Who's That Girl? It's Jess!

The television narrative I will be looking at is New Girl, a comedic sitcom that consists of a quirky bunch of characters and their daily shenanigans that they encounter. This show is in its fourth season and is still on air. 

The first style of writing regarding New Girl as a narrative series is from a blogger named Jenny Jaffe. I think it is interesting that she starts off one of her criticisms of the show with, “Welcome back to “The A-Story Was Meh, But the B-Story Was Great!”, where every week I talk about how much I could pretty much take or leave most everything Jess Day does.” This individual seems to passionately articulate that she is very bothered by the show’s main character Jessica Day, played by Zooey DeChanel and the plot revolving around her character's storyline. Jaffe constantly rips on Jessica Day's character and I find this style and focus of writing as entertaining. There is a clear writer's voice that could reflect one's actual informal prose when talking about the show. I think it would be interesting to emulate this voice when writing a review for this week’s upcoming episode. While this blogger seems to point out flaws within Jessica Day's character with little to no support, she rates the other characters as more favorable. Her style of writing is informal with a mix between simple and complex sentences as well as a varying vocabulary. There are also areas where parenthesis, quotes and dashes are used to effectively elaborate different points of thought. These little bits of rant contribute to this writer's clear voice that is present. I like the fact that this blogger is bold enough to speak in the first person, establishing an informal relationship with the audience and readers of her blog. She also has a style where she often shows how she is critically thinking throughout the show by asking some questions about the plot and if certain aspects of the show are necessary in order for it to move forward in its success.

Jessica Day is an emotional mess while on her job interview & monthly period.

 After seeing a picture of a puppy in a cup she breaks down. (Season 2, Episode 7: Menzies) 

The second style of writing is more formal in nature. Jon Caramanica, from the New York Times is more direct in his approach when writing about the show. The transitions utilized in his style of writing appear to be eloquent and have a style of sophistication while reading. Different thoughts are articulated in a straightforward manner since there is little analysis when it comes to discussing detail. Statements are more general than specific when it is stated, ""New Girl" has the brightest color palette in prime time since “Ugly Betty”". Statements such as these support that not much detail is thoroughly analyzed.

Also stylistically, each of his paragraphs are about three sentences each. Though Jon Caramanica agrees that Jessica Day's character has changed by stating, "By the end of that first season, Jess’s sharp angles had been sandpapered down a bit, but the show’s second season, which concludes on Tuesday, represented a change in approach that has rescued “New Girl” from its whimsy and turned it into one of the most reliable and reliably affecting sitcoms on television." Any criticism that appears to be a negative comment in the slightest is counteracted by statements that say something positive. More specifically, Caramanica continues with, "Ms. Deschanel’s charms lie not in her quirk but in her empathy and warmth." Thus, Caramanica's approach is unbiased.

Character Nick Miller from New Girl moonwalking away from Jessica Day

The final critic is Lanford Beard, whose posts are present on Entertainment Weekly's website. According to her Twitter , she is "@EW gallery girl & #tvjukebox creator, Bravo aficionado, formerly of@TVWithoutPity, trying my damndest to be tasteful". I like that within her TV recaps she pulls out her favorite direct quotes utilized in each episode by different characters. In several of her postings, the beginnings of each of paragraph have creative/catchy titles that allude to what each paragraph or two is about. Her style of writing is informal, yet concise. For example it is stated, "If you didn't catch this episode, here's the low-down..." There is also some punch in her style of writing which I like. The use of quirky phrases such as, "rat-a-tat punchlines" I believe captures a reader's attention. Also, one recap is concluded with the line, "With another spotty episode, it looks like New Girl is still making its way out of the ash. But is it a phoenix, or just a bird?", alluding to a mantra stated by Schmidt, one of the characters in the show. Her style of writing is intriguing because of it's unique formatting and choice of content. When there is an analysis of characters, the format of writing is like a bulleted and organized list. Finally, images and videos are embedded to support and accompany her posts.