Ever gone back and watched something you really liked in the past only to discover that you now hate it? That’s what happened with me and New Girl.

Ok hate is too strong of a word. I don’t hate New Girl now but I don’t understand why I liked it back then.

I mean I remember thinking the show was hilarious and busting a gut when I watched it the first time around but the second time around those jokes didn’t hit the same way. There are jokes that are funny no matter how many times you hear them and there are jokes that are funny only the first time you hear them. New Girl is the latter.

I mean I still found it mildly funny but not hilarious like I did before.

So that was one thing and the other thing is I found the actual characters annoying.

Winston had no direction for like half of the show but that made sense as he was trying to find himself. He was very weird but it worked for him. I also liked that they had a black guy on their show that wasn’t the stereotypical black guy.

I also like that he wasn’t Coach. Normally when a character leaves and they’re black they’re replaced by another black person who is nothing like the former. They didn’t do that with Winston and Coach and they even could exist on the show at the same time. At the time the show aired I remember being awed and thankful that they actually did that.

The thing with the pranks however was so annoying. That was the only thing that I could have done without. And the puzzles… that… that didn’t really add to his character.

Other than that, I actually quite liked Winston and he annoyed me the least.

Another character like Winston is Cece. She was consistent and she also discovered herself as the show went on. I love that we got to see different facets of her personality and her relationship with Jess. Honestly their friendship was one of the highlights of the show.

Also, I love how she got along with all of the characters in an organic way. She had the best friendship with Winston and Coach.

Coach was also a well-rounded character. I have no notes on him honestly. He didn’t irritate me. He developed nicely and had a distinct personality. It was great.

Nick was annoying but he was meant to be. Even the characters in the show got annoyed with him to the point where I was like, he’s actually not that bad they’re overreacting.

In the sense of, he’s smart and he chose not to become a lawyer and actually took the test (the bar or the whatever) and he enjoyed working in a bar (he he). All he had to sort out were his bank issues and commitment phobia and yes those are big things but I think it was unfair that they expected him to change overnight.

You can’t ask someone to change how they’ve been living for years and expect it to happen right away. Real change takes time and takes dedicated effort.

Here’s my other point of contention Jess knew this before she started dating him. They lived together. And yet it was a huge surprise when they were dating?

She just seemed to lack patience in that relationship and it irked me.

Then she gets mad when he decides to change because he’s not with her? Did she stick around long enough to see if he would change? No.

And in the first place she wanted to be with Nick because he would give her a passionate relationship. If stability was something she valued more than passion then she should have dated another Russell kind of guy who had more passion.

In Jess’ defence some things you don’t know until you do it. So perhaps she didn’t know that was what she needed until she started to date Nick.

As we’re on Jess let us continue.

Her relationships didn’t last for long and would break up so unsatisfyingly. It got to the point where I was convinced they didn’t want Jess to be in a long-term relationship.

I mean Robbie was actually a really good candidate and they had no reason to break up and so they, the showrunners, decided to make them cousins… cousins?!

And that hot English teacher, that could have been a nice relationship but wow it tanked fast!!

I kind of wanted Jess to have someone like Reagan who she would date for a substantial amount of time and where they would break up over something real. (Although to be fair, the English dude that was real, long distance is hard.)

Jess as a character was ok. I liked her for the most part except I really didn’t like her people pleasing side. She couldn’t stand having someone who didn’t like her or who wasn’t her best friend.

It was cute at first but it got annoying quick. I mean you can’t get along with everyone and that is ok but they never address this. She always gets her way and that’s so unrealistic.

I don’t like how she forces her way into your life or how you have to do things her way. Part of it is the nature of sit coms but urgh I got so annoyed.

Enough on her bad points I actually did like that she loved being a teacher and that she was so ambitious. I’m actually sad that season six got cut short because there was so much to unpack.

Why did she leave her dream job? How did she become disillusioned with the education system?

Also, Nick with money? I mean what’s that like?

They refurbished the loft as well. I’m so sad all those cool things happened off screen.

Whilst the show annoys it’s actually more the early seasons. The later seasons are much better especially seasons four and five. So if they had kept that same energy for six I would have loved it but they got cancelled.

I haven’t talked about Schmidt yet.

Does he annoy me more than Jess? No. His character flaws are actually presented as flaws unlike Jess’.

However his relationship with Cece… I lowkey hate it. To his credit he didn’t stop loving her but when he cheated I was so disappointed.

In fact, before he cheated when he broke up with her and then had the audacity to be mad when she was moving on. It annoyed me so much. He had no right and I feel like he never got truly told off for his behaviour.

Then she fell back in love with him and he couldn’t decide who to be with hence the cheating.

That should have been it right but there are people who take back their partner after their partner cheats. I like that they tried to make them friends before getting them back together but their friendship was never a true friendship because as I said he never stops pining for her.

So it’s weird, on the one hand I like them because Cece is happy but on the other hand I don’t.

I feel their relationship works only because it’s television. Or perhaps I’m being too negative. It could work as people who are different do have good relationships in real life.

It’s just there is something about them that I did not like the second time I watched the show.

So yeah Jess and Schmidt I couldn’t stand them.

To end on a positive note, I do like that they had such a diverse cast and that they were allowed to be weird and to not have their lives together. Normally on TV they show 20-30 year olds completely put together but New Girl showed that no matter what stage in life you’re at there will be struggles and even adults have things they need to figure out and learn.

So back to my original question, have you ever watched a show for a second time and hated it when you loved it the first time?