The Fox Upfront Presentation took place in New York yesterday and Fox introduced what new shows they will be airing next season – robots, National Treasure style mysteries, a Gavin & Stacy remake, a cop comedy and more. It is also a time when they bring out cast members of current shows. As it is the New Girl and The Mindy Project’s season finales tonight and because they both look adorable I wanted to share this delightful photo of Zooey Deschanel with Mindy Kaling that Deschanel posted to her Instagram yesterday.
Both New Girl and The Mindy Project will remain on Tuesday night in the fall with new comedy shows Dads (I made it half way through the trailer, that laugh track is just the worst) and Brooklyn Nine-Nine (this is much more promising and is from the producers of Parks and Rec). As both New Girl and The Mindy Project have demonstrated comedy shows can take time to find their feet and so I am hopeful for at least one of these new offerings.
New Girl has also been given the much coveted post Super Bowl slot along with one of the freshman comedies (Dads, Brooklyn Nine-Nine or Enlisted) and this can lead to a big ratings bump and high exposure.
The big question for New Girl tonight is what will happen with Nick and Jess? Is Nick going to let his doubts about his self-worth get the better of him? Cece’s wedding is center stage and she has her own romantic entanglements with Schmidt to deal with. Plus Taylor Swift is turning up, possibly in an attempt to ruin the wedding. It’s all happening.
The Mindy Project is still figuring out what works and while there was a point around mid-season that I considered quitting this show, I’m glad I stuck around as the second half has been much stronger. This has a lot to do with the central pairing of Mindy and Danny (and not just because Chris Messina is dreamy). I don’t need to see them hooking up any time soon as their dynamic is interesting without these kinds of complications, but it’s good to know that when the inevitable happens they have built up their relationship from antagonists to friends (one shining moment from Danny is with the vending machine after Seth Rogen’s character left).
Over at The A.V. Club Todd VanDerWerff has an interesting proposal for how season 2 can improve using the model of Louie; reduce the ensemble size and focus on the lead. Mindy and Danny are the only two fully formed characters and sometimes aspects of the larger group don’t gel (and the show has already rejigged the cast). I am glad that despite less than stellar ratings The Mindy Project will return in the fall and hopefully produce more of what made the latter half of the season so enjoyable.
TV Ate My Wardrobe 