Sonja Flemmings/CBS
Was the second time the charm for the freshman CBS sitcom?
Over at JTA, who is like a distant, disapproving father to us here at 6 Degrees No Bacon, the type who won’t acknowledge that we exist yet sends us a check every month for expenses (Daddy, why?), 2 Broke Girls starring Kat Dennings debuted to a less than positive review. In that the only component of the program to be praised was Dennings herself.
But pilots are notoriously sub-par since the shows aren’t yet staffed with a full roster of writing talent so it was only fair to give 2 Broke Girls another shot, to see what the creators, writers and actors could do once all of the parts were in place.
I am pleasantly surprised to say that the second episode improved upon the first. (C’mon, it had to!) at least in part because it backed away from the near constant stream of Brooklyn/hipster jokes (inaccurate ones at that) and less of Kat’s Jersey Shore-esque meat head boyfriend. We got to understand Max’s (Dennings) character a bit better (she’s afraid of success) and see Caroline as more than one note — in addition to being formerly wealthy and blonde, she is smart, driven and pretty funny when drunk.
That said, the only moment I genuinely laughed at was an exchange between Dennings’ waitress Max and her diner patrons during the cold open. When one the four girls (all wearing straw fedoras) asked why Max wasn’t writing down her order, which involved substituting everything on the veggie platter with kale, she replied, “I’m afraid if I start writing it’ll turn into a suicide note.”
Perhaps I only find this funny because my friend, who used to work at Tasti D Lite, a diet frozen yogurt chain in New York, expressed a similar sort of despair when taking the very carefully thought out orders from her skinny customers who were trying so hard to pretend that they were eating real dessert instead of metallic flavored air.
But even if the Koch era New York jokes received a reprieve and even if Beth Behrs, who plays former rich girl, Caroline, has started to prove herself as a decent comedic actress, the show still mostly plodded along, one zinger (oh snap!) to the next. Add to that the fact there aren’t yet any standout supporting players, who are a necessary component to sustaining any comedy.
I mean, Ted Mosby is great and all but who would want to watch HIMYM without Barney?
