Why is Netflix obsessed with creating shows like New Girl

Vanity Fair

Business Insider recently reported on internal documents that Netflix would love to greenlight a New Girl-esque comedy, plus a "high-concept replacement” for Grace and Frankie. The streamer wants “big, broad stories that can be told on a budget” that also contain a “hook” and distinct perspective—series that emulate Netflix originals Emily in Paris and Never Have I Ever. "But perhaps more tellingly, the documents also cite New Girl—a broadcast show whose seven seasons all now stream exclusively on Netflix," says Savannah Walsh. "Many of the popular sitcoms that once drew subscribers to Netflix’s library have since left for other platforms: Friends for HBO Max, The Office for Peacock, and—this fall—Schitt’s Creek for Hulu. But New Girl, the quintessential hangout show with a quirky edge, has been a tried-and-true title for the streamer since 2013. The series stars Zooey Deschanel as Jess, who rebounds from a breakup by moving into a loft with a group of male roommates she met on Craigslist. What sounds like the start of a true-crime plot is made charming by the charisma of said roommates—fumbling Nick (Jake Johnson), nerdy Winston (Lamorne Morris), and womanizing Schmidt (Max Greenfield), who will eventually fall for Jess’s elusive friend, Cece (Hannah Simone). Damon Wayans Jr.’s Coach, who left after the show’s first episode for the short-lived but adored ABC sitcom Happy Endings before returning to the loft in season three, rounds out the cast. After wrapping its 146-episode run in 2018, New Girl’s legacy was established as a comfort show for younger millennials and members of Gen-Z. But what was once a well-regarded sitcom morphed into an essential rewatch in March 2020. At the pandemic’s onset, a flurry of essays about New Girl’s bingeability circulated online. Viewers celebrated Jess and Nick’s well-executed will they, won’t they romance, the gang’s rowdy drinking game True American, and the nontoxic male friendships at the show’s center. In a time when many classic shows are being reconsidered for their problematic themes, it seems New Girl has aged remarkably well."