"Okay, pros: [women] smell nice. Cons: every once in a while, the mood changes and you're not sure why. They'll ruin your life if you let 'em, they'll break down your will to live. Pros: they're really good at folding."
— Nick
"Pilot" is the first episode of New Girl.
After catching her boyfriend Spencer cheating on her, Jessica Day moves into a loft apartment populated by three guys.
Tropes:
- Bowel-Breaking Bricks: Jess discovers Spencer has been cheating on her. We cut to a shot between her legs of a bow hitting the floor.
- Clothing Switch: Jess and Cece do this so Jess can wear Cece's Little Black Dress for a date.
- Inherently Attractive Profession: The lothario Schmidt is much more amenable to Jess moving in once he learns that she knows a lot of models.
- Roommate Drama: The first episode involves the recently-heartbroken Jess moving into a house with three guys, and annoying them with her constant sobbing and drama. Though they learn to love her by the end, she still creates drama for them on occasion as they all learn to adapt.
- Sex for Solace: Jess's new roommates decide to help her find a man to use for a rebound, for which they give her extensive coaching.
- Sexy Coat Flashing: Jess' plan for surprising her boyfriend at the beginning of the pilot is to take off her coat and be naked underneath. Backfires when another woman pops out of the bedroom.
- Saw Star Wars 27 Times: Jess has seen Dirty Dancing multiple times and watches it several times post-breakup.
- Shout-Out: Jess watches Dirty Dancing.
- Stood Up: Jess's date stands her up. This becomes the basis of her bonding with her roommates when they show up to be reverse-Mormons who sing to her in public.
- Take That!: In the pilot, Schmidt keeps using the phrase "my boys" to which Nick says "my boys is never going to happen." This show had been accused of being a ripoff of My Boys.
- Welcome Episode: The first episode is Jess interviewing with the guys to move in.
