DVD Review: Clever First Season of FOX Hit ‘New Girl’

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CHICAGO – Why are audiences turning away from “New Girl” this season? I would hope that it’s purely a question of time slot competition (Tuesdays have gotten crowded all of a sudden) and overall decline in FOX ratings because it sure as Hell has nothing to do with quality. This is a show that increased steadily in laughs-per-minute over its first season, just released on DVD, and continues to work at the start of its second. Check out the new Fox DVD release to see how it all went down.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

You really can watch a sitcom creatively reprogram itself over the course of the first season of “New Girl” as the show began as essentially a star vehicle for the very talented Zooey Deschanel but became closer to “Friends” or “How I Met Your Mother” as the season progressed and Jake Johnson, Lamorne Morris, Hannah Simone, and the scene-stealing Max Greenfield took more punchlines. Smart, well-paced, and with an increasingly confident ensemble, “New Girl” works. The DVD release is a bit lackluster in the video department (and the show is unforgivably not available on Blu-ray, as all modern shows should be) although it does include two commentary tracks along with deleted scenes and alternate punchlines.

If you gave up on “New Girl” early in its freshman year, check back in and see how it developed. Maybe then you’ll figure out that you should be watching season two.

New Girl: The Complete First Season was released on DVD on October 2, 2012
Photo credit: Fox

Synopsis:
New Girl is a charming, offbeat comedy about friends, flings and modern relationships. After a bad breakup, free-spirited optimist Jess (Zooey Deschanel) moves in with three bachelors who have plenty of issues of their own. Winston (Lamorne Morris) is a former athlete, Nick (Jake Johnson) is a law school dropout, and Schmidt (Max Greenfield) is a wannabe womanizer in love with…himself. Together with her super-hot BFF Cece (Hannah Simone), this New Girl discovers that hanging out with the guys can be a challenging - and hilarious - adventure!

Click here to buy “New Girl: The Complete First Season”

Special Features:
o Commentary On Pilot Episode
o Commentary On Bad In Bed
o Dress Like Jess
o Auditions With Lamorne
o Alternate Jokes
o Commentary on See Ya
o New Girl: Evolution Of An Episode
o Deleted Scenes and Extended Scenes
o Gag Reel

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com