New Girl Information

New Girl is an American television sitcom that premiered on Fox on September 20, 2011. It stars Zooey Deschanel, Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield, Lamorne Morris, and Hannah Simone. On September 28, 2011, after two episodes aired, Fox ordered an additional 11 episodes to the initial 13-episode order, bringing the first season to 24 episodes.

New Girl has received favorable responses from critics since its conception, with many giving particular praise for Deschanel's performance. On December 15, 2011, the show was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series " Musical or Comedy and Deschanel was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress " Television Series Musical or Comedy. The series received five 2012 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series" for Deschanel, "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series" for Greenfield, "Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series", "Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series" and "Outstanding Main Title Design". New Girl was longlisted at the 18th National Television Awards in the sitcom category, ultimately losing to Mrs Brown's Boys.

New Girl was officially renewed for a second season by Fox on April 9, 2012. It premiered on September 25, 2012. Fox ordered two new episodes of New Girl bringing the second season to 25 episodes.

On March 4, 2013, the series was renewed for a third season.

Plot

Jessica "Jess" Day (Zooey Deschanel) is an adorable, bubbly young woman who teaches at a Los Angeles middle school. Jess begins looking for a new place to live after breaking up with her boyfriend. She answers an ad for a new roommate on Craigslist, and moves in with three young men: Nick, Schmidt, and Coach. Very shortly after moving in, Coach moves out and is replaced by Winston, another young man who had previously lived in the apartment with Nick and Schmidt. Cece, Jessica's childhood best friend and a fashion model, also appears in various storylines.

Cast and characters

Main cast

• Zooey Deschanel as Jessica Day, a bubbly and offbeat teacher originally from Portland, Oregon.
• Jake Johnson as Nick Miller, a perennial "slacker" and grumpy young man who dropped out of law school and supports himself by working as a bartender.
• Max Greenfield as Schmidt, a marketing representative who is the only male working at his office.
• Lamorne Morris as Winston Bishop, a former basketball player who had trouble joining the NBA and ended up playing on a team in Latvia.
• Hannah Simone as Cece Parekh, a fashion model and Jess's best friend since childhood.

The character of Coach, played by Damon Wayans, Jr., appeared in the pilot only. Nick, Schmidt and Winston were the original three roommates in the apartment, but Winston was in Latvia prior to the first episode, with Coach subletting his room. By the second episode Coach had left, and Winston returned to the apartment. The apartment now consists of Schmidt, Winston, Nick, and Jess.

Recurring cast

• Lauren Dair Owens (8 episodes) and Portia Martine Berman (2 episodes) have both portrayed young Jess at different ages
• Kali Hawk as Shelby, Winston's ex-girlfriend. (7 episodes)
• David Walton as Sam Sweeney. (5 episodes)
• Nelson Franklin as Robby, CeCe's ex-boyfriend (5 episodes)
• Mary Elizabeth Ellis as Caroline, Nick's on-and-off girlfriend. (5 episodes)
• Justin Long as Paul Genzlinger, a music teacher at Jess's school. (4 episodes)
• Lizzy Caplan as Julia Cleary, Nick's ex-girlfriend. (4 episodes)
• Rachael Harris as Tanya Lamontagne, the Vice Principal of Jess' school. (4 episodes)
• Dermot Mulroney as Russell. He is the wealthy father of one of Jess's students whom Jess dates briefly. (4 episodes)
• Olivia Munn as Angie, Nick's stripper girlfriend. (3 episodes)
• Carla Gugino as Emma, the Vice President of Schmidt's company. (3 episodes)
• Jeff Kober as Remy, the landlord of the apartment building. (3 episodes)
• June Diane Raphael as Dr. Sadie, a lesbian gynecologist and a friend of Jess and Cece. (3 episodes)
• Rebecca Reid as Nadia, one of Cece's roommates. (3 episodes)
• Phil Hendrie as Joe Napoli, sports radio host and Winston's boss. (3 episodes)
• Gillian Vigman as Kim, Schmidt's boss. (3 episodes)
• Jeanne Tripplehorn as Ouli, Russell's ex-wife. (2 episodes)
• Ariela Barer as young Cece (2 episodes)
• Brenda Song as Daisy (2 episodes)
• Satya Bhabha as Shivrang (2 episodes)

Episodes

Production

The series was created, produced, and written by Elizabeth Meriwether for Chermin Entertainment and Fox Television Studios.

In development, the show was provisionally titled Chicks and Dicks, which was temporarily used as the title owing to its description of the storyline at that point. As the script developed, the plot became more socially oriented, rather than being about the sexual endeavors of the roommates, so the title was changed to "New Girl".

The series premiered on Tuesday September 20 on Fox, and also airs on Channel 4 in the UK, Citytv in Canada and on FOUR in New Zealand.

Zooey Deschanel was once asked if the character was written for her specifically, to which she replied that it was not, but "should have been". When asked to join the team, Deschanel was questioned if she had any hesitation. Deschanel replied that she loves working with the team and that Jess is definitely the character she would like to play forever.

Damon Wayans, Jr. took the role of "Coach" expecting his previous show, the ABC sitcom Happy Endings, to be cancelled. When that show was renewed for a second season, Wayans left New Girl and was replaced by Morris. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Meriwether says that about 80 percent of the pilot would have needed to be re-shot in order to remove Wayans from the episode, since he was in one of the leading roles of the show. Therefore, Meriwether, 20th Century Fox and the studio decided to keep the characters and the plot of the episode as they were, with Morris joining the show in the second episode of the series.

Tie-ins

Books

• The Douche Journals: The Definitive Account of One Man's Genius, compiled of the many Schmidtisms from The Douchebag Jar, before Jess moved into the apartment. Released in 2012.

Reception

In June 2011, New Girl was one of eight honorees in the "most exciting new series" category at the 1st Critics' Choice Television Awards, voted by journalists who had seen the pilots. Review aggregate website Metacritic gave it a score of 66/100 based on "generally favorable reviews". BuddyTV ranked New Girl #5 on its list of 2011's best new TV shows.

The pilot episode drew 10.28 million viewers, a 4.8 adults 18"49 demo rating. This was the highest-rated fall debut for a Fox scripted show since The Bernie Mac Show in 2001.

The show has been nominated for several awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Comedy Series and for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Zooey Deschanel, as well as a Dundee Awards and two Critics Choice Awards, Best Comedy Series and Best Comedy Actress for Deschanel. Zooey Deschanel won the award for Best Comedy Actress. The show also received 5 nominations at the 2012 Darwin Awards. This included Best Comedy Series, Best New TV Series, Best Actor (Jake Johnson), Best Actor/Actress in a New TV Series (Zooey Deschanel) and Best Screenplay, winning the latter two.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Result
2011	Satellite Award	Best Actress " Musical or Comedy Series	Zooey Deschanel
2012	People's Choice Award	Favorite New TV Comedy
	Golden Globe Award	Best Television Series " Musical or Comedy
		Best Actress " Television Series Musical or Comedy	Zooey Deschanel
	ADG Excellence in Production Design Award	Episode of a Half Hour Single-Camera Television Series
	Writers Guild of America Award	Best New Series
	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a TV Series - Recurring Young Actress	Lauren Owens
	TV Guide Award	Favorite Actress	Zooey Deschanel
	Critics' Choice Television Awards	Best Comedy Series
		Best Actress in a Comedy Series	Zooey Deschanel
		Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series	Max Greenfield
		Best Guest Performer in a Comedy Series	Justin Long
	Teen Choice Award	Choice TV: Comedy
		Choice TV Actress: Comedy	Zooey Deschanel
		Choice TV Breakout Show
		Choice TV Breakout Star - Male	Jake Johnson
		Choice TV Breakout Star - Male	Lamorne Morris
		Choice TV Breakout Star - Female	Hannah Simone
		Choice TV Scene Stealer - Male	Max Greenfield
	Television Critics Association Award	Outstanding New Program
	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series	Zooey Deschanel
		Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series	Max Greenfield
		Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series	Jake Kasdan (Episode: "Pilot")
		Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series
		Outstanding Main Title Design
2013	People's Choice Award	People's Choice Award for Favorite Network TV Comedy
		People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Comedy Actress	Zooey Deschanel
	Golden Globe Award	Best Actress " Television Series Musical or Comedy	Zooey Deschanel
		Best Supporting Actor " Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Max Greenfield

Release

Online

The pilot was first released on such online services as Hulu Plus, TiVo, and iTunes before the September 20 premiere on Fox

International broadcasts

Country / Region	Channel	Premiere
	Fox	April 10, 2012
	Network Ten	January 22, 2012
	ProSieben	January 5, 2012
	2BE	March 22, 2012 (Removed from screen after only 4 episodes due to not enough viewers) September 1, 2012
	Fox	April 4, 2012
	City	September 20, 2011
	Fox	March 2012
	Multivisión	January 24, 2013 (as "Sin compromiso" [Without commitment])
	TV 2 Zulu	February 21, 2012
	Sub	February 13, 2012 (as "Kolme miestä ja tyttö" [Three men and a girl])
	TF6	November 18, 2012
	FOXlife	March 2012
	Stöð 2	February 2012
	STAR World	July 4, 2012
	RT"? Two	March 6, 2012
	Yes Comedy	February 11, 2012
	Fox MTV Italia	January 25, 2012 December 25, 2012
	Fox Japan	April 22, 2012
	Kan?ls 2	December 1, 2012
	RTL 5	December 6, 2011
	Four	February 7, 2012
	TV2 Bliss	December 4, 2011
	Fox	March 2012
	ETC Channel 9 STAR World STAR World HD	October 7, 2011
	Fox	August 13, 2012 (as "Jess i ch"?opaki" [Jess and boys])
	Fox Life	March 6, 2012 (as "Jess e os Rapazes" [Jess and the Boys])
	Muz-TV	November 26, 2012
	FOXlife	September 17, 2012
	M-Net Series	February 11, 2012
	On Style	October 8, 2011
Southeast Asia	Star World	November 5, 2011
	FDF/FOX	July 4, 2012
	TV4	April 13, 2012
	Star World	November 6, 2011
	FOXlife	March 2012
	Channel 4 E4	January 6, 2012