Sisters Doin' It For Themselves: Why We Need 'Broad City'

We know Taylor Swift hasn't ever seen an episode of Comedy Central's "Broad City," because if she had, she would have probably never made her controversial shimmery synth jam "Welcome to New York." In the opening scene of the show's Season Two premiere, stars and creators Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer fight there way through a New York City subway, moving car-to-car, passing by sweaty disgusting fat men grabbing their dicks, crazy old people shouting at them, couples heavily making out, street performers, Hassidic Jews and, of course, literal human feces.

"Broad City" is Jacobson and Glazer's New York - a glossy, multi-cultural pop-up book of queer people, weirdos and lots of free-flowing pot. It's a point of view that needs to be on TV. But it's not just the women's take of the Big Apple that makes "Broad City" one of the best shows currently on TV, it's the incredible writing, joke-telling and Jacobson and Glazer's real-life friendship that glows on the tiny screen.

Throughout Season One of "Broad City," the besties, who are in their late 20s / early 30s, gallivanted around the city in search of pot, dick, new apartments, more pot, mail, jobs, and more dick. Based of the Season Two premiere, it looks like Jacobson and Glazer will continue in their own Choose-Your-Own-Adventures Around NYC. In "In Heat," Abbi Abrams (Abbi Jacobson) and Ilana Wexler (Ilana Glazer) try to avoid a devastating heat wave moving through the East Coast - it's one of those waves that makes any physical activity an absolutely sweaty nightmare. It's also the perfect vehicle for Jacobson and Glazer's bawdy humor.

They find themselves at Topshop for new clothes (they've sweated through their current outfits), but get distracted over pubic hair and Colin Farrell's sex tape. Later on, guest star Seth Rogen (Male Stacey) stuffs his ass with paper towels, which he used to clean off sweat on his body, then passes out during sex.

While on their quest to get Abbi an air conditioner, Ilana points out that Abbi basically raped Male Stacey before they end up at Ilana's old dorm to get her old AC where Abbi unknowingly makes out with a 16-year-old high school student.

In just 21-minutes, "Broad City" packs in so much. Episodes aren't just splattered with witty and smart jokes on #problematic culture, pop culture, and vaginas but Jacobson and Glazer are closer than the ladies of "The Golden Girls." The core of "Broad City" is watching these two women just be BFFs. They share the same brain, desires and bicker like an old married couple.

"When a mom gives up her baby for adoption, she should be able to go and get that baby whenever she pleases," Ilana says in "In Heat."

"I can't...I can't get into adoption with you again," Abbi says back.

"Smart," Ilana retorts.

It's these little moments, that don't really add up to plot (plot is the least of the women's worries on "Broad City"), that make the show. It's tiny windows into millennials' lives that shows like "Girls," and even "Looking," seem to gloss over, or don't shine a light on like they do when it comes to relationships, sex and drugs.

But "Broad City" didn't start off as a cable series with excellent production values; before it was on Comedy Central, it was a weird web series (from 2009-2011) that got the attention of Amy Poehler, who also appeared on the web series and in the Season One finale. Much of the themes that appeared in the web series make their way on to TV: dealing with shitty dead-end jobs, jacking off, parents and intolerable roommates.

It's their odd, feminist-fueled transcendent comedy that appeals to the masses. Although it started as a tiny show on YouTube, "Broad City" is gaining a lot of traction, so much so, it's already been renewed for Season Three - just before its Season Two premiere.

"It has just been brought to my attention that "Broad City" is a female-centric show," Comedy Central's Kent Alterman said in a statement, "but we're going to do more anyway."