Broad City

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Broad city ilana glazer abbi jacobson amy poehler and seth rogen

Broad City is an American comedy television series, created by and starring Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson. It was developed from their web series of the same name, which was independently produced from 2009 to 2011. The creation of the web series began after Glazer received poor feedback on a project she and a partner had been working on. After expressing her frustration to Jacobson, the two decided to work on a project together, eventually creating the web series Broad City. The series is based on Glazer and Jacobson's real life friendship, and their attempt to "make it" in New York. Amy Poehler is one of Broad City's executive producers, and appeared in the webseries finale. The series premiered on Comedy Central on January 22, 2014.

The second season premiered on January 14, 2015 while the third season premiered on February 17, 2016. The series has also been renewed for a fourth and fifth season. On December 7, 2016, Abbi and Ilana announced August 2017 as the premiere date for the fourth season which is being shot in winter as opposed to their typical summer shooting schedule.

Synopsis

Broad City follows Ilana and Abbi, two Jewish American women in their twenties, who experience adventures of carelessness and frivolity in New York City. Ilana seeks to avoid working as much as possible while pursuing her relentless hedonism, and Abbi tries to make a career as an illustrator, often getting sidetracked into Ilana's schemes.

Main cast

Ilana Glazer as Ilana Wexler, a twenty-three-year-old woman from Long Island. She is a slacker and marijuana enthusiast who is often oblivious to how others react to her self-absorbed antics. For the majority of the series, Ilana worked at a nondescript sales company called Deals Deals Deals, but rarely did any work and often took breaks lasting hours. She was disdained by her coworkers because of her lazy attitude, but her passive boss Todd kept her employed due to his submissiveness. She was finally fired after posting the beastiality video "Mr. Hands" to the company Twitter account. She shares an apartment with a gay immigrant named Jaimé, and has an ongoing sexual relationship with Lincoln, a mild-mannered dentist. Although Ilana regards this relationship as "purely physical," much to Lincoln's dismay, she often exhibits genuine caring for him. Compared to her best friend Abbi, she is more free-spirited and sexually liberated, but every escapade has unintended consequences—which usually impact Abbi, who is reluctantly dragged into Ilana's schemes.

Abbi Jacobson as Abbi Abrams, a twenty-six-year-old woman from the Philadelphia Main Line. Like her best friend Ilana, she enjoys smoking marijuana, albeit less often. For the majority of the series, Abbi worked as a cleaner at a fitness center called Soulstice (a parody of, and named for Equinox and SoulCycle). She is eventually promoted to trainer and begins teaching fitness classes for the elderly. She is also a struggling illustrator who dreams of quitting Soulstice to pursue art full-time. Abbi endeavors to find a balance between being a responsible, self-sufficient adult while being fun-loving and free-spirited like Ilana. She has a roommate who is never seen, although her roommate's freeloading boyfriend Matt, called by his last name "Bevers", is always around. Abbi has a huge crush on her neighbor Jeremy, but manages to embarrass herself every time she's around him. They eventually sleep together, but break up after an argument over a dildo. At the end of Season 3, she begins dating her boss Trey, but attempts to keep it a secret out of embarassment. Abbi is the more level-headed of the two friends, but can lose her head when intoxicated or participating in competition.

Recurring cast

Hannibal Buress as Lincoln Rice, DDS – a successful pediatric dentist with whom Ilana has a recurring sexual relationship. He has romantic feelings for Ilana and wants to take their relationship further, but she is unreceptive to his advances. He is a funny, easygoing guy and often plays games and tells jokes with his dental patients. He is also a loyal friend to Abbi. In Season 3, he breaks up with Ilana to be monogamous with a new girlfriend.

Paul W. Downs as Trey Pucker – Abbi's boss at Soulstice. He is a genuinely nice guy and a hardcore health and fitness enthusiast. When he was 18, he made homemade masturbation videos under the name "Kirk Steele". For the majority of the series, he was oblivious to Abbi's desire to be a trainer and badgered her to clean things around the gym. Abbi and Trey began dating in Season 3, although Abbi attempted to keep it a secret out of embarrassment.

John Gemberling as Matthew "Matty" Bevers – Abbi's (always-absent) roommate's boyfriend who seems to never leave. He is a messy, disgusting freeloader who eats Abbi's food and lives in her apartment rent-free. In spite of this, he has been shown to have a sweet, sensitive side. He is oblivious to Abbi's disdain for him and considers them to be best friends.

Arturo Castro as James "Jaimé" Castro – Ilana's gay drug-dealing roommate. Jaimé is a Guatemalan immigrant who exhibits extreme guilt over what he perceives as wrongs he has committed against his friends; however, they are usually minor transgressions. He becomes an American citizen in Season 2.

Stephen Schneider as Jeremy Santos – Abbi's across-the-hall neighbor, on whom she has a big crush; he is polite and easy-going, but his mere presence reduces Abbi to nervous, regrettable behavior. Abbi and Jeremy eventually sleep together, but break up after she ruins his custom dildo.

Chris Gethard as Todd – Ilana's former boss at fictional web "deal" company Deals Deals Deals. He is generally submissive and ineffectual at attempting to curb Ilana's lack of commitment to the job.

Nicole Drespel as Nicole – Ilana's former co-worker, a serious worker who disdains Ilana and secretly documented her offensive activities in the office.

Eliot Glazer as Eliot - Ilana's gay brother who got a promotion at work requiring him to move to London, England.

Susie Essman as Bobbi Wexler - Ilana and Eliot's mom who lives on Long Island and loves high quality knock-off handbags.

Bob Balaban as Arthur Wexler - Ilana and Eliot's dad who lives on Long Island.

Production

Glazer and Jacobson met when they both attended courses at the Upright Citizens Brigade. In February 2010 they started their own web series on YouTube, which proved popular. Amy Poehler became aware of the series and mentored Glazer and Jacobson, becoming executive producer when the show came to TV. When Glazer and Jacobson wrote the pilot script, their characters were named Evelyn Wexler and Carly Abrams respectively, but ended up using their real first names instead. The pair continued writing most of the episodes together, with approximately half of the episodes to date bearing their names as writers.

Paul W. Downs, who produces and stars as Trey, has written several episodes on the series with Lucia Aniello, who has also produced and directed episodes on the series. Paul has written "Working Girls" (episode 1.3), "Knockoffs" (episode 2.4) and "Coat Check" (episode 2.9).

Ratings

Since its premiere in 2014, Broad City has performed well, averaging 1.2 million viewers per episode, becoming Comedy Central's highest-rated first season since 2012 among the younger demographics, including adults 18–34.

Despite initial commercial success and ongoing positive critical reviews, by March 2016 the show was receiving well under 1 million viewers, with less than 600,000 tuning in during the second week of the month.

Critical reception

The show has received critical acclaim. Review aggregation website Metacritic noted season 1 received "generally favorable reviews," giving it a score of 75 out of 100, based on reviews from 14 critics. Karen Valby from Entertainment Weekly described the show as a "deeply weird, weirdly sweet, and completely hilarious comedy." The Wall Street Journal referred to the show as "Sneak Attack Feminism." Critic Megan Angelo quotes Abbi Jacobson, main star of Comedy Central's Broad City: "If you watch one of our episodes, there’s not a big message, but if you watch all of them, I think, they’re empowering to women.” The A.V. Club critic Caroline Framke wrote that Broad City was "worth watching" despite its "well-trod premise," and that the series is "remarkably self-possessed, even in its first episode."

Season 1 of the show received a 96% "Certified Fresh" rating from Rotten Tomatoes, based on reviews from 23 critics, with the site's consensus stating, "From its talented producers to its clever writing and superb leads, Broad City boasts an uncommonly fine pedigree." The A.V. Club named Broad City the second best TV show of 2014 for its first season.

Season 2 received positive reviews, with Metacritic giving it a score of 89 out of 100, based on reviews from 8 critics, indicating "universal acclaim." Rotten Tomatoes gave the second season a rating of 100%, based on reviews from 11 critics, with the site's consensus: "Led by two of the funniest women on TV, Broad City uses its stars' vibrant chemistry to lend an element of authenticity to the show's chaotic yet enlightening brand of comedy."

Season 3 received positive reviews as well, with Metacritic giving it a score of 87 out of 100, based on reviews from 8 critics, indicating "universal acclaim." Ben Travers from Indiewire summarizes what he sees as the strengths of the first two episodes of season 3: "Each half hour feels as free-wheeling and wild as Ilana so boldly is, but also as meticulously put-together as Abby [sic] strives to be...the integration of its two creators attitudes into the core makeup of the series helps to illustrate how groundbreaking Broad City really is."

"Broad Fucking City" t-shirt incident

On March 23, 2015, college student Daniel Podolsky was removed from a Southwest Airlines flight which was grounded in St Louis after a gate attendant took issue with the Broad City t-shirt (which read "Broad Fucking City") he had been given as a handout at Comedy Central's SXSW event. Initially receiving coverage on a local Fox affiliate, KTVI, the story was picked up by Glenn Beck's The Blaze and quickly went viral, reaching the home pages of Buzzfeed, CNN, Vice News, and was also featured as the Moment of Zen on The Daily Show. Ilana Glazer responded by tweeting, "I love you, daniel podolsky," along with a link to the Blaze's story.

References

Broad City Wikipedia

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