The New Girl - why?

First of all I have to say that, yes, Zooey Deschanel is adorable; I don't think that many red-blooded heterosexuals (or gay girls come to that) would deny it.

She's bubbly, attractive and has a distinct onscreen persona entirely seperate from whatever character she may be playing. Her performance in 500 (Days of Summer) is, in turn, touching, enchanting, alluring and just fun. Of course it helps that she's working next to Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who is a tremendous actor with an almost chameleon-like ability to transform himself. If you doubt this get a copy of the film "Brick"; it's a brilliant Chandleresque film-noir set in a high school. The film itself is mesmerising, especially in the way that it creates it's own language, but Joe is the best thing in it.

All of which it beside the point (I do like to ramble).

I just don't understand why people like The New Girl, a recent Fox comedy. I went into it expecting to be swept away; I really am a sucker for pretty much anything Zooey does, and in particular I think her skills are ideally suited to a sitcom romance. However without a decent script (and, after 5 episodes I'm still waiting for one) this show seems happy to float by purely on her bubbly airhead characterisation.

There are much better sitcoms out there; Happy Endings (now on it's second series) is tremendous, and I've really been enjoying Two Broke Girls. Even the oft-derided Whitney, with it's regular battle of the sexes storylines, has more funny lines (despite a largely irritating main character, who really does need a good spanking). Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother and Community supply regular laughs, and character development (gasp!).

I really hope for an improvement; I'd love to see Zooey given material that is worthy of her talent. For now I just want to slap her character (and not in a fun spanking type of way either). What's more, I want to slap the series' writers.