Even though it premiered over a decade ago, we’re still laughing at how crazy 2 Broke Girls really was. This wasn’t just a show about two waitresses (played by Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs) and a side hustle; instead, it was one of the most provocative shows on television, with characters that filled each episode with more dirty jokes than you can fit in a jumbo-sized pancake.
Watching these old eps got us wondering: how was this show created in the first place? Did CBS know just how nasty things were going to get, or were they taken by surprise? And just how did this naughty show get around FCC regulations limiting what characters can and cannot say on television shows?
The answers to each question are guaranteed to shock you. Just keep reading to learn the true story of how 2 Broke Girls nearly broke television!
Major interest from multiple networks
2 Broke Girls is downright infamous for its risque sense of humor. Because of that, you might think this is the kind of show that would make many networks nervous and that CBS was just the only one willing to gamble on this sexy series. However, the truth is that 2 Broke Girls was courted heavily by multiple networks from the very beginning!
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Broke Girls‘ co-creator Michael Patrick King said, “There was interest from Fox, CBS and ABC. A bidding war [ensued].” This was flattering, of course, but there were some downsides, including Fox asking if they could gender swap the show’s premise. Fortunately, the show’s creators held firm, eventually partnering with CBS. As it turns out, this network didn’t mind that the show was so naughty…in fact, they really liked it!
A deliberately transgressive show
CBS is obviously a very popular network, but it’s not one that most of us would associate with transgressive programming. That’s something viewers generally associate more with Fox (which gave birth to Married…With Children and Family Guy) and NBC (home to both the zany comedy of Community and the gory ghoulishness of Hannibal). As luck would have it, though, CBS just happened to be in the mood for a rebelliously sexy show and bought the rights to 2 Broke Girls.
By all accounts, CBS was happy with the risque humor from the beginning. Audiences were, too, which is why the raunchiness kept getting notched up in later seasons. As co-leading lady Kat Dennings later said on CBS This Morning,, “I feel like, now, the people that have been watching from the beginning kind of expect it, so we sort of let them down if we’re not a little bit shocking.”
In this way, we can honestly say that 2 Broke Girls never let us down. We were shocked a little more each episode, all the way to the end!
How ‘2 Broke Girls’ got away with breaking the rules
Want to know what the biggest fans and the biggest haters of 2 Broke Girls have in common? Simple: each group took one look at the show’s raunchy dialogue and dirty joke humor and asked themselves, “How the heck can they show this on TV?” After all, the FCC tightly regulates what networks are allowed to show, and much of 2 Broke Girls’ humor seems like the kind of thing you’d expect the feds to shut down as soon as humanly possible.
As it turns out, the show’s writers knew exactly what the FCC rules are and exactly how to break them. For example, most of these rules dictate the words and phrases that cannot be used on the air. But that doesn’t mean you can’t refer to those words in creative ways, which is what 2 Broke Girls did in every episode. By using clever innuendo, they could make references to one crazy sexual situation after another. And unless they used the exact banned words, nothing kept them from bringing these naughty scripts to life.
Next time you watch an episode, pay attention to how 2 Broke Girls talks about sex without using explicit vulgar language. Just like that, they skirted FCC rules and delivered possibly the raunchiest show in sitcom history!
Defying the haters with an Emmy
Considering it was on the air for six seasons, it’s fair to say that 2 Broke Girls was a commercial success. However, that didn’t always translate to critical acclaim. Many critics dragged the show’s first season, complaining about elements like the nonstop jokes and dirty humor making the series feel cheap and lowbrow.
Fortunately, 2 Broke Girls won over another set of critics…the ones handing out the most prestigious awards! It was nominated for a whopping 12 Emmy Awards, ultimately taking home the trophy for Outstanding Art Direction for a Multi-Camera Series. All this Emmy attention confirms something fans have known from the beginning: 2 Broke Girls is one of the best sitcoms ever made!