You know how on How I Met Your Mother the characters will stage an intervention when one of the gang has gone off the rails?
We have come to that point with The Mindy Project. It is time to stage an intervention. If the show is going to become viable and live to see a season two, certain things have to happen:
• Either change Mindy’s career or have her actually start caring about the career she has. I don’t know anyone who would go through medical school and the intensive internship and residency only to declare, “My plan is to marry rich and then stop working.” Let Mindy follow her bliss and work at a clothing store where she could dole out fashion advice and gossip about celebrities.
• Just say no to physical comedy. It doesn’t work on this show. The scene of Mindy falling all over herself in Brendan’s bathroom was painful.
• Have Mindy get a freaking clue about her love life. It’s one thing to not have your love life together; it’s another to think it would be a good idea to have a one-night-stand with someone you will see every day at work.
• Get rid of the Morgan character. Please.
• Make Mindy a consistent character. She’s a different character every episode, depending on what the plot calls for.
I still believe there’s a funny show somewhere inside The Mindy Project struggling to come out. Danny dating a much younger woman was kind of funny. I loved it when he asked her, “When are we going to be able to go to bed?” when she told him they were going out for sushi at 11 p.m. Most people over 35 can totally relate to that sentiment. And I smiled when Eye Patch Girl realized he was 38, not 32 and said, “I’m just trying to figure out how many Olympics you’ve been around for.” Funny stuff.
And there are some moments when Mindy’s pop-culture obsessed cluelessness is funny. Take this exchange: Jeremy tells her the key to a one-night stand is to “find a man you’re attracted to but you don’t respect and you can’t see a future with.” “Draco Malfoy?” she responds. More funny stuff. Mindy to Eye Patch Girl about Danny: “Can you please tell me about Danny’s apartment? In my mind it’s like a smoky speakeasy where old men go to complain about technology.” Even more funny stuff. See, the show can be funny.
And I’m glad that, as promised, the midwives were shown to be competent. Hopefully that will be the last of the unfunny midwife jokes the show hoists upon viewers. But, in general, the Brendan character is a total bust. Mark Duplass is a funny guy on The League, but The Mindy Project sucks the life out of him.
Next Tuesday the show airs two all-new episodes and B.J. Novak (Ryan on The Office and a producer on The Mindy Project) guest stars. I don’t have high hopes.