YMMV / New Girl

---

• Adorkable:
  • Jess, she's even branded as such in promotional material for the show. She's clumsy, keeps singing and humming, dances chicken dance and she wears funny fake teeth. She's a Nice Girl and a teacher.
  • Winston in later seasons, as he becomes a silly and sweet Cloudcuckoolander who wears bird shirts, likes puzzles, and talks to his cat.
  • Robby is a dorky Gentle Giant with glasses, and is liked by everyone because of his genuinely nice personality. He and Jess bond over their similar nerdy traits in later seasons and have a brief Birds of a Feather relationship.
• Arc Fatigue:
  • The Schmidt/Cece Will They or Won't They? Relationship Revolving Door wore itself pretty damn thin until season 4 when they finally get engaged.
  • After Jess realises she’s still in love with Nick at the end of the fifth season, it then takes until the literal final moments of the following season for the Will They or Won't They? to be resolved; during which, both characters date other people for such prolonged periods of the season that those relationships can be argued as suffering from Arc Fatigue themselves.
  • The opening episode of season 7 reveals that Nick intends to propose to Jess; it then takes until the sixth episode of the season (Which only consists of eight episodes) for Nick to actually ask her. This also counts in-universe, as the intended proposal is revealed to have been planned for the previous six months.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Nick's best friend, Tran. Despite having very few lines and generally being entirely silent with Nick having one-sided conversations with him, he is very popular with fans.
  • Cece's model friend Nadia is memorable for being a quotable Cloudcuckoolander, especially with her "Mick Mouse" line.
  • Robby in early seasons was liked by fans for being a Nice Guy, as well as his funny Odd Friendship and Friendly Rivalry with Schmidt. Downplayed in season 6, as fans hated his relationship with Jess but Robby's character was still likable.
  • Fawn Moscato, despite being a Romantic False Lead who only appears in a few episodes, is still remembered as one of the funniest characters with her Brutal Honesty and unique dialogue, and many loved the actress's perfomance.
  • Ruth (Schmidt and Cece's child) is considered by many fans one of the best things about the controversial last season, due to her cute one-liners and her interactions with Nick.
• Genius Bonus:
  • Winston thinking Crispin Glover was the first person to die in the Boston Massacre is funny. However, knowing that the name Winston meant to say was Crispus Attucks makes it hilarious.
  • While on a jealous tirade about Cece's photo-shoot riding a missile with a male model, Schmidt shouts about the arms race, saying, "Didn't you learn anything from Eisenhower?" This is a reference to Dwight D. Eisenhower's famous farewell address in which he warned about the dangers of the growing military-industrial complex.
  • In "Pepperwood", Nick mocks the choice of font of one of Jess's (adult) students. He then holds the manuscript up, revealing the font in question to be Courier New, pretty much the de facto standard for professional typed manuscripts. A subtle hint at how clueless Nick is as an author.
• Growing the Beard: General consensus is that season 2 is when the show transformed from "The Zooey Deschanel Show" to a true ensemble with great chemistry from the main cast.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Dennis Farina appeared as Nick's con-man dad only to die from a heart attack in a later episode. Farina would die later that year from a pulmonary embolism.
  • In season 3, Winston (who is black) acquired a cat named Ferguson and joined the police academy. After August 2014, the town of Ferguson was suddenly the epicenter of a debate on systemic racism on the part of police officers against African-Americans.
  • Prince approached the production team about guest-starring as himself because he was a massive Jess/Nick shipper, and wanted to act as a love guru to help mend their relationship, but they were broken up before the end of season three and appeared to be done. Prince died mere weeks before the fifth season finale, where Jess realizes she still loves Nick and wants to get back together with him.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Stephen Amell was in a couple of episodes as Kyle, Cece's boyfriend. In his last episode Jess was trying to score a one-night-stand with a guy named Oliver, Cece's shows up with a loopy Kyle (from eating shrooms), and things getting really complicated from there. Amell later ended up starring on Arrow as Oliver Queen. In this show, Oliver's ex-girlfriend makes out with Kyle, screaming "How does it feel, Oliver!?" The episode "Wedding" had Katie Cassidy as Brooke, who would be another Arrow cast member as Laurel. Both Brooke and Laurel ended up as Alcoholics Anonymous members.
  • Joey King guest stars in season one's "Bully". King also starred as Ramona Quimby in the 2010 film version and had a role in The Dark Knight Rises. Two seasons later, in "Keaton", Jess dresses as "Joey Ramona Quimby" for Halloween and has a plot to distract Schmidt by dressing in a "Dark Knight Rises" Batman costume.
  • The subplot in "Bad In Bed" with Winston bringing Nick to his barber shop, after Lamorne Morris's role in Barbershop: the Next Cut.
  • The Flash Forward during the finale showing Nick and Jess' future kid wearing a Bears jersey bearing Mitch Trubisky's name. Trubisky would be out of Chicago less than 2 years after the finale aired, and widely considered a complete bust at the QB position.
• Hollywood Pudgy: Schmidt constantly calls Nick fat. Since Schmidt was Formerly Fat he's likely more critical of others, Nick included. Other characters comment on Nick's weight a few times, which is less justifiable.
• Ho Yay: There's a one-sided element of this to Nick and Schmidt's friendship, much to Nick's dismay.
  • Schmidt's jealousy at being the only one in the group to have not seen Nick's penis.
  Schmidt: Wait, Nick's going to show his penis to the ocean and not me! *runs after him*
  • Also, there's those times when Nick accidentally says borderline-romantic things to childhood friend Winston and then scrambles to correct himself.
    • In response, Winston is pretty defensive of Nick's attractiveness.
  • Nick can get weirdly over-invested in some of Jess' love interests. (Unlike her, his feelings for Russell have not diminished over time.)
  Nick: Ah, the only man we both loved.
  • Two words: lap dance (two more words: eye contact). Nick reached a new level of dismay at this point.
  • Schmidt and Robby. Schmidt even called them "married."
  • Les Yay:
    • While it can be explained as them being best friends since childhood, Cece really is very protective and caring of Jess.
    • In "Cabin," with Jess and Angie as the latter tries to teach the former to shoot a gun. Nick comments that his nightmare and fantasy are colliding.
• Informed Wrongness: In season 3, Winston dumps Daisy for dating another guy and lying to him about it (and steals her cat). However, they very explicitly weren't exclusive, and while she did initially lie about it when she was put on the spot, she came clean eventually. While she could've handled it better, she wasn't the clear-cut villain she was made out to be. Sleeping with a third party after agreeing to be exclusive with Winston when he picked up Ferguson, however, is appropriately a deal-breaker for Winston.
• Jerkass Woobie: Schmidt is an insufferably pompous windbag with delusions of grandeur, whose very presence summons memories of Ted Baxter and who is frequently insensitive, cruel and overly controlling of his friends. But he is on the receiving end of a lot of abuse at work due to being the only male, he seems incapable of forming meaningful relationships, his childhood was very unhappy (His mother was also a control freak and an oblivious Alcoholic), he spent much of his life being teased due to his weight (Which came about due to his unhappy homelife) and he is overall an enormous bundle of neuroses and compulsions barely keeping himself together.
• Moe:
  • Jess, because of her appearance, big-hearted naivete, and the tendency she compels in people to take care of her, even if she doesn't always need it.
  • Ruth, Schmidt and Cece's child. Even people who hate season 7 find her adorable.
• More Popular Replacement:
  • Even if Winston is introduced as Coach's replacement, most fans prefer him over Coach.
  • When Jess is absent for jury duty, she's replaced by Reagan for a few episodes. Reagan turns out to be surprisingly popular, an interesting Contrasting Replacement Character who is very different from Jess, and a good foil to the rest of the cast (see also She Really Can Act). Many fans missed her when Jess came back.
• Narm: In the finale, Nick telling Schmidt he loves him is certainly a sweet scene. But it's a bit strange that everyone makes a big deal out of it, considering that Nick has already said "I love you" to Schmidt multiple times before that episode (sometimes in front of everyone), along with several other Platonic Declaration of Love moments. Yet all the roommates act like it's the first time Nick expresses his feelings.
• Nightmare Fuel: Nick getting beaten by Halloween haunted house employees after accidentally punching Jess.
• Portmanteau Couple Name:
  • Nick/Jess is usually called Ness.
  • Schmess for Schmidt/Jess.
  • Schmece (Schmidt/Cece).
  • In season four, Winston actually uses "Jyan" to describe Jess and Ryan's relationship.
  • Appropriately, given the Ho Yay between Nick and Schmidt, the name of their company is "Schnick Industries".
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: At first, Coach wasn't well-received when he comes back in season 3. But after developing a good friendship with Cece (after their failed attempt to date) as well as a funny school dynamic with Jess, fans start to warm up to him, especially in season 4.
• Retroactive Recognition: Olivia Rodrigo appeared in a bit role in Season 6 as one of Nick's fans, prior to her big role in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. After her debut album was released and proved to be popular, Netflix released a video compilation of her scenes that was also reported on by various media outlets.
• The Scrappy:
  • Abby, Jess's sister. She's disliked for being a pointless character in an Aborted Arc of three episodes, with an equally pointless "relationship" with Schmidt. Despite all of Jess's childhood flashbacks in early episodes, Jess and her parents never mention any sibling before Abby's appearance in season 3, and after her Aborted Arc, she's never mentioned again. (Except for Jess telling her dad that the tennis-related story he was telling was about his ‘other daughter’.)
  • Rhonda. She's supposed to be a funny Distaff Counterpart to Winston, but comes off as much more unlikable than him and many fans find her annoying. Winston may often go too far with his pranks, but he's hardly ever malicious (more of a childish Cloudcuckoolander) and has other redeeming traits, while Rhonda's only defining trait is pulling cruel pranks all the time, and it's not clear why Winston likes her so much.
• Seasonal Rot: Many thought that Season 3 was a lot more mixed in its quality coming off of the acclaimed Season 2. Season 2 had a looser, more experimental feel and style (like "Cabin"), then season 3 settled into the quirk-driven New Girl formula it would follow for the rest of its lifetime. Frequently criticisms of season 3 are the Shipping Bed Death for Nick and Jess, the "Sister" three part episode, Arc Fatigue over Schmidt and Cece, and the season finale being such a non-Wham Episode that a significant portion of the audience didn't even realize the season was over. Season three was also when Winston turned from an ordinary guy into an insecure weirdo, but his newer characterization is also popular.
• She Really Can Act: Megan Fox was so funny as Reagan that some expressed that they would be fine with her being a permanent replacement for Jess, although seeing as how it was so heavily lampshaded that she was doing maternity cover for Zooey Deschanel, it was never really on the cards.
• Ship Mates: Nick/Jess and Cece/Schmidt.
• Strangled by the Red String:
  • In order to have Coach Put on a Bus after his actor wants to leave the show, new Love Interest May is introduced in the second half of season 4. Womanizer Coach falls in love with May immediately after meeting her in a bar and over the course of two episodes, he decides to leave friends, town, and job to move to New York with her.
  • Regardless of one's opinion on Reagan, most would say that Reagan and Nick lacked chemistry as a couple. It's unknown why Reagan fell for Nick in the first place, and their inability to communicate with each other shouldn't have let them last for basically an entire season.
• Tear Jerker:
  • The episode "Injured" became this as it showed just how broken and unhappy Nick truly is and how much he regrets many of his life decisions.
  • The ending of Backslide...
  • The ending of First Date (before the tag with the singing homeless man, though that could be called a tearjerker for different reasons), because of all that wasted effort that left them barely able to talk to each other.
  • The restaurant confrontation in Double Date.
  • Winston describing Furguson’s final moments just before he passed away.
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!: Subverted, but this series was accused of being a copy of My Boys; this show, however, is considerably a bigger success. It also helps they don't share much beyond the "girl with boys" premise, considering PJ of My Boys was a complete tomboy and Jess most certainly is the antithesis of such.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Caroline. For someone who purportedly abused Nick physically and emotionally for years, she seems nothing but nice in all of her season 1 appearances. Yet Nick choosing to break up with her and stay in the loft is considered a big win for the everyone and Caroline's feelings aren't even considered. If she truly was such a terrible person previously, she does seem to have genuinely become a better person in the intervening time. When she reappears in season 3 she's a Psycho Ex-Girlfriend, but when Nick actually talks to her like a normal human being she is remarkably level-headed.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Nick, dating Jess in Season 3. His Cloudcuckoolander antics, while mostly Played for Laughs border mainly on Violation of Common Sense and reach a point where Jess has to compromise on basically everything on a daily basis just so they can have a relationship. Jess has many quirkys too, but she's an overall very rounded responsible adult otherwise, while Nick just simply can't grasp even concepts such as keeping raw meat in a refrigerator and absolutely refuses to concede. Most of their fights are Jess expecting some sort of responsability on his part and Nick conteur argumenting with his Insane Troll Logic.
  • In "Jury Duty", John Cho's lawyer character makes a big deal about the importance of law and the civic duty of being on a jury, yet he says nothing about the conflict of interest inherent in one of the jurors on a case he's arguing being a woman he's trying to date, a major violation of the "impartial jury" clause of the Sixth Amendment.
• Unpopular Popular Character:
  • Schmidt is considered obnoxious by many characters (he even has a "douchebag jar" just for him) and it's often stated on the show that Cece is too good for him. Outside of the show, fans love him and he's the most popular character along with Nick.
  • Winston's increasing weird quirks as the show goes on caused him to become The Friend Nobody Likes and the group's scapegoat, but at the same time funnier and more popular with fans.
• The Woobie:
  • Nick is stuck in a low-paying job, his best friend is an egotistical douchebag who constantly judges him, he has such a poor credit history he can't even buy a phone, his relationships never seem to work out, he is extremely fragile emotionally, he has many dreams and ambitions he never fulfilled because he lacked confidence and he is filled with regret and self-loathing about his life. Then the writers made him think he had cancer. Which only became apparent through a severe back injury he had to go to a gynecologist for because he can't afford health insurance. To make matters worse, Nick is already incredibly cynical, not having the luxury of Jess' rose-tinted glasses.
  • Cece has become one in season three due to Schmidt's infidelity. Crowning example is the episode before when she attends Schmidt's office party only to be lied to and forced to hide in the office. She knows that he is up to something bad but can't bring herself to admit it. Let's just say that Hannah Simone has gotten very good at making emotional pain register.

---