2 Broke Girls (stylized 2 Broke Girl$) is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS from September 19, 2011, to April 17, 2017. The series was produced for Warner Bros. Television and created by Michael Patrick King and Whitney Cummings. Set in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, the show's plot follows the lives of friends Max Black (Kat Dennings) and Caroline Channing (Beth Behrs). Whereas Caroline was raised as the daughter of a billionaire, Max grew up in poverty, resulting in differing perspectives on life, although together they work in a local diner while attempting to raise funds to start a cupcake business.
Since its debut, the series has received a polarized response from critics and audiences alike. The on-screen chemistry between the two lead characters has been praised, while others have condemned the show's reliance on sexualized humor and stereotypes. It was nominated for 12 Emmy Awards, winning in 2012 for its Art Direction. During the course of the series, 136 episodes of 2 Broke Girls aired over six seasons.
On May 12, 2017, CBS cancelled the series after six seasons.
Synopsis[]
The series chronicles the lives of two waitresses in their mid-20s (at the start of the series): Max Black (Kat Dennings), the child of a poor working-class mother and an unknown father, and Caroline Channing (Beth Behrs), who was born rich but is now disgraced and penniless because her father, Martin Channing, got caught operating a Bernard Madoff-esque Ponzi scheme. The two work together at a Brooklyn diner, soon becoming roommates and friends while building toward their dream of one day opening a cupcake shop. Among those working with them at the restaurant are their boss, Han Lee (Matthew Moy); Oleg (Jonathan Kite), an upbeat but perverted Ukrainian cook; and Earl (Garrett Morris), a 75-year-old cashier. Also featured starting late in the first season is their neighbor and part-time boss Sophie (Jennifer Coolidge), a Polish immigrant who runs the house-cleaning company Sophie's Choice.
During most of the first season, Max is also a part-time nanny for the twin babies of Peach Landis (Brooke Lyons), who during the season adopts Caroline's horse Chestnut. At the end of each episode, a tally shows how much they have made toward their goal of $250,000. Early in the second season, Sophie lends the girls $20,000, which is enough for them to start their business. However, the business fails, and in the 18th episode, they are forced to give up the lease of their cupcake shop with just enough money to pay off Sophie's loan, resetting the end of episode tally to $1.
During the third season, the girls reopen the business in the back room of the diner, using the window as a walk-up window. Max also enrolls in, and Caroline goes to work for, the Manhattan School of Pastry, where Max finds a love interest, Deke, marking the first time in the series that Max gets emotional for a man. Caroline has a brief affair with the Pastry School Head Chef Nicholas, which eventually leads to Nicholas closing down the school and moving back to France with his wife. They also attempt to get Deke's parents to invest in the pastry school, planning to run it by themselves, but do not succeed.
During season four, the girls start their cupcake T-shirt business, which succeeds briefly before going into the red. Max and Caroline end up in an elite-class pastry shop called "The High" to make more money to return the loan they took for their business. In the end of season four, Oleg and Sophie get married, with the girls realizing they have their own business to worry about and their own dream to work towards, which leads to them quitting "The High" and coming back to their business.
In season five, Caroline sells her life story to a film producer for $250,000. She uses most of the money to expand their old cupcake space into the adjacent pizza shop, converting it into a dessert bar. The remaining $30,000 are used to purchase part ownership of the diner to help Han pay off his debts from gambling on women's tennis. While in Hollywood with Caroline consulting on her life story script, Max meets her second major love interest in the series, a Los Angeles-based "lawyer to the stars" named Randy. Meanwhile, despite her advancing age, Sophie becomes pregnant with Oleg's child.
Season six has Sophie and Oleg welcoming their baby daughter Barbara to the world. Randy returns to briefly continue his relationship with Max, but it does not work out. Randy wants Max to move to California, but Max, publicly acknowledging her strong friendship with Caroline for the first time, says she cannot do so because she has important people in her life now. Meanwhile, Caroline meets Bobby, a contractor who rebuilds the dessert bar after a storm, and the two start a relationship. By the end of the season, the movie about Caroline's life has been made (albeit with some "creative license" changes), but Caroline destroys a $10,000 on-loan dress at the premiere, which wipes out the girls' savings and returns them to "broke" status. Randy comes back to New York, this time permanently, and proposes to Max, who accepts. The series ends at this point, as 2 Broke Girls was unexpectedly cancelled by the network without allowing the creative team to resolve the show's continuing plotlines.
Cast[]
Main[]
- Kat Dennings as Maxine "Max" George Black
- Beth Behrs as Caroline Wesbox Channing
- Garrett Morris as Earl Washington
- Jonathan Kite as Vanko Oleg Golishevsky
- Matthew Moy as Han Margaret Lee
- Jennifer Coolidge as Zofia ”Sophie” Kaczyński (recurring, season 1; regular, seasons 2-6)
Recurring[]
- Chestnut is Caroline's horse
- Brooke Lyons as Peach Landis
- Nick Zano as Johnny
- Ryan Hansen as "Candy" Andy
- Federico Dordei as Luis
- Gilles Marini as Nicolas Saintcroix
- Mary Lynn Rajskub as Bebe
- Eric André as Deacon "Deke" Bromberg
- Patrick Cox as John
- Sandra Bernhard as Joedth (pronounced "Joe")
- Austin Falk as Nashit "Nash"
- Ed Quinn as Randy Walsh
- Christopher Gorham as Bobby
Special guest stars[]
- Renée Taylor as Hinda Fagel
- Martha Stewart as herself
- Steven Weber as Martin Channing
- Cedric the Entertainer as Darius
- Caroline Aaron as Wiga
- 2 Chainz as himself
- Andy Dick as J. Petto
- Missi Pyle as Charity Channing
- Debra Wilson as Delores
- Kym Whitley as Shirley
- Piers Morgan as himself
- Kyle Gass as an SFX operator
- Karen Maruyama as Su-Min Lee
- Jeff Garlin as David
- Sheryl Lee Ralph as Genet
- Lindsay Lohan as Claire Guinness
- Hal Linden as Lester
- Kim Kardashian West as herself
- Jesse Metcalfe as Sebastian
- Valerie Harper as Nola Anderz
- Ellie Reed as Claire
- Caroline Rhea as Bonnie
- Martha Hunt as herself
- Lily Aldridge as herself
- Judith Roberts as Astrid
- Jackée Harry as Ruby
- George Hamilton as Bob
- Darin Brooks as Frank
- John Michael Higgins as Elliot
- Noah Mills as Robbie
- Mercedes Ruehl as Olga
- Telma Hopkins as Pilar
- French Stewart as Mr. Bronsk
- Chad Michaels as a Cher impersonator
- RuPaul as himself
- Brandon Jones as Jebediah
Had the show lasted another season, there were reports the shows producers were going to offer Cher a guest-starring spot as Max's mother.
Production[]
Development and casting[]
Even before it went to series, the then-undeveloped pilot was the subject of a bidding war, with CBS landing the deal on December 10, 2010, and ordering it to series on May 13, 2011.[18] It was one of two shows commissioned for the 2011–12 television season for which Whitney Cummings served as producer and co-creator, the other being Whitney, which was picked up by NBC but was cancelled after two seasons.
Dennings was the first to be cast in role of Max on February 18, 2011. A week later on February 25, 2011, Behrs won an audition to land the role of Caroline, beating out other established actresses. Moy, Morris and Kite were the last three to be cast on March 16, 2011.
Filming[]
The series was taped in front of a live studio audience with some sweetening.
Timeslot change[]
The first episode aired at 9:30 pm (E/P) after Two and a Half Men on September 19, 2011, and the show moved to its regular timeslot following How I Met Your Mother on Monday nights at 8:30 pm (E/P). Production for the second season began on August 6, 2012.
For its second season 2 Broke Girls moved to 9 pm ET/PT after Two and a Half Men was moved to Thursdays, and remained there until early in its third season.
On March 27, 2013, CBS renewed 2 Broke Girls for a third season. The show was first moved back to its original timeslot, which opened when We Are Men was cancelled, and stayed there until March 24, 2014. Beginning on April 7, 2014, 2 Broke Girls moved to 8 pm to replace How I Met Your Mother following its conclusion, with the show's former timeslot given to the short-lived Friends with Better Lives.
On March 13, 2014, CBS renewed 2 Broke Girls for a fourth season. The network announced a premiere date of October 27, 2014. The move was prompted by CBS' arrangement to air Thursday Night Football for the first several weeks of the season and their subsequent decision not to postpone the season premiere of The Big Bang Theory, which occupied 2 Broke Girls' timeslot until October 20, and then returned to its normal Thursday timeslot. The fourth season consisted of 22 episodes.
On March 12, 2015, CBS renewed 2 Broke Girls for a fifth season which premiered Thursday, November 12, 2015. CBS relocated the show to Thursdays 9:30 pm ET/PT due to Supergirl taking over its previous Monday night timeslot. 2 Broke Girls had its premiere delayed again this season due to CBS airing Thursday Night Football for the first few weeks of the season. By November, regular Thursday programming resumed with The Big Bang Theory and new comedy Life in Pieces moving to Thursdays after airing on Monday nights at the beginning of the season. Mom and 2 Broke Girls then premiered the same month to form CBS' Thursday night comedy block. By midseason, CBS moved 2 Broke Girls to Wednesdays 8 pm ET/PT starting January 6, 2016 pairing it with the final season of Mike and Molly. Both comedies were slated to air for six weeks on the Wednesday 8–9 hour before going on an indefinite hiatus due to Survivor returning to that timeslot the following month. However, on February 8, 2016, CBS cancelled new comedy Angel from Hell with 2 Broke Girls replacing it and returning to its Thursday timeslot on February 18, 2016.
Cancellation[]
The series was canceled after six seasons on May 12, 2017. A combination of factors, including declining ratings, CBS's desire to have an ownership stake, and the network needing to clear space for three new sitcoms in the fall 2017 schedule, led to the show's demise.
Episodes[]
- Main article: List of 2 Broke Girls episodes
Broadcast[]
2 Broke Girls is aired in numerous countries around the world. In Canada the series airs on City. In the United Kingdom, 2 Broke Girls airs on E4. In the Republic of Ireland, it airs on RTÉ2. In India, it airs on Star World, Comedy Central & Colors Infinity. In the Philippines, "2 Broke Girls" airs on ETC In Australia, the show airs on the Nine Network.
In New Zealand, it airs on TV2.
Reception[]
2 Broke Girls received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the first season holds a rating of 59%, based on 34 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs have undeniable chemistry, and although 2 Broke Girls is at times bogged down by predictable jokes, this old-fashioned odd couple sitcom is rich with laughs." On Metacritic, the first season has a score of 66 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Much of the show's criticism focused on the perceived overuse of sexually based jokes and offensive racial stereotypes. Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter said the show had potential but "squandered it away every week on cheap, predictable and unfunny jokes" and noted that many jokes were of a racist or sexual nature. New Zealand critic Chris Philpott was especially offended by the rape jokes in the first three episodes of the series, calling the series the worst new show of 2012, stating that it "display[ed] a lack of understanding and creativity on the part of the comedy writer." Andrew Ti, writing for Grantland.com, singled out the portrayal of Han Lee as "a fairly regressive portrayal" of the stereotypical Asian male: "a tiny, greedy, sexless man-child with infantilized speech patterns." Elliot B. Gertel at Jewish World Review similarly found that the show misrepresented "Orthodox" Jews in an episode. When asked about the racial stereotypes at a January 2012 press conference, Michael Patrick King said "I don't find it offensive, any of this".
Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker wrote that while the way the supporting characters are written is "so racist it is less offensive than baffling", she noted that the show has "so much potential", and compared it favorably to Cummings' other show Whitney. Positive reviews such as one from Entertainment Weekly focused on the "potential" that the series has based on the acting and chemistry between Dennings and Behrs. The series also received a B+ from The Boston Globe TV critic Matthew Gilbert, who was impressed with the casting and production: "The actresses – especially the Gwen Stefani-esque Dennings – transcend their types, and the pop-savvy humor has spirit thanks to producer Michael Patrick King from Sex and the City. After the forced opening minutes, it's the best multi-cam-com of the season." Writing weekly reviews of the series, The A.V. Club editor Emily VanDerWerff hoped that the series would improve but ultimately wrote: "Most of the problems—weird story construction, stereotypical characters, bad jokes—that have bedeviled the show have been there from the very beginning, though I will certainly say they've gotten worse as the season has gone along and the show hasn't bothered to diversify its rhythms at all."
In 2015, Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said what started out as "a modern Laverne & Shirley" attracted lots of young people to begin with, until they "realized it was a waste of their time."
The show appeared on many critics' "Worst of The Year" lists throughout its run.
Ratings[]
The series premiere was watched by 19.4 million viewers after its lead-in, the first episode of Two and a Half Men without Charlie Sheen. This marked the highest rating for a fall premiere of a comedy series since Fall 2001. It scored a 7.1 rating in Adults 18–49. With DVR viewers included, the premiere rose to over 21.5 million viewers and an 8.1 in adults 18–49. The show has done well in ratings with college students and young males.
Awards and nominations[]
Syndication[]
On June 20, 2012, it was announced that TBS had secured the cable syndication rights to the sitcom, which began airing on September 20, 2015. The series has also been cleared on CBS and Weigel owned affiliates in 35% of the United States.
Home media[]
- Main article: 2 Broke Girls videography
References[]
External links[]
2 Broke Girls on Warnerbros.com
2 Broke Girls at the Internet Movie Database
- 2 Broke Girls at TV.com
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