Today a NY Magazine blog lamented that CBS' quirky gal-pal spin on The Odd Couple, 2 Broke Girls, is less about the camaraderie and too focused on being catty. Are the show's characters too snotty or is this idea about the ladies' sharp dialog a sneakily sexist concept?"Broke Girls is not the only new comedy of the season with an overenthusiasm for nastiness: Whitney suffers from this tendency, too," the blogger compares. "....As a viewer, it's easier to invest in characters who are invested in each other. Whitney's central relationship is a couple: If they can't stand each other, why should we?" Are Broke Girls viewers under the impression that the girls coexisting together and relying on one another cannot stand each other? I wasn't.One can blame the writing of both Whitney and Broke Girls on the sardonic stand-up-comedy-style of Whitney Cummings (who contributes to both shows) and the blogger does site Cummings' style as potentially being part of the problem. But some of Entourage's-- of all the series steeping in tea-bagging jokes, accusations of poor sexual prowess and equating emotions with weakness-- best episodes were executive produced and written by the guy-mind hidden inside the girl genius Ally Musika. Juno writer Diablo Cody knows a thing or two about serious sarcasm and nastiness as well. One doesn't have to be a stand-up comedianne from the gritty ol' stage to put some hilarious filth and fun put-downs down on a page. "Sure, meanness has its place," she goes on. "Just imagine Golden Girls without Bea Arthur's disdainful eye rolls and slow turns. But then try to imagine it without the cheesecake chitchats and underlying human compassion. Not everything has to be as merry as Jimmy Fallon or Parks and Recreation, but there are reasons both of these things are connecting with people, and it's that they're silly and hopeful, not just cruel and ironic."2 Broke Girls does have its share of biting humor and cruel quips, with Kat Dennings' Max character certainly doling out the majority. However, the entire concept of the show is a Max reaching out a stranger she's just met, who has fallen on hard times. Max is teaching her the ropes at the diner they work at, and how to get by being broke, as the title implies. She's done countless favors for poor-little-rich-girl Caroline throughout the show's very brief new existence and it's easy to see their bond developing. Beth Behr's Caroline has also come back with some cutesy but cutting one-liners but her character came up with the show's underlying concept: that these two struggling chicks will bind together and utilize their talents to do something great for themselves together, becoming entrepreneurs in the trendy cupcake biz. Their relationship seems to be headed much more in the direction of the exasperated mutual respect and reluctant adoration of Laverne & Shirley or Will & Grace than the actual back-biting and cruelty of Gossip Girl or 90210. And let's take a moment to think about this sort of sordid dialog exchange in male characters of shows and films driven by bromances. The kind of petty, snarky, picking on one another that's going on on 2 Broke Girls isn't an oddity on two other CBS showcase shows Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory. But are men bonding over evil exchanges and calling out each others' faults easier to watch? When boys tease it's funny, when girls tease it's me-ow.Can it be that when it a bitchy insult comes from Kat Dennings' ruby red lips, fueled by breath drawn from lungs housed by a generous bust, it just seems meaner than when two dudes swap zingers about dick size? Maybe Entourage's tough but sweet E can take a joke better than Broke Girls' posh and petite Caroline? Her Wharton Business School intellect be be damned, words hurt!Is a plea to tone down the contempt simply reinforcing stereotypes of how the fairer sex should be portrayed? Or is 2 Broke Girls really too liberal with the verbal abuse?
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