"New Girl"
Tuesday, 9 p.m. on Fox

Either I was in a terrible mood the three times I watched this or I'm immune to the charms of the admittedly adorable Zooey Deschanel, but I found this a teeny bit disappointing (Disclosure: nearly everyone else counts this as one of their favorites of the season).

Hear me out. Zooey plays Jess, a goofy girl who is dumped by her cheating boyfriend and ends up with three male roommates who don't quite know what to make of her. The premise is fine, and the dialogue is often funny. But there are times when "charmingly goofy Jess" morphs into "annoying Kristin Wiig SNL character," and that's where they lose me. I buy that Jess is nerdy and offbeat, but I'm supposed to buy that the same girl who wears a cute black dress out with the guys later dons overalls for a hot date, and needs her supermodel best friend to come over and dress her in normal clothes? There are other Jess situations/habits that fall into the "A Little Bit Goes A Long Way" category, and the writers should be mindful of that.

All that said, "New Girl" has lots of promise (Justin Long will have a recurring role) and I'm not giving up! And there's a great rendition of "I've Had the Time of My Life" at the end that makes up for the other missteps. Damon Wayans Jr. ("Happy Endings") appears in the pilot but will be replaced by Lamorne Morris in subsequent episodes).