I absolutely love this episode. It is so funny. I love this quote : Max: Oh, no hipster. No. Do not think we're on the same team we have nothing in common. I wear knit hats when it's cold out, you wear knit hats because of Coldplay. You have tattoos to tick off your dad, my dad doesn't know he's my dad. And, finally, you think (snapping her fingers in his face) this is a sound that gets you service, I think this is the sound that dries up my (not allowed to say). So funny. Then when Caroline lied on her resume to get a job in the diner. And when Max invites Caroline to come stay with her. Funny. Great Pilot episode. One of the funniest pilot episodes I've seen from a new-ish show in a long time.
8 Reviews
2 Girls 1 Cup
raulfaust20 December 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Well, this season is very sympathetic from the get go. Two different kinds of girl get along and decide to live together, since they work in the same place and are both out of money. To make this very first episode more interesting, the writers rushed all the scenes to make all the introductions in only one episode-- which will allow the next ones to be more focused on fun than in story itself. Kat Dennings, at first sight, seems to be a little amateurish in acting, but nothing that can't be improved in time. Beth Behrs, on the other hand, seems to have a little more experience in acting (even thought IMDb states the contrary). Behrs' character seems to be a former snobbish girl who will HAVE to learn being poor and laborer. Maybe this show didn't start extremely funny, but surely has a promising future.
Not 2 Bad
Threepwood_Lives27 September 2011
Reviews Of Unusual Size! Re: When an ousted New York socialite is hired at a diner, the spoiled blond forms an unlikely friendship with the streetwise waitress that works there.
Outstanding: Kat Dennings has some pretty great deadpan humor.
Unacceptable: The setup for this TV show is horrible. The cute old black guy that mans the register at the diner should be hilarious, instead he's just mildly amusing. There's more blatant sexual humor than I'd expected.
Summary: I was kind of surprised. I should have disliked this show, but I actually laughed out loud a couple of times and I'm looking forward to the next episode. There's nothing I can pin down as excellent, but it's an amusing little sitcom. Why do they always title the first episode "Pilot"? I know it's because it's a pilot, produced to get the other episodes, but it seems like you'd be optimistic and give your first episode a legit title.
Outstanding: Kat Dennings has some pretty great deadpan humor.
Unacceptable: The setup for this TV show is horrible. The cute old black guy that mans the register at the diner should be hilarious, instead he's just mildly amusing. There's more blatant sexual humor than I'd expected.
Summary: I was kind of surprised. I should have disliked this show, but I actually laughed out loud a couple of times and I'm looking forward to the next episode. There's nothing I can pin down as excellent, but it's an amusing little sitcom. Why do they always title the first episode "Pilot"? I know it's because it's a pilot, produced to get the other episodes, but it seems like you'd be optimistic and give your first episode a legit title.
Terrible!
Barkin818 December 2022
This joke of a comedy got off to the worst start possible. Was this supposed to be a semi-parody of the Simple Life or something? Never mind that Caroline called Paris Hilton 100 when she is only four years younger than Hilton. Paris Hilton was only 30 and Beth Behrs was 26 when her character made that stupid crack. I just don't get this show and it's unlikely I ever will. I don't know how it made 6 seasons. I know CBS has been struggling to find quality shows-something they are still struggling with today-but good grief, this show is beyond terrible. Two of the most unlikeable pairs in history And the writing and jokes are terrible.
Wow! I just found myself starting to like you!
JasonDanielBaker1 February 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Rich girl Caroline Channing (Beth Behrs) is hired as a waitress at a rundown Brooklyn diner. She has been forced to find whatever work she can after her uber-wealthy father has been busted for running a Ponzi scheme which bilked more people than Bernie Madoff.
Caroline's degree from the Wharton School of Business and internship at Merril Lynch are of little use to her on Wall Street due to her disgraced lineage. The very mention of her father's name elicits perfunctory apprehension and disdain. But she still cares about appearances and thus prefers to work in a place none of her society friends would be caught dead in.
The diner, a complete dive once run by Russian mobsters, was purchased by optimistic Chinese entrepreneur Han Lee (Matthew Moy) eight months prior to Caroline's hiring by him. He of course doesn't know she isn't qualified to serve food or bus tables.
The other staff are precisely the type who might be found working at a place like this - a sage yet snarky African-American senior named Earl (Garrett Morris) works the cash register, a sleazy and lecherous Ukrainian line-cook named Oleg (Jonathan Kite) leftover from the days it was owned by Russian gangsters.
The real boss is head waitress Max (Kat Dennings), a burned out misanthrope with a lifetime of emotional damage some of which she has only herself to blame for. She is 'broke' financially and spiritually and loathes rich girl Caroline on sight but finds her outlook on the world amusing in a darkly comedic way.
Given that Caroline was preceded in the job by a Russian prostitute and a meth addict her inadequacies are lessened by comparison. Given that Caroline works hard and is trustworthy also earns her points.
When Caroline has no place to stay, sleeps over at Max's rat-hole apartment and Max's boyfriend makes an unsuccessful play for her as well as other women the two broke girls elect to move in together in the spirit of post-feminist sisterhood and just plain convenience.
Max's dark cynicism is occasionally overcome by the wide-eyed optimism of her new friend and each episode either tests their friendship, binds it closer together or both as Caroline attempts to take Max's knack for making delicious cupcakes and markets them to upscale consumers for what she thinks will be a profitable side-business.
A huge hit after its premiere in Fall 2011 this is a show which nevertheless has its detractors. The complaints range from those who just don't find women funny to others who don't fully understand its edgy, contemporary references. Still others point to the superficial similarities to sitcoms from the past like The Odd Couple, Alice and even I Love Lucy saying it has been done and is derivative.
I find that it takes a proved formula and reinvents it. The economic mess of today which provides a nearly ever-present sense of foreboding would eventually have to be reflected in popular culture very much including TV comedy.
Here we see formerly rich person Caroline forced to live the way the rest of us do, working stiff Max wallowing in humorous self-pity but lashing out with scathing one-liners at herself and everyone else in the setting of a diner trying to turn a profit in a bad economy and a horrific location.
Some people just don't want to be reminded about a financial downturn, housing problems, urban decay, dashed expectations et cetera. The rest of us want to look at things a little differently even though the humor may be dark and cutting.
The appealing pattern is one in which we get to see a rich person taken down several pegs by a rude person whom we would normally avoid. This formula works because it strikes just the right tone more often than not.
The bottom line is that its funny.
Caroline's degree from the Wharton School of Business and internship at Merril Lynch are of little use to her on Wall Street due to her disgraced lineage. The very mention of her father's name elicits perfunctory apprehension and disdain. But she still cares about appearances and thus prefers to work in a place none of her society friends would be caught dead in.
The diner, a complete dive once run by Russian mobsters, was purchased by optimistic Chinese entrepreneur Han Lee (Matthew Moy) eight months prior to Caroline's hiring by him. He of course doesn't know she isn't qualified to serve food or bus tables.
The other staff are precisely the type who might be found working at a place like this - a sage yet snarky African-American senior named Earl (Garrett Morris) works the cash register, a sleazy and lecherous Ukrainian line-cook named Oleg (Jonathan Kite) leftover from the days it was owned by Russian gangsters.
The real boss is head waitress Max (Kat Dennings), a burned out misanthrope with a lifetime of emotional damage some of which she has only herself to blame for. She is 'broke' financially and spiritually and loathes rich girl Caroline on sight but finds her outlook on the world amusing in a darkly comedic way.
Given that Caroline was preceded in the job by a Russian prostitute and a meth addict her inadequacies are lessened by comparison. Given that Caroline works hard and is trustworthy also earns her points.
When Caroline has no place to stay, sleeps over at Max's rat-hole apartment and Max's boyfriend makes an unsuccessful play for her as well as other women the two broke girls elect to move in together in the spirit of post-feminist sisterhood and just plain convenience.
Max's dark cynicism is occasionally overcome by the wide-eyed optimism of her new friend and each episode either tests their friendship, binds it closer together or both as Caroline attempts to take Max's knack for making delicious cupcakes and markets them to upscale consumers for what she thinks will be a profitable side-business.
A huge hit after its premiere in Fall 2011 this is a show which nevertheless has its detractors. The complaints range from those who just don't find women funny to others who don't fully understand its edgy, contemporary references. Still others point to the superficial similarities to sitcoms from the past like The Odd Couple, Alice and even I Love Lucy saying it has been done and is derivative.
I find that it takes a proved formula and reinvents it. The economic mess of today which provides a nearly ever-present sense of foreboding would eventually have to be reflected in popular culture very much including TV comedy.
Here we see formerly rich person Caroline forced to live the way the rest of us do, working stiff Max wallowing in humorous self-pity but lashing out with scathing one-liners at herself and everyone else in the setting of a diner trying to turn a profit in a bad economy and a horrific location.
Some people just don't want to be reminded about a financial downturn, housing problems, urban decay, dashed expectations et cetera. The rest of us want to look at things a little differently even though the humor may be dark and cutting.
The appealing pattern is one in which we get to see a rich person taken down several pegs by a rude person whom we would normally avoid. This formula works because it strikes just the right tone more often than not.
The bottom line is that its funny.
Paris Hilton is 100?
GayBoi119 March 2023
Honey, you're only a few years younger. If she's 100 you're 96. This stupid "comedy" was one of the worst on TV. I don't understand how it made it 6 seasons? I find absolutely nothing funny about this joke of a show. I know this review will probably make some people mad but I'm glad they don't rerun this show very much. It was 6 seasons of boring and cringing. Thank goodness CBS had Mike and Molly, otherwise CBS wouldn't have had any real hits in the comedy department at the time. Quite frankly, there were many cancelled shows I think were funnier. Since I'm inclined to say a little more here, let me just end with saying this doesn't even deserve 1 star.
Rich Girl Becomes Poor
vivianla1 October 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Max works two jobs and one of them is at a restaurant. She also works for a rich woman as a babysitter for her two babies.
Caroline is hired at the restaurant. Her father was formerly a billionaire but they had all their assets locked and taken away. Caroline is homeless now.
Max sees Caroline sleeping on the subway and invites her to stay at her place. At her apartment, Caroline gets hit on by Max's boyfriend who comes super close to her after taking off his top.
Caroline accidentally slips the incident to Max and tells Max she can do so much better. Back in the apartment Max can hear her boyfriend cheating with a woman with a tambourine. She tells the man to leave by the time she comes back.
Max invites Caroline to be her roommate. Caroline brings her horse to the yard and talks about a cupcake business.
Caroline is hired at the restaurant. Her father was formerly a billionaire but they had all their assets locked and taken away. Caroline is homeless now.
Max sees Caroline sleeping on the subway and invites her to stay at her place. At her apartment, Caroline gets hit on by Max's boyfriend who comes super close to her after taking off his top.
Caroline accidentally slips the incident to Max and tells Max she can do so much better. Back in the apartment Max can hear her boyfriend cheating with a woman with a tambourine. She tells the man to leave by the time she comes back.
Max invites Caroline to be her roommate. Caroline brings her horse to the yard and talks about a cupcake business.
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