I feel like we all just lived through something big together, guys. Like when a group of people survive a city-wide black-out, and then they all have an unbreakable bond and have to send each other Christmas cards every year until they all die. That's us, guys.

We just witnessed history together! Your Christmas card is in the mail!

I speak, of course, of Jess and Nick's inevitable-yet-still-kinda-shocking trip to the bone zone at the end of "Virgins."

Though Nick and Jess (and their parts) have been on a collision course since the beginning of the show, I still watched the ending sequence with surprise that it was finally, really happening (especially after all the teases in the past few episodes, which led me to believe they'd be saving the big event for the finale).

I hadn't previously been as swept-up in the whole Nick and Jess thing as everyone else. I just couldn't understand why these two bozos couldn't figure out something as simple as whether they wanted to date. But "Virgins" made a strong case for why their relationship has been so wildly complicated.

Why can't these two bozos figure out something as simple as whether they want to date? Because (as we learned from the flashbacks) Jess has a horrible track record of actually picking the right romantic situations for herself, and Nick's formative sexual experiences ended with him literally in tears.

And while the rest of us have (hopefully!) moved on from the pain of our post-adolescent romantic fumblings, of course perma-teenagers like Jess and Nick wouldn't have.

Flashback episodes always feel a bit inorganic, and "Virgins" was no different - the opening set-up, with the gang each trying to top each other, felt a bit hokey. But the flashbacks themselves were very strong (I'll certainly never look at Sublime's "Caress Me Down" quite the same way again), and full of choice New Girl quotes.

So where will it go from here? With only two more episodes left in New Girl Season 2, will there be time to mess up Cece's wedding AND figure out Nick and Jess's future (I mean, be serious. There is no way Cece is getting married... though the marriage subplot is helpful in letting us learn more about Cece's inner workings, it is also just so absolutely not going to happen that it is not even funny)? What will the show do once they've made a definitive decision to date or move on? Or will they find new ways to drag the whole thing out?

I have no idea. But I certainly hope that it involves another hooker named "Mysteria."

Where do you think Nick and Jess's relationship will go from here? Was the big moment everything you hoped it would be? Is there any way that Cece is actually getting married?

Virginity. Fat Suits. Lubricant. CeCe's Wedding.

Those were just some of the topics that came up on the red carpet last night at the Academy of Television Arts and Science, where New Girl and "Virgins" were the center of attention.

Prior to a Q&A with the cast, I spoke with the stars on the red carpet to talk to me about filming this major episode and what we can expect on the last couple episodes of New Girl Season 2.

---------------------------------------

First, Zooey Deschanel clarified that Jess and Nick are not dating. They are in some kind of "unknown" territory:

 

Zooey Deschanel Red Carpet Interview

Jake Johnson, meanwhile, looked forward to the wedding, wondering what it will mean for this non-couple. He also talked about mustaches:

 

Jake Johnson Red Carpet Interview

Max Greenfield was all about the fat suits, along with the question on all our minds: Was that really lubricant?!?

 

Max Greenfield Red Carpet Interview

What does Hannah Simone love about wedding? Find out now:

 

Hannah Simone Red Carpet Interview

And, finally, Lamorne Morris talked about life for Winston as a single man, chemistry with Brenda Song... and New Girl Season 11:

 

Lamorne Morris Red Carpet Interview

It was a fluffy confection, for sure, but "Winston's Birthday" continued New Girl Season 2's winning streak.

Though this episode was full of comedic delights of all sorts - Rob Reiner! Schmidt doing the running man! - I was most struck by, well, how well Jess and Nick's relationship is going.

After their 1.5 seasons worth of confusion and ambivalence and aquarium-damaging make-out sessions, I thought their relationship would be just as sloppy and full of indecision as the flirting that proceeded it.

But this week, both Nick and Jess spoke quite highly of their potential for a serious relationship together - and made it clear that they planned on moving forward with things.

I had anticipated one (or both!) or them freaking out/ getting weird in the aftermath of the Boning Heard Round the (TV) World, so their ability to deal with sleeping together like mature adults who dig each other was a sweet and unexpected surprise.

Of course, all of this begs the question: didn't they put off getting together for almost two whole seasons because they thought their relationship would be a train-wreck? Why isn't their relationship a train-wreck? Did something change? Did Nick's self-improvement plan take him that far, that quickly?

Or is this the first time in recorded human history that having sex actually helped people decide to commit to each other romantically? I want answers!

Okay, I don't really want answers; I just surprised myself by realizing that I have kind of a lot invested in their relationship (yes, I have friends in real life, too!)(okay, I have a friend in real life)(okay, that one friend is actually a dog)(and that dog is imaginary).

Rob Reiner once again killed as the senior Day--aside from tossing out one of the night's choicest New Girl quotes, Reiner's appearance helped cement the show in the pantheon of smart-but-tender romantic comedies.

Reiner, the director behind When Harry Met Sally... and The Princess Bride, has probably had a hand in forming the romantic ideals of about 90% of us (including you, reading this, right now!). So his guest appearances always have the feeling of a kind of blessing of the show as the next generation in intelligent romantic comedies.

I've always been a Cece fan, and a fan of Schmidt and Cece together, but can we all admit that Elizabeth is kind of the best?  I know she is most likely a device to ratchet up tension in the Schmidt/ Cece subplot, but I wish she'd stick around. The loft could use someone who's not afraid to punch a little penis when people get out of line.

Over the course of a handful of episodes, we've gone from all of the loft-dwellers being pretty miserable, to everyone being pretty happy and satisfied (Winston even got that golden telescope!).

So...how are they going to wreck all that in the season's one remaining episode? I don't know, but I am so desperate to see what role Her Royal Swiftness plays in the proceedings, I can hardly bear it.

What do you think of Nick and Jess's blossoming relationship? Do you think Elizabeth will make Schmidt forget about Cece? There is just no way Cece is actually getting married, right? Right??

Listen, I try to be a dignified winner/recapper, I really do, but: I KNEW IT! I knew there was no way Cece was getting married! No! WAY! NONE!

Okay, thank you for letting me get that out of my system. Let's all proceed in an orderly fashion to the review below.

"Elaine's Big Day" wasn't the best episode of New Girl Season 2, but it was an appropriate note to end the year on: this is now a fully realized, confident and consistently hilarious show that knows exactly what it is.

It stands in stark contrast to New Girl Season 1's season finale, which explored similar issues (choosing the right mate, making enormous life decisions, Nick's near-bottomless inner well of self-loathing) in a profoundly less satisfying way (coyote mind-meld? Really, Season 1 Jess??).

What a difference a year makes, huh? New Girl Season 2 has finally figured out what its real strengths and weaknesses are, and I feel the kind of zeal for this show that only a convert can truly have.

So, it was only fitting that a season marked by the visionary marriage of over-the-top physical comedy and mundanely relatable romantic issues conclude with both Jess and Nick trying to over-think their way out of their relationship AND a wild badger running loose at a wedding. Hey, we're modern women! We can have it all! Lean in (to badger jokes)!

Speaking of Jess and Nick: nothing shows the distance that this show has come better than their relationship. While New Girl Season 1 probably would have accepted their attempted break-up and shuffled off, New Girl Season 2 treated it at the fearful but ultimately harmless nonsense (and source of great New Girl quotes) that it was.

Taylor Swift as the titular Elaine was an inspired piece of stunt casting, as her character (and the entire episode) calls back to that whole "tortured lovelorn ex-girlfriend" thing that's kind of her thing. Was she particularly, you know, good at acting? Ah, not quite. But her presence as Shivrang's ex was a thousand times funnier than anything she could have said.

A lot of our greatest television comedies took a while to find their footing (and if you don't believe me, please, go re-watch the first season of Seinfeld). But in today's brutal TV ratings market, shows are rarely given that kind of time to develop and mature - if they're not killer straight out of the gate, they go the way of the dodo.

I'm thankful that New Girl was given that rare chance. New Girl Season 1, with its random jumps in logic and indulgent acceptance of Jess's weird behavior, sometimes seemed like it was actually written by Jess and Nick themselves ( a 29-year-old woman who can't say "penis" isn't cute, it is insane!). New Girl Season 2, like its characters, has shaped up, brushed itself off and kind of learned to deal with adult life--and is so much the better for it.

Who do you think Schmidt will choose? Will Nick and Jess last? How many weddings have you, personally, ruined via badger?

New Girl, you’ll be a New Woman soon.

Though no members of the Loft could be accused of having finally grown up, this program truly did on Season 2. Particularly in the back half, New Girl found its voice, its vibe and its pacing, solidifying its identity as one of the best network sitcoms on the air.

It also found a way to make Jess a relatable, lovable neurotic, rather than the “Bjork-by-way-of-Urkel” weirdo that she often defaulted to during season 1 - a formidable feat for any show, but especially one that had been promoted to the public on the basis of its “adorkable”-ness.

But it turned out that once you washed away all the adorkability, you just had an excellently crafted story about friendship and modern single life. Who’da thunk it? Let's relive the madness in this TV Fanatic Report Card...

Best Episode: The hair. The hookers. The Lisa Loeb. The best episode of season 2 had to be “Virgins,” a series of inter-linked flashback vignettes that told the story of how each member of the gang lost their v-card. I’d like to give a high-minded critical explanation for my love of this episode - and it did provide enticing psychological insight into the pasts of Schmidt, Nick, Jess and Winston in a creative and hilarious way - but to get real with you, it’s mostly because I can’t stop saying “Just my penis, baby. Just my penis.”

Runner-Up: “Quick Hardening Caulk,” the episode where the show finally found its tone as a dirty, absurbist, quick-witted Friends for the late aughties.

Worst Episode: Call me whatever you like - critical killjoy, feminist party pooper, person who only enjoyed the Nick portions of this episode - but I am not a big fan of PMS humor. I think it’s very played out, and kind of a dull fallback for any comedy with a female protagonist. And thus, my least favorite episode of this mostly-excellent season was the PMS-themed “Menzies, which, honestly, staggered a little too close to “PMS I Love You,” a 1990 episode of Roseanne (that was also not particularly funny in 1990). I was also not a big fan of Carla Gugino as yet another of Schmidt’s business lady paramours; she didn’t bring anything new or particularly exciting to Schmidt’s well-document fetish for women in business suits.

Runner-Up: I am not one of those jerks who hates Olivia Munn for no reason. I think she is often quite funny, and she has very beautiful hair! There, I said it. But I didn’t dig her plot arc as Nick’s unhinged girlfriend Angie, and “Cabin” focused too much on their misguided relationship (as well as Jess’s own misguided relationship) for my taste. I found parts of it even a bit wince-inducing.

Best Celebrity Guest Star: Dylan O’Brien killed in “Virgins” as the guy who almost took Jess’s virginity... and his character’s quick transformation from suave, guitar-toting ladies’ man to freaked-out crybaby trapped in a children’s playhouse really exemplified how delightfully well this show inverts ideas about coolness.

(Honorable mention goes to Taylor Swift in “Elaine’s Big Day,” who didn’t really do much in her guest spot, but kind of embodies this show’s spirit just by existing.)

Worst Celebrity Guest Star: I am just not a fan of Josh Gad, and his appearance in “Katie” as a sweet sad-sack didn’t change my mind. God, maybe I am just a party pooper.

Best Winston Prank: Does making Winston a “Prank Sinatra” with a sweet spot for borderline-lethal practical jokes count as giving the super-talented Lamorne Morris enough to do? Surely not. But it is hard to not get swept up in the man’s enthusiasm.

This season’s winner was, of course, the badger drop from “Elaine’s Big Day." But I look forward to Season 3, where hopefully he’ll do something involving Kit-Kats, plastique explosives, and a CD copy of ”40 Oz. to Freedom.”

Best Jess Outfit: Is it sick that I am obsessed with the dress she wore to Nick’s dad’s funeral? It just had a real adorable collar.

Hopes for Season 3:

• How will this show go on without the Jess-Nick tension that propels it like so much of that truck fuel they make out of French fry grease? By depicting the awkward road bumps that they will surely have to negotiate in their burgeoning relationship, I hope, rather than ginning up frequent reasons for them to make up and break up, Ross-n-Rachel-style.
• On a similar note, I hope that the writers give the CeCe-Schmidt-Elizabeth triangle a shot as the main relationship drama, at least for a little while. I’ve always found Schmidt and Cece’s “will-they-or-won’t-they?” dynamic more interesting than when Jess and Nick were trying to get together. And adding in Elizabeth as a symbol of the more authentic and sweet person that Schmidt used to be provides some exciting friction. Also, we can’t drop this plot point until Schmidt proposes a three-way and both women get mad at him. We can’t! It’s our duty as True Americans!
• Give Winston the episode’s “A plot” and best jokes. Just once? Please?

Overall Grade: A.

YOUR turn, TV Fanatics. Grade New Girl Season 2:

Following The CW, NBC and CBS, Fox is the latest network to come out with its calendar of fall premiere dates.

The new season will be kicked off by The X Factor, and highlighted by Bones moving to Friday nights in November after the World Series. Scroll down now for a complete look and plan upcoming vacations accordingly...

Wednesday, Sept. 11
8 pm The X Factor (Part 1)

Thursday, Sept. 12
8 pm The X Factor (Part 2, two hours)

Monday, Sept. 16
8 pm Bones
9 pm Sleepy Hollow (new series, Sleepy Hollow trailer)

Tuesday, Sept. 17
8 pm Dads (new series)
8:30 pm Brooklyn Nine-Nine (new series, Brooklyn Nine-Nine trailer)
9 pm New Girl
9:30 pm The Mindy Project

Thursday, Sept. 19
9 pm Glee

Sunday, Sept. 29
8 pm The Simpsons
8:30 pm Bob’s Burgers
9 pm Family Guy
9:30 pm American Dad

Monday, Nov. 4
8 pm Almost Human (new series, Almost Human trailer)

Friday, Nov. 8
8 pm Bones (new time slot premiere)
9 pm Raising Hope
9:30 pm Enlisted (new series)

It’s that time of year - and I’m not talking about the upcoming July Fourth weekend.

Comic-Con 2013 kicks off on July 18th in San Diego and while we’ve been keeping you updated on the schedules of the various networks (such as MTV) and studios (such as Warner Bros.), you’ll already want to bookmark TV Fanatic because we’ll be covering as much of the Con as we can.

In the meantime, I’m emptying out this week’s Notebook with Noah Wyle telling me about this Sunday’s high-stakes Falling Skies episode; Lamorne Morris’s hope for New Girl Season 3; and whether Royal Pains is going to go dark soon.

NEW GIRL Though the hit Fox sitcom’s third season hasn’t started filming yet, Morris filled me in at the recent ATX TV Festival on what he’d like to see with Winston, even pitching a hot cameo for the show this fall.

“I want to see them dive more into his basketball past,” he told me. “I would love to shoot some episodes where the guys are just maybe hanging out and, like, LeBron James shows up as my former teammate, you know what I mean?”

Hopefully New Girl creator Liz Meriwether is listening because Morris also pitched the following: “Maybe Jess starts to date an NBA player and so this way we get to film some episodes at a game. That would be awesome.” He’d also like to see more of Winston’s “dumb characteristics, where it's like I don’t have a pranking sweet spot,” he said. “That's right in my wheelhouse. I love being an idiot, you know what I mean?”

FALLING SKIES In Wyle’s own words, things are going to “boil over” in this Sunday’s episode of the TNT sci-fi drama between his Tom Mason and Pope (Colin Cunningham). The two men have never been friends but they find themselves in a tough situation this week and Wyle told me about it at the recent press junket:

 

Noah Wyle Set Interview

ROYAL PAINS With the new, noticeably darker series Graceland making waves at USA, does that mean for the more traditional ‘blue skies’ series like Royal Pains? I asked Executive Producer Andrew Lenchewski that very question recently and he’s not too concerned:

“I think what we love about the network is that as they continue to evolve who they are as a brand, they continue to encourage us to still be who we are. So, none of the things that they have told us as creative guidance from the first four seasons has changed this season. They still want us to focus on our characters, make sure we tell our medical stories, make sure that we don't depart too far from the tone of our show.”

This said, that doesn’t mean that the stories on the show won’t veer down a slightly darker, emotional path than we usual visit on the long-running series. “The storyline we’re playing with Hank,” he said, “is something that might have been tougher to swallow the first couple of seasons. I think we’re getting the best of both worlds.”

That’s a wrap for this week and I’ll be taking next week off so see ya back on July 12th! Anything else you’re dying to know about your favorite show? Leave a comment here or you email me directly at jim@jimhalterman.com. And remember: follow @TVFanatic for all your TV scoop!

The loss of Happy Endings may be the big time gain of New Girl.

According to TV Line, Damon Wayans Jr. is nearing a deal to return to the Fox sitcom in some capacity on Season 3.

The actor appeared on the New Girl pilot as the character of Coach, only to then leave for Happy Endings when ABC picked up that sitcom. But now that it's officially been canceled, there's a very good chance Wayans will make his way back to the loft.

To do battle with Lamorne Morris' Winston? To just meet his old friends at the bar? It's unclear at the moment, as is the number of episodes in which Coach would appear.

But Jake Johnson is on record as saying he'd welcome Wayans back in a heartbeat. Pardon the obvious pun, but might his New Girl story have a happy ending after all?

The love triangle lives!

Fox has confirmed that Nurse Jackie star Merritt Wever will reprise her role as Elizabeth on New Girl Season 3, helping to complicate Schmidt's romantic life by appearing in at least two episodes.

When we last saw this pair on the New Girl Season 2 finale, Schmidt was running away (literally) from a choice between Elizabeth and CeCe.

The third season of this hilarious sitcom premieres on September 17, with fans also excited over another piece of casting news:

Damon Wayans Jr. will likely return in some capacity as Coach.

Another family member is coming to New Girl.

Having already met Nick's parents and siblings, along with Mr. and Mrs. Day, executive producer Liz Meriwether confirms to TV Guide that her hilarious sitcom will introduce viewers to Jess' sister at some point on Season 3.

Is there any chance non-fiction will meet fiction and Bones star Emily Deschanel will slide over to a different Fox series for a week?

"I have a feeling that Emily has a pretty busy schedule, [but] I'm excited to cast the sister,"Meriwether says, adding that this sibling may cause some trouble for Jess. "I think it'll be really fun."

Hmmm.... so Emily is out? What about Krysten Ritter?

Submit your casting suggestions and set your DVR for the New Girl Season 3 premiere on Tuesday, September 17.

A couple of familiar faces have booked guest-starring gigs on New Girl.

Angela Kinsey (The Office) and Eva Amurri (Californication) will both appear on Episode 2 of Season 3, according to TV Guide.

The former will come on board as a snobby teacher who works at Jess' school, someone turned off by this character's approach to the job; while Amurri (pictured) will reprise her role as Schmidt's competitive colleague, Beth.

New Girl Season 3 premieres on Tuesday, September 17 and will pick up mere moments after Schmidt sprinted away from making a decision between Cece and Elizabeth (Merritt Wever, who will return for at least two episodes).

"He genuinely cares about both women and he's just so confused about what to do," executive producer Liz Meriwether teases to TV Guide. "He's forced to take desperate measures to figure it out. He potentially does some things that are not good." We hear those things may include juggling both women, which Beth schemes to expose when she pops back up."

We will also meet Jess' sister at some point on Season 3.

Yes, there was a song about a cat, a bad Toni Morrison impression, a heated debate about the validity of the moon landing and other pops of New Girl's trademark whimsy - but "Double Date" stands apart in the show's history as the darkest episode of the series to date.

And this is a show that turned an episode about Nick's dead dad into an adorable Elvis karaoke party, so I mean, it went dark for real.

Unlike, say, New Girl Season 2's  "Tinfinity," or other previous episodes that dealt with the emotionally tumultuous tumblings of Schmidt and Cece's relationship, there was no soothing treacle here, no "this hurts but everything is gonna be fine" moment, no Queen song to ratchet up the drama and emotions.

In fact, this episode was the exact opposite of "Tinfinity." Instead of that episode's pain of lost potential, "Double Date" was filled with the agony of ruin, of there being no potential left. "Double Date" was brutal.

Even the pacing of "Double Date" was unusual - in the episode's first moments, I thought I was somehow playing in fast forward mode, the talking was so clipped and speedy. Sure, the episode was still stuffed with the standard shmorgasboard of excellent New Girl quotes (there was a great one about a sexual role-playing game involving Southern lawyers that I don't feel quite comfortable transcribing here), but there was a growing sense of bleakness throughout the episode that couldn't be eclipsed by a million horny lawyers in itchy bras.

And at the end, there was nothing but hurt feelings, terrifying emotional threats and an angry man covered in pie, an unequivocally unusual move for the show.

As Jess and Nick have moved into a comfy, stable existence of true love and motorcycle helmet sex, Winston and Schmidt have taken their spots as the truly far-out members of the Loft Force.

Which has been great... for Winston. After two seasons of not having much to do, I feel like I finally got my episode where Winston was truly a star, on equal footing with all the others. His hostile takeover of the communal table at Pica was brilliant, the only pure comedy in this emotionally draining episode. Winston's remove from the loft drama has held his character back from the spotlight in the past, but it worked here, and may prove an asset in the rest of the season. Perhaps in Ferguson the Smoosh-Face Cat, he has finally found his ideal comedy foil. Here's to hoping.

But for Schmidt, the change has been less beneficial; he's someone who's spent a good decade laboring to just be a regular dude, and with that taken away from him, I feel like all bets are off.

And so, while this episode had fewer gags-per-minute than usual and was hard to watch at times, I thought it was an important accomplishment: this may be the first network TV show to tackle what happens to the late-20s friendship units when some people pair off and others are left all alone. The real result isn't something cute from Friends that ends in hugs and a pet monkey - the truth is probably something far uglier and more complex.

And we may be about to see it play out. As Nick and Jess ended the episode further confirming their love for each other while Schmidt stomped off, fuming in peach cobbler, I saw closing of ranks within the loft  Will this be war? Is winter coming?

Is the future of the couple known as "Jessick" (or "Ness," if you prefer) in danger? Should we take Schmidt at his word? If he leaves the loft, will he be replaced by Ferguson the Cat?

Like many a fine comedy, New Girl deals in a heightened version of reality and human behavior.

In the past, I've seen shades of everything on this show from Friends to...well, fine, mostly Friends, and occasionally some other stuff, too. But "The Captain" reminded me of nothing so much as a lost episode of How I Met Your Mother.

Is this a good thing? Well, yes and no.

In the plus corner, Jess and Nick are a sloppier and more realistic pairing than ever walked through the doors of MacLaren's Pub, which makes them way more appealing to watch.

It's tough to keep a character grounded in some sense of realism when, for example, they're preparing to perform a degrading, nautically-themed sex act. But Zooey Deschanel and Jake Johnson have pulled off the rare trick of doing something cartoonishly absurd without getting cartoony themselves, anchoring their performance in still-relatable emotions and reactions.

The chemistry between Deschanel and Johnson does a lot of the heavy lifting in this particular department - their combustible romantic energy is unmatched in current network TV comedy, and, in fact, it can rescue the show when it sometimes spins out of control.

But I was disappointed to see Schmidt watered down to a dime-store Barney Stinson in this episode. Though there are plenty of parallels between those two characters - both men are soft-hearted comedic anti-heroes who only get into trouble because they're very insecure and also have very specific preferences about their suit tailoring, for example - but Max Greenfield's Schmidt is more of a sweetly wounded bird-cum-metrosexual doofus.

He's less compelling than usual here, where he seems to be trying on Stinson's scheming 'master of the universe' type personality. To see him getting the better of Jess and Nick as they each naively fell right into his trap (mere moments after discussing his desire to set a trap!), I did feel like I was watching a different kind of show, with his more typical Schmidt-style capering at the end mixing in oddly with the previous action. And Schmidt's love of Billy Zane in Titanic was even reminiscent of Barney's ongoing affection for The Karate Kid's William Zabka (yes, someone had to say it, okay?).

Schmidt, as he has been in the past, is one of New Girl's greatest strengths - if not the show's singular greatest strength - and though his descent into darkness this season has helped grow the character, it's also made him a little less focused. Where is "Big Guy" in all of this?

On the subplot front, I continue to adore the development and cultivation of Winston's personal weirdness, which, as he so ably pointed out in one of tonight's best New Girl quotes, still doesn't stop him from being the sanest person in the house. This season, Winston is finally beginning to come into his own, both as a person bizarre enough to be okay living in a house full of Jess's failed craft projects and Schmidt's failed erotic murals, and also as a person even-keeled enough to want nothing to do with the loft drama. It only took two entire seasons, but I finally feel like I understand what the hell he's doing there.

And finally, most importantly... what does "The Captain," with its spyglasses, dolphin sounds and bottomless shame, actually entail? I have no idea, but I hope we get a guide to it, a la New Girl Season 1's "True American," some time soon. Internet, you've helped me realize every other asinine idea I've had in my life; don't fail me now!

Can order possibly be restored in the loft? Are Schmidt and Cece ever going to find their way back together? What am I supposed to take away from the fact that Nick has a Jim Croce poster in his room??!

Damon Wayans Jr. is moving in. And someone on New Girl is moving out.

According to E! News, the Fox sitcom will solve the problem of a returning Coach by shaking up the series and having this character move back in to the loft as a roommate.

The question, of course: Who will he be replacing?

It's not who you think, E! claims, while adding that the cast member in question will NOT be leaving the show. Just the apartment.

So... will it be Winston, simply because he's crazy? Schmidt because he isn't very popular these days? Or either Jess or Nick in order to keep their relationship fresh?

Take your best guess now!

Last week on New Girl, we watched Schmidt try to break up Nick and Jess by playing on their weaknesses. While "The Captain" definitely made everyone really uncomfortable and press pause for a moment, I think this week Nick and Jess hit their first real snag.

"The Box" featured a big enough fight for them to both stop and say "can this really work out?"

When couples get over the honeymoon phase and the real stuff sets in, that's when a relationship gets complicated. Roommates dating has always been risky because... what will happen if they don't work out?

Right now we're in New Girl season 3 and it's a relatively successful sitcom and will hopefully continue for a bit longer. Are writers really going to keep a couple together for the entire series? Likely not. Whether it's How I Met Your Motheror The Vampire Diaries, the main couple is always at risk. 

I think all loyal viewers of New Girl could've predicted that the first big issue would come from the fact that Nick is... how do I put this...not a completely functioning member of society. As Jess so awkwardly pointed out, he doesn't have a bank account, he doesn't pay taxes and he apparently even has a non-functioning LLC that is getting billed. The guy keeps a box of important documents stashed in his closet to be ignored. Jess is Miss Responsible. She couldn't resist taking the money from Nick's inheritance and trying to settle up some of his bills.

However, maybe Jess should've heeded Winston's advice and just let Nick do his thing. There's a bunch of ways to look at what went down in this episode. Let's evaluate: First and foremost it's Nick's money to spend and nobody else's. Going through someone else's things and spending their money, even if it's in their best interest, is disrespectful. Unless that person is legally under your care like a child or dependent, it's just not right. 

Are we ever gonna get to the point where you stop working on me? Or instead of changing me, maybe once Jess, see it my way. | permalink

On the opposite side of the coin, Nick clearly needs a push in a better direction. Not paying your taxes is illegal and not having a bank account isn't very smart. Winston may know to leave well enough alone if he doesn't want to fight with Nick, but Winston's still out $1,900. Jess disrespected her boyfriend's property and privacy, but in the end he thanked her for it. I highly doubt that fight would have gone that way in real life. 

Bottom line: when you love someone, which like these two do even though they haven't declared it yet, you love their flaws too. Does that mean you can't try and guide them on a better path? No, of course you can. But there are boundaries and Jess overstepped hers. She even had to fake yell at the teller in the end over the processing fee as a show of good faith to Nick that she was on his side. 

My concern here is that I'm at the bottom of the review and I've barely spoken about the former funniest member of this series: Schmidt. You had Schmidt going to a rabbi played by Jon Lovitz. That should've been a gold mine for comedic performances. Instead it was mediocre. Despite their chemistry, I worried this is turning into the Nick and Jess show.

Damon Wayans Jr. needs to move in already and shake things up!

First things first: yes, "Keaton" was funny - very funny, in fact - and it featured some brutally clever New Girl quotes (I've never heard a "Multiplicity" joke that I didn't like, it's true).

Yes, Joey Ramona Quimby is an excellent Halloween costume idea, and yes, having Winston think that he looks like David Letterman is exactly the touch of light, playful insanity that has really made his character pop this season.

But guys: we need to talk about Schmidt.

New Girl has come a long, long way from being that sorta-fun, sorta-annoying show about the girl from Elf. Over the past year, it's developed in leaps and bounds, and in New Girl Season 2, the show established itself as finely-tuned and totally essential TV comedy.

New Girl Season 3 seems to be focused on taking dramatic steps to make sure that the show doesn't rest on its laurels; it is pushing in many directions at once, seemingly doing anything to grow, whether that means finally developing Winston's personality, giving Nick and Jess a surprisingly healthy chemistry (which flies in the face of everything said about the possibility of their having a relationship over the first two season, but whatever), or totally breaking Schmidt.

Intellectually, at least, I applaud this boundary-pushing. There is something to be said for a popular network comedy refusing to get comfortable, to never embrace the steady groove of crowd-pleasing material that will result in its eventual slow decline.

But those laurels the show is determined not to rest on...they were good laurels. New Girl Season 2, especially the second half of the season, was modern sitcom writing at its whip-smart finest. And while twisting and torturing Schmidt until he turns into an unlikeable dick (or reveals himself to have been one the entire time, perhaps) is an artistically exciting move... I am not sure that I like watching it.

Schmidt has been the comedic backbone of this show from day one, nailing the majority of the laughs in that underwhelming first season. Though changes and revisions to the Loft dynamic are necessary following Nick and Jess pairing up, the Dickening of Schmidt just leaves a bad taste in my mouth (pardon any unintentional puns here, folks). I'm not even asking whether it's necessary, I'm just not sure it works. The highest good in a show like this is the joke, and I'm just not sure that miserable Schmidt is very funny. Which is a damned shame.

Which is not to say that this episode wasn't funny (very funny, in fact), or that I won't wake up at 4 a.m. tonight, softly chuckling to myself about "Keatonpotatoes@aol.com" (because I definitely will). But this episode - this new Schmidt character arc, overall - begs the question: Is taking a character to the dark side always better? Is this show enriched by having Schmidt seemingly lose everything that tied him to this earth? Is darker deeper, somehow? It's a valid question in our anti-hero-happy era, and not one that I necessarily have an answer for.

Having Schmidt turn his back on everyone and everything he's had in the first two seasons is an unexpected choice, a creatively engaging choice...but is it all that funny?

Is Schmidt really leaving? Will the Loftafarians ever be able to make up? Does Winston actually kind of look like Letterman, a tiny bit? Like kind of around his mouth area a little? No, just me?

It's been a tough year for Schmidt on New Girl.

Caught between two loves - CeCe (Hannah Simone) and Elizabeth (Merritt Wever) - he ended up losing them both by cheating on them both... and viewers have been watching him spiral out of control since, to the point that he moves out of the loft on New Girl Season 3 Episode 6.

This week, though, a blast from the past arrives in the form of Coach, who we haven't seen since the series pilot when Damon Wayans Jr. had to pass on being a series regular due to his role on ABC's Happy Endings.

We grabbed some time with Max Greenfield on the set of Hot In Cleveland, where he was spending his week off from New Girl filming an episode that will air in 2014.

What will it be like having Coach back amongst the friends? Can the guys party hard like they used to? Does the actor want to see Schmidt and CeCe together? Watch for answers:

Max Greenfield Q&A

New Girl Season 3 airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Fox.

Random re-writes of an established character’s personality? Totally manufactured and easily resolvable conflicts that somehow still take the whole episode to fix? A ham-fisted and tired sitcom premise dressed up in ‘adorkable’ drag? Guys, was I watching New Girl Season 1 just now??

After an amazing New Girl Season 2, followed by a decent run of New Girl Season 3 episodes, New Girl Season 3 Episode 7 finally let me down.

Okay, this episode did not actually achieve New Girl Season 1 levels of letting-me-down-ness—Zooey Deschanel has grown by leaps and bounds as a comedienne since the first season, and is now vital and very funny part of the ensemble, which is one of the strongest in network TV.

But despite all of that, New Girl Season 3 Episode 7 still reminded me of those dark, early days, when confused character motivations, go-nowhere plots, and forced jokes were the norm for this show.

Nick and Jess end the episode...basically exactly where they were in their relationship before Coach showed up. Coach went away, presumably to never return (or at least not for a few more seasons). No other part of the plot really moved forward over the half hour. Which wouldn't be a problem, if the episode was up to the show's usual comedic standards. Unfortunately, this one just felt like no one was at the wheel--and I, like poor, confused Winston, felt myself the victim of a bait-and-switch.

Speaking of Winston: his “bunny money” screw-up was the only part of the episode that really worked for me. I mean, who among us hasn’t accidentally made a horrible mistake while we were just trying to have a little fun and impress Damon Wayans Jr.? It was the most genuinely felt moment in the entire episode, the only one that featured New Girl’s trademark blend of out-of-left field wackiness and total emotional realness. Everything else felt canned and under-written.

I only get mad at New Girl because I love it so—I know that it can do better, so it breaks my heart whenever the show completely phones it in. After the excellent second season, this little situation comedy really began to blossom into the Friends of its era—a show about hot, semi-insane people in weird situations that somehow was both hilarious and completely emotionally resonant.

But now, for some reason, New Girl seems hell-bent on becoming, say, the Joey of its era instead. In a network comedy landscape where nothing is rising up to replace off-the-air hits like The Office, I thought New Girl had a good shot at becoming the network comedy of its time. But it seems to be backing away from that lofty responsibility, and into being just another good-enough show that uses great actors to cover up for uninspired writing. Don’t do it, New Girl! I’ll be there for you, but only if you’re there for me, tooooooo, okay?

Did you appreciate Coach's return? Am I being too hard on this episode? Will Schmidt stop messing around and just move back in already?

Watch New Girl Season 3 Episode 7

Coach will be calling plays well into 2014 on Fox.

The network announced yesterday that Damon Wayans Jr. will continue his reprisal of this character through New Girl Season 3, sticking around as a special guest star who often hangs out with his former roommates.

Watch New Girl Season 3 Episode 7

The actor was part of the original New Girl cast, only could not continue past the pilot after ABC picked up Happy Endings, a series which has since been canceled.

As a result, Wayans made his return on this Tuesday, with the sitcom enjoying an 11 percent ratings bump from its previous fresh outing, likely making this an easy decision for producers.

Let's just hope there are fewer strips clubs in Coach's future.

The illustrious Miss Joni Mitchell once said, "You don't know what you got 'til it's gone."

And while I can't 100% confirm that she was talking about New Girl Season 3, I am starting to think that that's the most likely scenario.

Because, you see, New Girl Season 3 Episode 8  brought my high hopes for this show to an end... or at the very least, put them on pause.

Did my hopes end with Coach's sub-Rob Schneider comedy song? Or with the sidelining of many of the most compelling characters for a lame plot about exercising and a weird "Hey, this guy can't do fitness!" montage that belonged on, I don't know, According to Jim?

Maybe they ended with the revelation that Schmidt had moved out to the apartment across the hall, and has been replaced in the loft by Coach - a Poochie-style move if I ever saw one - with almost no comment. Or maybe it was just that this was a disjointed episode, seemingly pulled together from a dozen other scrapped show ideas.

Most likely, it was the weight of all of these problems piled on top of each other, crushing the life out of this show, despite everyone's still-excellent comic timing and physical comedy skills.

I do want to make it clear that I'm not trashing the show itself, necessarily. Every actor on New Girl is incredibly skilled, and at the total top of their comedy game. The physical comedy delivered by every actor - and especially Zooey Deschanel - is notable, and there are still enough New Girl quotes that gave me a chuckle.

But the show's direction is making some questionable turns. Nick's sharp edges have been sanded too far down, making him less of a loose cannon and more of a loser. Schmidt's move out of the loft doesn't seem to matter to anyone except Schmidt, making him much closer to an "Andre from The League" than the brilliant, bitchy man-baby we've all come to love.

And Schmidt and Cece are two of the sharpest assets that this show has, but they seem to have been pushed into the background in favor of...Coach.

It's not Coach's fault, of course. He's not the problem, he's a symptom. New Girl, at first, seemed to be handling life post-Nick-and-Jess very deftly, building up new conflicts to replace the "will they or won't they?" tension that animated much of New Girl Season 2. But those conflicts seem to have been quickly deflated, with Coach's arrival placed on as a kind of a Band-Aid over the plot, to distract or re-direct.

I do think New Girl can pull itself out of this, because it has lifted itself out of greater quagmires than this before--like, for example, most of New Girl Season 1.

But I don't know that the show wants to. New Girl had a recent bump in ratings in fact, with New Girl Season 3 Episode 7, so there's probably no motivation to change course. And you'll certainly go broke and insane trying to please TV recappers.

But for a show with so much potential - a show that convinced me that Zooey Deschanel just maybe-kinda-sorta could be a Lucille Ball for a new generation - I really hope that they get back on the horse, and get back to making the sharp comedy that I know they can.

I did love Winston's "Ironside" joke, though. So at least there was that.

Is Schmidt permanently out of the loft? Is Coach permanently in? Can Coach technically even be a "Poochie" if he was on the original show pilot?