Set in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, the show's plot follows the lives of best friends Max Black (Kat Dennings) and Caroline Channing (Beth Behrs).

[4][5] The series chronicles the lives of two waitresses in their mid-20s (at the start of the series): Max Black (Kat Dennings), the daughter of a poor underclass mother and an unknown father, and Caroline Channing (Beth Behrs), who was born rich but is now disgraced and penniless because her father, Martin Channing, got caught operating a Bernie Madoff-esque Ponzi scheme.

Among those working with them at the restaurant are their boss, Korean Han Lee (Matthew Moy); Oleg (Jonathan Kite), an upbeat but perverted and harassing Ukrainian cook; and Earl (Garrett Morris), a 75-year-old cashier.

Caroline unknowingly has an affair with the married French instructor named Nicholas, who works at the pastry school.

Both Max and Caroline end up working in an elite-class pastry shop called "The High" to make more money to return the loan they took for their business.

While in Hollywood with Caroline consulting on her life story script, Max meets a "lawyer to the stars" named Randy.

The series ends at this point, as the network unexpectedly canceled 2 Broke Girls without allowing the creative team to resolve its plotlines.

Beginning on April 7, 2014, 2 Broke Girls moved to 8 pm to replace How I Met Your Mother following its conclusion, with the show's former timeslot given to the short-lived Friends with Better Lives.

[29] The move was prompted by CBS' arrangement to air Thursday Night Football for the first few weeks of the season and their subsequent decision not to postpone the season premiere of The Big Bang Theory, which occupied 2 Broke Girls' timeslot until October 20, and then returned to its normal Thursday timeslot.

CBS moved the show to Thursdays 9:30 pm ET/PT due to Supergirl taking over its previous Monday night timeslot.

By midseason, CBS moved 2 Broke Girls to Wednesdays 8 pm ET/PT starting January 6, 2016, pairing it with the final season of Mike & Molly.

Both comedies were slated to air for six weeks on the Wednesday 8–9 hour before going on an indefinite hiatus due to Survivor returning to that timeslot the following month.

A combination of factors, including declining ratings, CBS's desire to have an ownership stake, and the network needing to clear space for three new sitcoms in the fall 2017 schedule led to the show's demise.

The site's critical consensus reads, "Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs have undeniable chemistry, and although 2 Broke Girls is at times bogged down by predictable jokes, this old-fashioned odd couple sitcom is rich with laughs.

"[42] Elliot B. Gertel at Jewish World Review[43] similarly found an episode of the show misrepresented Orthodox Jews.

When asked about the racial stereotypes at a January 2012 press conference, Michael Patrick King said, "I don't find it offensive, any of this".

[46] Positive reviews such as one from Entertainment Weekly focused on the "potential" that the series has based on the acting and chemistry between Dennings and Behrs.

[47] The series also received a B+ from The Boston Globe TV critic Matthew Gilbert, who was impressed with the casting and production: "The actresses – especially the Gwen Stefani-esque Dennings – transcend their types, and the pop-savvy humor has spirit thanks to producer Michael Patrick King from Sex and the City.

"[49] In 2015, Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said what started out as "a modern Laverne & Shirley" attracted many young people to begin with, until they "realized it was a waste of their time.

[51][52][53] The series premiere was watched by 19.4 million viewers after its lead-in, the first episode of Two and a Half Men without Charlie Sheen.