Broad City

Broad City
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Ilana Glazer Abbi Jacobson
Starring	Ilana Glazer Abbi Jacobson
Theme music composer	DJ Raff
Opening theme	"Latino & Proud"
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	10 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Ilana Glazer Abbi Jacobson Amy Poehler Dave Becky Tony Hernandez Samantha Saifer
Producers	Lilly Burns John Skidmore
Running time	22 minutes
Production companies	Jax Media 3 Arts Entertainment Paper Kite Productions
Original release
Network	Comedy Central
Release	January 22, 2014 (2014-01-22) – present (present)

Broad City is a comedy television series that debuted on Comedy Central in 2014, about two women in their twenties living in New York City. Originally a web series, the series was created by Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, who also star as the series leads, and was developed from their web series of the same name that was produced from 2009 to 2011. Amy Poehler is one of Broad City's executive producers, and had previously appeared in the webseries finale. The series premiered on January 22, 2014.

Synopsis

Broad City follows two young best friends navigating their way through everyday life in New York City. The show is centered around the lives of low income, struggling women and their friendships.

Cast

• Ilana Glazer as Ilana Wexler, a 22 year old slacker and marijuana enthusiast who is often oblivious to (or apathetic to) how others react to her often wacky antics. She works at a nondescript sales company called "Deals Deals Deals," but she rarely does any work and often takes breaks lasting several hours. She is hated by her coworkers because of her lazy attitude, but her passive boss Derek inexplicably keeps her employed. She lives with an undocumented immigrant named Jaimé and has a persisting sexual relationship with her and Abbi's friend Lincoln. Although Ilana regards this relationship as "purely physical" (much to Lincoln's dismay), she often exhibits a genuine care for him. Compared to her best friend Abbi she is much more free-spirited and sexually liberated, yet also more irresponsible and sometimes dim-witted. However, she is usually able to convince her friend to go along with her schemes. She has a strong sexual interest in Abbi, if not an outright romantic one. In the season 1 finale it is revealed that she is allergic to shellfish.
• Abbi Jacobson as Abbi Abrams, a 26 (as of the season 1 finale) year old "cleaner," i.e janitor at a fitness center called "Soulstice." She hates her job and would prefer to be a fitness trainer, but this goal continues to elude her. She is also a struggling artist and she dreams of quitting her job at Soulstice to pursue her art full time. Abbi endeavors to find a balance between being a responsible, self-sufficient adult while still being fun-loving and free-spirited like her friend Ilana. She has a roommate who is never seen, although the roommate's freeloading boyfriend Matt, called by his last name "Bevers", is always around. She has a huge crush on her neighbor Jeremy, but manages to embarrass herself every time she's around him. Like her best friend Ilana, she enjoys smoking marijuana, albeit less often.

Recurring cast

• Hannibal Buress as Lincoln, a successful dentist with whom Ilana has a recurring sexual relationship. He has romantic feelings for Ilana and wants to take the relationship to the next level, but she has thus far been unreceptive to his advances. He is a funny, easygoing guy and often plays games and tells jokes with his dental patients. He is also a loyal friend to Abbi.
• John Gemberling as Matt Bevers – Abbi's roommate's boyfriend who seems to never leave. He is a messy, disgusting freeloader, and in general a constant nuisance to Abbi. In spite of this, he has shown on a couple occasions to have a sweet, sensitive side.
• Arturo Castro as Jaimé – Ilana's drug dealing gay roommate. Jaimé is an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela. He does Ilana's taxes. Jaimé exhibits extreme guilt over what he perceives as wrongs he has committed against his friends, however they are usually minor transgressions.
• Paul W. Downs as Trey – Abbi's boss at Soulstice. He is a hardcore health and fitness enthusiast although he admits to Quiznos being his guilty pleasure. Although he is fundamentally a nice guy, he is humorously oblivious to Abbi's desire to be a trainer and is constantly badgering her to clean various things (most often pubic hair accumulated in the ladies' locker room) around the gym.
• Chris Gethard as Derek – Ilana's boss at the web "deal" company. He is frustrated by Ilana's lack of commitment to her job but has yet to reprimand her in any way.
• Stephen Schneider as Jeremy – Abbi's neighbor, on whom she has a crush.

Special guest stars and cameos

• Amy Poehler as Cheryl, a chef at the fancy restaurant Abbi and Ilana eat at to celebrate Abbi's birthday.
• Seth Morris as John, a waiter at the same restaurant. He is in an unhappy relationship with Cheryl.
• Amy Sedaris as Pam, a manic real estate broker who tries to find Abbi an apartment.
• Rachel Dratch as Linda Lodi, a temp agency owner who hires Ilana.
• Matt L. Jones and Jason Mantzoukas as two mediocre DJs that Abbi and Ilana hook up with.
• Janeane Garafalo as a veterinarian that Ilana seeks help from.
• Fred Armisen as a man who pays Abbi and Ilana to do an "odd job".
• Franchesca Ramsey as D'Arcy, Abbi's old catering friend.

Episodes

Main article: List of Broad City episodes

Season	Episodes		Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
1	10		January 22, 2014 (2014-01-22)	March 26, 2014 (2014-03-26)
2	10		January 14, 2015 (2015-01-14)	March 18, 2015 (2015-03-18)
3	10		February 17, 2016 (2016-02-17)	April 20, 2016 (2016-04-20)
4	10		September 13, 2017 (2017-09-13)	December 6, 2017 (2017-12-06)
5	10		January 24, 2019 (2019-01-24)	March 28, 2019 (2019-03-28)

Reception

Critic compiler website Metacritic noted the series has received "generally favorable reviews." The A.V. Club critic Caroline Framke wrote that Broad City was "worth watching" despite its "well-trod premise", and that the series is "remarkably self-possessed, even in its first episode."

The Wall Street Journal referred to the show as "Sneak Attack Feminism." Critic Megan Angelo quotes Abbi Jacobson, main star of Comedy Central's Broad City; "If you watch one of our episodes, there’s not a big message, but if you watch all of them, I think, they’re empowering to women.”

The show has received a 95% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In addition, Karen Valby from Entertainment Weekly describes the show as a "deeply weird, weirdly sweet, and completely hilarious comedy."

The show debuted with strong reviews although it only started off with approximately 914,000 viewers.

External links

• Official website at Comedy Central
• Broad City at IMDb
• "Broad City: reviews of each episode". The A.V. Club. February 27, 2014. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
• Broad City (original webseries) on Youtube