Inside Television with Alan Sepinwall

The Morning Round-Up: 'New Girl' & 'The Mindy Project' reviews

It's a night for thirtysomethings to hang with twentysomethings

By Alan Sepinwall Wednesday, Oct 10, 2012 10:21 AM

On "The Mindy Project," Amar'e Stoudemire hangs with Mindy Kaling.

Credit: FOX

It's morning round-up time, with quick reviews of last night's episodes of "New Girl" and "The Mindy Project," coming up just as soon as I spend $49.95 on a subscription to an inaccurate, real-time actuarial service...

It's funny how often you'll see two or more shows in the same sitcom bloc tell the same kind of story on the same night, albeit in ways specific to each show. So while both "New Girl" and did stories about characters in their 30s trying to hang with ones in their 20s, they didn't feel like copies of each other.

For "New Girl," the micro-gap between our characters and the kids in the loft down the hall was the driver for Jess, Schmidt, Nick and Winston to all confront the nature of their own identities. Nick's prank war on old man Schmidt(*) was the funniest of these, particularly Schmidt not even noticing how deeply he kept sinking into the chair, but it was the rare episode where it felt like all four roommates' stories got told properly. (Though Winston's piece of things, as always, felt slighter than the others, his inability to find a good pranking sweet spot made for a good gag that ran parallel to what Nick was doing to Schmidt.) Zooey Deschanel did a fine job of appropriating '80s sitcom catchphrases, and this was a good example of Jess being quirky but still a recognizable human being.

(*) All the promos for this episode had a bit where Schmidt tries to impress the neighbors by quoting "Jerry Maguire," but the scene didn't survive to the final cut.

"The Mindy Project," meanwhile, only briefly touched on the idea that Shauna considers Mindy too old to hang with her at a club like this. Mainly, "In the Club" was an excuse to put most of the cast (save the absent Tobolowsky and the barely-used Anna Camp) in the setting and let them be funny with one another. It felt very much like the "Cafe Disco" episode of "The Office," or the first season finale of "Parks and Recreation," where there's not much plot, but a pleasant vibe and a bunch of likable and funny people enjoying each other's company. In the long run, "The Mindy Project" is going to succeed less on whether you can do a weekly half-hour version of a Meg Ryan movie and more on whether this combination of people are ones we'll want to watch. "In the Club" suggested they are, and this take on Mindy herself felt like a more self-aware, sustainable version of the character, even if she felt more like the straight woman to the supporting cast this week.

What did everybody else think?

Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching

Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

Related Searches: New Girl, The Mindy Project, Zooey Deschanel, Mindy Kaling

Carl

I am const-to-the-pizzo.
October 10, 2012 at 10:29AM EST Reply to Comment
Dave

It's one thing to have a plot less episode of people Dancing when you're an established show... But ep 3 when we don't totally even know what your show or characters are yet,,, huh? Ike Barinholz gets added at end of ep 2 and here he's already part if the gang looking out for co workers he barely knows?
October 10, 2012 at 10:30AM EST Reply to Comment
- sepinwall I would say it's not too early if it helps you to get to know the other characters (particularly the other women at the office, but also Morgan) more easily than a plot-driven episode might have.
  October 10, 2012 at 10:42AM EST
- Dave Post a comment...
  October 10, 2012 at 10:45AM EST
- Kensington This was the first episode of The Mindy Project that I watched, and I thought it was quite endearing. I didn't know how any of them were, but enough details were sketched in to make it work for me.
  October 10, 2012 at 10:47AM EST
- Dave I respectfully disagree. It didn't help me know any of the characters better. There were many long shots of people just dancing. Really surprised this works for you for ep 3 on a show whose pilot wasn't fully formed. In the last week I've seen you criticize other post pilot eps of shows that did a far better job of extending their narrative and characters (in my humble opinion). The only people thar pop at all are Mindy and Chris Messina. I am a huge fan of Mindy but this didn't work for me and seemed strange and not funny for ep 3.
  October 10, 2012 at 10:53AM EST
- amy That kind of bothered me. This was evidently supposed to be episode five. I get that it might have been stronger than episodes three or four, but it's also clear that not only has there been a tiny bit of movement in the Mindy/Danny 'ship but that the group is comfortable enough with Ike to tolerate the roofie talk, to take advice from him *and* for him to call them out on racism. We clearly missed things that we needed to fill in blanks. I liked the episode, but you had to ignore things to make it work.
  October 10, 2012 at 11:05AM EST
- ronozer I liked it, I think she is maybe going a little too much for likability, the B in Apt 23 mode is more fun. I mean, she should have dumped her friends!
  October 10, 2012 at 11:06AM EST
- sepinwall I will say I think the show didn't need her to bail on the after-party to be with her friends. She had already done her various good deeds for Betsy and Shauna; that beat felt like overcompensating.
  October 10, 2012 at 11:07AM EST
- Ted Schmoesby well I for one subscribe to the camp that you can learn as much or not more about who characters (and especially real people) are when you take them out of the staid office setting that they will primarily interact in and put them in a club, bar or other outside event and see how the dynamics shift. also, the only "long shots of people just dancing" I saw were either to comment/joke about how good a dancer and "club flirt" Messina's character is and to continue to set the romantic tension b/n his character and Mindy's. I'll also add that Ike's character basically got his job (which he was desperate for) by fixing Mindy's broken nose so it wasn't out of character for him to do any of the wacky or sweet things he did in this ep. there was actually a lot of plot development here, the best episode of this series so far. It seems to me that Dave either "viewed" this with a DVR fastfoward or prefers a multicam like big bang where every scene of the entire show takes place in the 3 or 4 sections of a sound stage
  October 10, 2012 at 11:18AM EST
- Gregory Gregson Actually, In the Club was supposed to be episode four. Danny Castellano is my Ginecologist is episode three, but for some reason FOX decided to air this one first.
  October 10, 2012 at 11:22AM EST
- Ted Schmoesby I find it very odd that people who saw the first 2 episodes of this show are this taken aback by what was apparently a slight shift ahead in the narrative. I seriously doubt that whatever happens in the skipped episode (which will likely be 90% in the office just like the first 2) is going to be so eye-opening as to "explain" all the "missing development" from this one
  October 10, 2012 at 11:31AM EST
- Gregory Gregson I had no problems with FOX airing this episode first as I was perfectly able to enjoy it nonetheless. I just mentioned the fact because of Amy's post.
  
  Really liking The Mindy Project, it's the only new show I set a DVR pass so far.
  October 10, 2012 at 11:40AM EST
- amy @Greg: You're, like, the third person to say it was episode four, so I believe that that is probably the correct number. Episode five is how Dish Network's listings had it, though.
  
  Being out of order didn't ruin the episode for me at all, but it did bug me that after only interacting with a third of the cast last week Ike's character was suddenly hanging with them as an advice giving, lollipop sharing, roofie offering member of the gang. It felt off.
  October 10, 2012 at 12:13PM EST
- KarenX I don't think the show needed her to bail on her friends, either, but I don't think Mindy stuck with her friends for plot. I think she was bored by the VIP room and really didn't want to have to hang out making silly pizza all night, even if it was with Jamie Foxx.
  
  I did laugh when Ike (that's Joe Served My Time, right?) dropped all that cash on the table for them but it was only $47.
  October 10, 2012 at 12:41PM EST
- Cousin Larry Appleton KARENX: I'm not sure I buy that she was bored with the VIP room, or the prospect of hanging with Jamie Foxx. Everything we know about the Mindy character so far would lead us to believe that hanging out with Jamie Foxx, Amare Stoudemire, et al. would be her dream. She also seemed to be enjoying herself quite a bit in the VIP (although I'm not entirely sure why. The lawyer guy was creepy and sleazy).
  
  I too laughed quite a bit when Ike, so confidently, dropped the money on the table only to have it be about $250 short. Ike's character is probably too cartoonish, but damn if he hasn't made me laugh these past two episodes.
  October 10, 2012 at 2:02PM EST
- Col Bat Guano I thought this was easily the best episode of the show so far and didn't care at all that we missed some character development. Any show that improves each week works for me. Morgan may be a cartoon, but he's a funny one.
  October 10, 2012 at 3:21PM EST
Paul F

In another parallel, both New Girl and Raising Hope had scenes where adult characters measure their height against a wall.

I also really liked last night's Ben and Kate. Not much plot, but it's already fun to hang out with the characters for half an hour.
October 10, 2012 at 10:31AM EST Reply to Comment
manU4life

I thought this was the weakest New Girl episode in awhile. In no way can I buy Schmidt wanting to impress some loser twentysomethings just so he can feel young. Schmidt trying to hit on a younger girl I could buy, but not that group of kids. The whole scenario fell flat for me.
October 10, 2012 at 10:44AM EST Reply to Comment
- Pod I think it's more about Schmidt being sensitive about his age - he stops trying to hang out with them once he finds out that they don't dislike him because he's old.
  October 13, 2012 at 11:57PM EST
snowlarbear

was TGIF 80s, thought it was more of a 90s thing. i could be wrong.

also did Shauna in TMP (the mindy project) always have an accent? it seemed to appear this week and even in this episode she sometimes didn't have it. weird.
October 10, 2012 at 10:49AM EST Reply to Comment
- sepinwall Perfect Strangers moved to Fridays in 1988, and TGIF officially launched in 1989, the same season Family Matters debuted. And Full House debuted in 1987.
  October 10, 2012 at 10:53AM EST
- Jobin00 Let's not forget the great Step by Step either!
  October 10, 2012 at 11:12AM EST
- PennyCan The time period did seem a little off. They said that group was supposed to be 23. I'm 23 and my friends and I definitely understand all Full House/Family Matters references
  October 10, 2012 at 2:05PM EST
Liz

This was easily my least favorite Mindy episode so far. It was much broader and more cliched (I'm going to pick my friends over this new guy!) where the previous two seemed much sharper.
October 10, 2012 at 10:59AM EST Reply to Comment
Mark S.

This was the first episode of Mindy where I actually laughed out loud instead of just having a few smiles. I'm willing to hang out with these people on a weekly basis if they keep making it that funny.
October 10, 2012 at 11:05AM EST Reply to Comment
Cousin Larry Appleton

Raising Hope had some pretty funny moments last night, and was greatly benefited by typically strong work from Dillahunt and Plimpton. Still, the less Maw-Maw, the better. Also: the Baby Mask/Horse Face thing was creepy-hilarious.

I just can't get back into New Girl. There's a back-log developing on my DVR. The only thing I can say I really enjoy on the show is Jack Johnson. I'm even tiring on Schmidt a little.

Ben and Kate is my favorite of the Tuesday shows so far. It's certainly not laugh out loud hysterical, but I just find the characters and actors really pleasant. They're characters who I can easily enjoy spending 30 minutes with.

This was probably my least favorite Mindy episode, but it was still enjoyable. Ike Barinholtz just cracks me up, and it was nice to see some development for the more minor characters at the office. That said, I'm not positive I found any of the other girls at the office particularly interesting, and I dread any potential "mindy/shauna/danny" storylines. I can't get into the Ed Weeks character, and at this point, if they're not going to bother giving Anna Camp anything to do, she should just be written off the show. She makes T-Dawg look vital.
October 10, 2012 at 11:06AM EST Reply to Comment
- Ted Schmoesby Cousin Larry, don't be reeDEEK-U-LOWSS!! actually other than your ranking of the Mindy eps, I pretty much agree with everything here. Ben & Kate is quietly very underrated so far, and Schmidt is walking a fine line between outrageous and annoying. He carried some early eps so I'm chalking it up to them balancing the "humanizing" of Jess and attempted development of Winston by making Schmidt lean more to his cartoon tendencies
  October 10, 2012 at 11:39AM EST
Jobin00

Nick still has that frisbee from ~25 years, and uses it for his pistachios.

Grumpy old man Nick is amazing.
October 10, 2012 at 11:09AM EST Reply to Comment
- Stan I think he is the best comedic character on TV right now.
  October 10, 2012 at 11:17AM EST
- Mike Nick's storyline might have been the funniest thing New Girl has ever done, from old man Nick to the pranking of Schmidt. That in particular was brilliant on so many levels. The pranks themselves were funny, but also the intensity and depth of the wall prank with needing to photograph the wall and re-spackle it, his discussion of how much the pranks cost with Jess was perfect, and even Winston's complete inability to gauge pranks was a funny beat.
  October 10, 2012 at 6:11PM EST
- Pod That kid who was young Nick was amazing too, he had Nick's mannerisms exactly right.
  October 14, 2012 at 12:00AM EST
Dr. Gross

Ike Barinholtz (who I previously was not a fan of) is destroying on The Mindy Project.
October 10, 2012 at 11:11AM EST Reply to Comment
sb5

What's going on with Anna Camp on The Mindy Project? She's pretty much been in one unsubstantial scene in each episode that always seems disconnected from everything else. Is it a case where between the original conception and the actual series they decided to shift to focus more on the workplace aspect, and her character got left out in the cold? Or was she busy scheduling-wise and they could only fit in a small amount?
October 10, 2012 at 11:18AM EST Reply to Comment
- prettok I think she may just be a figment of Mindy's imagination; an imaginary best-friend/female confidant like in all the Meg Ryan movies Mindy obsesses over.
  October 10, 2012 at 4:14PM EST
LindseyBot

...as soon as I have crazy diarrhea!

(missed opportunity)
October 10, 2012 at 11:45AM EST Reply to Comment
Dezbot

I liked both eps of both shows (and loved Raising Hope's ep). I did have to wonder just how full the D-Bag Jar is with all of Schmidt's antics last night, though. He can pay for Nick's pranking expenses!

The end bit with Winston about to smack Schmidt had me LMAO.
October 10, 2012 at 12:03PM EST Reply to Comment
Stormshadow4life

I thought New Girl was pretty funny last night. More out loud laughs then last week's.
October 10, 2012 at 12:19PM EST Reply to Comment
- Col Bat Guano The hipster names of the new neighbors (Fife?) and Winston's "Let's hit him in the throat with a ski." both made me laugh a lot.
  October 10, 2012 at 3:25PM EST
XK

I feel like the Mindy Project is very uneven. There are funny bits, but they are always interspersed with weaker bits. Despite Mindy being the EP and one of the writers, her character is the least funny part of the show.

New Girl was decent (Nick is always funny), but I tend to prefer the interplay between the four of them; when it's Jess or Schmidt out making fools of themselves with strangers, it tends to be less entertaining to me.
October 10, 2012 at 12:22PM EST Reply to Comment
BigTed

The problem with "New Girl" was that the new neighbors weren't very interesting or amusing. (Frankly, they seemed just as douchey as Schmidt, if in a different way.) Even if Schmidt associates being young with being cool, it's hard to see why he would be so desperate to fit in with them. It would have been funnier if he disapproved of the way they seemed to be wasting their youth, and ended up sounding like an actual old man grumbling about "kids these days..."
October 10, 2012 at 1:43PM EST Reply to Comment
julie

Amare Stoudemire stole my pashmina!
October 10, 2012 at 2:41PM EST Reply to Comment
- Bitter Knicks Fan Most defense Amare has played in his career.
  October 12, 2012 at 11:09AM EST
Haynie

"HA! I'm bout to hit your ass with this ski!"

I watched both episodes, and that one line from Winston made me LOL more than anything. Perfect timing.
October 10, 2012 at 8:26PM EST Reply to Comment
AM7

Clearly they changed the Jess character this year so she's more likeable. She speaks clearly and is just less weird and more of human being. It's made her less annoying and that's a plus for New Girl.
October 11, 2012 at 9:25AM EST Reply to Comment
geoff_rose

I've been watching HIMYM and Cougartown under the assumption that these are shows about people trying to act ten years younger than they are, and how we should really be laughing at them because of THAT, not so much the scripted jokes (though that's more the case in HIMYM than Cougartown, which revels in the more pathetic habits of its characters).

Seeing it on New Girl was a bit strange; I get Jess trying to find some place she enjoyed and liked herself again, but Schmidt chasing "the young crowd" was harder to buy, even with the prank war heightening his his vanity.
October 14, 2012 at 1:21AM EST Reply to Comment
ChampSkins

Late to this party... but is Anna Camp a regular on Mindy Project? Because if so, her lack of use on the show is appalling. She needs to be used WAY more.
October 16, 2012 at 9:59AM EST Reply to Comment

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The Morning Round-Up: 'New Girl' & 'The Mindy Project' reviews

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Comments

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Carl I am const-to-the-pizzo.

sepinwall I would say it's not too early if it helps you to get to know the other characters (particularly the other women at the office, but also Morgan) more easily than a plot-driven episode might have.

Dave Post a comment...

Kensington This was the first episode of The Mindy Project that I watched, and I thought it was quite endearing. I didn't know how any of them were, but enough details were sketched in to make it work for me.

ronozer I liked it, I think she is maybe going a little too much for likability, the B in Apt 23 mode is more fun. I mean, she should have dumped her friends!

sepinwall I will say I think the show didn't need her to bail on the after-party to be with her friends. She had already done her various good deeds for Betsy and Shauna; that beat felt like overcompensating.

Gregory Gregson Actually, In the Club was supposed to be episode four. Danny Castellano is my Ginecologist is episode three, but for some reason FOX decided to air this one first.

Gregory Gregson I had no problems with FOX airing this episode first as I was perfectly able to enjoy it nonetheless. I just mentioned the fact because of Amy's post. Really liking The Mindy Project, it's the only new show I set a DVR pass so far.

Col Bat Guano I thought this was easily the best episode of the show so far and didn't care at all that we missed some character development. Any show that improves each week works for me. Morgan may be a cartoon, but he's a funny one.

Paul F In another parallel, both New Girl and Raising Hope had scenes where adult characters measure their height against a wall.I also really liked last night's Ben and Kate. Not much plot, but it's already fun to hang out with the characters for half an hour.

manU4life I thought this was the weakest New Girl episode in awhile. In no way can I buy Schmidt wanting to impress some loser twentysomethings just so he can feel young. Schmidt trying to hit on a younger girl I could buy, but not that group of kids. The whole scenario fell flat for me.

Pod I think it's more about Schmidt being sensitive about his age - he stops trying to hang out with them once he finds out that they don't dislike him because he's old.

snowlarbear was TGIF 80s, thought it was more of a 90s thing. i could be wrong.also did Shauna in TMP (the mindy project) always have an accent? it seemed to appear this week and even in this episode she sometimes didn't have it. weird.

sepinwall Perfect Strangers moved to Fridays in 1988, and TGIF officially launched in 1989, the same season Family Matters debuted. And Full House debuted in 1987.

Jobin00 Let's not forget the great Step by Step either!

PennyCan The time period did seem a little off. They said that group was supposed to be 23. I'm 23 and my friends and I definitely understand all Full House/Family Matters references

Liz This was easily my least favorite Mindy episode so far. It was much broader and more cliched (I'm going to pick my friends over this new guy!) where the previous two seemed much sharper.

Mark S. This was the first episode of Mindy where I actually laughed out loud instead of just having a few smiles. I'm willing to hang out with these people on a weekly basis if they keep making it that funny.

Jobin00 Nick still has that frisbee from ~25 years, and uses it for his pistachios. Grumpy old man Nick is amazing.

Stan I think he is the best comedic character on TV right now.

Pod That kid who was young Nick was amazing too, he had Nick's mannerisms exactly right.

Dr. Gross Ike Barinholtz (who I previously was not a fan of) is destroying on The Mindy Project.

prettok I think she may just be a figment of Mindy's imagination; an imaginary best-friend/female confidant like in all the Meg Ryan movies Mindy obsesses over.

LindseyBot ...as soon as I have crazy diarrhea! (missed opportunity)

Dezbot I liked both eps of both shows (and loved Raising Hope's ep). I did have to wonder just how full the D-Bag Jar is with all of Schmidt's antics last night, though. He can pay for Nick's pranking expenses!The end bit with Winston about to smack Schmidt had me LMAO.

Stormshadow4life I thought New Girl was pretty funny last night. More out loud laughs then last week's.

Col Bat Guano The hipster names of the new neighbors (Fife?) and Winston's "Let's hit him in the throat with a ski." both made me laugh a lot.

julie Amare Stoudemire stole my pashmina!

Bitter Knicks Fan Most defense Amare has played in his career.

Haynie "HA! I'm bout to hit your ass with this ski!"I watched both episodes, and that one line from Winston made me LOL more than anything. Perfect timing.

AM7 Clearly they changed the Jess character this year so she's more likeable. She speaks clearly and is just less weird and more of human being. It's made her less annoying and that's a plus for New Girl.

ChampSkins Late to this party... but is Anna Camp a regular on Mindy Project? Because if so, her lack of use on the show is appalling. She needs to be used WAY more.

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Carl

I am const-to-the-pizzo.

Gregory Gregson I had no problems with FOX airing this episode first as I was perfectly able to enjoy it nonetheless. I just mentioned the fact because of Amy's post.

Really liking The Mindy Project, it's the only new show I set a DVR pass so far.

Paul F

In another parallel, both New Girl and Raising Hope had scenes where adult characters measure their height against a wall.

I also really liked last night's Ben and Kate. Not much plot, but it's already fun to hang out with the characters for half an hour.

manU4life

I thought this was the weakest New Girl episode in awhile. In no way can I buy Schmidt wanting to impress some loser twentysomethings just so he can feel young. Schmidt trying to hit on a younger girl I could buy, but not that group of kids. The whole scenario fell flat for me.

snowlarbear

was TGIF 80s, thought it was more of a 90s thing. i could be wrong.

also did Shauna in TMP (the mindy project) always have an accent? it seemed to appear this week and even in this episode she sometimes didn't have it. weird.

Liz

This was easily my least favorite Mindy episode so far. It was much broader and more cliched (I'm going to pick my friends over this new guy!) where the previous two seemed much sharper.

Mark S.

This was the first episode of Mindy where I actually laughed out loud instead of just having a few smiles. I'm willing to hang out with these people on a weekly basis if they keep making it that funny.

Jobin00

Nick still has that frisbee from ~25 years, and uses it for his pistachios.

Grumpy old man Nick is amazing.

Dr. Gross

Ike Barinholtz (who I previously was not a fan of) is destroying on The Mindy Project.

LindseyBot

...as soon as I have crazy diarrhea!

(missed opportunity)

Dezbot

I liked both eps of both shows (and loved Raising Hope's ep). I did have to wonder just how full the D-Bag Jar is with all of Schmidt's antics last night, though. He can pay for Nick's pranking expenses!

The end bit with Winston about to smack Schmidt had me LMAO.

Stormshadow4life

I thought New Girl was pretty funny last night. More out loud laughs then last week's.

julie

Amare Stoudemire stole my pashmina!

Haynie

"HA! I'm bout to hit your ass with this ski!"

I watched both episodes, and that one line from Winston made me LOL more than anything. Perfect timing.

AM7

Clearly they changed the Jess character this year so she's more likeable. She speaks clearly and is just less weird and more of human being. It's made her less annoying and that's a plus for New Girl.

ChampSkins

Late to this party... but is Anna Camp a regular on Mindy Project? Because if so, her lack of use on the show is appalling. She needs to be used WAY more.

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