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    '2 Broke Girls' cupcake dreams don't measure up to reality

    This story comes from the Yahoo! Contributor Network, where individuals publish their unique perspectives on some of the world’s most popular websites.
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    "2 Broke Girls," a new sitcom from CBS, is reminiscent of "Laverne and Shirley" mixed with a little "Odd Couple" for added drama. The girl-girl buddy comedy portion of the show gets an update, trading in Milwaukee for New York City and the working class ethic of a brewing company for a generic restaurant.

    Much like the theme song from "Laverne and Shirley," which declared, "Making our dreams come true for me and you," "2 Broke Girls" features Max and Caroline brewing a dream of their own: a cupcake business. As the season has progressed, the two become dollars and cents closer to the enigmatic funding goal of $250,000, which Caroline reveals at the tail end of the pilot episode.

    Exactly how she landed on that figure is somewhat of a mystery. The show's writers explain it away with Caroline's reveal that she went to business school. In the next scene, she admits she's been secretly price-gouging Max's red velvet cupcakes at $7 a pop.

    This is the first fallacy in the show's portrayal of the cupcake scene in New York City or anywhere else. No one is selling cupcakes for $7. The top shops in the city peddling the sweet confections are arguably Crumbs Bake Shop, which debuted on NASDAQ in June of last year, and Magnolia Bakery, made famous by its notorious endorsement in "Sex and the City." Both are selling cupcakes between $3 and $4.50, depending on the amount of sugar they're topped with. $7 is almost double that price.

    It makes you wonder what other business-savvy nonsense Caroline is spewing. In a later episode, she pines, "I really need this cupcake business," as if it's the one thing that will propel her back into the cushy existence previously afforded by her father, who has since been busted a la Bernie Madoff. In reality, however, there's probably a better way to invest $250,000 in a business paradigm that isn't as mint as it was a few years ago.

    The cupcake boom began in cities like New York and L.A. and peaked circa 2007, the beginning of the current recession. But by that time, Crumbs had already been winning taste buds over for four years, and Magnolia Bakery was reality-TV-star famous. Maybe two upstarts with shoddy financial projections and no business plan could have nudged a way in back then, but you need a little more than a tasty treat to make a quarter-million-dollar investment pay off in 2011 and beyond. The cupcake "bubble" can't last forever.

    While CRMB was at over $13 a share over the summer, it currently sits at a depressing $5.11 on NASDAQ. It might be a better investment for "2 Broke Girls" to buy $100,000 in cupcake shares and spend the difference on coming up with a better business idea.

     
    • jmo818  •  New York, New York  •  3 days ago
      and you can't keep a horse in your backyard, it's fiction you idiot
    • night  •  6 mths ago
      I can't wait to read what this author thinks of Gilligan's Island.
    • Stephanie  •  Buffalo, United States  •  6 mths ago
      I watch the show for entertainment value.....let me check the last time I cared about how much it costs to buy a cupcake? Um, never....lighten up. It's not real. :)
    • P8riot  •  Austin, United States  •  6 mths ago
      Wow, I didn't know that criticism of a FAKE T.V. SHOW could actually earn money for someone. Where so I submit my resume? I'd be happy to churn out similar drivel for a paycheck. Is there a HACK union I need to join?
    • Dutycalls  •  6 mths ago
      Hint,it's a comedy,not a documentary.
      • A Yahoo! User 6 mths ago
        Who funded them; that I'd like to know. Obviously a group of wealthy women for women. If that is the case... most of the angle networks that soak up money get their money back with claw-backs. Most are very kosher; so I'd imagine they have kosher cupcakes.
    • Sinner  •  Rockwall, United States  •  6 mths ago
      This is a fictional series. People are sooooo stupid to take those shows seriously.
    • E  •  Pharr, United States  •  6 mths ago
      Em, hello? It's FICTION! No one is really trying to start a $7.00 each cupcake business. It's about two broke girls THEIR struggles and their hilarious attempts to end them.
      • gavon 6 mths ago
        There already is. Remember the $16 muffins bought by some bureaucrat in D.C. about a month ago.
      • timothy 6 mths ago
        gavon, i believe Yahoo/AP recently fact checked that and it turned out the 16$ also included juice and napkins, or maybe the whole continental experience. either way great investigative reporting on their part
    • LOVE THAT RED  •  6 mths ago
      Since when is comedy supposed "make sense"? I watch this show for the GREAT one liners. Why in the world would someone want to take this on and compare it to reality? Find a hobby dumbo! (And if this is it, get another!!)
    • sketch  •  6 mths ago
      Please don't tell me that Mork and Mindy was fake too. :(
    • JohnW  •  San Jose, Costa Rica  •  6 mths ago
      Its just a tv show....you people need to get a life
    • gavon  •  6 mths ago
      It's just a T.V. show! Get a real life! I take it for what it is, one of the funniest new shows to come along since Two and a Half Men with Charlie Sheen.
    • disgusted at it all  •  Naperville, United States  •  6 mths ago
      And the cook would be arrested for sexual harrasment 100 times over, but it is a tv show, so what, enjoy the humor. They had me hooked at "marry the ketchup" in the pilot. Good show.
    • Zak  •  Seattle, United States  •  6 mths ago
      I like the show and sharp wit. This article pointing to unreality, well hey it's tv. Nothing real there.
    • GW  •  6 mths ago
      Hold on a minute. Something on a TV sitcom isn't accurate? How can that be? What accusation will be next, misinformation on the internet?
    • SC transplant  •  Greenville, United States  •  6 mths ago
      I love this show.....it's light and funny......a comedy.......good lord, let your hair down and laugh a little!
    • 356  •  6 mths ago
      This is a comedy T.V. show, If your watching this thinking of formulating some sort of business plan you should seek help. Sheesh...
    • David  •  6 mths ago
      Good golly it's just a show, are you going to dissect Sponge Bob next? This acticle is a waste of space.
      • Cat M 6 mths ago
        But Vampire Diaries is based on real life, right?
      • David 6 mths ago
        Cat M, I think that new show The Living Dead is also a true documentery--ha. I am so glad that we are free to produce and watch pretty much anything we want. I would hate to live in one of those countrys who's TV is state run like China, North Korea and many mid east countrys. I do wish we would get as liberal as Japan and United Kingdom, they have some really funny stuff, close to X rated but barely escaping it.
    • StuartM  •  Tampa, United States  •  6 mths ago
      why must you poo-poo everything. it's a real funny show and I hope it stays on the air.
    • Humble American  •  San Jose, United States  •  6 mths ago
      Who wrote this drivel?
    • kathleen  •  Atlanta, United States  •  6 mths ago
      Uh, sir, this is a television show, not real life.
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