The New Girl and 2 Broke Girls: Is this TV trend good for women?

A	Yes, this trend will produce well-rounded, interesting female characters -- it's a good time for women in television

B	No, these shows rely on stereotypes and gender role enforcement -- there's nothing innovative here

C	Maybe -- we'll have to wait and see, but so far these shows seem to be on the right track to transcend gender-based humor

The New Girl, the much-anticipated new Fox sitcom starring hipster icon Zooey Deschanel, premiered on Tuesday, September 20. The reception was huge -- the Wall Street Journal reports that more than 10 million viewers, including many desirable young viewers, tuned in to watch Deschanel's "adorkable" character Jess move in with three guys. The show flirts with a "male friends help dowdy girl become a Real Woman" plotline, but the LA Times reviewer thinks the show's self-awareness makes "their little experiment in gender studies much more intriguing than" a standard ugly ducking trope.

The New Girl isn't the only female-centric show this fall. 2 Broke Girls stars Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs as servers in a Brooklyn diner. Kat Dennings does for this CBS sitcom what Zooey Deschanel does for The New Girl -- people are tuning in just to see her. Monday's premiere recieved mixed reviews. The Washington Post found it a "lukewarm revamp of The Odd Couple," but the Boston Globe said "The actresses transcend their types," and the LA Times reviewer agrees.

I think transcending stereotypes is essential to the success of these female-driven comedies -- if they don't move beyond cliche, the shows will simply rehash tired jokes about how different men and women are. Besides being unoriginal, plots based on gender differences perpetuate limiting roles for both men and women. It would be great to see these shows embrace female leads while letting each character develop as a full person with non-gender-based personality traits. Sounds like 2 Broke Girls is well on its way to surpassing trope "rich girl" and "city girl" characters, and the self-awareness of The New Girl may rescue it from a self-improvement-to-get-a-man scenario.

EW.com's preview of the shows doesn't necessarily agree: "These two shows aren’t so much about girl power as they are about girl strategy: All three protagonists are young women who use their stereotypical “girl” qualities — flirtiness, mock-innocence, adroit manipulation of dumb males — to achieve some of their goals." There may be some truth there, but we can't expect a sitcom to break barriers right out of the gate. Only the pilot episodes have aired so far. There are less promising shows along these same lines this season -- Whitney is especially disappointing -- but these two in particular seem like they may turn out great.

Eleanor Brown

The New Girl and 2 Broke Girls: Is this TV trend good for women?

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