S3 E12 - Basketsball

Who's That Girl? A New Girl Podcast

This podcast covers New Girl Season 3, Episode 12, Basketsball, which originally aired on January 14, 2014 and was written by Rebecca Addelman and directed by Lorene Scafaria.

Here’s a quick recap of the episode:

Jess tries to bond with Coach by pretending to like basketball which leads to a feud with Nick. Meanwhile, Winston shadows Schmidt at work while he’s training a new guy!

We discuss Pop Culture References such as:

• BASKETBALL - This episode features many basketball references as the premise deals with Jess becoming a Detroit Pistons fan to befriend Coach, despite the fact that Nick’s favorite team is their rivals, the Chicago Bulls.
  • October to June
  • Detroit Pistons
  • Chicago Bulls
  • Pistons vs Bulls Rivalry
  • Michael Jordan
  • Tom Thibodeau
  • Josh Smith
  • Scottie Pippen

Additional Pop Culture References such as:

• Disposable Camera - Nick took “sexy, sensual, private pics” on a disposable camera for Jess. A disposable camera is a simple box camera meant to be used once. Most use fixed-focus lenses. Some are equipped with an integrated flash unit, and there are even waterproof versions for underwater photography. The height of the flash-equipped disposable cameras craze was around 2005.
• [Edward] Snowden - Nick said he didn’t want his “sexy, sensual, private pics” to be on his phone because he didn’t want them “beamed right into Snowden’s pocket”. Edward Joseph Snowden is an American former computer intelligence consultant who leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013, when he was an employee and subcontractor. His illegal disclosures prompted a cultural discussion about national security and individual privacy.
• Guy Fieri - Nick titled one of his “sexy” pics the “Guy Fieri”. Guy Ramsay Fieri is an American restaurateur, author, and an Emmy Award winning television presenter. He co-owns three restaurants in California, licenses his name to restaurants in New York City and Las Vegas, and is known for hosting various television series on the Food Network. He’s also known for his iconic spiky bleached hair and goatee look.
• Paula Abdul - When Jess was trying to tempt Nick during their sex stand-off, she started reading what a piston does and Nick said he was doing “a little Paula Abdul stuff.” Paula Julie Abdul is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers, later choreographed music videos for those like Janet Jackson, and soon thereafter had a successful career as a musician. Abdul was also one of the original judges on the television series American Idol, and has since appeared as a judge on The X Factor, Live to Dance, So You Think You Can Dance, and The Masked Dancer.
• Training Day - Winston shares that Training Day is his favorite movie. Training Day is a 2001 American crime thriller that focuses on two LAPD narcotics officers over a 24-hour period in the gang-ridden neighborhoods of Westlake, Echo Park, and South Central Los Angeles. The film received numerous accolades and nominations, with Denzel Washington's performance earning him the Academy Award for Best Actor and Ethan Hawke being nominated for Best Supporting Actor.
• When Jess and Nick are exploring what rivalries are, they mention a few rivals:
  • Yankees & Red Sox - Like the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox major league baseball teams are arguably the fiercest rivalry in sports. In 1919, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold star player Babe Ruth to the Yankees, which was followed by an 86-year period in which the Red Sox did not win a World Series. This led to the popularization of a superstition known as the "Curse of the Bambino,” which was onte of the most well-known aspects of the rivalry.
  • Jean Valjean & Javert - Both Jean Valjean and Javert are fictional characters from Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables. The story’s main character, Jean Valjean, struggles to lead a normal life after serving a prison sentence for stealing bread to feed his sister's children during a time of economic depression and various attempts to escape from prison. Javert is a prison guard and then a police inspector, and his character is defined by his legalist tendencies and lack of empathy for criminals of all forms. Valjean and police Inspector Javert, who repeatedly encounters Valjean and attempts to return him to prison, have become archetypes in literary culture.
  • Hamlet - The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet's mother.

This episode we discuss which one of us is most likely to fake being into something to make friends, steal someone’s idea, have loose olives under your bed, and not support your partner’s team. We cover the moment where Schmidt shares that Ed out-sharked him to Cece and Winston as our “Schmidtism” this episode. For “Not in the 2020s” we chat about the men vs women dynamics and some of the ageism. For “Yes in the 2020s” we discuss the moment where Nick yells out how he was going to respectfully take Jess. We also give a brief look into Bob Gunton (Ed), the Guest Star we feature in this episode.

Also in this episode were the following guest stars who we do not discuss in the podcast: Gillian Vigman (Kim - Previously Discussed in S1E12), Selina Kaye (Waitress), and Adam Michna (Bar Patron).

We also chat about how the writers landed on this plotline but we did not find the bear this episode.

While not discussed in the podcast, we noted other references in this episode including:

• Half Nelson - One of the poses that Nick photographs himself in he calls the “Half Nelson”. The half nelson is a wrestling hold in which one arm is thrust under the corresponding arm of an opponent and the hand placed on the back of the opponent's neck. Most coaches refer to it as the easiest but most effective move in folkstyle wrestling, and it is very commonly used.

This episode got an 7/10 rating from both Kritika and Kelly and both had the same favorite character: Nick!

Thanks for listening and stay tuned for Episode 13!

Music: "Hotshot” by scottholmesmusic.com

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Website: https://smallscreenchatter.com/

Music: "Hotshot” by scottholmesmusic.com

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram or email us at [e-mail]!

Website: https://smallscreenchatter.com/