2 Broke Girls

CBS brought Fall hit 2 Broke Girls to the Winter TCA, and stars Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs joined series co-creator Michael Patrick King to talk about the comedy series. King was taken to task by reporters for the jokes on the show that rely on stereotyping and sex, and he took the time to defend himself and the show's humor.

• King was asked about the depiction of racial stereotypes on 2 Broke Girls, and he said that "the big story about race on our show is that so many are represented." King said that "every character is a stereotype when it's born" and that the show "started with two: a blonde and a brunette," and if you have enough time, "you get to shade the characters."
• As for the sex jokes, King called the brand of humor on 2 Broke Girls "classy dirty." "Everyone loves a good naughty joke," King said, and he tried to give it a positive spin: "I think that our show is a big ballsy comedy, but it has a bigger heart than it does balls."
• Dennings thinks that Max's humor is enlightening, saying that "every joke is an insight to Max's life." Even if her jokes are mean or dirty, King said that due to her tough life, "humor is our only way to have Max survive."
• There was one subject everyone was delighted to talk about: Chestnut the horse. Behrs said they felt "so close!" to Rocky the horse, and Dennings recounted a time she teared up because she was rehearsing a scene with Rocky, and he nuzzled her face. King said that Rocky responds to Dennings's voice and joked that he wished Rocky "was here right now!"

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

Since when is being broke funny?

Since CBS released its new sitcom 2 Broke Girls, in which actress Beth Behrs plays a recently humbled heiress, Caroline, who moves to Brooklyn to hide out after her father loses their family fortune in a Ponzi scheme.

Caroline winds up living with her perpetually poor fellow waitress, Max, played by Kat Dennings, and the two hatch a plan to save their wages and start a cupcake business.

Recession-era cupcake businesses have been all the rage lately (see: Bridesmaids), but shows addressing personal finances — or lack thereof — with humor and honesty is something we don’t see very often. Caroline and Max manage to plan for their future while hustling for their present — and survive on a shoestring with admirable grace. We love that these characters live richly, even on a tight salary: After all, that's what LearnVest is all about.

And, of course, any show where the leading ladies discuss interest rates is right up our alley.

Check out our exclusive talk with Behrs on her penny-pinching past, her first pair of Louboutins — and why she still chooses to live with a roommate in real life. It turns out that we can learn something from celebs about money.

LearnVest: As a 26-year-old in Hollywood, how much of Caroline and Max’s financial struggle can you relate to?

Beth Behrs: Literally up until we shot the pilot, I was working as a nanny five days a week and then as a bartender and concierge at The Geffen Playhouse on the weekends. So, I can definitely relate to being broke, right out of college and working tons of odd jobs to just pay the rent.

Real-life waitress stories and more from Behrs.

CBS's new Fall comedy 2 Broke Girls recently earned a whole season thanks to good ratings, so we thought we'd ask you all why you're loving the show. The sitcom's broke-but-beautiful girls, Max (Kat Dennings) and Caroline (Beth Behrs), are proving to be a charming if unlikely comedy team. As capable as the stars are, I have mixed feelings about the writing — it's quippy and full of pop culture references, but some of the jokes are starting to get repetitive (there could be a dangerous drinking game for every time Max references being poor). However, I plan on staying tuned to see if the comedy finds its footing, especially since I'm enjoying Behrs so much. Your turn — are you watching 2 Broke Girls, and if so, tell me why!

Photo courtesy of CBS

2 Broke Girls is another Fall TV success story: CBS has just ordered a full season of the freshman comedy starring Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs. After three episodes that earned good ratings in its Monday night time slot after Two and a Half Men, it's the first new series on CBS that the network has given a full season to. If you're keeping score, Up All Night, Whitney, and New Girl have also been picked up for the season, while just The Playboy Club has been canceled. Did you expect 2 Broke Girls to be the latest TV show to get a pick-up?

Photo courtesy of CBS

The stars of CBS's new comedy 2 Broke Girls, Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs, showed up at TCA today to talk about their Brooklyn-set sitcom about two waitresses from extremely different backgrounds (Dennings's character, Max, has always struggled, where Behrs's Caroline is a former heiress who has just lost all her money). Series creators Michael Patrick King (of Sex and the City) and Whitney Cummings (who was just at TCA on Monday for her new NBC show, Whitney) also chatted about the genesis of the series and the edginess of the humor. Here are highlights:

• Dennings, best known for movies like Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and this Summer's Thor, was asked why she was making the transition to TV. She mentioned that although things were "actually picking up," she was frustrated about doing smaller films that no one ever saw. She wanted "to do something where people will definitely see it . . . because I'm a hard worker." While Dennings said she hadn't thought about TV, the fact that Cummings and King were behind the show made it seem "like a gift" and that she felt "just really lucky this came along."
• King's goal for the series is for it to be "as contemporary and as edgy as two broke girls would be today if they were living in Williamsburg," while also striving for authenticity. That's why he wanted Dennings, calling her "a legitimate outsider girl" who makes the comedy real. In her costar Behrs, King said they "discovered this beautiful character," but Dennings is their "amazing, authentic outsider."

Keep reading to find out more about 2 Broke Girls, including how it's in sharp contrast to King's prior project Sex and the City.