against both the über-
quirky label and Deschanel
herself. Now the actress
just laughs. “It wouldn’t
be my first choice of a
word to describe myself,
but I can separate myself
from the characters I play,”
she says. “It created
both negative and positive
attention for the show,
and I think that’s exactly
what it was meant to do.”SEE YADeschanel promises
the series finale will be
“unexpected,” but reveals
she had an alternate
conclusion in mind.
“I always thought the
show should have a really
sad ending,” she says.
“It could have been a cool
choice to go really dark.”
Darker than learning that
Furguson has died? “Not
that dark,” she clarifies.
“It would bebittersweet
dark.” Well, if Winston
goes big on a prank...THE GOODBYE GIRL
Hey, giiiiirl... It’s time to leave the loft for good. Zooey Deschanel shares
memories fromNew Girl (ending May 15 at 9 p.m. on Fox).BY SHIRLEY LIWHO’S THAT GUY?
Deschanel recalls T.J.
Miller auditioning for the
role of Schmidt (Max
Greenfield) and putting
his own spin on the
douchebag-jar contribu-
tor’s shirtless scene from
the pilot. “He walked
out with his shirt of,
completely covered in
an entire bottle of baby
oil,” says the actress, 38.
“That was memorable.”
TIRED AMERICANS
The series’ epic drinking
game, True American,
may seem fun on
screen, but playing it
took its toll in real life.
“We’d always be like,
‘Oh,noooo,’ ” Deschanel
admits. “I mean, it’s fun,
no doubt, but everyone
kind of dreads the scenes
where everyone’s in the
room. They take forever
to shoot.” Especially
without real booze.THEDAILY DEVOTEEIt’s no secretNew Girl
scored famous fans,
including Prince, who
memorably guest-starred
as himself in season 3,
and author Judy Blume,
who penned a tribute to
Deschanel in EW in 2011.
The actress reveals
one more celebrity sup-
porter: “Jon Stewart
was binge-watching it!”AN ADORABLE DORKThe adjectiveadorkable,
which Fox popularized
in their promotional mate-
rial, prompted a backlash NCIS(May 22, CBS) Roseanne(May 22, ABC) The Middle(May 22, ABC)FINALE
PREVIEW
NEW GIRL: JEFF LIPSKY/FOX; MILLER: JASON LAVERIS/FILMMAGIC; STEWART: GARY GERSHOFF/GETTY IMAGES;ROSEANNE: ROBERT TRACHTENBERG/ABC