You won’t find the CBS show 2 Broke Girls on our must-see TV list. It is crass and the opposite of PC gone mad. Instead it makes crude jokes about East Asians, Ukrainians, Poles, gays, bankers, blacks, poor people, rich people… you get the picture. So it was only a matter of time the show would take on Jews, especially as it plays in once-chasidic-cum-hipster Williamsburg. And we had to watch that.
The foul-mouthed Max and newly-poor Caroline, her father a WASP version of Bernie Madoff, who run a cupcake business out of their home are hired to bake cupcakes for a bar-mitzvah (cue lazy writing, as if “Esther Rochel” would ever believe the duo when they say their cupcakes are kosher).
From the moment the Jewish characters appear on screen, the direction the show has decided to take is clear – kitschy, abrasive and uneducated, which isn’t a surprise considering their treatment of people in general. The costumes are so cheap it makes you wonder about CBS’ budget. The fake beards and peyot are so ridiculous that you can forgive Max’s requisite joke about ZZ Top. And what was with the giant matzoh ball that looked like a peeled Idaho potato?
But the real cringing comes with the bar-mitzvah boy and his friend, who when first meeting the “cupcake ladies” kept their eyes firmly on the ground, only to return sounding like or hip-hop wannabes.
Despite this, the show had a few sweet moments, like Caroline’s attempts at peppering her conversation with Yiddishisms and Max’s fondness of Bubbie. And honestly, considering what other ethnicities are subject to on this show on a weekly basis, Jews got off easy.
