2 Broke Girls "Pilot" Review (series premiere)

2 Broke Girls employs two wonderful lead actresses and features sharp writing from creators Whitney Cummings and Michael Patrick King. Kat Dannings and Beth Behrs portray completely different characters. Dannings' portrays Max, a woman with a dry wit and deadpan delivery from Brooklyn who works two jobs to make ends meet, while Beth Behrs is Caroline, the suddenly broke daughter of a Bernie Madoff-type father. They work together in a Brooklyn grease spoon diner.

The grease spoon diner used to attract Eastern European immigrants and crack-whores. According to Max (or is it Maxine), those were the golden days of the diner. Now, the Bryce Lee owned established attracts hipsters in knit hats and the elderly. We learn everything we need to about Max from her interactions with two hipsters who snap their fingers to call her over. She's quick-witted, clever, and strong-willed. She's understandable jaded because of customers like those hipsters who wear their knit hats because "of Coldplay." Max shares a platonic love with the diner's 75 year old cashier portrayed by Garrett Morris (of SNL fame). She lives in an apartment with a shallow, one note of a character boyfriend who she later dumps when she discovers his infidelity.

The hiring of Caroline rankles Max because she needs the money Bryce Lee will pay Caroline. Caroline's Wharton educated who recently lost her trust fund because of her father's ponzi scheme. She's an Other; a naive, innocent girl without a clue on how to survive in a grease spoon or in Brooklyn, so Max insists Caroline live with her. Max teaches her new roommates the ins-and-outs of waitressing. Caroline warns her new friend about her boyfriend. Soon, Max considers her a friend following the discovery of her boyfriend's cheating ways. In fact, Max wasn't invested in her boyfriend very much--his toned body awoke the stupid part in her.

I liked what I saw of the show in the preview I watched during my two week Fall TV Preview week. I had no idea that CBS included all the best parts in the four minute teaser, though. The show would be weaker with lesser actresses and weaker writing. The quick-wit of each female's quite engaging. Cummings and King avoided the trappings of the generic rich, white girl sitcom stereotype with Caroline. Sure she's naive and innocent but she's not written like a six year old whose useless to those around her. Caroline's intuitive and caring. I particularly enjoyed the scene when Max's boyfriend attempts to hit on her and she responds with, "No way, Jersey Shore." The line's not especially clever or funny on the page but Beth Behrs' delivery of the joke's terrific and an example of how one's delivery is the difference between a forgettable joke or a memorable joke.

I wondered how the series would continue on a weekly basis. I was pleased by Caroline's long-term goal for her and Max. It's an arc with a tangible pay-off; one that can extend for a season or two before the show can move on without becoming stale within the grease spoon setting. The horse bit annoyed me in the pilot because it resembled a gag seen too often in CBS sitcoms. Well, the horse isn't going away because it represents a fundamental part of Caroline's personality. The show would be wise to focus on its strength, which is dialogue, rather than sight gags. But it's CBS and each sitcom indulges in lame humor every now and again.

2 Broke Girls should be a fun show. The jokes are a bit edgy. The subplot with the removed rich mother on the Upper East Side could be problematic because the character's annoying and by-the-sitcom-books generic and tertiary but Max needs to earn some major coin if she and Caroline want to accomplish their goal.

The show premiered at 9:30PM tonight but it'll air at 8:30PM each Monday, following How I Met Your Mother.