I finished “Broad City” in less than a week and loved every minute of it.
It was the perfect show to get through my streaming slump — a female-driven comedy with hilarious side characters and just the right amount of heart.
The show started as a web series on YouTube in 2010 and began airing on Comedy Central in 2014. It features its creators Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson as characters loosely based on themselves named Ilana Wexler and Abbi Abrams.
The show follows these two women through their 20s as they deal with jobs, relationships, struggles and celebrations. Every episode features them and their lively friends as they live in New York City, usually involving a few missteps along the way.
My favorite part of “Broad City” has to be Ilana and Abbi’s real-life friendship — both on and off screen — which lasted before and continues through the show. There are not too many shows that put so much emphasis on female friendships, especially outside of the context of high school. It’s refreshing to see women living as adults with a best friend by their side.
Right now, when I sit in my dorm and reminisce about all the memories I have with my friends, “Broad City” fills a hole of platonic fulfillment I didn’t even realize was there. Either way, watching Abbi and Ilana walk around the streets of NYC and talk about their day was oddly comforting.
Sometimes I wish I had a friend like Ilana to create a video montage of my butt — to the tune of “100 Years” by Five for Fighting — for my birthday.
Besides the amazing representation of female best friends in their 20s, the comedy of “Broad City” felt very original.
Abbi and Ilana’s various romantic partners were usually quite interesting. The best of them by far, and the one with the most staying power, is Lincoln Rice: Ilana’s hookup buddy played by Hannibal Buress. Lincoln is a dentist who also has a pasta blog named The Al Dente Dentist — a fun detail that I always find hilarious.
Lincoln’s character, as well as the duo’s other friends, felt like complete people who had their quirks and were always supporting each other. Their presence always enhanced any episode.
One of my favorite episodes was the season five premiere titled “Stories.” The episode follows the duo as they celebrate Abbi’s 30th birthday by walking the length of Manhattan. Much of the story is told using first-person Instagram stories, which I felt was a new and personal idea.
Through the Instagram stories, the characters began to seem more like real people sharing their lives with the audience. The episode had all the hilarity and misadventures one comes to expect from “Broad City,” plus the captions and stickers we plaster all over social media.
I heard so much about “Broad City” from other people and it had been on my Hulu list for the longest time, but it feels right to just now get into it. As a college freshman, I feel like I’m entering a new stage of life. It only feels natural to follow Abbi and Ilana’s journey because we’re both going through new experiences — albeit, mine are far less interesting.
