Episode 1542: Yes, I'm Still Hate-Watching The Mindy Project...

Given that New Girl and The Mindy Project share a network, you'd think the writers would be sharing tips with each other. Except they clearly don't, since the former delivered a Christmas episode that was just the right amounts of sweet and goofy, whereas the latter still tried way too hard. Never watched The Office, so I'm completely indifferent to Mindy Kaling, but The Mindy Project suggests that she's not ready to anchor her own show yet. (On the other hand, Zooey Deschanel has totally won me over, but it's also because New Girl has shifted her character away from, maybe even somewhat deconstructed, the MPDG persona.) Chris Messina remains the most entertaining character on Kaling's comedy. Maybe they should just spin him off? Together with the recurring Tommy Dewey, who played Mindy's douchey (now ex-)boyfriend. If the show's still so muddled come 2013 when it returns for the second half of its season, after it's undergone retooling, I might just drop it from my viewing list. You know what's the saddest thing? I can think of several other comedies (Community, Don't Trust The B---- In Apartment 23, Happy Endings, New Girl, maybe even Suburgatory) that could've pulled off the sort of episode that The Mindy Project was gunning for this week because their writers have proved they know the characters they're writing for.