Is Broad City okay for a 13- or 14-year-old?

Not unless your family has a very high threshold for explicit sexual discussion, rampant bong smoking, and frequent nudity. Despite the Common Sense Media 14+ tag, the humor is thoroughly adult and TV-MA. It fits much better once a teen is 16 or 17.

How much drug use is actually in the show?

Marijuana is present in virtually every episode as an everyday routine, alongside occasional depictions of magic mushrooms, party drugs, and alcohol-fueled blackouts. The show treats weed like coffee, played strictly for laughs rather than tragedy.

Does the humor stay good throughout all five seasons?

Yes. Seasons one through three are peerless, chaotic slapstick comedy. Seasons four and five mature slightly as the characters acknowledge that staying completely directionless in your late twenties has actual consequences, giving the finale real emotional weight.

Can I watch Broad City with my high schooler without dying of embarrassment?

Only if you already have an unflappable, open dynamic around sex and body humor. Between storylines involving pegging, public nudity, and frantic searches for misplaced sex toys, you will have plenty of chances to clear your throat if that kind of material makes you uneasy.

Broad City – WISE Score & Parent Review | Screenwise

Broad City

Name: Screenwise
Author: Screenwise

show2014Comedy, Drama

62%

WISE Score

Avg. Tomatometer

Two chaotic best friends stumble through weed smoke, weird side hustles, and subway grime in twenty-something New York.

8.4/10

99%

87%

7.1

→

Broad City

show

2014, Comedy, Drama

62%

WISE Score

Avg. Tomatometer

Two chaotic best friends stumble through weed smoke, weird side hustles, and subway grime in twenty-something New York.

8.4

99%

7.1

Jump to

Also rated on

8.4/10

99%

7.1

View →

Where to Watch

Loading streaming options...

Where-to-watch data byJustWatch

Screenwise Verdict

Broad City is a blisteringly funny, surrealist hymn to platonic romance and the sheer exhaustion of being young and broke in New York. Creators Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer turned a micro-budget web series into one of the best Comedy Central half-hours of the 2010s by treating female friendship not as a polite alliance, but as a ride-or-die survival pact.

That said, it is fundamentally an adult comedy. You are getting wall-to-wall bong hits, explicit sex jokes, casual nudity, bodily humor, and occasional animated fever dreams. The heart underneath the filth is surprisingly sweet, but there is zero attempt to sanitize the mess.

Keep it far away from middle schoolers. For older high schoolers getting ready to leave home and figure out adulthood, it offers an affectionate, hilarious preview of how messy your twenties can be when you have good people in your corner.

Age Fit

A hard 16+ or 17+. This is an unapologetic, raunchy TV-MA comedy meant for older teens and adults who can appreciate the satire behind the bodily fluid gags and weed clouds.

WISE Breakdown

Wholesome

The central friendship between Abbi and Ilana is deeply loyal and affectionate, but the comedy thrives on gross-out situations, substance abuse, and boundary-pushing debauchery.

Imaginative

Wildly inventive visual style, absurd physical comedy vignettes, animated interludes, and surrealist spins on mundane New York City survival.

Safe

Features pervasive crude humor, frequent nudity, explicit sexual situations, heavy recreational drug use (especially weed), and rampant swearing throughout every season.

Enriching

Sharp social satire on gentrification, early-20s financial desperation, body positivity, and queer identity, anchored by an empowering depiction of female camaraderie.

Parent Info

✓

Why It Might Be Great

Unapologetic female friendship: Abbi and Ilana root for each other with zero competitiveness, offering a fiercely loyal model of unconditional platonic support.
Masterclass in physical comedy: Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer pull off brilliantly choreographed slapstick, expressive clowning, and absurd facial acting.
Honest portrait of early-career scraping: It nails the indignity of low-wage temp work, tiny apartment living, and odd Craigslist gigs better than almost any modern sitcom.

⚠

What to Watch For

Heavy drug culture: Weed is practically a third lead character, with bongs, edibles, and illicit transport appearing in most episodes.
Graphic sexual dialogue and casual nudity: Pegging, strap-ons, public exhibitionism, and awkward hookup mechanics get discussed and shown without filters.
High cringe factor: Characters frequently lie, scam free food, or embarrass themselves horribly in public spaces, which can make second-hand embarrassment skyrocket.

Conversation Starters

"What makes Abbi and Ilana's friendship work so well even when their lives are chaotic disasters?"
"How does this show portray life in your twenties compared to shows like Friends?"
"Where is the line between supporting a friend and enabling their terrible ideas?"

Deep Dive

The Anti-Glossy New York Sitcom

Most shows set in New York City make the borough look like a luxury lifestyle catalogue where barista salaries cover duplex penthouses. Broad City exists in the actual grease: crowded MTA buses with broken air conditioning, awful roommates with dead-eyed boyfriends, and the sheer administrative friction of trying to retrieve a package from a sketchy UPS depot in deep Queens.

Abbi (the anxious straight woman trying to build an art career while cleaning up messes at an upscale gym) and Ilana (the hedonistic, hyper-confident tornado of id who treats her temp job like an all-day nap) don't have their lives together. What they have is an airtight bond. In an era where teen media often leans into toxic social hierarchy and high-stakes drama, seeing two young women actively gas each other up without an ounce of jealousy is genuinely refreshing.

Navigating the Content Floor

The Common Sense age tag sits at 14, but that requires a very permissive living room. While it never crosses into nihilism or mean-spirited territory, the show deals in unfiltered TV-MA territory: pegging storylines, packing weed into bodily cavities, public nudity, and frank depictions of hangovers. If your high schooler is already watching shows like Sex Education or Big Mouth, Broad City will feel like familiar ground. If they are sensitive to explicit sexual humor or gross-out physical comedy, save it for later.

What Parents Ask

Stills

Ask Anything

Get a personalized guide on any topic

Writing about Broad City? Put this WISE score on your site