The third episode of “New Girl” was an improvement over the shakier second episode, helping the show remain my favorite new broadcast comedy of fall 2011, but it still seems right on the edge of its comfort zone.

The least of my worries, I think, is the preseason fear of whether Zooey Deschanel‘s Jess might become too precious. She was just fine compared to Tuesday’s D plot that put Winston (Lamorne Morris) in a battle of the ushers with an overly precocious 8-year-old that was as painful as they come — neither believable nor funny. Further, I like Morris, but I’m not convinced at all by Winston as an ex-pro basketball player, foreign or not. His identity needs to evolve, the faster the better.

Also, just once I’d like to see a wedding on TV where guests didn’t automatically hook up, and instead sat around the table wondering why it was that on TV, guests at weddings automatically hook up.

But the storylines involving the rest of the cast mostly worked, with Natasha Lyonne a particularly game pants-suited enemy-with-benefits for Max Greenfield‘s Schmidt (though I wish the writers would dial back Schmidty’s prodigious sexual history, which seems phony). Deschanel was charming and funny, Jake Johnson solid as a guy trying to get over a longtime love, and the climactic scene was sweet and well-played.

Popular on Variety

“New Girl” isn’t the immediate creative success that something like “Modern Family” was, but it’s ahead of the game in comparison to most other halfhours at the same stage. And certainly, it has time to figure things out — it remained the No. 1 show among adults 18-49 on Tuesdays, regardless of timeslot.

Read More About:

• Fall 2011,
• Funny Girl,
• Jake Johnson,
• Lamorne Morris,
• Max Greenfield,
• Natasha Lyonne,
• Once Tv,
• Overnight Productions,
• Party Girls,
• Red Zone Channel,
• Sat-tv,
• The New Girl,
• The Other Guys Panel,
• Tv Cancellations,
• Tv1 Exclusive,
• Zooey Deschanel

Jump to Comments

More from Variety

• 

  ‘Pedro Páramo’ Review: Rodrigo Prieto Respectfully Adapts One of Mexico’s Most Famous Novels in Surreal Debut
• 

  Sports Is Traditional TV’s Hail Mary, Despite Pressure From Streaming
• 

  Web Traffic Patterns: Established News Brands Cede Ground to Partisan Political Upstarts  

Most Popular

• Anna Kendrick Was Terrified to Act With George Clooney on ‘Up in the Air’ Until He Told Her on Set: ‘I Get Insecure. Did They Even Hire the Right…

  

• Grammy Nominations 2025: Beyonce Leads With 11 Nods as Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX Are Among Top Nominees

  

• Ray Romano’s Identical Twin Sons Confront Their Quarter-Life Crisis, Codependency and Growing Up With a Famous Dad in Their New Documentary

  

• Ridley Scott Says Joaquin Phoenix Got Cold Feet on ‘Gladiator’ and Said ‘I Can’t Do It’; Then Russell Crowe Called It ‘Terribly Unprofessional…

  

• Tony Todd, ‘Candyman’ and ‘Final Destination’ Star, Dies at 69

  

• ‘Joker 2’ Actor Says It’s ‘the Worst Film Ever Made’ and People on Set Said ‘This Is Going to Bomb’: ‘It’s Not Even Hate-Watchable. That’s How…

  

• Jimmy Kimmel Responds to Elon Musk Calling Him a ‘Propaganda Puppet’: ‘Listen Kermit, You Bought Twitter’

  

• 16-Year-Old Josh Brolin Tried to Make His ‘Goonies’ Character Super Deep; Then Steven Spielberg Told Him: ‘Just Act. Just Say What’s on the Page…

  

• Denis Villeneuve Says ‘I Don’t Care’ If Quentin Tarantino Refuses to Watch ‘Dune,’ but ‘What I Did Was Not a Remake … I See This as an Original…

  

• Nicholas Hoult Heard on the Radio That Robert Pattinson Was Batman and ‘I Was Auditioning Next Weekend’; Losing Role Was an ‘Emotional Blow…

  

Must Read

• Film

  COVER | ‘Is the Sperm Still in There?’: Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey on Making ‘Queer’

  By Andrew Wallenstein 5 days

• Film

  The 100 Best Horror Movies of All Time

  
• Biz

  Hollywood's New Leaders of 2024

  
• Music

  15 Best Samples of Quincy Jones' Music, From Kanye West to the Weeknd to Harry Styles

  
• TV

  Marvel's 2025 TV Slate Revealed, Including First Looks at ‘Wonder Man,’ Animated 'Spider-Man' and 'Wakanda' Shows

  

Sign Up for Variety Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Variety Confidential

A Variety and iHeartRadio Podcast

ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9nfXJ9jq2taKaVrMBwwNVmaWZxaWmDcA%3D%3D