Zooey Deschanel Fixes That Whole “9/11” Thing
In case you were wondering about the lingering traumatic effects of terrorism on the United States, well, we have exciting news for you. Zooey Deschanel and the cast of the sitcom New Girl have it got covered. Yes, America’s favorite post-modern moppet and her co-stars, whoever they are, have solved the whole “9/11” thing — presumably via continual injections of twee-ness, repackaged hipsterism, pajamas, and “adorkablity.” So, thanks for that, Zooey.
Yes, our long national nightmare is at last over. This according to New Girl executive producer Brett Baer, who gave an interview to the Writer’s Guild of America that will surely never come back to haunt or embarrass him. According to Baer, New Girl is the first “post-post-9/11 show,” so now we’re really really over the national trauma that we experienced, way back whenever it was, what was that date again? We’re post-post over it, so now we’re over even being slightly past the terrorist attacks, whenever they happened, god, who can even remember now?
Here’s Mr. Baer, expounding further on his intriguing theory:
I have a theory about this. When we tested [New Girl], after we put the pilot together, it was strange how people responded. We were all surprised by how connected people were to it during the focus group testing. I was thinking long and hard about it, and I said… “What we’ve done here is create maybe the first post-post-9/11 show.” The comedy in the past 10 years prior to our show had an edge to it. It was satirical. There was a cynicism about the comedy. What our show came along at the right time for — this weird alchemy that happened — is that we were willing for the first time to go, It’s okay to feel again.
Fan-tastic. It’s okay to feel again. …And yes, contrived situations, artfully messy hair, “sexy librarian” glasses, and the self-conscious tilt of a chin solve everything, so no need to cower in fear any more, America — and Afghanistan and Pakistan; hey, where’s that? Zooey with her quirky grin has saved us by letting us feel our feel-y feelings again, so that we can all feel the feelings that we all feel. No more sarcasm and cynical comedy, except for in this particular column, I guess! …Sweet.
So, if you’re keeping score at home, here’s the deal:
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CRISIS: ABILITY OF “NEW GIRL”
TO HANDLE IT:
9/11; FEARS OF TERRORISM. SOLVED.
BUDGET DEFICIT. PENDING.
MAYAN CALENDER THING. PENDING.
UNLIKABILITY OF MITT ROMNEY. PENDING.
GLOBAL WARMING. PENDING.
KILLER BEES. PENDING.
WILLIAMSBURG TOO TRENDY NOW. WAY PENDING.
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…So put away those posters of flags and weeping bald eagles, Americans, and go back to shopping and living your lives. For September 11th has been HANDLED, thanks to New Girl. And not a minute too soon. But hey, wait, why couldn’t other sitcoms HANDLE it before this? …What was the problem there, Scrubs? What was the deal with you failing us like that, uh, 30 Rock?
Anyway, thank you, Brett Baer, for helping us feel our feelings again — and of course, now that Zooey has solved this mess, she can focus more energy on her other side-projects, like her singing career, and making Ben Gibbard eat his heart out with regret. And also dancing with a talking iPhone, she can focus on that. Which is as it should be. Because after all, ain’t that America, for you and for me? …Ain’t that America; it’s something to see, baby.