Tara McCauley October 22nd, 2020 - 1:12 AM
In an Instagram Reels video posted Tuesday, Zooey Deschanel (New Girl, 500 Days of Summer) reunited with New Girl roommates Jess, Nick and Winston to learn a few quick tips about voting in the 2020 election. This civics lesson was taught by none other than Councilwoman Fawn Moscato, a fictional politician played by Zoe Lister-Jones (Life in Pieces, Band-Aid) on the Fox comedy.
In just 30 seconds, the New Girl cast members encourage voting early, either in person or by mail, using black or blue ink and making sure to provide a signature that matches other government documents. These voting tidbits are brought to life by the character quirks of each New Girl cast member featured in the video such as Lamorne Morris (New Girl, Woke) dotting the “i” in Winston’s name with a heart or Jake Johnson’s (New Girl, Stumptown) Nick failing to use the proper color pen. According to People, these little character moments transformed a short voting PSA into a “30-second long episode of New Girl.”
Though Lister-Jones only appeared in six episodes of New Girl, her character had a memorable impact on the show through her intense personality and romantic relationship with Schmidt. Though Max Greenfield (New Girl, The Neighborhood), who played Schmidt, is absent from the PSA, a 2016 episode leaves New Girl fans in-the-know about who his character will be voting for in 2020.
New Girl fans will remember that 2020 is far from the first occasion in which the show’s loft-mates have spread the word about voting. In season six of the Fox sitcom, Jess and CeCe volunteered to register new voters in preparation for the 2016 presidential election in an episode entitled “Hubbedy Bubby”. While Jess and Cece firmly stood with Hillary Clinton, Schmidt feigned indifference, holding out for Paul Ryan’s 2020 run instead. While Schmidt was apathetic in 2016, Greenfield has been actively endorsing voting related information and encouragement on his Twitter over the past month. Recently, Greenfield shared a picture of his parent’s dropping off their ballots on Instagram to encourage voters.
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Although they respect his music my parents did NOT vote for Kanye. #VOTE #voteearly
While Hannah Simone (New Girl, Oldboy), who played Schmidt’s love interest CeCe, was not in the video herself, she weighed in on Deschanel’s Instagram by commenting: “when your arch nemesis makes a good point.” Simone and Lister-Jones’ characters found themselves at odds in the series as they both sought the affections of Schmidt, a romantic attrition which Cece ultimately won.
Though Councilwoman Moscato and Schmidt did not go the distance, Lister-Jones’ off-screen love life played a vital role in coordinating this New Girl PSA. Daryl Wein (Consumed, White Rabbit), Lister-Jones’ husband, directed the short video for Deschanel’s Instagram, a platform he and his wife had already been utilizing to create 2020 election content.
New Girl‘s video joins the ranks of The West Wing, Parks and Recreation, Happy Days, Veep, Seinfeld and many other television shows who have brought portions of their casts back together to promote voter turnout in 2020.
