Sitcoms have been a staple of television since its earliest days. People love to laugh and these shows have also been welcome, wedged between news programming and dramas. Despite there success, for years, sitcoms were seen as second-class citizens, criticized for their lack of creativity and recycled stories. In the last quarter-century, this attitude began to change as more and more clever shows like The Simpsons, Arrested Development, and 30 Rock began to grace our screens. Still, shows can easily be lumped into two categories -- clever or stupid. Truth be told, most shows are a mixture of these elements. 2 Broke Girls premiered in 2011 and became a hit. Can you guess which way it leans?

2 Broke Girls takes place in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn (because everything has to happen in New York). Max Black (Kat Dennings) is a waitress in a dingy diner here, and she barely scrapes by on her tips. Her one passion is making cupcakes, which she sells in the diner. When she arrives at work one day, she learns that her boss, Han Lee (Matthew Moy), has hired a new waitress, Caroline Channing (Beth Behrs). Max quickly learns that Caroline is a former heiress who is now broke, as her father has gone to prison for his Ponzi scheme. With nowhere to go, Max asks Caroline to be her new roommate. As Caroline learns a new way of life, she convinces Max that they should use Max's talents and open a cupcake shop. The typically apathetic Max is skeptical at first, but soon finds Caroline's enthusiasm contagious.

2 Broke Girls debuted on CBS in September, 2011, and thanks to its lead-in from Two and a Half Men, it immediately saw high numbers. Throughout most of its inaugural season, an average of 10 million viewers watched each episode (although ratings did drop in the second half of the season). There’s no debate that, from the outset, the show was a minor hit.

And this makes me sad, as 2 Broke Girls is a terrible show. The series was co-created by Michael Patrick King and Whitney Cummings. King served as the guiding force behind Sex and the City throughout its later years (after creator Darren Starr left and was forgotten). He obviously has experience with shows which can be funny and moving. Cummings’ background is in stand-up comedy, but 2011 saw her branching into TV with 2 Broke Girls and Whitney. Based on what I’ve seen of these shows, she should stick to her day job.

You would think that between these two people and the various other writers on the show, someone could come up with a funny joke, but that rarely happens. The writing here is shockingly bad and most of the “jokes” sound as if they were written by a 12-year old boy. The jokes fall into two categories -- raunchy or tied to tired pop-culture references -- and that’s it. I’m no prude and I’m all for shows pushing the envelope, but the “blue” level of the jokes on this show is often shocking. The problem is that they are in no way clever. Show’s like Arrested Development used adult humor in very subtle and smart ways (what was the name of Gob’s boat?), but 2 Broke Girls wants to shove every joke in your face and this lack of restraint makes the show look very immature. And every time one of these jokes would emerge, my immediate thought was “This comes on at 8:30 on CBS, the old people’s network?” The show never attempts to be clever and each joke feels like it was pulled from a “Sitcom 101” handbook. And I won’t get into the fact that the show is built on an incredibly shaky premise to begin with.

The other thing which kills the show is the acting. Of course, these people are reciting terrible lines, but even still, the acting resembles something from a community theater workshop. The true weak link here is Kat Dennings, who is completely out of control. Max is supposed to be dark and cynical, but Dennings laughs at all of her lines. She’s like the Jimmy Fallon of the sitcom world. She also yells most of her dialogue and it’s often accompanied by strange gestures. She honestly made me think of Jason Mewes every time she opened her mouth. In theory, Caroline should be the annoying character, but Behrs plays her with a sense of restraint, well, at least when compared to Dennings. Many scenes have the feel of a rehearsal, as opposed to something which was meant to be seen by the masses.

I’ve never been a fan of CBS sitcoms, but the quality shown in The Big Bang Theory made me open to trying others. 2 Broke Girls didn’t do anything to renew my faith in the network. The show was criticized early on for its racist content. It should have been criticized for its lazy writing. Jennifer Coolidge joined the show later in the season and she brought some spark, but the writing didn’t improve. I wanted to laugh while watching 2 Broke Girls, but it only left me wanting cupcakes.

2 Broke Girls: The Complete First Season shouldn’t be tipped on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Warner Home Video. The two disc set contains all 24 episodes of the show’s second season. The show has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 16 Mbps. The image is sharp and clear, showing no grain and no defects from the source materials. The colors look very, most notably reds and blues, and the image is never overly dark or bright. The level of detail and depth are adequate. This rivals HD broadcast quality and it has that classic sitcom look. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 1.8 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The dialogue is always audible and we get some subtle stereo effects. The show’s theme by Peter Bjork & Jon fills the surround speakers and also provides notable subwoofer effects. The studio audience’s laughter (?!) also comes from the rear.

The 2 Broke Girls: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Disc contains only two extras. "2 Girls Going 4 Broke" (14 minutes) is a making-of featurette which offers comments from the creative team and the cast. Series Co-Creator Michael Patrick King claims that he wanted to make a series for "advanced 20 year olds". OK. The piece looks at the writing, the set, the cast & characters, the tone of the show, and the costumes. Along with the interviews and comments, the piece contains a nice amount of on-set footage. "Alternate Jokes" (6 minutes) is a reel of five DELETED SCENES from various episodes The level of humor here is about what we find in the rest of the series.