TV Quote of the Day (‘New Girl,’ With the Prelude to Jess’ Breakup)

[First lines, facing camera]

Jessica Day [played by Zooey Deschanel]: “So you know in horror movies when the girl's like: ‘Oh, my God, there's something in the basement. Let me just run down there in my underwear and see what's going on.’ And you're like, ‘What is your problem? Call the police.’ She's like, ‘Okay,’ but it's too late because she's getting murdered? Well, my story's kind of like that.”— New Girl, Season 1, “Pilot,” original air date Sept. 20, 2011, teleplay by Elizabeth Meriwether, directed by Jake Kasdan

I never watched New Girl during its original run, but in the last couple of weeks, I have watched several episodes from its first and second seasons on DVD. I’m still not sure the direction in which the sitcom would eventually take off. 

But the scene that follows this amusing intro by the titular character, Jess Day—i.e., doing an impromptu striptease for her boyfriend, only to find he’s been fooling around with someone else—is both excruciating and hysterically funny. (Indeed, part of the reason why it’s hilarious is because it’s excruciating.) 

A scene like this, by itself, is enough to make an audience come back, even if subsequent episodes might be a bit disappointing, because of the hope that if magic can occur once, it can be summoned once again.