Steve Taps Out: 2 Broke Girls

It takes a lot to minimize the appeal of these two.

So, this is my attempt at a new semi-regular blog item – TV series that I have stopped watching. It is with a heavy heart that the initial selection is 2 Broke Girls, a once-promising sitcom airing on CBS. It recently finished up its third season, and it has already been renewed for a fourth season of cringe-worthy humor.

To be fair, the show has always featured plenty of gross-out humor and outright racism, and honestly, I have no friggin’ clue how it’s lasted this long in primetime. I mean, Entertainment Weekly found plenty of fodder just in the season three premiere, which was about the ‘soft opening’ of the cupcake shop.  Ha, you get it? It’s a joke. About vaginas. (Actual line of dialogue from that episode, provided in that EW post: “Come over here and eat something from the girls’ soft opening!”)

As I said, that joke isn’t really out of place given the history of the show, but in the past the friendship between the leads – Kat Dennings (Max Black) and Beth Behrs (Caroline Channing) – was able to elevate the filthy material. They still shine from time to time, usually as the snotty waitresses in the diner, but it’s tough for that charm to carry the show through its 72 episodes.

Likewise, the supporting cast is a mish-mash of reinforcing the crude humor and actually good performances. Matthew Moy, as the Asian owner of the diner, is good despite being the butt of jokes all the time. Garrett Morris plays the same character – cool old black dude – that he plays in everything now, which is fine. But Jonathan Kite as the ambiguously Russian-ish cook and Jennifer Coolidge as his sex-crazed sometimes beau are just unfunny.

However, part of the reason I’m tapping out is the introduction of Eric Andre as Deke, the secret millionaire love interest of Max. While I’ve enjoyed some of the clips I’ve seen of his on YouTube and his appearances on late night shows, this is now the second sitcom he’s helped to torpedo. He was by far my least favorite aspect of Don’t Trust The B, as in my review of that show I was only able to describe him as “the wet blanket Mark.”

The final straw for me was episode #69, which seems appropriate enough, given my other criticisms. The episode features a guest appearance by Lindsay Lohan, who plays a bridezilla. I’m not sure if they could have done a more cliché casting unless they somehow were able to show her snorting cocaine or slapping a publicist. When you hire Lindsay Lohan to do a guest spot, and all you can manage to have her do is act like a bitch, well, that signifies to me that you’re just out of ideas. Lohan somehow managed to show more chops in a 3:49 segment on Billy On The Street where all she does is destroy a car. 

The photo of Dennings and Behrs is from Wikipedia contributor J.J. Duncan.