Inside Television with Alan Sepinwall

Review: '2 Broke Girls' - 'And the Break-Up Scene': Slumber party

The bad trends from the pilot continue in the second episode

By Alan Sepinwall Tuesday, Sep 27, 2011 10:19 AM

Caroline (Beth Behrs) tries to put Max's name out there on "2 Broke Girls."

Credit: CBS

A quick review of the second "2 Broke Girls" coming up just as soon as I write a Yelp review of Wharton Business School...

In the pilot, there seemed a schism between the early scenes where Caroline was an annoying caricature of a pampered rich girl and the last few where she seemed smart and like someone Max might want to be friends with, and also between the grating puns and other wordplay that Michael Patrick King loved to use on "Sex and the City" and what I'm assuming were some of Whitney Cummings' contributions.

Well, the episode 2 script was solely credited to King (Cummings is helping out when you can, but starring in a sitcom that you also created kind of eats up most of the day), and it made even clearer who was responsible for the good and bad parts of the pilot - while also making me think I'm not long for watching this show, even if every episode features Kat Dennings wearing a Run-DMC t-shirt.

"And the Break-Up Scene" featured more of everything I didn't like about the pilot: more horrible ethnic caricature at the restaurant, more cartoons elsewhere (notably Brangelina's mom), more cringe-inducing puns ("She'd be the last lez I'd be in") or jokes based on brand names ("Chanel Number Two!"), more of Caroline being so clueless and grating as to be intolerable, etc. I laughed at Max's suicide note line from the teaser, and the final scene of Caroline reading the note she wrote as Drunk Caroline was amusing and more likable, but there's way too much "Brooklyn" to cut through to get to the good stuff. I'll stick with a show that only makes me laugh on occasion if the rest of it isn't terrible, but the bad parts of "2 Broke Girls" make me seriously consider skipping ahead to my DVR'ed recording of "Two and a Half Men."

I'll check back in later in the season if the show has gotten appreciably better or worse, but since so many of you also seemed to be on the fence last week, I'm curious what "And the Break-Up Scene" did to nudge you one way or the other.

Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching

Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

Related Searches: 2 Broke Girls, Kat Dennings, Beth Behrs, Michael Patrick King, Whitney Cummings

karsten_schramm

I can undertsand if 2BG doesn't convince you. But skipping ahead to TaaHM? I found episode 9x02 to be extremely boring.
September 27, 2011 at 10:26AM EST Reply to Comment
Matt

Not as good as the premiere, but I still liked it a lot, and the jokes were still funny. Will continue to watch it.
September 27, 2011 at 10:26AM EST Reply to Comment
rcade

"She'd be the last lez I'd be in" was one of the only jokes that made me laugh. That was an exceptionally long half hour to watch. Time moves backward every time the Asian boss and Slavic cook are on.

I think there's a really good sitcom in these two lead actresses, but so far it ain't this one.
September 27, 2011 at 10:27AM EST Reply to Comment
Chase

It's painfully uneven and some of the jokes are cringe inducing. However, the part I really can't get past is the fact that they need money for a business and they have a championship racehorse in their backyard. That would fetch a nice chunk of seed money, no?
September 27, 2011 at 10:30AM EST Reply to Comment
dan_carlson

I made it about three "jokes" in before giving up. The broad jokes about hipsters were so stale they hurt (does no one involved with the show watch Portlandia?), but it was Garrett Morris' "That's what someone said the first time I tried cocaine!" wocka-wocka punch line that made me give up. Recording canceled, episode deleted. May Kat Dennings get better work very soon, and may Michael Patrick King stop inflicting his bad writing upon an undeserving nation.
September 27, 2011 at 10:33AM EST Reply to Comment
MediadivaTV

I wanted to like this show. I like the premise. But the jokes are AWFUL, and I just cannot get past the fact that Kat Dennings is not so much acting, but *delivering lines*. Moving on, nothing to see here.
September 27, 2011 at 10:36AM EST Reply to Comment
snowlarbear

want to like the show, but didn't find as much to like in this ep. also want to like kat in her role, but her delivery of the jokes/punchlines seem very wooden and inauthentic.
September 27, 2011 at 10:37AM EST Reply to Comment
- Carrie I like Kat Dennings, but the person I was watching with pointed out that EVERY line of hers is a sarcastic snark. It feels so forced. No human is sarcastic 100% of the time, and I think Kat is having to force the jokes, making them seem inauthentic.
  September 27, 2011 at 11:26AM EST
Kendra

Both you and Todd VdW pointed out the quality discrepancy in the first episode that I hadn't noticed while watching. This episode made me notice it.

Both of the leads are great but Caroline is unevenly written. I loved her as the slightly ditzy but otherwise smart character she was last week. There was enough there to see how they could be friends while also having enough differences to provide comic fodder.

There were too many cliched sitcom trappings. The ethnic stereotypes, the "class" stereotypes with the unnecessary 2nd job and even the horse.

I'm kind of at the point where I wish they'd retool the show and have them open that cupcake shop already.

I will watch next week, though, since Todd did say he saw the taping of the third ep and found it better.
September 27, 2011 at 10:37AM EST Reply to Comment
- Tausif Khan I don't think the second job thing is a stereotype. With the economy so dismal more people are strapped for cash. Women are more unemployed than men. The show is also called 2 Broke Girls. Especially in New York a small apartment in Brooklyn can run from $800-1200 a month. Max was living alone and she had to bare the entire burden for rent and food. Caroline will help a bit but she doesn't make much more than Max.
  September 27, 2011 at 11:27AM EST
- Tausif Khan Also I think TVDW brought up the two job thing for story reasons in that it creates too many different settings without going into depth on any one of them. Also the cup cake business is a third job.
  September 27, 2011 at 11:29AM EST
- sepinwall The second job isn't the stereotype. The second job's boss IS.
  September 27, 2011 at 12:27PM EST
NJMark

I think every one of the CBS comedies on Monday had a masturbation reference (a new record?), but only the one on this show was funny.
September 27, 2011 at 10:39AM EST Reply to Comment
- Tausif Khan Its really weird that they didn't say it the first time and Caroline got it and then the second time around Max had to spell it out for her (which made Caroline seem unnecessarily dumb which is something that the show needs to work on. Caroline showed strength when it came to Max's boyfriend that show expand that strength and intelligence into other areas of her character). I smell CBS's standards and practices at work here. In fact, Max saying it so blatantly the second time around made it more shocking in that was a side note to the actual important conversation they were having and a complete distraction from an important character moment, for me at least, so I don't know what the point of censoring it the first time around accomplished.
  September 27, 2011 at 11:35AM EST
JJ

To me it's amazingly annoying to see Kat Dennings try to make it funny, and in part she really succeeds, but the material is just bad. Hopefully they'll see what works and what doesn't and change it quickly or I might just tune out.
September 27, 2011 at 10:45AM EST Reply to Comment
GuyITC

Wow. Not the direction I want this show to go.

I laughed out loud twice during the pilot (rare for me), which I took as a good sign. This episode? One smile for the drunk letter.

I'll give it a few more episodes in case it turns around.
September 27, 2011 at 10:58AM EST Reply to Comment
amg

I thought the pilot was awful, and this was worse. Multi-cam sitcoms just do not seem to work for me now much as I love the greats from their own day. But the jokes. Yikes. There is nothing to make a joke out of other than ethnic stereotypes and sex? And yes, the awful puns from last week got worse this week. They never bothered me on SATC, but there was no laugh track there, so they were more of an eye-rolling thing that the characters themselves seemed aware of. This is just, yeah. I agree that these two actresses with better writing could be halfway funny. But this show is not that. Most ridiculous this week: The "mom" of "Brangelina" (seriously?). This is so over the top that its not even a critique of those sorts of moms since no one is going to recognize that as any living human being. I'm curious how next week is supposed to be so much better. I had no intention of tuning in again, but maybe its like a trainwreck and I can't look away...
September 27, 2011 at 10:59AM EST Reply to Comment
- Tausif Khan 2 Broke Girls is filmed in front of a live studio audience which claimed TVDW as one of its members(http://www.avclub.com/articles/do-sitcoms-taped-before-a-studio-audience-have-a-f,61711/) so its a little different from that canned laughter of laugh track added on after a taping of the show.
  September 27, 2011 at 11:39AM EST
- Alf Laugh tracks are still added to shows taped in front of humans.
  September 27, 2011 at 6:11PM EST
Jon88

Number of times I laughed: 0. Number of future episodes I expect to see: 0.
September 27, 2011 at 11:14AM EST Reply to Comment
- I laughed more at this comment than I did the entire episode.
  September 28, 2011 at 1:09AM EST
- LJA Ditto.
  September 28, 2011 at 12:20PM EST
Tausif Khan

If I ever see Michael Patrick King's name in the writing credits again I will shut off my television. The line about Asians falling on their sword made me hate myself. Yes, Michael Patrick King all Asian's are samurai or ninjas especially the ones not from Japan or China.

King also displayed a poor understanding of the dynamic between Max and Caroline (and frankly made me thinks he hates women.) when Max said that the disgusting restaurant cook had a chance with Caroline because her self esteem was low. This showed her alliance with the cook even though he has done nothing except show that he is a pervert. For me this scene belied the concept of the show. Even though they are opposites the girls are in it together (that is the message I got from the pilot). This scene showed that Max does care if Caroline gets hit on/harassed by a pervert which seems to go against her character where in spite of the things she doesn't like about Caroline she still is empathetic towards her situation.

A scene much later in the episode where Max has Caroline sign the contract calling her a "ho" was much better in that the joke was used to increase their bond and their friendship that even though their friendship hit a rough patch, Caroline crossed some boundaries, they are still friends and Max is still sarcastic and dark. It was a well done scene. I feel for sure that this scene was written by Whitney Cummings.

Yeah I am pretty much resolved not to watch an episode with King's name in the writing credits.
September 27, 2011 at 11:14AM EST Reply to Comment
- Tausif Khan Max doesn't care if Caroline gets hit on/harassed by a pervert
  September 27, 2011 at 11:17AM EST
Raquel_

I kinda enjoyed the episode, but there were a lot of jokes I rolled my eyes for... The "lez I'd be in" was one of them, soooo terrible. But my main issue with the show right now it that Max has way too many quick smart responses. No human would think of that many funny things to say in that little time and it annoys me a little. Therefore, I didn't fully embraced the show yet, but i like the premise and the leading ladies, so I'll check one or two episodes more and then decide if i'll keep watching it or not.

Oh, one more thing, or one more fail. I thought the "I forgot we had a horse" thing had the potencial to be a great recurring joke, but then they used it twice in the same episode and kinda ruined it.
September 27, 2011 at 11:19AM EST Reply to Comment
Tausif Khan

Is it just me or does Beth Behrs remind anyone else of Lea Michelle (specifically her face but also some of her line delivery as well).
September 27, 2011 at 11:22AM EST Reply to Comment
Jenn

I was really hoping that the version of Caroline that we saw on the horse at the end of the pilot was the Caroline we were going to get from now on, but she was mostly absent from this episode. Plus, most of the jokes weren't funny. I'm going to give it one more chance.
September 27, 2011 at 11:54AM EST Reply to Comment
the passenger

I really wanted to like this show, but I'm very disappointed so far. I'm kind of embarrassed about how bad some of the writing is. There are hints of a better show in there, so I will watch another episode or two to see how things go, but I'm not especially optimistic.
September 27, 2011 at 12:11PM EST Reply to Comment
Low Jack

I have watched the 2 episodes of this show and I like it. Sure some of the jokes feel forced and some of the stuff like the champion race horse in the back yard may not make sense. But I find with a lot of new shows even more so now. They make a pilot episode which usually turns out not bad even pretty good sometimes then it takes the next 6 to 10 episode to work out the kinks its been my experience anyway. This show has the potential to be really good so I'll be patient and see what they turn this show into.
September 27, 2011 at 12:34PM EST Reply to Comment
Adam

I'm off the fence and done watching. As was mentioned, the stupid jokes were cringe worthy, and the fact that they're trying to raise money while ignoring the fact that they have a friggin' race horse in their backyard is insane. After the pilot I thought there might be some heart in here trying to get out, but clearly I was wrong.
September 27, 2011 at 1:07PM EST Reply to Comment
greyseal

I may give it one more week, but I was hoping for improvement from the pilot, not a deep slide downward. Halfway through I was thinking I should find my remote to delete my series subscription.
September 27, 2011 at 1:15PM EST Reply to Comment
maria

I'm off the fence and done watching this horrible show also. I was slightly optimistic after the pilot, but this week was just painful to endure and I absolutely hated the horse manure scene... so disgusting. I didn't laugh once, and I'm not a hypercritical television viewer... but this was bad. Really bad. The two leads deserve much better.
September 27, 2011 at 4:09PM EST Reply to Comment
Joseph

I'm out. Not nearly funny enough, and I just can't watch a traditional laugh-track sitcom anymore.
September 27, 2011 at 6:56PM EST Reply to Comment
Bree

I watche the 2 shows TaaHM and 2BG and maybe I was in such a good mood that I liked both of them! I'll keep watching! .
I'll watch Whitney too, modern family and I haven't seen Up all night. I'll be a couch potato again! yay?
September 27, 2011 at 8:56PM EST Reply to Comment
Doug Drabek

"You've lived here for 2 days and you're already asking for the back door." - This made me cringe. I know this isn't a family show, but anal sex jokes don't seem to be right on a show that airs 8:30pm on a Monday on CBS.
September 28, 2011 at 1:59AM EST Reply to Comment
- NJMark Not even the Norman Lear sitcoms ever went that far for a "joke."
  September 28, 2011 at 12:33PM EST
AL

After the pilot last week, I echoed someone's post about this show being at least better than the previous CBS sitcoms occupying the same time slot. After viewing episode 2, I retract that opinion. I never thought I'd miss Mad Love or Accidentally on Purpose, but right now I think I'd take either one of them back in place of 2BG. "Brooklyn" indeed.
September 28, 2011 at 7:17AM EST Reply to Comment
Scott

I kept waiting for the actors to stop and look into the camera before they delivered the punch lines of the horrible jokes. 7 minutes in I decided I was done and deleted it.
September 28, 2011 at 10:08AM EST Reply to Comment
Fiona

This show was touted as one-to-watch, but it's painful to watch. I won't be back.
September 28, 2011 at 1:44PM EST Reply to Comment
Anoel

I still love it. I find it a lot funnier than most of the comedies on TV and the charisma and chemistry of the two leads is off the charts. Still finding its feet a bit but I can't wait for more!
September 28, 2011 at 1:59PM EST Reply to Comment
Amanda

whatever I like this show. hope it succeeds. i'll be watching every monday.
October 4, 2011 at 2:42AM EST Reply to Comment

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Review: '2 Broke Girls' - 'And the Break-Up Scene': Slumber party

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Comments

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

karsten_schramm I can undertsand if 2BG doesn't convince you. But skipping ahead to TaaHM? I found episode 9x02 to be extremely boring.

Matt Not as good as the premiere, but I still liked it a lot, and the jokes were still funny. Will continue to watch it.

Chase It's painfully uneven and some of the jokes are cringe inducing. However, the part I really can't get past is the fact that they need money for a business and they have a championship racehorse in their backyard. That would fetch a nice chunk of seed money, no?

MediadivaTV I wanted to like this show. I like the premise. But the jokes are AWFUL, and I just cannot get past the fact that Kat Dennings is not so much acting, but *delivering lines*. Moving on, nothing to see here.

snowlarbear want to like the show, but didn't find as much to like in this ep. also want to like kat in her role, but her delivery of the jokes/punchlines seem very wooden and inauthentic.

Carrie I like Kat Dennings, but the person I was watching with pointed out that EVERY line of hers is a sarcastic snark. It feels so forced. No human is sarcastic 100% of the time, and I think Kat is having to force the jokes, making them seem inauthentic.

Tausif Khan Also I think TVDW brought up the two job thing for story reasons in that it creates too many different settings without going into depth on any one of them. Also the cup cake business is a third job.

sepinwall The second job isn't the stereotype. The second job's boss IS.

NJMark I think every one of the CBS comedies on Monday had a masturbation reference (a new record?), but only the one on this show was funny.

JJ To me it's amazingly annoying to see Kat Dennings try to make it funny, and in part she really succeeds, but the material is just bad. Hopefully they'll see what works and what doesn't and change it quickly or I might just tune out.

GuyITC Wow. Not the direction I want this show to go.I laughed out loud twice during the pilot (rare for me), which I took as a good sign. This episode? One smile for the drunk letter.I'll give it a few more episodes in case it turns around.

Alf Laugh tracks are still added to shows taped in front of humans.

Jon88 Number of times I laughed: 0. Number of future episodes I expect to see: 0.

I laughed more at this comment than I did the entire episode.

LJA Ditto.

Tausif Khan Max doesn't care if Caroline gets hit on/harassed by a pervert

Tausif Khan Is it just me or does Beth Behrs remind anyone else of Lea Michelle (specifically her face but also some of her line delivery as well).

Jenn I was really hoping that the version of Caroline that we saw on the horse at the end of the pilot was the Caroline we were going to get from now on, but she was mostly absent from this episode. Plus, most of the jokes weren't funny. I'm going to give it one more chance.

the passenger I really wanted to like this show, but I'm very disappointed so far. I'm kind of embarrassed about how bad some of the writing is. There are hints of a better show in there, so I will watch another episode or two to see how things go, but I'm not especially optimistic.

greyseal I may give it one more week, but I was hoping for improvement from the pilot, not a deep slide downward. Halfway through I was thinking I should find my remote to delete my series subscription.

Joseph I'm out. Not nearly funny enough, and I just can't watch a traditional laugh-track sitcom anymore.

Bree I watche the 2 shows TaaHM and 2BG and maybe I was in such a good mood that I liked both of them! I'll keep watching! .I'll watch Whitney too, modern family and I haven't seen Up all night. I'll be a couch potato again! yay?

Doug Drabek "You've lived here for 2 days and you're already asking for the back door." - This made me cringe. I know this isn't a family show, but anal sex jokes don't seem to be right on a show that airs 8:30pm on a Monday on CBS.

NJMark Not even the Norman Lear sitcoms ever went that far for a "joke."

Scott I kept waiting for the actors to stop and look into the camera before they delivered the punch lines of the horrible jokes. 7 minutes in I decided I was done and deleted it.

Fiona This show was touted as one-to-watch, but it's painful to watch. I won't be back.

Anoel I still love it. I find it a lot funnier than most of the comedies on TV and the charisma and chemistry of the two leads is off the charts. Still finding its feet a bit but I can't wait for more!

Amanda whatever I like this show. hope it succeeds. i'll be watching every monday.

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karsten_schramm

I can undertsand if 2BG doesn't convince you. But skipping ahead to TaaHM? I found episode 9x02 to be extremely boring.

Matt

Not as good as the premiere, but I still liked it a lot, and the jokes were still funny. Will continue to watch it.

Chase

It's painfully uneven and some of the jokes are cringe inducing. However, the part I really can't get past is the fact that they need money for a business and they have a championship racehorse in their backyard. That would fetch a nice chunk of seed money, no?

MediadivaTV

I wanted to like this show. I like the premise. But the jokes are AWFUL, and I just cannot get past the fact that Kat Dennings is not so much acting, but delivering lines. Moving on, nothing to see here.

snowlarbear

want to like the show, but didn't find as much to like in this ep. also want to like kat in her role, but her delivery of the jokes/punchlines seem very wooden and inauthentic.

NJMark

I think every one of the CBS comedies on Monday had a masturbation reference (a new record?), but only the one on this show was funny.

JJ

To me it's amazingly annoying to see Kat Dennings try to make it funny, and in part she really succeeds, but the material is just bad. Hopefully they'll see what works and what doesn't and change it quickly or I might just tune out.

GuyITC

Wow. Not the direction I want this show to go.

I laughed out loud twice during the pilot (rare for me), which I took as a good sign. This episode? One smile for the drunk letter.

I'll give it a few more episodes in case it turns around.

Jon88

Number of times I laughed: 0. Number of future episodes I expect to see: 0.

Tausif Khan

Is it just me or does Beth Behrs remind anyone else of Lea Michelle (specifically her face but also some of her line delivery as well).

Jenn

I was really hoping that the version of Caroline that we saw on the horse at the end of the pilot was the Caroline we were going to get from now on, but she was mostly absent from this episode. Plus, most of the jokes weren't funny. I'm going to give it one more chance.

the passenger

I really wanted to like this show, but I'm very disappointed so far. I'm kind of embarrassed about how bad some of the writing is. There are hints of a better show in there, so I will watch another episode or two to see how things go, but I'm not especially optimistic.

greyseal

I may give it one more week, but I was hoping for improvement from the pilot, not a deep slide downward. Halfway through I was thinking I should find my remote to delete my series subscription.

Joseph

I'm out. Not nearly funny enough, and I just can't watch a traditional laugh-track sitcom anymore.

Bree

I watche the 2 shows TaaHM and 2BG and maybe I was in such a good mood that I liked both of them! I'll keep watching! .
I'll watch Whitney too, modern family and I haven't seen Up all night. I'll be a couch potato again! yay?

Doug Drabek

"You've lived here for 2 days and you're already asking for the back door." - This made me cringe. I know this isn't a family show, but anal sex jokes don't seem to be right on a show that airs 8:30pm on a Monday on CBS.

Scott

I kept waiting for the actors to stop and look into the camera before they delivered the punch lines of the horrible jokes. 7 minutes in I decided I was done and deleted it.

Fiona

This show was touted as one-to-watch, but it's painful to watch. I won't be back.

Anoel

I still love it. I find it a lot funnier than most of the comedies on TV and the charisma and chemistry of the two leads is off the charts. Still finding its feet a bit but I can't wait for more!

Amanda

whatever I like this show. hope it succeeds. i'll be watching every monday.

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