The Subtle Growth of Madness in ‘New Girl’

I recently began watching New Girl on Netflix. I know, I’m late to the party. But at first, I really didn’t see what all the fuss was about. It was okay, but kind of bland, and definitely not what I would consider a cult-fanbase worthy show.

But once I got towards the mid-section of season 2, I felt a shift. It’s true that all shows change and adapt. Very few remain the same compared to the first few episodes. This is especially true for sitcoms. But by the time I got deep into season 3 – fully addicted by now – I realised it was more than that. These characters had completely changed from the 2D stereotypes they began as. And not just that – for the most part, they were completely insane. 

Nick was struggling to perform tasks a three-year-old could manage. Schmidt was manically searching for a lionfish and had become one of the most hilarious characters I’d ever seen. And Winston was prowling around the loft threatening to kill a cat, before falling in love with it. They had all lost their minds.

I recognised this phenomenon. I’d seen it in Dan Harmon’s Community; cloaking a show as a ‘normal’ sitcom, before inevitably letting the characters get more and more bizarre until you’re basically watching a live action cartoon. And I love it. It’s pretty normal that characters get a little stranger as time goes on – we get to know them more, and the writers become more comfortable with them. But these characters had become wonderfully weird in an incredibly entertaining way, no longer the somewhat bland archetypes they began as.

The same can be said for It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – although this show always did go against the grain and could never really be called ‘normal.’ But the first few episodes were definitely a bit more grounded, especially in the character depiction, before everyone became completely bonkers. In fact, at times, Nick in New Girl began to remind me of a tamer version of Charlie from Sunny; living in his own filth, applauded for something as simple as washing his clothes or taking a vitamin, wandering around in complete confusion at how the world works. This behaviour is even called out by Dennis in one of the episodes, where he screams ‘We’ve all gotten SO WEIRD!’ A similar sentiment appears for Troy and Abed in an episode of Community where they try to hide their weirdness at a wedding, with Troy realising how bizarre his behaviour has become.

This trend of comedy in American sitcoms is something I’ve come to adore. And as I continue to steamroll my way through New Girl, I can only hope it continues to get even weirder.