New Girl: The Complete First Season by 20th Century Fox

Actors

• Zooey Deschanel
• Max Greenfield
• Jake Johnson
• Hannah Simone
• Lamorne Morris

Format

• AC-3
• Box set
• Color
• Dolby
• Subtitled

Editorial Review

Zooey Deschanel is such a talented comedian that it's easy to think her inspired performance as the star of New Girl is just her persona. And while Deschanel's Jess truly is “adorkable,” cute, winsome, awkward, and guileless, Deschanel's performance in New Girl anchors the whole series, like Mary Tyler Moore or maybe Lauren Graham in Gilmore Girls. The situation–Jess needs a place to live when she discovers her boyfriend cheating, and ends up in a giant gorgeous loft with three guys she hasn't met before. Thankfully, New Girl breezes right by any innuendo à la Three's Company but focuses instead on how two completely difference species–men and women–interact when they must live together. The supporting cast is just as brilliant as Deschanel, including Max Greenfield as the self-important blowhard Schmidt; Jake Johnson as Nick, who's aspiring to become underemployed and resentful about it; and Lamorne Morris as Winston, a former athlete who still feels the need to win whatever he might be doing (except, say, the dishes). Can this foursome survive–thrive–in close proximity to one another? Because of the deft writing and acting, the answer is a resounding: Yes! The season-one boxed set includes a commentary on the pilot episode and two other episodes of the season, a guide to Jess's creatively funky wardrobe, and loads and loads of alternate scenes, deleted scenes, and goofs and gags that are just as funny as anything in the final product. Long live New Girl! —A.T. Hurley