Even though she’ll be seen in this summer’s highly anticipated Thor, Kat Dennings’ year has just gotten infinitely better. Dennings has become the first cast member of Whitney Cummings’ sitcom pilot Two Broke Girls on CBS.
Dennings will find herself in good hands as the pilot will not only come from the comedic mind of Cummings, but will also be co-written and executive produced by former Sex and the City writer and showrunner Michael Patrick King. Cummings and King are funny people, without question, so pairing them on a young, female-friendly sitcom seems like a match made in sitcom heaven
Two Broke Girls tells the story of Caroline, an upper-class woman who is down on her luck, and Max (Dennings), the girl who has been down on her luck her entire life. Despite their disparate upbringings, the two find themselves slinging greasy plates in a Brooklyn diner where they form an improbable alliance that just may bring a money-making business venture to fruition. The only catch being the $250,000 in start-up capital needed to make their dream come true.
Dennings is no stranger to comedy, having coincidentally gotten her start on Sex and the City in 2000 and then appearing in feature film funnies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, The House Bunny and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist – okay, only the first one was actually funny, but I found Dennings’ performances to be well done in all three. After having found steady work in so many films, the fact that Dennings could be coaxed back onto the small screen suggests Two Broke Girls might be as good as its buzz suggests.
Beyond cloning hit shows like CSI, Criminal Minds and NCIS, CBS also has a pretty strong stable of sitcoms. Shows like Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother have done well for the network and in doing so enjoyed longevity far beyond that of most sitcoms, thus proving CBS can cultivate a hit program for long-term investment. Should Two Broke Girls make it out of the pilot stages, Dennings could be looking at making the Eye network her home for years to come.
Since Cummings also has a deal with NBC that could potentially see her starring in her own sitcom, King may be left holding the bag on this one. While it’s a tad speculative to suggest Cummings would be spread too thin to work on both shows, it is easy to see King’s role becoming significantly greater in the event that she is.
Whatever may come of Cummings’ future involvement in the show, Two Broke Girls seems like it’s off to a pretty great start. Do you think Dennings’ involvement will make the role of Caroline more attractive to other actresses circling the pilot?
