FX apparently turned down Broad City for this infuriatingly sexist reason

For four incredible seasons, Broad City has blessed our TV screens with its hilarious (and realistic) depiction of female friendship. But it almost didn’t happen. In her new book, Abbi Jacobson revealed that she and Ilana Glazer initially sold the series to FX—only to have the network reject it for being “too girly.”

Jacobson’s book, I Might Regret This, is out today, October 30th, and it contains plenty of details about the trials and tribulations the comedy duo faced early in their career. Vulture reports that in the book, Jacobson describes spending a year working on a script for FX with Glazer. She wrote that after they felt satisfied with their work, the script was taken to “the man at the top” at FX.  And things didn’t go well.

"It was, as we were told, 'too girly,'" Jacobson reveals. "So, they passed. We were devastated. This thing that was once so far-fetched has actually started to come to fruition, and then was abruptly taken away."

Fortunately, she and Glazer had Amy Poehler on their side. Poehler, who was set to be an executive producer on the show, encouraged the pair to take their script somewhere else. They eventually sold the series to Comedy Central, and we ended up with five seasons of glorious, female-centric television.

"Amy reminded us that we didn’t want to make the show at a place that treated us like a bad boyfriend. She said we’d find a home for it, somewhere that really wanted it, and she was right," Jacobson wrote. "I am so thankful FX passed, because we then took our misunderstood, 'girly' script over to Comedy Central and they got us completely."

We’re thankful, too, Abbi. Because we don’t even want to imagine a world without Broad City.