Tag Archives: Mindy Kaling

New Girl and The Mindy Project: Season Finales and Fox Upfront Presentation

14 May

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.

Zooey Deschanel Mindy Kaling upfrontsBoth 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 (DadsBrooklyn Nine-Nine or Enlisted) and this can lead to a big ratings bump and high exposure.

NewGirl-Ep255_ElaineBigDay-Sc25_00304The 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’s Women of Comedy Shine at the 2013 Met Gala

7 May

Last night the 2013 Met Gala was held in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and while all eyes were on what Beyonce, Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow were wearing, here at TV Ate My Wardrobe we want to highlight what the women of television were wearing. Actresses from both comedy and drama were at the event and as this is meant to be fun night of outlandish and creative fashion we’re going to focus on the women of comedy.

The theme of the night was “Punk” as the Costume of Institute Gala celebrates the opening of Punk: Chaos to Couture; an exhibition examining the impact that punk has had on high fashion from the 1970s to the present day.

It’s a broad theme and as you will see from the variety of outfits and some took this to mean dramatic make-up, whereas others like Miley Cyrus embraced the punk look from head to toe.

Lena-Dunham-Met-Gala-2013Girls creator and star Lena Dunham arrived at the event in Erdem and with designer Erdem Moralioglu in a black floor length gown with a polka dot (!) mesh panel. This panel meant that you could see Dunham’s back tattoo and worked well with the punk theme. The combination of the floral print on the dress and the polka dot is pattern clashing at its best and this is my favorite red carpet look of the night. Both her make-up and hair are simple, opting for smokey eyes that were a bang on trend at the Gala (darker make-up equals punk in the fashion world).

Aubrey Plaza metAubrey Plaza has featured several times on TV Ate My Wardrobe’s “Look of the Week” list for her April Ludgate costumes that I covert and while this outfit isn’t something you would see on Parks and Recreation, it is also one of my favorite ensembles of the evening. Plaza was dressed by Vogue magazine in a Marios Schwab dress with Barbara Bui heels. A dress with a built in cape satisfies my inner superhero and one that sparkles as much as this does is an instant hit.

Zooey Deschanel Met Zooey Deschanel’s one shouldered Tommy Hilfiger might not automatically suggest anything remotely punk, but her clutch purse featuring an image of a safety pin in hot pink adds a slight punk edge to this classic look. Deschanel doesn’t go for the heavy make-up approach and she’s also ditched her famous bangs for the evening giving a fresh face appeal. Like many others on this red carpet Deschanel hasn’t fully embraced the theme, but the New Girl star looks elegant with a dash of punk with her purse.

mindy and BJMindy Kaling (seen above with Mindy Project/The Office co-star B.J. Novak) joked to Popsugar TV that she was the “antitheses of punk” as she couldn’t stop smiling on the red carpet. Kaling also claims that the most punk thing she did when she was growing up was to stay up late to watch Saturday Night Live. This early foray into television comedy has certainly paid off as after a rocky start, The Mindy Project has found its feet and is my favorite new comedy of the year (though sadly it doesn’t have much competition). Kaling embraced the smokey eyes and photos on her Twitter page reveal a close look at her hair and make-up (bonus sparkles). Bold lips and eyes can be hard to pull off, but Kaling does just this. There were a lot of updos but Kaling rocks a textured hair down approach which goes with the make-up and dress choice (you can follow Kylee Heath who did Kaling’s hair on Twitter).

Taylor Swift MetThis last addition is cheating a little, but as Taylor Swift is appearing on the New Girl season finale next week her inclusion doesn’t feel too outlandish. Plus she looks really great and different from the usual sweet Taylor that we see on the red carpet. Wearing a black J. Mendel gown with mesh cutouts, Swift is one of the starlets that looks more punk than her usual appearance. This is another example of heavy eyeliner and dark eyeshadow, which was rather ubiquitous at the Gala and it strikes a nice balance with the soft pink lip color. Like Kaling, Swift has gone for ruffled hair and she’s also added a subtle dash of pink to her blond locks.

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