5 Reasons Why I Can't Watch The Mindy Project

Ya heard me.....

When The Mindy Project first appeared, I had resisted.  A female OB-GYN in the Big City didn’t seem all that poised for humor, but that’s okay because that’s not what the show really turned out to be.  Catching episodes on Hulu, I was drawn to the character of Mindy Lahiri because she is pop-cultured obsessed, loved food, and was self-confident about her body in a culture that pressures overweight women into thinking they are the poor souls trying to kill themselves with food.  Sure, I could overlook the fact that she was consistently portrayed as non-intelligent, immature, and boy crazy but that was softened by story-lines in which Mindy would try to help Danny or her friends, support her brother Raj, or act as a mentor.

Aside from Mindy, my other favorite character was Morgan Tookers.  A crazy white guy with a heart of gold.  Morgan was unlike any other character I've ever seen.  Part delusional like Charlie from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and part blue collar worker like Nick from New Girl, Morgan also was ready to help out anyone in moment’s notice.

And then Season Two started……and all my favorite parts went out the window.  Changes were made and the show became unrecognizable to me.

1. The Show Panders to Other Audiences.   

Hey guess what, The Mindy Project?  I love cupcakes, I’m overweight with a sense of humor, and I have secret crushes all the time. This is a show made for me, right?  Wrong. This show needs fresh blood, apparently and instead of rewarding its fan base with better story-lines, we will just throw in actors from other shows.  White, male actors.  As boyfriends for Mindy.  So, your boyfriend will maybe wanna watch?  Because we are not satisfied with just you, the target audience. 

Featuring that white dude from Workaholics.

Featuring more white dudes from Happy Endings and It's Always Sunny.

Absolutely wasting Justified's Timothy Olyphant

2. Morgan Is Now A Creeper.  

Morgan has always been the wild card of the group.  The unstable, man-child with crazy impulses.  At 6’1”, with beady brown eyes, Morgan toed the line between lovably quirky and down right, dangerously, chemically imbalanced.  It was a fine line, for sure.  Now he has toppled into full creeper territory when he shows up naked in Mindy’s bed.  Spurned, he seeks out a lawyer to sue Mindy for sexual harassment.  This is of course played for laughs but this shit isn't funny.  Unstable men are not generally okay after a simple apology.  This is just squirm inducing, much like in Parks and Recreation when we are invited to laugh at Jerry Gergich having a heart attack.  That shit ain’t funny and desensitizes us to other’s suffering.  This is especially bizarre give how Ike Barinholtz was responsible for co-writing some of the best Mindy episodes in Season One.

From this....

To this......

3. Lack of Diversity.  

Yep, despite Mindy and Tamra, this show is still pretty white washed.  Especially in a doctor’s office setting.  I compare it at times to Scrubs with began 14 years ago.  Not much has changed.  Mindy’s boyfriends or love interests are all white and mostly interchangeable except for Casey (Anders Holm), who was allowed to have a personality outside of his work.  Now I realize that most other shows have a maximum of two minority characters as well; 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn 99.  However, this show has the potential to add more diversity, such as new doctor, a new neighbor or a new love interest for Mindy.

Do you see what I see?

Do you?

4. Mindy is Too Selfish. 

Whatever happened to Mindy’s girlfriends?  And patients? And family members?  Or right, they’re gone.  They’re not integral to the only story-line of every episode that matters, which is Mindy getting and keeping a boyfriend.  At this point I don’t even care.  I was more invested in her when she displayed flashes of intelligence (she is a Doctor after all), kindness and determination.  Now Danny and Peter are the most fleshed out characters.  Mindy is just a caricature.

None of these people matter.

5. Story-lines are Consistently Much Weaker.  

In Season One, Mindy’s co-worker Jeremy had to deal with the crushing expectations of his father which in turn would sabotage his relationship, in subsequent seasons he is an over-eater.  His whole character arc is that he is fat.  The End.  In the music festival episode, imaginatively titled “Music Festival”, Danny wants to go see the band The National at a music festival and the whole staff goes along with him.  Danny, a character that was already established as a man with old-school tastes and disdainful of anything youthful, suddenly likes music festivals.  And The National.  For no explained reason at all.  The National is like the opposite of the vibe of this show.  Introspective, soul-searching, a little bit sad…..nothing like The Mindy Project.

What the hell, homies?

They look pleased as punch to be on this show.

What are your thoughts?  I’m harsh because I used to love this show and found out the show did not love me back, like a cheating ex-boyfriend or a back-stabbing friend.

Super Fun Night was so much better.

Two characters closer to my size.

And musical numbers.