Broad City

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domino harvey
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Broad City

#1 Post by domino harvey » Sun Apr 06, 2014 2:42 pm

Anyone watch Broad City? It's like if Girls actually owned up to its selfish self-delusion and remembered to be funny. And the show is really funny and pretty dead-on to the life of many of the girls in my life

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"membrillo"
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Re: TV of 2014

#2 Post by "membrillo" » Sun Apr 06, 2014 3:58 pm

Seconded. Broad City is without a doubt the highlight of 2014, thus far. I just hope CC picks it up for another season. Also, I wasn't aware until recently that they started as web series. Which is equally hilarious.

While I haven't tried watching more of Girls after what I thought was a horrible first season, it came to mind after watching Broad City. It only reinforced my belief in how great Broad City really is.

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Murdoch
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Re: TV of 2014

#3 Post by Murdoch » Sun Apr 06, 2014 6:43 pm


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domino harvey
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Re: Broad City

#4 Post by domino harvey » Sun Apr 06, 2014 7:03 pm

And deservedly so! Finished the first season and it's the most laugh out loud funny thing on TV since Happy Endings (and Scotty's in the last episode). I especially admire the show's ability to get me to laugh at things I don't usually enjoy, like bathroom humor and drug jokes, and the two leads/creators/writers are bright talents with a long future ahead of them. This is the perfect counter to every phony feminist who vigorously claimed the animosity against Girls was some nefarious manifestation of being uncomfortable with a female-created, -centered, and -driven comedy

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swo17
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Re: Broad City

#5 Post by swo17 » Sun Apr 06, 2014 7:17 pm

And of course Comedy Central isn't airing reruns any time in the foreseeable future.

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"membrillo"
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Re: Broad City

#6 Post by "membrillo" » Sun Apr 06, 2014 7:24 pm

I kept waiting for them to fall down, but every episode just seemed to get funnier than the next. The writing is brilliant and the casting even better. Abbi and Ilana are talents and Hannibal Buress is the icing on the cake.

Can't wait for Season 2

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domino harvey
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Re: Broad City

#7 Post by domino harvey » Sun Apr 06, 2014 7:25 pm

swo17 wrote:And of course Comedy Central isn't airing reruns any time in the foreseeable future.
The whole series is up on On Demand if you have Comcast and Hulu has the first eight episodes as well

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Drucker
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Re: Broad City

#8 Post by Drucker » Sun Apr 06, 2014 7:42 pm

Dom is totally right. This is Girls with a real sense of humor and actually funny. A million times more honest than Girls. Notice how often they are on their phones/on Facebook/on Instagram but don't fill the need to point it out verbally to the audience, for example.

Comedy Central has some great shows on right now. Kroll Show and Review have also been great.

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pzadvance
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Re: Broad City

#9 Post by pzadvance » Mon Apr 07, 2014 2:17 pm

This show really is fantastic, but I have to say the fact that it keeps getting mentioned in the same breath as Girls does both shows a huge disservice and strikes me as a very surface-level comparison to make ("Hey, it's about... girls in New York, just like Girls!"). Broad City's sensibilities fall more in line with Louie's, I think, in that it's not afraid to get sketch-y at times and doesn't seem glued to any realistic depiction of the city or the girls' adventures (the "Working Girls" episode where Abbi tracks down the missing package, for example). The most remarkable aspect of the show for me is how well-established its voice is right out the gate, and how consistent it remains over the course of the season. I assume this can be chalked up to Glazer and Jacobson getting the chance to work that all out over the course of their webseries, but I haven't been able to watch that yet. Really impressive and consistently surprising debut season, though. Can't wait to see what's next.

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Drucker
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Re: Broad City

#10 Post by Drucker » Mon Apr 07, 2014 2:40 pm

While I can see how on the surface comparing the two shows seems lazy, ultimately, at their best, they both work for me on the following level: What is it like being a millenial-generation, recent college graduate. I think they capture the whole "emerging adulthood" period very well. The shows feature single, post-college women in their mid-20s who don't have any traditional "direction" in life, and the ones that do have other obstacles getting in the way of personal growth.

Whereas Girls season one I found to be a really enjoyable snapshot of a time and place, the show seemed to almost develop a contempt for its characters. Season 2 was incredibly uneven, and I felt the show lost its voice going between realistic portrayal, fantasy portrayal, and a crude attempt to turn any potentially humorous scenario as awkward and uncomfortable as possible.

Broad City is, pardon the phrase, quite simply about two girls YOLOing. It's constantly amusing. These are two funny people. Two best friends who obviously have a great bond and excellent comedic interaction with one another. The guest characters (especially, especially Hannibal Burress) are absolutely hysterical. And being on Comedy Central, I don't think it's very likely it will begin to take itself too seriously.

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Re: Broad City

#11 Post by Werewolf by Night » Mon Apr 07, 2014 3:02 pm

domino harvey wrote:
swo17 wrote:And of course Comedy Central isn't airing reruns any time in the foreseeable future.
The whole series is up on On Demand if you have Comcast and Hulu has the first eight episodes as well
You can also watch it on the brand new Comedy Central iOS app if you're a cable subscriber (not available for all providers, though).

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domino harvey
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Re: Broad City

#12 Post by domino harvey » Thu Sep 04, 2014 7:38 pm

Season One DVDs coming December 2nd -- the press release indicates they'll be uncensored



oh yeah
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Re: Broad City

#15 Post by oh yeah » Tue Mar 24, 2015 3:01 pm

So, uh, has anyone else watched Season 2? I mean, I loved the first season, but this one was virtually flawless. The pegging/Jeremy episode is an instant classic. Definitely one of the finest seasons of a comedy series ever.

Also, I agree with one of the posters above that this show is more similar to Louie than Girls, with its sketch-like, more comedic and episodic approach, and its way of deflating entire seemingly "serious" plotlines with a single, absurd joke; Girls, on the other hand, has an essentially dramatic structure, and so takes its narratives seriously (even as it wrings humor out of the dialogue and situations, of course). I really like Girls, though -- not as much as BC, but more than the oft-pretentious Louie -- and I feel all the harsh criticism is unearned, even if it undoubtedly has its problems (and the just-ended Season 4 was pretty meandering).

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Drucker
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Re: Broad City

#16 Post by Drucker » Tue Mar 24, 2015 3:08 pm

Broad City is absolute tops. This season was fantastic. At times, I was worried it was veering off to becoming an exclusively stoner-comedy, but after two straight episodes of weed-heavy humor, they pretty much dropped that and just let the girls be hysterical in other ways. Obviously it's going to get compared to Girls, being about 20-something millenials getting their shit together, but the shows have really no other comparisons.

I think the Dog Wedding episode was my favorite. And I can't wait for Hannibal Burress' show, as well

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mfunk9786
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Re: Broad City

#17 Post by mfunk9786 » Tue Mar 24, 2015 3:26 pm

domino harvey wrote:Anyone watch Broad City? It's like if Girls actually owned up to its selfish self-delusion and remembered to be funny. And the show is really funny and pretty dead-on to the life of many of the girls in my life
More importantly it exists in a diverse and interesting New York City that's actually reminiscent of a northeastern metropolis in 2015 and not some whitewashed rich kid fantasy

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warren oates
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Re: Broad City

#18 Post by warren oates » Tue Mar 24, 2015 3:44 pm

Agreed. I'd add that it also does way more compelling and imaginative things within the confines of its low budget and with its many location shoots throughout the city. There was a chase scene in the episode with Patricia Clarkson that put to shame any of the so-called action scenes in that lame overproduced pilot for Vince Gilligan's cop procedural Battle Creek that I finally, mercifully, deleted from my DVR.

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Black Hat
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Re: Broad City

#19 Post by Black Hat » Tue Mar 24, 2015 4:53 pm

With all the people going gaga over this show I watched the first 4 or 5 episodes and outside of a couple of things here and there along with Hannibal Burress, I thought it was ok. What am I missing? It seems like a slightly funnier example of a popular television show that hurts New York City's soul.

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Drucker
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Re: Broad City

#20 Post by Drucker » Tue Mar 24, 2015 9:17 pm

The comedians are constantly funny and the show is full of surprises. The plot rarely goes where I expect it, too. There's gross-out moments and the show honestly portrays girls being girls. The show is not afraid to "go there" and doesn't feel forced at all when it does. Rather than the ridiculous situations characters from other shows are constantly in (Hannah having sex all day with a random rich divorced doctor, or her friend's boyfriend becoming a famous artist, or a show like The Office and 30 Rock jumping shark and just becoming parodies of themselves and totally unbelievable), this show stays sane and plausible, making it that much funnier.

But what DO you like, exactly?

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Re: Broad City

#21 Post by Perkins Cobb » Tue Mar 24, 2015 9:39 pm

Basically it's Daisies as an American sitcom.

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Black Hat
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Re: Broad City

#22 Post by Black Hat » Tue Mar 24, 2015 10:28 pm

I kind of see what you mean by the Daisies comp Perkins.

Drucker, I see everything you said, I especially liked the buddy element of the show. Honest portrayals of friendships between two women are under explored plot lines but ultimately I didn't find it that funny. It's also probably true that elements of who these characters are represent everything I detest about the people who have infested the city the last fifteen or so years and my bias against that probably plays into my opinion on the show.

As for what I like, frankly not much in the realm of comedy these days. I've recently for the first time watched Modern Family and Big Bang Theory, both of which surprisingly made me laugh but were they anything I'd watch again? Absolutely not. Broad City I liked more but enough to keep watching? Unlikely. To me when it's come to funny there's only one show that's so far and away ahead of everything else it's unbelievable — Archer.

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Re: Broad City

#23 Post by Robert de la Cheyniest » Wed Mar 25, 2015 11:56 am

Black Hat wrote: It's also probably true that elements of who these characters are represent everything I detest about the people who have infested the city the last fifteen or so years and my bias against that probably plays into my opinion on the show.
Glad to see your critique seems to rest on the fact that you're the only true New Yorker left in New York, good stuff man

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mfunk9786
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Re: Broad City

#24 Post by mfunk9786 » Wed Mar 25, 2015 5:32 pm

Black Hat wrote:Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets.
This part seemed a little unnecessary.

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warren oates
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Re: Broad City

#25 Post by warren oates » Wed Mar 25, 2015 6:25 pm

You guys shouldn't really be so hard on BH. I mean, he has been kind of unjustly passed over for the Richard Cranium award in years past. Who can really blame him for starting this year's bid early? Hopefully, we won't forget his contribution when awards seasons rolls around.

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