(premieres 9/25)
What's it about?
THE MINDY PROJECT is a biting new single-camera comedy from Emmy Award-nominated writer/producer and New York Times best-selling author Mindy Kaling (THE OFFICE) that follows a woman who, despite having a successful career, is unlucky in love and desperately needs to get her personal life back on track before her friends and colleagues are forced to stage an intervention.
(from FOX.com)
You should watch if...
• you're a Mindy Kaling fan (duh).
• you don't already have too many doctor shows in your life.
• you're a young professional who desperately needs to get your life back on track before your friends and colleagues are forced to stage an intervention.
So, how was it?
I can easily see THE MINDY PROJECT being the breakout comedy of the this season. It has a built-in fan base (fans of both THE OFFICE and of Mindy Kaling personally), it follows the mega-successful NEW GIRL on Tuesday nights, and it stars an imperfect young professional trying to get her life together. Think of her as this year's Zooey Deschanel, with less perky adorkableness and more insecure drunkenness. Now that I think of it, she perhaps has more in common with another recent multi-hyphenate female comedic breakout -- Lena Dunham, of GIRLS fame.
THE MINDY PROJECT shares a lot in common with GIRLS, from its awkward-realistic tone to its unflinching portrayal of its flawed protagonist. (Of course, the show also doesn't share a lot with its HBO brethren, such as nudity, sex scenes and heavy profanity...this is network television, people.) I do wish that Mindy (the character), as the main character and as a representation of a modern professional woman, spent less time obsessing about romantic comedies and finding true love, but I suppose that's going to be a part of the character's growth -- to find out there's more to life than that (at least I hope that's where we're headed). At times I couldn't quite tell whether THE MINDY PROJECT was parodying romcom stereotypes of women or just playing into them. It's a fine distinction that Mindy (the actor/writer) will have to work hard to make clear.
The rest of the cast is rounded out by a few awesome supporting players: Anna Camp, who keeps proving how great she is at building a crackerjack resume (you may recognize her from a few small things like TRUE BLOOD, MAD MEN, THE GOOD WIFE, THE HELP, and the upcoming PITCH PERFECT), appears as Mindy's best friend Gwen, who has a slightly more mature perspective on life, given that she's already a mother. Stephen Tobolowsky (steals his one seen as Marc, Mindy's boss at the OB/GYN clinic. And Chris Messina (DAMAGES, THE NEWSROOM) kills it as Danny, Mindy's sarcastically antagonistic coworker (who you know she's destined to end up with). His caustic presence helps to dampen (in a good way) what might otherwise be a too-frothy show. Every time Mindy goes off on one of her romcom fantasies, Danny's always there to bring her back down to earth.
True to Mindy Kaling's style, there are a few off-color jokes that may turn some of the more politically-correct crowd off, but will be fodder for the audience this show is trying to attract. THE MINDY PROJECT may not be the most inspired comedy of all time (I do wish she had found somewhere else to set her show than a clinic -- I really don't need any more actors in scrubs on my TV screen), but Mindy (the actor)'s biting sense of humor and smart sense of what it means to be a struggling professional in a big city should be enough to keep people from changing their channels after Jess and Co. finish tearing up the screen at 9:30 every Tuesday night.
And the verdict is:
*** Solid. I'm interested and will definitely keep watching for the foreseeable future.
While I can't quite give this show an ADDICTive rating, it is decidedly my favorite new comedy thus far, and I'm excited to see where the show progresses to. This one definitely has a spot in my Hulu queue for the time being.
Your turn, Fellow Addicts! Did you find THE MINDY PROJECT awkwardly funny? Or just awkward? Vote in the poll below and then hit the comments!
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