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Last night’s 2 Broke Girls was probably the most annoying one yet, if you can believe it. Not only was it as ridiculous and racist as usual, but it also managed to eradicate the master plot that the show has been establishing since the pilot. At least there was an appearance by Chestnut, who has come to be the most down-to-earth character on this show, even though he is a horse living in a  backyard in Brooklyn. FREE KAT DENNINGS! (more…)

Step away from the stove, ladies.

In last’s night episode of supposedly “America’s number one new comedy” our favorite 2 Broke Girls find themselves with a busted oven. Simple, “tell the landlord,” you think. Then you find out Max hasn’t been paying the rent, so that won’t work. You guys! Caroline then, unselfishly, offers to sell one of her belongings, an exclusive and expensive T.A.T. ring (is this really a thing, or a made up thing? Tell me, rich people!) for them to get a new oven. And so the brokelynista adventure begins! Cash for gold stores! Bathroom pop-up sales! There’s not much ado about Brooklyn in the episode, however, there were a lot of ethic, sex, and vibrators jokes to spare. (more…)

Chestnut the horse is rocking some jeggings.

Last night’s 2 Broke Girls was focused on the show’s one broke horse. With winter coming, Max and Caroline need to find a place to keep Chestnut safe and warm (because it’s a recession for horses, too — think about it!). The girls decide to hand over custody to Peaches (the super rich woman who employs Max as a nanny), because she wants to adopt an animal in order to get cast on Real Housewives of TriBeCa. While the whole horse-in-the-backyard thing has been a big point of ridicule for 2 Broke Girls, this episode used Chestnut to show how deeply Max and Caroline care about their little dysfunctional family, and it was one of the best 2BGs yet. So … what did they say about Brooklyn? (more…)

2 Broke Girls is in reruns for a week or two which means we won’t have our usual episode recaps. So let’s take a moment to reflect on the first 10 episodes and think about two things: 1) why is the show’s seemingly anachronistic style of sitcomy, ba-dum-bump joke delivery and ghoulishly tired racial/ethnic/hipster jokes a mega hit across America (pulling in 11 million viewers for last-night’s rerun)?; and 2) why does it burrow under the skin of so many of us living the actual broke in Brooklyn lifestyle like so much laugh-tracked scabies? I mean, it’s just a primetime sitcom on the same station that gave Charlie Sheen all that drug money, and they would never sell ads if it were actually a mumblecore vérité depiction of people living ten-to-a-loft in Bushwick or something, right? So why act so disappointed? (more…)

Talk about PERIOD costume.

In this very special Thanksgiving episode, Caroline and Max make mad tips, convince Han to keep the diner open to feed the homeless and Caroline starts to grow a backbone; which is about damn time! Things seem to be going pretty swimmingly. But THEN (dun dun DUHN): Caroline accidentally breaks Max’s mixer. It’s seems though Caroline is getting tougher, she’s still just a rich dumb blonde. When they go to a department store to buy a new one and realize they can’t afford it, they decide to get jobs as Santa’s elves. Hijinx and zingers (too many zingers?) and all the vagina jokes you could hope for ensue! (more…)

Cassandra addresses Max and Caroline at a group art show.

This week’s 2 Broke Girls episode almost didn’t get recapped because I came very close to throwing my TV out the window when Caroline says to Max, “Girls cannot be friends with guys!” This again? It’s 2011. Haven’t we settled the great debate about if men and women can be friends with each other yet? Yes, they can, of course duh obviously. But Max cannot seem to be pals with Johnny, her bartender/street artist crush who, we found out last week, has a secret girlfriend. When Max and Caroline end up selling their cupcakes at one of Johnny’s art shows, there is sneaky kissing in the bathroom and all-around stress for everyone involved, including the viewer.

Luckily, this episode redeemed itself with not one, not two, but three jokes about Adele, as well as a much improved effort at reflecting real life Brooklyn. (more…)

Caroline enters the clutterdome

I’ve now spent many a Monday night watching 2 Broke Girlsin service of Brokelyners everywhere (you’re welx), and this week was probably my most enjoyable evening of duty. In the episode, Caroline decides to make extra money by responding to a Craigslist posting looking for a professional organizer, which leads to her and Max cleaning up a hoarder’s apartment. At night, Max serves as the lookout for Johnny (the hot bartender-slash-street-artist) while he tags a billboard and simultaneously flirts with her … but then in a shocking (and RUDE) twist, it turns out he’s had a secret girlfriend this whole time. What a jerk!There was a whole hoarding-as-a-metaphor thing going on, with characters aggressively stowing away huge portions of their emotions and personal lives. And this actually ended up giving us a lot of info about what’s going on in the minds of Max and Caroline and Johnny, which is something show has often struggled to do. But anyway, what about Brooklyn??? (more…)

Cupcake lessons at an Italian bakery. Photos via CBS.

There was a scene in last night’s ’2 Broke Girls’ where Max stays up super late trying to craft the perfect icing flower atop a cupcake. It reminded me of a similar scene in Bridesmaids. Then I wished I was watching Bridesmaids, because that’s a fun movie, and then I could write all about Bridesmaids right now and we could all have a laugh and a moment of female empowerment. But we’re here to talk about CBS’ latest effort to portray broke life in Williamsburg.

This week, Max and Caroline attend a cupcake decorating class after a coffee shop owner declines to sell the girls’ treats because “they’re not pretty enough.” After a dreadful class and many labored attempts to make frosting flowers, Max finds her new niche: insult cupcakes (that say things like “Bite Me,” but I don’t even think it was meant to be an eating pun?). There was something in all of this about how society is too concerned with other people’s ideas of what’s pretty, but it kind of got lost in the fray of racism. (more…)

The girls encounter "hipsters" at the local laundo. Photo via CBS.

2 Broke Girls made great strides rando horse gallops this week in its depiction of Williamsburg. Instead of seeming like a land of murderous, toothless meth-heads (who make tons of racist/rape jokes), the nabe was portrayed as home to annoying, spoiled hipsters (who make sporadic racist/rape jokes). Let’s take a look! (In case you’ve fallen behind in your prime-time CBS viewing, you can catch up with episode 1, episode 2, episode 3 and episode 4 right here.) (more…)

Brooklyn thrifting, Hollywood style. Image via CBS.

This week’s 2 Broke Girls was not only the best episode so far, but it also gave us the most legit portrayal of Brooklyn (and thankfully only two minor references to horse poop). When Max and Caroline go to Goodwill to thrift for cheap clothes, they realize that they have very different ideas about what it means to be a good friend to another female. While Caroline wants to trade sassy pick-me-ups (“You’re fierce!” “You got your glam on!”) and get two-for-one manicures, Max wants to not talk about feelings and be considered “a guy.”

The sitch gets resolved when it’s revealed that Max has been secretly walking Caroline’s horse for her. The two leads (Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs, who everyone seems to agree are the best part of this show) bring their chemistry to this loaded topic. By the end of the episode, Max and Caroline appreciate that they’re both trying to help each other out in their own way. And that’s a pleasant (and sorta rare) thing to watch on TV!

But who cares … what did they say about BROOKLYN? (more…)