cbs-2011-2-broke-girls

When Does It Start: Monday September 19th at 9.30pm EST on CBS (before moving to its regular Monday at 8.30pm timeslot)

In A Nutshell: Two broke girls – one working class, the other a rich girl fallen on hard times – bicker and bond while working as waitresses as a Brooklyn restaurant.

What’s It About: Max (Kat Dennings) is a poor girl with a smart mouth trying to make ends meet as a waitress. Caroline (Beth Behrs) is a rich heiress whose father is a Bernie Madoff style fraud. Together the two become friends and roommates while waiting tables and dream of opening their own cupcake show – if they can ever save enough money!

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 What’s The Competition: Dancing With The Stars on ABC, Gossip Girl on The CW, Terra Nova on Fox and The Sing Off on NBC.

Will It Succeed: Most likely yes! The fact is 2 Broke Girls has one of the best slots of the Fall season – sandwiched in between How I Met Your Mother and the new (and improved?) Two And A Half Men. I have a feeling the ratings are going to skew more toward the former than the latter, but CBS’s Monday night comedy block is pretty unstoppable and has been the savior of many mediocre comedies in the past (like last year’s newbie Mike And Molly)

As for the network competition, it largely plays to a different audience. Dancing With The Stars skews old – and is beginning to feel like a show past its peak. Gossip Girl is fading fast on The CW and The Sing Off was only ever a Christmas novelty for NBC – up against real competition (and the X Factor) I don’t rate its chances. As for Terra Nova – I think the show has the makings of a big hit, but I just don’t see it biting into much of the CBS comedy audience who are too entrenched in their viewing habits.

On the quality front, the 2 Broke Girls trailer made me smile but didn’t bowl me over. I liked the Paris Hilton one liner but some of the gags (‘at least I hope that’s a clam chowder stain’) felt very old fashioned to me. Then there’s the characters. Max is kind of grating in the teaser trailer, which is fine for a secondary character – but less so for a lead. And haven’t we seen the rich-girl-fallen-on-hard-times role a million times before? It’s Rachel from Friends all over again…

2 Broke Girls is created by Michael Patrick King and comedienne Whitney Cummings. The former directed the two Sex And The City movies, the latter has her own sitcom debuting in the Fall. Together the two understand female comedy – and female helmed sitcoms are one of the hot trends of the Fall season. But will Girls get lost in the shuffle in amongst the likes of Whitney, New Girl and I Hate My Teenage Daughter?

Chances Of A Second Season: Likely – 2 Broke Girls has good buzz, a great slot and a timely premise…