Are male characters on CBS' 'Girls' broken?

By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY

Posted January 11, 2012

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Execuctive producer Michael Patrick King, left, takes issue with criticism that the men in '2 Broke Girls' (including Jonathan Kite, center, and Matthew Moy) are one-dimensional stereotypes. ''They do have dimensions,'' he says -- we just haven't seen enough of them. (Credit: By Darren Michaels, Warner Bros.)

As much as people love the girls in 2 Broke Girls, they don't seem quite so wild about the men.

Those men, if you don't watch, are the three characters who work in the diner. Some have complained that they're not funny. Some have said they're offensive stereotypes. And many have said they're annoyingly one-note.

Not true, says creator Michael Patrick King. "I don't think the characters were one-note. I thought the characters were the first note." They do have dimensions, he says -- we just haven't seen enough of them to see all those dimensions.

Still, he says, expanding the roles of the men is not his first priority. "It's called 2 Broke Girls. Our main job is to take care of the girls. ... The other characters will grow and grow and grow, as they do on ensembles."

That means, he said (in a press conference that became increasingly testy), that the girls are staying in the diner -- and the show is holding on to its same tone, which he sees as "in-your-face girls." And yes, that means more vagina jokes.

"I consider our jokes really classy-dirty. I think they're high-low-brow ... I think everybody likes a naughty joke."