Although critics might have never cared for 2 Broke Girls when the show was still on the air, the unexpectedly influential CBS sitcom still managed to find its way onto the Netflix top 10 almost 10 years after its series finale. Beginning in 2011, 2 Broke Girls ran until April 2017. The sitcom followed two best friends, Kat Dennings’ Max and Beth Behrs’ Caroline.
As Max and Caroline struggled to make ends meet, the pair invariably found themselves stumbling into all manner of absurd escapades in their attempts to make rent. A rare female-led sitcom at a time when they weren’t as common as they are now, 2 Broke Girls was met with largely negative reviews but maintained a sizable audience.
The show’s central conflict came from the differences between the two titular heroines. Max was raised in a working-class family, meaning she was used to getting by with less, whereas Caroline was the daughter of a billionaire and, as a result, struggled to adjust to the realities of life near the poverty line.
The very premise of 2 Broke Girls highlights the show’s status as a post-crash, recession-focused piece of media. At the beginning of the series, Caroline is forced to work with Max at a Brooklyn Diner to cover her expenses since her father has lost all the family’s money to a Ponzi scheme.
As the show continues, the pair works on their dream of opening a cupcake shop together, although they are usually distracted by the more immediate goal of paying their way through the day. Many episodes focused on the duo’s short-term attempts to clear their debts quickly, usually with disastrous results.
Although 2 Broke Girls had the potential to humanize the working poor, a group rarely seen as protagonists on network TV, the show struggled to impress reviewers. Critics were not kind, as many took issue with the show’s use of racial stereotypes and questionable gags about sensitive subjects. Throughout its run, 2 Broke Girls was a staple of “Worst of the Year” TV lists.
One supporting character, Han Lee, was often singled out as both an offensive Asian stereotype and an offensive gay stereotype, while other critics noted that the preponderance of jokes about sexual assault was a particular low point. All in all, even the best episodes of 2 Broke Girls rarely impressed critics, despite the show’s consistent success with viewers.
2 Broke Girls Proved Unexpectedly Influential
It is perhaps unsurprising that 2 Broke Girls never received a proper series finale, as the show was unexpectedly canceled due to dwindling ratings after its sixth season. However, although the CBS sitcom never managed to win over its naysayers, 2 Broke Girls did have an unexpectedly big impact on the broader TV landscape throughout its run.
Its undeniable popularity with audiences led to a string of female-led sitcoms like The Mindy Project, Veep, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and particularly Broad City. Furthermore, Dennings and Behrs both went on to star in other major network sitcoms in the form of Shifting Gears and The Neighborhood, respectively.
While it might still be too soon for a 2 Broke Girls revival, it is not surprising that the series has managed to climb up the Netflix charts almost a decade after it went off the air. As income inequality grows worse and economic instability remains as relevant as it was in 2011, viewers could be seeking out solace.
A show about strivers trying to make it to the next paycheck has an obvious inherent appeal in 2026, despite how regressive and unfortunate some of the outdated humor in 2 Broke Girls might be. Thus, it should not shock readers to discover that 2 Broke Girls is still winning over new viewers in 2026.
Will The 2 Broke Girls Revival Ever Happen?
The question instead is whether nostalgia for the show could be enough to prompt a revival. On one hand, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage and the aforementioned Shifting Gears prove that there is no shortage of interest in old-fashioned multi-camera network sitcoms, complete with their oft-derided laugh tracks.
On the other hand, 2 Broke Girls is deeply of its time, and much of the show’s humor may not fly with contemporary audiences. As reviews from the time suggest, 2 Broke Girls was already considered somewhat outdated by the time the show aired, so it seems unlikely that critics would be any kinder to the show almost a decade after its finale aired.
The question then becomes whether 2 Broke Girls needs the approval of critics to mount a successful revival. Although 2 Broke Girls never received a proper ending, this issue alone hardly seems like enough reason to bring back the sitcom.
The show would need to justify its return by offering a new perspective on its familiar heroines, and its title alone means that they would still need to be struggling as much as ever to make ends meet. It is tough to see how a 2 Broke Girls revival would pull this tricky balance off in 2026, despite the show’s popularity on Netflix.
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