New Girl says goodbye having shed many identities

UPROXX

When Liz Meriwether's Fox comedy starring Zooey Deschanel ends its seven-season run tonight, it will have lived multiple lives. "Most long-running series evolve in some way, but few have shed identities quite as often, as easily, or as successful creatively as New Girl has through its many lives," says Alan Sepinwall. "First, it was the Zoey Is Adorkable show, as all of the marketing, and much of the writing, were focused on the big-eyed 500 Days of Summer star’s many quirks, her clumsiness, her sloppy and vulnerable emotions, and her penchant for singing her own theme song. In the early days, the show was so Jess-centric that her three new male roommates barely registered as characters." Yet New Girl evolved to allow Schmidt, Nick and Winston to emerge. "Charming and funny as Deschanel was," says Sepinwall, "that version of the series wasn’t sustainable (though the show was a genuine hit back at the start, and for many years now has suffered tiny ratings even by #EndTimes for broadcast TV standards), and the writers quickly fell in love with Max Greenfield’s off-kilter line readings as the loft’s lovable douchebag Schmidt."

ALSO:

• New Girl was "the Trojan horse of chocolate cakes"  -- it presented "an easy-to-understand package and hid its secret sauce inside"
• Creator Liz Meriwether plans to write the post-#MeToo playbook now that she has a powerful voice
• What's the best idea for a New Girl spinoff, Schmidt Happens?
• Tonight's “The Curse of the Pirate Bride” episode was inspired by Meriwether's real-life marriage
• Zooey Deschanel doesn't know what to make of Snooki's fan letter