational living in the guise of entertainment.

Because, as far as the pilot episode goes, yes, there is something a bit annoying about Deschanel’s character. She plays Jess Day, a quirky twenty-something who moves in with three guys after she walks in on her boyfriend cheating on her. There are times when her quirks come across as painfully manufactured – the sudden breaking into song, the wide-eyed responses to seemingly straightforward questions; as one particularly scathing critic put it, Deschanel seems to have “finally got around to parodying herself”.

Give the show a minute to warm up, however, and things really do improve. Perhaps it’s down to the audience becoming familiar with the characters, or maybe even that the cast become better acquainted with their characters – but with time, they seem to become less two-dimensional. They’re still not quite believable as real people, but then sitcom characters aren’t supposed to be ‘real people’ anyway.

And the characters (apart from Cece, Jess’ best friend who is both a model and a bitch, and a very unlikely best friend for a sweet girl like Jess) really are likable. Especially Winston, the ex-basketball player just returned from a two year stint in Latvia.

What appears to be the main criticism of New Girl is that, for a situation comedy, it’s not particularly funny. It’s lighthearted and provokes the occasional giggle, but, beyond this, the humour remains somewhat mild.

It’s possible, however, that laugh out loud comedy isn’t the aim of Elizabeth Meriweather, the show’s creator, who also wrote No Strings Attached, (the better version of Friends with Benefits, which came out around the same time) starring Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman.

New Girl doesn’t seem to be aiming for thigh-slapping funny. It occasionally goes for physical, slapstick humour, normally delivered by Schmidt, who, whilst being the mandatory resident ladykiller (see Tribbiani, Joey and Stinson, Barney) plays stupid quite endearingly. This aside, however, it seems to place more emphasis on the ‘situation’ aspect of the genre, which is not to its detriment, and still makes for a perfectly watchable show.

Surprisingly, the most notable merit of New Girl is that there seems to be something genuine about it. Despite its premise being based on Deschanel in various, contrived, quirky situations. Despite the unnaturally excellent wardrobe. Despite being commissioned by Fox.