TWO BROKE GIRLS

2011- Present

The series follows two young women living in Brooklyn, New York, Max and Caroline, struggling to gather enough money to make ends meet and to one day open up a cupcake business together. Max waits tables at night, which is where she met Caroline, who was previously rich but lost it all when her father ran into legal trouble (IMDb).

Unlike The Honeymooners, Max and Caroline's apartment does not really do justice to the living space someone would imagine "two broke girls" surviving off of waitress tips to be living in. It is well decorated, the girls each have separate rooms, and there is expensive looking furniture throughout the space. "Max and Caroline, live in a Brooklyn apartment with a yard and a spacious living room. Somewhat dingy walls and a few crooked paintings are the audience’s cues to understand this is an apartment for poor people (Forget that it’s huge)" (Grossman-Heinz.). 

Also, rather than addressing real life issues of the working-class in America, it seems as if Two Broke Girls is more about making jokes about being poor for the entertainment of those who are not poor. Max is constantly making jokes about prostitution, making it seem as if that is an option for someone in her situation. Also there are constant negative remarks made about eating generic brand food. "In one scene, Caroline asks Max if she genuinely thinks [generic] chips are good. Max shakes her head and laments, “God, we’re poor”" (Grossman-Heinz). Making jokes about living in Brooklyn is another aspect of the comedic humor of the show. They point out the constant dangers of the city and how its the only place they can afford to live. According to the New York Observer, "Brooklyn is now the second most expensive place to live in America, according to a study from the Council for Community and Economic Research that was cited in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Number one, of course, is Manhattan" (Velsey).

With this being one of the only sitcoms on television currently addressing the issue of poverty on television, it is unfortunate that the reality of the situation is lightened with superficial jokes about the working-class lifestyle. Making it seem as though eating generic brand chips and living in Brooklyn is the last thing anyone should want to do, Two Broke Girls is interpreting the working-class as something undesirable, and something an average person should not be proud of.

Works Cited

Grossman-Heinze, Dahlia. "2 Broke Girls-The Anti-Occupy Wall Street TV Show?" 2 Broke Girls—The Anti-Occupy Wall Street TV Show? Campus Progress, n.d. Web. 11 May 2013.

IMDb. "2 Broke Girls." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 11 May 2013.

Vesley, Kim. "The New York Observer GA_googleFillSlot( "Obs_Article_Bookend_Top_right" );." Brooklyn Is the Second Most Expensive Place to Live in the US. New York Observer, n.d. Web. 11 May 2013