The Mindy Project: Josh and Mindy's Christmas Party

I have watched a lot of romantic comedies in my day and that makes me love The Mindy Project.  I have to confess after the SNL skit of "Dylan McDermott vesus Dermot Mulroney," I would totally lose at that game without imdb.com.

2 Broke Girls also referenced the confusion between the two actors on Monday night.  As a student of pop culture, I should be able to tell them apart but alas I cannot. Maybe one day after a marathon of their movies.

I loved tonight's episode of the Mindy Project.  Mindy's unabashed love of the holidays with the music and colorful outfits set such a great tone for the show.  Danny who is uninterested in the holidays comes to the party with an elaborate ginger bread house.  He is the perfect foil to Mindy.  He does care about her when trying to help her navigate a cheating crisis with grace.  Mindy confronts Josh perfectly mimicking the voicemail.  Danny saves Mindy during her speech becoming her knight in shining armor.

Ellie Kemper appears as Heather (not a fan of the character being named that), but she does a great crazy girlfriend who insults Mindy and destroys her house. It was genius to have Wham's Last Christmas as background music to when Mindy's friends are rallying around her to make her feel better. It's what the holidays are all about sharing, caring, and loving all that are special to us.  This episode is proof that Mindy's show is hitting its stride, and I am only looking forward to more.

Happy Endings: P&P Romance Factory

Happy Endings is one of the most underrated shows on television today.  I am concerned for its fourth season.  It is up against New Girl on Tuesdays, which isn't helping its ratings.  It is one of my favorite shows, and I like checking in with this group of best friends in Chicago every week.  I absolutely died with the Real World spoof a few weeks ago, that episode in particular was a genius move for this show.

In this episode, Penny is in yet another awkward dating situation because she is not with Dave.  Alex and Dave try to help out Max with feeling self-conscious about high fiving and fist pumping; while Brad and Jane continue to find comfort in their awesome  and quirky marriage. There were some great one liners and a One Tree Hill reference, so I cannot complain about that.

I think the show needs to go back to the Penny and Dave romance, we haven't seen it too much in a while.  That storyline is a strong point for the show, it really made me invested in the characters.  Also Penny's relationship with Max was highlight in the show where the jokes are strong, but it seems listless in the two episodes. And Alex has become terribly annoying as Dave's girlfriend again.

The Walking Dead: Made to Suffer

I had a dream about The Walking Dead on Saturday night.  Granted it was after I got up at 5:30 am to go hiking, and I was fearing for my life because of hunters.  And then there was a special on pitchers at the bar, so it was guaranteed night for crazy dreams. My dream in summation, the Governor set a murder of zombies on my house where I was having a Christmas party.

So needless to say I was excited about tonight's episode.  I was ready for some carnage.  I am sad to have to wait until next year for more new episodes, but I cannot wait to see when Woodbury and the prison survivors clash.

Glenn and Maggie were going to be executed after fighting back with zombie bones.  Glenn has become so strong, and one of the few fully formed characters on the show.  Rick, Darryl, Michonne, and the prisoner ambush Merle before the execution.  They are trying to figure out an exit plan as Michonne sneaks off to assassinate the governor.  (She is so bad ass.)  She discovers Penny and has the best zombie kills of the week with a katana through the back of the head exiting through Penny's mouth.  A struggle ensues with the wall o'heads getting destroyed, and the Governor gets a shard of glass through the eye via Michonne.  Andrea interrupts this fight, and Michonne summarily leaves.

Andrea isn't too happy with how the Governor has treated her throughout the episode.  He explains the heads, and Andrea could never agree with keeping Penny.  Andrea is the dumbest character on television, so even though she is seeing the Governor's true colors; I doubt she'll take heed of them.  The prisoner who assisted with the rescue is shot, and Maggie takes action to make sure he doesn't become a zombie.  But Darryl is captured since he stayed behind.

Meanwhile, at the prison a group of survivors enters into the prison through a previously unacknowledged gaping hole in the prison. Carl takes charge to go investigate their screams, and then promptly locks them in a cell. He went from being a stupid kid with his mother alive to a veteran of a zombie laden world where you can't trust anyone after his mother's death.

Back at Woodbury, the Governor manipulates the masses by accusing Merle of helping the terrorists because one of the terrorists is his brother, Darryl.  The masses shout for him to kill both of them, which is what usually happens in a fearful herd mentality.

We'll have to wait until next year to see what happens to our survivors of the zombie apocalypse.  But just like how this season opened, this episode had the least amount of dialogue and a ton of action making it one of the most suspenseful hours on television.

The Mindy Project: Teen Patient

After Mindy's tweet, I made it a point to blog about The Mindy Project tonight.  It is taking time away from The Passage by Justin Cronin. {I decided to participate in "The Double Down Book Club" because of Grantland's Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald podcast from last week, and I am now reading a 900 page book.  I will forgive them since they are from Philadelphia, and the book is good.  (Is everyone at Grantland from Philadelphia?? Even the reviewer of Silver Linings Playbook is from Philadelphia.)}

I digress back to the task at hand, The Mindy Project. Tonight's cold open was funny, I worry often about harming an intern, poor guy took a hard hit. Like every great romantic comedy, the main female character is on her journey to find love.  It is obvious Mindy hasn't found it with her current boyfriend, otherwise the relationship would be able to withstand the grueling questions of a fifteen year old.  This faulty relationship doesn't mean the show isn't without its funny moments, like Danny trying to handle an HR situation. Or Mindy visiting a high school on multiple occasions to dispense wisdom or condoms.  I have never felt older watching Mindy on the bean bag trying to have a conversation.  I would probably be doing all of those things.  I also wouldn't try to sit on a bean bag in a pencil skirt. I loved all the green of her outfit though.

I like Mindy Kaling enough to keep watching the show for its bits of comedy.  I really hope that it is appealing to a wider audience because I think Mindy is smart enough to continue to write good episode and truly hit a stride in the second season.  Once the characters are established, Mindy can play to her strengths of writing for female characters and develop a more "will they, won't they" storyline for Mindy and Danny (Dr. Castellano, almost as fun to say as Jordan Catalano).

2 Broke Girls: And the Egg Special

Candy Andy is the best thing to happen to this show.  As a hopeless romantic, it made the show more tolerable, and I am always excited to see him.  In the episode, Martha Stewart gave Max's Homemade Cupcakes a blurb in her magazine.  This exposure means that Max and Caroline can take the next step in their business, which is opening a cupcake store across from Candy Andy.  Anything to have more Candy Andy on screen I support.  I was really happy to see that they didn't go through with selling their eggs.  First off, I couldn't see CBS supporting that storyline, and secondly it's just too grim of a reality.  Even though they pointed out that many people have babies through the process, so there was a silver lining. 

It seems the writers are hitting their stride where the story and jokes are a little more seamless than Max's one liners. I hope that this show is given more legs now that the cupcake business is getting off the ground with Sophie's help.  The writers can make the jokes and storylines more cohesive, and it is no longer about watching these two poor girls struggle to get their business off the ground.