Though it ended in 2018, New Girl remains a show that is mentioned a lot in pop culture. Much talk hovers around it being called “Friends for a new generation” and it drew many comparisons to the popular series that began back in the 1990s. It makes sense. Both shows are funny and feature a core cast of a tight-knit group.
But it’s the friendships that people love. While everyone enjoyed the ensemble scenes in both Friends and New Girl,, fans adored the moments where members broke off into their own little subplot pairings. Sometimes they worked fantastically and other times, they didn’t click. With New Girl, we’re looking at the five friendships that were the best and five that never quite worked.
Worst: Coach And Cece
Coach was in the pilot episode but left when Damon Wayans Jr.’s role on Happy Endings continued. He returned after that show was canceled. Several seasons had passed and Coach came in unfamiliar with how the lives of the characters had changed. That included him setting his sights on Cece despite her being his friend’s ex-girlfriend.
The reason Cece and Coach are on this list is that their friendship wasn’t really anything of note. They went on some dates and though they were attracted to one another, they never made a love connection. Once that ended, their friendship was never really alluded to and there are no memorable moments between them.
Best: Nick And Jess
This is the driving relationship of the series. The “will they or won’t they” aspect is a highlight of the first season and fans rejoiced when they got together. But then something changed. The episodes with them as a couple didn’t work as well and the show suffered for it. That’s because they made better friends than lovers.
Even when they weren’t dating, these were two people who were always there for one another. They’d bend over backward and sometimes put their romantic relationships to the side to help each other. Nick and Jess were at their sweetest when they were just friends.
Worst: Coach And Winston
When Damon Wayans Jr. had to leave after the pilot, his character was replaced by Winston. Over the years, Winston was part of some of the show’s funniest moments and he fit right in with the cast. But he always kind of felt like a loner. That might’ve been because of the romances among his friends. He was a fifth wheel.
With Coach returning to the mix, you’d think they would’ve hit it off and become a highlight of the show. They had some moments, but their friendship never really took off. The thing they did that most people remember was trying to get their new neighbors to sleep with them and that wasn’t all that funny or interesting.
Best: Coach And Jess
While Coach struggled to get a connection with Cece, he found one that worked with Jess. There was a particularly sweet episode where Jess desperately wanted to be his friend. She lied about being into things he liked because she wanted to be more than his “friend’s girlfriend.”
Coach ultimately accepted her once the ruse was up and the two formed an adorable bond. Jess got Coach a job at her school and the two shared some delightful moments while there. Coach was a big part in helping her relationship with Ryan grow and showed that their friendship meant a lot to him.
Worst: Nick And Tran
Don’t get us wrong. The random friendship between Nick and Tran made for some hilarious scenes. The fact that Nick sat on a park bench and struck up a conversation with an elderly man he had never met before was brilliant. What made it better was how it became a running gag on the series.
That being said, it wasn’t exactly something you’d call a good friendship. Tran said next to nothing, meaning a lot of what happened was one-sided. There were also times where Tran seemed annoyed or put off by some of Nick’s antics. When Nick dated Tran’s granddaughter, she informed him that while he thinks of Tran as his best friend, the feeling is not mutual.
Best: Winston And Schmidt
A character who Winston hit it off with was Schmidt. The actors played well off each other and had a natural chemistry that made you believe in their friendship. It helped that their antics were often the source of the most comedy on the show. Finding out that Schmidt’s real name was Winston was priceless.
During a lot of episodes, Nick and Jess would be off doing their own thing. That left Schmidt and Winston plenty of time to engage in some of their fun shenanigans. As big a part as Nick and Jess’ relationship was for the show, the chemistry between Winston and Schmidt was more than enough to hold up the other end of things.
Worst: Cece And Winston
The friendship between Cece and Winston had so little development that even the show poked fun at it. After several seasons of barely interacting on their own, the series started a running gag around it. Winston would call their adventures a “classic Winston and Cece mess around”.
Cece would always respond by saying that was never a thing. These two had a handful of adorable and alluring moments, but they felt so few and far between that it could never measure up to what some of the other characters had built together. The highs were high, but there were far too few of them.
Best: Jess And Cece
Whenever we were shown flashbacks to Jess and Cece as kids, their friendship didn’t make sense. Cece was the popular girl and Jess was very awkward. However, the two made it work to the point where it was universally loved by audiences. Hannah Simone and Zooey Deschanel had a natural chemistry that made the opposites work so well together.
Cece and Jess were fiercely loyal and always there for each other. The two almost never fought, though the one episode where they did proved to be one of the funniest in the show’s history. Other than a few early episodes, they never kept secrets from one another and are a shining example of a great pair of girlfriends on television.
Worst: Jess And Schmidt
Considering these are two characters who spent a ton of time together over the course of seven seasons, you would think their friendship would be strong. For starters, they had the awkward moment where they nearly hooked up early on in the show’s run. But that was just the tip of the iceberg.
Schmidt often caused a lot of problems in this friendship. He made it his mission to break up Jess and Nick at one point for no other reason than he was being a jerk. Schmidt also cheats on Jess’ best friend and causes a major problem within the entire gang.
Best: Nick And Schmidt
Though Nick and Schmidt haven’t been friends since childhood like Jess and Cece, the bond they formed at college is just as strong. This relationship was a focal point of the series and one that fans loved so much. The flashbacks to them in high school were always a highlight of the series.
Even when they had their low points, Nick and Schmidt were so important to one another. What made it all the more fun was that Schmidt loved their closeness, but the emotionally closed-off Nick could never bring himself to share his feelings. When the series finale rolled around, everyone knew Jess and Nick, as well as Cece and Schmidt, would get their happy endings. But the kicker was Nick finally admitting that he loved Schmidt. This was a bromance for the ages.
