'New Girl' Season 1, Episode 1 (Premiere) Recap - 'Pilot'

Those of you who downloaded the pilot episode of "New Girl" off of iTunes last week probably watched it before last night's premiere. I did as well. But you know what? I liked it so much that I watched it again when it aired.

Here's the story: Jess (played ever-so-quirkily by the lovely Zooey Deschanel) gets dumped by her boyfriend in spectacular fashion as she shows up to his apartment in an overcoat and nothing else, does an awkward dance, and then promptly finds out that he was cheating on her with another woman.

So, Jess tries to find another apartment, and stumbles across one that is inhabited by three guys: Schmidt (Max Greenfield), Coach (Damon Wayans Jr.) and Nick (Jake Johnson). Sadly, Wayans is committed to "Happy Endings" over at ABC and won't be on the show past the pilot episode...so he'll be awkwardly replaced by Winston (Lamorne Morris) in episode two.

The guys are all hesitant to take Jess on as a roommate, especially since she's prone to singing about herself and watching "Dirty Dancing" five times a day while crying uncontrollably. But when she reveals that she's friends with a bunch of models, Schmidt makes the executive decision to let her in.

But when the crying (and "Dirty Dancing") gets to be too much, the guys decide that Jess needs a rebound. They take her to Nick's bar and try to coach her into picking up a dude, which she does...but he stands her up the next night to go to a totally awesome party that the guys all want to go to. When they learn about poor Jess at the restaurant all alone, though, they go there and sing "Time of My Life" to her and promptly get kicked out. Aww.

Ultimately, there's a lot to like here. Liz Meriweather (who also wrote "No Strings Attached") has a knack for some truly funny dialogue that can go highbrow or lowbrow, and she definitely has a nose for the cutesy "aww" moments. Deschanel is in full-on quirky mode, which will either make you instantly fall in love with her, or make you gradually hate her. I chose the former...despite the strangeness, there's a truth to this character that Deschanel always seems to find.

Sure enough, Jess seems to be the deepest of all the characters, as the guys are still a little bit sitcomy and one-dimensional. Schmidt might be stuck in douche mode for a while, but we'll see how Winston turns out, and it looks like Nick will have a big role going forward as there's a pretty clear connection between him and Jess.

Funny writing, talented cast, hilarious theme song. This is definitely a show to keep an eye on. Check back weekly for recaps/reviews!