New Girl

Did You Know?

• The pilot episode drew 10.28 million U.S. viewers and a 4.8 adults 18–49 demo rating, making it the highest-rated fall debut for a Fox scripted show since 2001.
• The series concluded its seven-season run in May 2018.

Plot

Jessica Day, a bubbly and quirky teacher, returns from vacation to find her boyfriend with another woman and immediately moves out. She answers a Craigslist ad and moves into a Los Angeles loft with three men: Nick, Schmidt, and Coach. After the pilot, Coach is replaced by Winston, a former roommate and Nick's childhood friend. Jess's best friend Cece, a fashion model, frequently visits.

The group grows closer as they navigate romantic relationships. In season 1, Schmidt and Cece begin a mostly sexual relationship that ends by the season's close. In season 2, Jess loses her teaching job; Cece becomes engaged to Shivrang but breaks off the wedding when she realizes she loves Schmidt, who must choose between Cece and his old college girlfriend Elizabeth. Nick and Jess develop feelings and begin dating at Cece's wedding, a relationship that lasts through most of season 3 until they realize they want different things.

Coach returns in season 3 after breaking up with his girlfriend and has a short fling with Cece; he stays through season 4 before moving to New York with May. At the end of season 4, Schmidt proposes to Cece, and they marry in season 5. Winston becomes a police officer and falls in love with his partner Aly. In season 5, Jess is called to jury duty, and the group brings in temporary roommate Reagan Lucas, who becomes Nick's love interest. After returning from jury duty, Jess realizes she loves Nick and wants to be with him.

Cast and characters

Zooey Deschanel plays Jessica Day, a bubbly, offbeat teacher in her early thirties from Portland, Oregon, who moves into the guys' apartment after a painful breakup. She later dates Nick on and off, eventually becoming engaged in the final season. Deschanel became a producer on the show and helped build Jess's character, focusing on not making her the classic ignored wife. Jake Johnson portrays Nick Miller, a bartender who struggles with a breakup with his long-term girlfriend Caroline and has an on-and-off relationship with Jess, ultimately ending up together.

Max Greenfield plays Schmidt, a confident ladies' man and successful marketing associate who dates Cece, cheats on her, but later reconciles, marries her, and has a child named Ruth. Lamorne Morris is Winston Bishop, a former basketball player and Nick's childhood friend who returns from playing in Latvia, becomes a cop, and marries his wife on the force; he is very close to his cat Furguson. Hannah Simone plays Cece Parikh, a fashion model and Jess's best friend since childhood, who becomes interested in Schmidt and integrates into the group.

Damon Wayans Jr. appears as Coach, a cocky former athlete and personal trainer who leaves after the pilot but returns in season 3 and later moves to New York. Danielle and Rhiannon Rockoff play Ruth Parikh-Schmidt, Schmidt and Cece's three-year-old daughter in season 7.

Production

20th Century Fox Television first approached playwright Elizabeth Meriwether in 2008 to develop a pilot that was shelved. After her success with the 2011 film No Strings Attached, she pitched a sitcom about an offbeat girl moving in with three single guys, inspired by her own experience bouncing between Craigslist sublets in Los Angeles. The show was initially called Chicks and Dicks and was conceived as a Will & Grace-style comedy based on Meriwether's close friendship with a man after their exes started dating.

Fox pursued Zooey Deschanel for the role of Jess. As the script developed, the plot moved away from the roommates' sexual endeavors and became more socially oriented, leading to the title change to New Girl. The show aims to combine comedy and drama as the characters explore the difficulties of the decade between 30 and 40, with a built-in biological clock. Producer Jake Kasdan noted that their lives are moving forward but they still try to hang on to youth.

On April 9, 2012, New Girl was officially renewed for a second season of 24 episodes, with one additional episode ordered during the second half.

Reception

Its second episode became the highest-rated show in the key 18–49 demographic, boosting the ratings of its lead-in, Glee, and outperforming NCIS and Dancing with the Stars. Fox responded by expanding the initial 13-episode order to 24 episodes for the first season. However, ratings dropped nearly 30% after a baseball break, falling to a 2.1 rating in the 18–49 group. For the full 2011–12 season, the show averaged 8.22 million viewers and a 4.2 demo rating, ranking fifth on Fox and 13th overall in that demographic. Metacritic gave it a weighted score of 66 out of 100 from 25 critics, indicating generally favorable reviews.