New Girl S1-7

Bubbly teacher Jess finds her boyfriend cheating on her, packs her things and moves in with three guys in a roomy LA loft. So far, so formulaic, right? Sure, but once you start watching New Girl, you realise it’s clever as well as funny, and benefits from an ensemble cast with genuine warmth between them.

Jess’s flatmates are Nick, an infuriating bartender of big mouth and small ambition; Schmidt, an often smarmy marketing exec who is way less of a hit with the ladies than he thinks he is; and Winston, once a pro basketballer who’s just lost his job in the Latvian pro league. Rounding out the main cast is Cece, Jess’s childhood bestie who happens to be a leggy model.

Over seven seasons, the flatmates and friends fall in and out of love, get and lose jobs, face money problems, and make good and (frequently) bad decisions. Jess usually can’t help meddling in the guys’ lives, and they pretend to get all annoyed about it. It’s all super-relatable and often adorable.

Ultimate Manic Pixie Dream Girl Zooey Deschanel plays Jess, while Jake Johnson (Tag), Max Greenfield (American Horror Story: Hotel) and Lamorne Morris (Barbershop: The Next Cut) play Nick, Schmidt and Winston respectively. Hannah Simone is Cece, and Damon Wayans Jr is Coach, who appears in the pilot and then returns in Season 3 as a regular.

New York Daily News said about the first season: “The most encouraging thing about New Girl is that the opening episode doesn’t let its characters settle in as the stereotypes they could easily become,” and New Girl has a rating of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.