Only Zooey Deschanel could make hopping in a cab in a trench coat and nothing else, singing “doing sexy things with a pillow” as she strips in her apartment before realizing her not-nearly-as-attractive-as-he-should-be live-in boyfriend has been hooking up with another girl in the first minute of “New Girl” seem funny, cute and just too adorable for words.

Before I go further, here’s an admission: I love “Elf.” It’s one of my favorite movies. “(500) Days of Summer”made me believe in romantic comedies. So when I heard Deschanel was coming to television in a mix of “The Big Bang Theory” and “My Boys” I thought: Really? She can anchor a whole screen, tear out poor Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s heart and make Will Ferrell sing “I’m in love, I’m in love and I don’t care who knows it.” So why the jump to television?

The premise of the show is cliché at best: three guys — one great with women, one terrible with them and the other still hung up on a girl who broke his heart — and one girl — adorably dorky and gorgeous — and how different they are. Revolutionary? No.

The fun part though is that it’s not a bunch of girls teaching a guy how to get girls by being less of a jerk.

Jessica Day (Deschanel) made up her own theme song mid-episode. At the sight of a shirtless Schmidt’s (Max Greenfield) abs, when he says: “This is LLS. Ladies Love Schmidt,” his boys Coach (Damon Wayans Jr.) and Nick (Jake Johnson) make him put a dollar in the douchebag jar. At the mention of “got to talk to my boys … my bros,” another dollar. Pretty sure he throws in at least a fiver by the end of the episode. And Jess is gorgeous enough for any guy to look past how many times she watched “Dirty Dancing” crying on the couch to get over her ex, so when her friend, Cece Meyers (Hannah Simone), a model who I’m sure the boys will be wanting to see more of, says, “Babe, you got hurt. It doesn’t mean you stop trying,” rather than sounding cheesy, it sounds real.

Those are the parts that might make it worth coming back, at least for another episode or two.

Now a douche bag jar and rebound hookups does not a series make. Soon enough the new girl isn’t new anymore and that’s what the show will have to figure out when it gets there and its much too kitschy to last as it is.

But with primetime placement after Glee, the traffic should catch the show an audience until it can establish itself, and for now, and for a pilot, “New Girl” seems to be a show with a genuine laugh or two. That’s at least worth setting aside a little Hulu time for it.