I finished watching New Girl for the first time
29 August 2026
It was the summer of 2013, I had just finished my first year of university and hope was in the air. It was a period of growth, I was gaining independence and figuring out what kind of person I wanted to be. On an extremely poor quality video service, I watched New Girl.
This was very early on in the show's life, and I'm pretty sure I only watched season 1, then season 2 up to episode 18. "Tinfinity", the 18th episode of S2, definitely sticks out to me, and I think it might have been the last episode available at the time.
As I said, this period of my life was a hopeful, optimistic one - not just for me, but in general I think. If you were there you probably know what I mean, if you weren't.. well damn how'd you find this site? Shows like New Girl and Parks & Rec had this weird optimistic glaze over them, even when the subject matter wasn't positive. They were just bright. The same was happening in gaming too, I distinctly remember the release of GTA V and its bright optimism, despite obviously being a very dark game thematically, it stood out in stark contrast to the gloomy GTA IV. A few years later in 2015, Fallout 4 releases with bright vivid colours too, gone the dirty green filtering of Fallout 3, or the orange haze of Fallout New Vegas.
I have a fondness for that era of media in general, but something stood out with New Girl. I was at an impressionable time and I'd attached myself quite strongly to Schmidt, I wanted to be just like him. He looked cool and he was a confident guy. I wanted to be that. I actually looked up what moccasins were because of him. I started thinking about fashion, instead of a grey hoodie with grey skinny jeans and grey converse, I started wearing colours, I bought shirts and my first pair of suede shoes because of Schmidt.
They were at the time of course, roughly ten years older than I was. The idea of living in a large, airy bare brick loft with roommates was exciting! I started looking up if that type of apartment was even available in the UK. I don't think there were many, at least certainly not in the random area I grew up in. I could dream, though. Unfortunately my short attention span meant that I forgot to look up new episodes once I reached S2E18 and before long I'd forgotten about New Girl itself, but I carried forward the aspirations it gave me. I continued to have an interest in men's fashion right up until the pandemic hit the UK in early 2020. The shift to home working, the shift in me shattered what remained of my optimism. The hopeful era was officially over.
Many years later, my wife who had seen the whole show before we met wanted to rewatch it. This I think was probably around May of this year? I really ought to start noting when we begin shows so I can see how long it takes for us to finish them. It was fitting it was over summer at any rate, as New Girl always felt like a summer show to me. Seeing those early episodes I'd once watched on a low bitrate 480p stream in full 4K was incredible and funny, somehow my memories were just as sharp as reality. Much like a certain smell can transport you through time and let you relive moments of your life, seeing early episodes of New Girl reminded me of what optimism felt like. Those lost aspirations wandering the desert of my mind suddenly had a North star to follow and I found them again. Maybe I should get some driving moccasins?
Something else did not go unnoticed. The characters that were once ten years older than me were now a few years younger. At the beginning of the first season Schmidt is 28. When we started watching New Girl this summer, I was 31. Instead of looking at Schmidt and aspiring to be someone, I was comparing my life experience to his. Instead of seeing a confident man, I saw an insecure boy. The flaws of a 2011 TV show were a lot more apparent: Despite the bright optimism, some of the jokes were cruel. The suave womaniser vibe was no longer cool, and the fat jokes wore thin. Still though, in a way you might grow apart from a childhood friend who goes down a different path to you, someone who as an adult you find grating, even annoying, but can tolerate and enjoy being with because you hold dear an earlier time you spent together, that's how I felt about New Girl.
And as I watched the show and saw episodes I'd never seen before I was able to watch the decline of the hope era. I don't think you can separate politics from this. When New Girl began in 2011 Obama was still in his first term. Making Schmidt a republican was funny, but not deranged. Politics were boring, things were good even when they were bad. The first few seasons are almost carefree, but then as we approach 2015 things start to slow down. We're still dancing and the music's playing but we open our eyes and we can see ahead a little bit. Is optimism on its own enough, we wonder?
Season 6 is a definite turning point. The last political joke is probably early in this season with episode 2 focusing on the Hillary/Trump election. The show was smart enough to avoid Schmidt supporting Trump, but he was still a republican. This is the last time it would be mentioned. The final season is short, at only 8 episodes. It also includes a time skip, so although the season released in 2018, depending on whether it's three years from the previous season or this, it'd be 2020 or 2021. Firstly, no, the show didn't predict the pandemic. The optimism was most certainly gone though. The music's stopped, the lights are on and we can all see reality now.
Woof, who would've thought a silly 2010s sitcom could have such an impact on a person's life? It is a little crazy in hindsight, but there we have it. Last night I watched the final episode of the show and closed a chapter of my life that I opened 13 years ago. I caught up with that childhood friend, we reminisced, we compared lives, and if we never meet again it'll be okay, we'll always have the memories.
The show's pretty good, 7/10.
~ Honey