New Girl 3x01 "All In" (South of the Border Shenanigans and Puzzles)

"All In"

Original Airdate: September 17, 2013

There’s this common misconception that occurs in television, and that a lot of series eventually succumb to, no matter how hard (or perhaps because of how hard) they try to avoid it. It’s this idea that putting a couple with chemistry together on a comedy will inevitably sink the sitcom. There’s this precarious line that writers and producers walk when they deal with will-they-won’t-they tension and unresolved chemistry. Do they acknowledge the chemistry and pursue it? Do they acknowledge the chemistry and back away from it? Or do they never acknowledge the chemistry and tension and pretend it does not exist? Developing a couple with will-they-won’t-they tension on a television series is much like skydiving: there’s a chance that your landing will be smooth, that your parachute will open, you will touch the ground with relative ease, and all will be well.

But the problem is that so few series ever reach that ground because of their fear of jumping out the plane in the first place. Too many shows are afraid of destroying the tension that they’ve built up between characters, so they fail to develop anything further than “long looks and stolen glances.” What’s ironic, actually, is that THIS movement – this non-movement – is what ends up destroying the pairing in the end. Audience members become bored at best when will-they-won’t-they tension is prolonged, and downright frustrated and resentful at worst. The key, in my opinion, to making a central couple on a series work is this: remembering where the heart of the show truly lies.

So where is the heart of New Girl? Where are the stories at their strongest? While the Nick/Jess relationship is an intense and integral part of this series, as Jaime and I discussed this evening, this particular romantic pairing is intensely linked to the heart of the show: the loft. Winston is a hilarious character. Schmidt’s one-liners and rapid-fire jokes make him an amazing character. Nick’s curmudgeonly demeanor and wacky schemes make him endearing and funny. And Jess’ positivity, her naiveté, and her heart make her character both unique and significant. But what happens when these four roommates are together is something akin to the study group banding together in Community, or the gang in Happy Endings sharing a scene, or the friends from Friends supporting one another – chemistry and heart.

“All In” is the perfect title for the season three premiere of New Girl both because of its contextual significance (Jess and Nick repeat this phrase to one another frequently throughout the episode), but more importantly because of the thematic implications that will overarch this season. Liz, Brett, Dave, and their team of writers took a risk last season: they jumped out of the metaphorical plane when they had Nick and Jess ride off together in the finale. The critics are waiting for this to backfire. They’re anticipating, perhaps, that the series will lose its focus. And yes, some critics failed to enjoy the season three premiere (maybe) because of that. But I think that “All In” is exemplary of where this season is headed. The writers and producers are completely invested in their characters and in telling these stories. They’re not afraid of being wrong or making things messy. I think, perhaps, that this is something other showrunners and writers could learn from: it’s OKAY not to know how your characters are supposed to end up. And Liz has expressed this idea before. For better or for worse, she feels out stories – she has direction and plans, but she also isn’t afraid to disrupt those in favor of what is best for the characters she is writing for.

But before we dive too much into the metaphorical meaning of this series premiere’s title, let’s discuss the plot of this episode because it’s crazy and random, and yet somehow oddly grounded. If you’re ready, grab your passports and plenty of food because we’re headed to Mexico!

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Jenn's Pick: 15 of the Best Female Characters on Television

As a woman, I’ve grown up admiring various television characters for their strength, wisdom, hearts, and determined natures. It’s amazing to me that fictional characters can have such an intense impact on me as an individual – that I can debate the merits of their characters with friends, that I contemplate their actions long after I’ve finished watching an episode, and that they influence my life to the point where I simply cannot help but write about them and their legacies.

The darling Maggie (@MaggieTrundles) suggested a blog post topic that pulled me out of my miniature writing rut: the top 15 female characters on television. There are a plethora of amazing female characters on television, both past and present. In Community, for example, there are three strong, independent, wonderfully flawed female characters that are featured each week. However, it was Kim (ugh, KIM) who challenged me to be more definitive in this list and only pick one female character per television series. That’s extremely difficult to do, but I think that was Kim’s point. And, if I am being honest, it really allowed me to contemplate the particular merits of these brilliant female characters and select those I would not have usually selected, had I only chosen multiple characters from the same series.

So, below the cut you will find 15 of the best female characters on television of the past and present. Are you ready to find out who I selected? Check it out, friends!

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Jenn's Pick: Top 15 TV Friendships

My longest friendship to date with another person is eleven years.

I moved from Pennsylvania to central Florida when I was thirteen years old (what a great age to uproot your life and form new friendships, right?) and started my new school a month later than everyone else. For those who are unaware, northern schools start in September while schools in Florida start back in August. As an incoming eighth grader, I knew that most students had already formed their friendships and cliques long ago. Being shoved into a new surrounding wasn’t easy for me, as someone who doesn’t like change, and I suffered through my first week of school and first new experience with a bully in my choir class.

As I rode the bus home that day, trying not to cry over the cruel note I had received from another girl in the soprano section, a girl who had also been in my choir class approached me. Gesturing to the empty space next to me, she asked if anyone was sitting beside me. I shook my head and she sat down. I found out that she lived in my neighborhood, got off at the same bus stop I did, and was a pretty nice girl. I tell her to this day that she chose to sit beside me at the exact right moment. Because I really needed a friend and she has been mine for the past eleven years.

There are a lot of wonderful friendships on television, if we’re being honest. And there are a lot of characters that we wish would be OUR best friends. In contemplating this list, I decided to pause and revisit not only the more recent television brotps and friendships, but also ones that defined my childhood. The 90s were, after all, a ripe time for sitcoms and with that came plenty of memorable, solid television friendships.

So whether you’re the outcast or the jock, the overachiever or the nerd, or the Time Lord Victorious and a temp from Chiswick, I hope you find these television friendships to be as inspiring and enjoyable to read about as they were to watch unfold on our television screens! :)

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In Defense of Annie Edison

I am not, nor have I ever been a Carrie or a Miranda or a Samantha. I am a Charlotte, through and through. I’ve never identified with the Rachels or the free-spirited Phoebes – I’m completely and utterly Monica Geller, down to my last color-coded spreadsheet. And I’ll never be a Britta Perry or a Shirley Bennett, if we’re being honest. Though I have traits that both women possess, the fact of the matter is that I am actually an organized, driven, perfectionist, a reliable student and employee, and a romantic.

In other words, I am Annie Edison.

Annie Elizabeth (since her real middle name isn’t canon, it’s been established fanon that it is Elizabeth, so deal with it) Edison is one of my favorite female characters on television and there are a LOT of amazing female characters on television these days, for which I am thankful. But what really delights me about Annie as a young woman is that I relate to her, I admire her, and I root for her. In any television series (or movie, for that matter), there need to be characters that the audience consistently cheer on, ones that we desire to see succeed. And I desire that for Annie. She’s not without her faults, though, which is also what makes her a well-rounded character. Rather than portray the young academic woman as having her life completely and totally together, the writers and producers choose to highlight qualities and aspects of Annie’s character that make her likable, but also aren’t afraid to humanize her by making her annoy us or one of the other characters.

(As an aside, a lot of hardcore Annie fans like to hate on Britta – as do some Jeff/Annie shippers but that discussion will be saved for a little bit later – because there are qualities about the blonde that make her annoying or irritating, or because she antagonizes Annie. But what I think those people fail to remember is that ANNIE also isn’t perfect, is prone to judgment and mistakes, and though her manipulations and irritating habits may be more subtle than Britta’s or Jeff’s or Pierce’s, they’re no less frequent.)

It may seem baffling that I’m writing a post entitled “In Defense of Annie Edison” when I spent the last paragraph explaining how the character annoys and grates other characters and their nerves, but I think that, when examining a favorite character or favorite series or favorite pairing, it is necessary to not only explain what is right and good with them/it, but also examine why they are flawed. Because that’s the beauty of Annie, the beauty of Community, and the beauty of life in general: we’re all broken people in a broken world, but somehow when we’re around these weird, damaged people, we learn from them, we grow, and we make each other slightly less broken. Watching perfect people is boring – it’s dull and unexciting because there’s no way those people can ever grow or learn or change. They remain stagnantly perfect. But watching Jeff Winger grow from a selfish ex-lawyer into a humanized man who is (albeit) still broken but learning to love and feel again? Well that’s beautiful.

And watching Annie progress from an insecure, love-sick teenager into a young woman with heart and strength and determination is just as beautiful.

So here’s what I intend to accomplish with this blog post: I am not going to attempt to sway you into the belief that Annie Edison is the best character on Community. While she is certainly MY favorite character, I will not force you to subscribe to that same opinion. I WILL, however, spend some time examining: Annie’s development from the first season until the fourth season, the issues I have with the unevenness of the writing of her character, why I feel she is misunderstood and harshly judged in the fandom as a result, and why she deserves love, happiness, and the chance to be more than a stereotype. And maybe, if I’m up for it, I’ll talk about her relationship with Jeff.

Maybe.

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Jenn's Pick: Top 5 Most Emotional Moments in "How I Met Your Mother"

I’m a huge fan of comedies and television comedies are no exception. Throughout the years, I’ve fallen in love with my fair share of television shows – Community, New Girl, The Office, Ben and Kate, Go On, etc. – and each of these series, as you may know, is a comedy. But the beauty of each of these shows is that they are distinct in the way that they make us laugh or connect with us emotionally. New Girl and Community are both typified as “comedy” but both approach all that entails – the punch lines, the emotional heart, etc. – differently. Similarly, shows like The Big Bang Theory and Girls are classified as “comedies,” and yet both are entirely different TYPES of comedies. It would be difficult to compare them, to note which is “better” but alas, that is what the Emmys do year after year.

One comedy I always admired and loved throughout college was Scrubs. The show was witty and quirky, but also relatable. The characters were completely unique and distinct in personality and in humor (Elliot had a specific brand of ditzy, fast-talking humor while Dr. Cox was dry and sarcastic). It was a long-running series, too, where viewers felt emotionally invested in the journeys of each of these characters, where they grew alongside J.D. as he navigated his career as a doctor. But there was one element of Scrubs that consistently impressed me and still does to this day – its emotional steamroller.

What IS an emotional steamroller, you ask? This is something that is – strikingly – very rare in comedies today. It’s this secret power that writers and showrunners have, and because of that, choose to release infrequently so as to not diminish its prowess or drive the show into the drama category. And there’s nothing wrong when shows do not possess this emotional steamroller. I love Community and New Girl, but these series don’t pack the powerful punch that could classify them in “steamroller” territory. There are only two series that I (personally) believe possess these powerful weapons: Scrubs and How I Met Your Mother.

Now, I’ve contemplated the presence of the “emotional steamroller” in both of these series and realize why this weapon exists in the series’ arsenals: it launches the show into uncharted territory. Scrubs was always a very quirky show – the entire series was narrated by J.D. as he went about his daily life at Sacred Heart. A typical episode’s desire was to extract laughter from the audience (it was a single-camera show, so there were no laugh tracks or live audience) by utilizing dry humor, pratfalls, or flashes into the weird and insane reality of J.D.’s thoughts. Similarly, How I Met Your Mother’s goals from episode-to-episode are similar: extract laughter from the audience (which is deceptively not a multi-camera sitcom even though it looks and sounds like one with the utilization of a laugh track/live audience) by utilizing its quirky characters and placing them into weird or awkward situations that require them to do something insane and/or hilarious to get out of them.

Both of these series were and are good at what they strive to accomplish comedically. But what takes them to the next level – what makes them stand out above all of the other comedies I mentioned at the start of this article – is the utilization of the “emotional steamroller.” Because just when the audience feels like they’re wading through territory cultivated by The Big Bang Theory or Modern Family or Friends, the writers and creators release the emotional steamroller, throwing the audience from their feet and into a sobbing mess on the floor.

Scrubs and How I Met Your Mother are the only two series that I’ve found myself literally SOBBING during. And these moments are completely unsuspecting (hence the “steamroller” part of my analogy) because we, as the audience, anticipate comedy and slapstick and general absurdity from characters like Doctor Cox and Marshall Eriksen. But just as we become comfortable in these generalizations of these people, right at the moment we’ve decided that they are snarky or hilarious and nothing much more, we are hit with the emotional weight of what these people can and will suffer – what we, the audience, so often ignore or are not shown. So when Doctor Cox loses his organ transplant patients and walks out of the door, blaming himself for their deaths, we grab the nearest box of tissues and cry until our eyes are rimmed red because the fact of the matter is that we never think of Doctor Cox as a dimensional character until we are forcefully hit with that reality. And Scrubs was never more profound, more relatable, and more beautiful than when viewers were hit with these truths.

My relationship with How I Met Your Mother began in high school (yes, high school, because that is how long this show has been around in conjunction with how old I am) when my male friends began watching it and would obsessively quote the show to one another at lunch. Seizing the opportunity to join in on conversations (and what they informed me was a hilarious series), I began watching. Somewhere, years down the road, I fell off the HIMYM bandwagon, jumped back on, fell off again, and then began to ride the wagon with one foot dragging on the ground.

(Basically I started and stopped watching the show in spurts throughout the years, in case the metaphor isn’t sticking.)

I am never more in awe of this show than when it sends its emotional steamroller barreling toward its audience. And I am convinced that the actors always shine their brightest when placed into these emotional situations.

So in the spirit of making lists, I decided to compile the top five most emotional moments in How I Met Your Mother’s history thus far. You all tweeted some wonderful suggestions (and Audrey nearly matched my list exactly!), and really four out of these five were winners without any contest. If you’re ready, then, click below the cut and we will discuss some of the saddest, most heart-wrenching emotional steamrolling moments in this comedy’s history.

(You might want to find some tissues as well.)

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Emmy Nominees 2013 (Or "A Parade of Angry GIFs")

Every year, the Emmy nominations prove exactly one thing and one thing only: I can never have too many rage-related GIFs in my collection.

The nominations were announced last week, inciting some glee, but mostly rage from me. I’ve come to expect this each year from the Emmys, so I really shouldn’t be as surprised as I am to find myself writing about how much I loathe hearing the comedy nominations, in particular, read aloud each year. And most years I lament the lack of Community nominations (especially ones for Joel McHale), the lack of The Office or Parks and Recreation acknowledgments and the ovewhelming presence of The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family (shouldn’t we just start calling them Modern Families instead of Emmys?)

But this year was different: this year I was rooting for New Girl, whose second season didn’t suffer through a sophomore slump, but rather rose above every other comedy I watched. The effortless chemistry between all of the cast members, the emotional weight that the writers juggled in this year’s storylines made me appreciate the little sitcom even more than I had during its first season. And truly, New Girl grew leaps and bounds between its first and second seasons, thanks in part to the progression of the Nick/Jess romance. To me (and to Liz, Dave, Brett, and the writers), that is where the heart of the story is found. The second season did a brilliant job at tapping into this heart, from tense emotional episodes like “Chicago” to equally tense, passion-filled ones like “Quick Hardening Caulk,” and to – of course – the most awe-worthy kiss on television this year at the end of “Cooler.”

Jake Johnson deserved an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Nick Miller this year. You can tell, as a viewer, that Jake completely and utterly understood who, at his core, Nick was – he knew what frightened him, motivated him, and he played that effortlessly. He was New Girl’s leading man and we fell in love because of that.

Of course, I should have expected that the Emmy nominations would take everything I love about television and tear it to shreds in front of my face.

It’s cool.

That’s what rage GIFs are for, right?

So below the cut I’ve basically decided to do something a little different (but very reminiscent of the BRILLIANT Head Over Feels #SmashBash GIF Caps), since I talked about these categories extensively in our second episode of Hot Switch. All of my feelings about this year’s nominations can be summed up in GIF form and that’s EXACTLY what I plan to do.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the parade of angry GIFS! ;)

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Jenn's Pick: 10 Reasons Why Donna Paulsen Should Be Your Favorite TV Character

Sometimes peer pressure can be a good thing.

A while ago, I began to notice a pattern among my Twitter timeline on Thursday nights. While I was busy hammering away at my Community blog-review notes, others were animatedly tweeting about a show on USA called Suits. After a few weeks of this excited tweeting, I began to feel like I was missing out on something rather entertaining. And my middle school mentality of not wanting to be left behind while all of my other friends bonded over something began to gnaw at me. So, in my intrigue, I decided to marathon Suits.

I fell completely and totally in love with the series.

Suits is a cable drama, but it is chock full of hilarious moments, fantastic one-liners, and great inside jokes. Each character is effortlessly and powerfully portrayed by their actor or actress. These are characters who are independent, strong-willed, and extremely intelligent. I love Harvey Specter’s resilience. I love Mike Ross’ charm and his compassion. I love Jessica Pearson’s take-no-prisoners attitude. I love Louis Litt’s soft side. And I love Rachel Zane’s determination. But there is one character on Suits that stands out above the rest for me – Donna Paulsen.

It’s not very difficult to explain WHY Donna is my favorite – she’s sassy, quick-witted, hilarious, and she’s got perfect red hair, to boot. But there’s a lot more to Donna that makes her such a strong, solid character in this series. She’s Harvey’s anchor, his conscience, and his other half. She’s a role model for Rachel. She’s just as tough as Jessica. She can go toe-to-toe with Louis as well as Hardman and emerge victorious. She’s confident in who she is as a person and has never lost sight of that throughout the series. And I admire Donna Paulsen (and Sarah Rafferty, who does such an excellent job portraying her), because she is flawed, too.

Donna proves to us all that you can be both confident and imperfect, both loyal and vulnerable, and both strong and compassionate. Plus, she also loves ice cream and coffee drinks with lots of whipped cream, solidifying why she is awesome. Below the cut, I decided to list ten reasons why Donna Paulsen should also be YOUR favorite character on television.

Grab that can opener, because here we go!

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