New Girl was my most anticipated new comedy of the fall for one primary reason, Zooey Deschanel, and thankfully it seems to be worth the anticipation.

The premise is a bit contrived.  A girl, Jess, gets dumped and decides to move in with three random guys she meets on Craigslist and the first episode has her trying to get over her ex with the help of her new roomies.  The three new men in her life are a douche wannabe, a guy who doesn’t get women, and a sweet everyman that is having trouble himself getting over a recent break up. Jess lays out the expectations these guys should expect from her in this time of grief, which she hits to a T, and the guys counter act the endless viewings of Dirty Dancing with a night out on the town.  Jess gets off to a rough start but eventually sets a date with one of Schmidt’s, the douchey one, wannabe friends the following night.  When the guys run into the douche friend the next night, when he is supposed to be out with Jess, they find out he stood her up and they run to her rescue.

The plot was thin, familiar, and safe (par for the course for a pilot) but the reason the episode works so well is a great character in Jess that is full of weird and silly humor; played wonderfully by Deschanel.  The quirks and mannerisms of Jess are adorably hilarious and Deschanel had me laughing out loud on more than one occasion.  She is a perfect fit for the character and I imagine she is going to have a lot of fun for a long time; if given the chance.

The guys are not nearly as strong characters as Jess with the aforementioned Schmidt already rubbing me the wrong way.  Why is he acting like a douchebag?  His friends don’t know, we don’t know, why are they hanging out, let alone living with him?  And if Jess hooks up with him, and we all know they probably will, I am not going to be happy.  Luckily, it seems like they are setting up Jake Johnson as the potential love interest for Jess in the show and I couldn’t be happier for it.  Johnson plays the everyman, Nick, and he is the easiest to relate to and has a number of great bits here.  They don’t need to rush the romance, obviously, but Johnson is a great comedic actor and the character has far and away the most potential of any of the guys.  Coach, our third roommate, is a bit underdeveloped in the pilot and who knows how the character will carry forward as the part was recast after Damon’s Happy Endings was renewed late in the game.  So we’ll see.

I am already hooked on Jess, and Deschanel playing her, and the character alone will keep me coming back week after week.  The guys need some work but this is only the pilot, hopefully the writers’ room gives these guys a chance to grow and make them somewhat interesting.  Even with room to grow, New Girl and Deschanel will be a welcome addition to the DVR line up, looking forward to the season.

Let’s get some bullets:

-Yeah, the restaurant ending was a bit too much for me too, but it felt like a pilot hook more than a direction we can expect to go a lot with this show.

-Zooey had a bunch of great bits here:

-All her little songs were great

-the naked dance and her whiffing trying to kick the coat on the ground

-the Lord of the Rings joke was fantastic

-all of the physical humor was excellent as well, especially those goofy smiles

-Don’t know how well the cut away bits work, seemed a bit too out of context, though they got a chuckle or two out of me

-Zooey has rarely looked so cute by the way, not a bad reason to tune in, plus she is funny too

-I think Zooey is going to really assert herself as the star she can be if this show is a hit and gets to stay on the air; fingers crossed.

Ok, go check out New Girl if you missed it last night, it’s quite funny, and come back next week as I hope to recap this show every week.  Till next time.