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New Girl Lawsuit


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Yeah, I don't know what to think. There are a decent number of similarities to the pilot, but both the New Girl pilot and Square One contain a lot of the usual sitcom tropes (I mean, doesn't every TV girl who suffers a bad breakup binge on junk food?) or do certain things as a matter of plot convenience (both groups of guys had a roommate move out and needed a replacement asap). Only a couple of things stand out to me as a little too coincidental (the roommates dancing to "You Shook Me All Night Long" and the ex being named Spencer in both shows), and even those things are within the realm of coincidence.

As someone over on TWoP pointed out, a lot of the similarities only sound so similar because of how they're worded in the complaint. For example, although Cece and C.C.'s names look similar on paper, the Square One character is named Cat Cook and isn't referred to as C.C., and the characters themselves are nothing alike. And there's stuff like, "Jess has her first sex-only relationship with a guy named Sam in the second season" vs. "Greer has her first sex-only relationship with a guy named Dusty, a philosophical pro-race car driver." Sam was a pediatrician and was written as affable and goofy, not philosophical. And, "There is a 'mean birdcat' that makes an appearance in the 1st season, living in the loft. Schmidt is afraid of it" vs. "An ornery cat that an old roommate left in the bachelor pad has a bit role." That's reaching, and there are a lot of examples of that (page 77 here).

I also don't see how they could block filming now, three years in. Even if they find that the pilot was eerily similar, The New Girl pilot kind of sucked and the writers course-corrected around episode five, "Cece Crashes." At this point, the characters aren't similar to the Square One characters at all. Financial compensation, sure. Blocking filming? Reaching.

Edited by Cranberry
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