Broad City
From 2009 to 2011, Jacobson and Glazer wrote and performed in a web series titled Broad City, which focused on their lives in New York. The series was nominated for an ECNY Award for Best Web Series. It was well received by critics and developed a cult following. At the Upright Citizens Brigade, Jacobson and Glazer adapted the series into a live show that they performed in called Broad City Live.
In 2011, cable network FX, working with Amy Poehler as the producer, purchased a script commitment for the series from Glazer and Jacobson. However, the network did not approve the script and decided not to proceed with development. Glazer and Jacobson then approached Comedy Central, who agreed to purchase the script from FX and order a pilot.
Broad City made its broadcast television premiere in January 2014 and was received with positive reviews and strong ratings, becoming Comedy Central's highest-rated first season since 2012 among the younger demographics, including adults 18–34, with an average of 1.2 million viewers.
Materializing following backlash of Lena Dunham's Girls, which was critiqued for its lack of racial diversity and upper-middle-class characterization, Broad City is often discussed for its approach and depictions to themes gender, sexuality, and identity. The series portrays semi-biographical characters, millennial, assimilated Ashkenazi Jewish New Yorkers. The intersection between Jewishness, queerness, femininity, masculinity, and adulthood is central to the narrative of the show and the lives of characters; Ilana has relationships with both men and women, and in the final season, Abbi comes out as queer.
In February 2014, Comedy Central renewed the show for a second season. In January 2015, the series was then renewed for a third season, which premiered on February 17, 2016. In January 2016, the series was renewed for a fourth and a fifth and final season.
The show has received critical acclaim from fans and critics alike. Season one of the show received a 96% rating from Rotten Tomatoes, based on reviews from 23 critics, with the site's consensus stating, "From its talented producers to its clever writing and superb leads, Broad City boasts an uncommonly fine pedigree." Review aggregation website Metacritic noted season 1 received "generally favorable reviews", giving it a score of 75 out of 100, based on reviews from 14 critics. The A.V. Club named Broad City the second best TV show of 2014 for its first season. Season two received positive reviews, with Metacritic giving it a score of 89 out of 100, based on reviews from 8 critics. Rotten Tomatoes gave the second season a rating of 100%, based on reviews from 11 critics, with the site's consensus: "Led by two of the funniest women on TV, Broad City uses its stars' vibrant chemistry to lend an element of authenticity to the show's chaotic yet enlightening brand of comedy." Karen Valby from Entertainment Weekly described the show as a "deeply weird, weirdly sweet, and completely hilarious comedy". The Wall Street Journal referred to the show as "Sneak Attack Feminism". Critic Megan Angelo quotes Abbi Jacobson: "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 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". Jacobson was a fan of bands like Phish growing up and would often spoof her jamband fandom on Broad City.
The bodily and racialized humour within the show was noted as transforming stereotypes and tropes of Jewish womanhood that have been underdocumented within feminist academia, further exploring themes of sexual desire, female agency, and freedom of choice. The show may further be interpreted as a rejection of overconsumption culture and what societal ideas of what conventional success looks like for young women through the character's constant battles with unemployment and business endeavours, showcasing a theme of "perpetual adolescence" and "failed adulthood". Broad City's origins as a web series reputedly elevated a platform and space for groups that are overlooked by traditional media programming, gaining an established online fanbase for how the series blended cultural specificity and relatability, as well as expanding the possibilities for women, making a lasting influence on feminist media and independent television for its expansion of feminist comedy theory, and for its depictions of taboo topics.
As comedians, actors, and creators, Jacobson and Glazer's work reveal the contradictions and impossible standards within postfeminist culture, especially within media creation, illustrating both on-and-off-screen how boundaries can restrict women's ability to define themselves and see themselves within comedy television.
