Have you watched Mindy Kaling’s “Unlikely Leading Lady” American Express commercial? Go here to watch it. I get choked up watching it. Maybe it’s because I’m an Indian-American girl too, but I think Mindy is a very inspirational person. I hate the hate she’s gotten over the years because she “dared” to see herself as a leading lady, because she “dared” to not be a size-2 white woman, because she “dared” to talk about her art rather than her perceived victimhood. I just admire her and relate to her on a lot of different levels.
I watch The Mindy Project too – it had some growing pains in the first season, but by the second and third seasons, TMP was easily one of the funniest, sweetest and most unapologetically romantic shows on TV. The core relationship – between Mindy and Chris Messina’s characters – was always perfect. They have an incredible amount of chemistry together and their on-screen relationship is beautifully written. TMP has always struggled, ratings-wise, but I always thought Fox fully supported the show. I kept hearing that TMP was “on the bubble” and might not get a fourth season on Fox, but I just thought (naively), “That won’t happen!” It happened. Fox canceled TMP. But Hulu might pick it up?
Fox has decided not to move forward with “The Mindy Project,” after three seasons, Variety has learned. However, Hulu is in talks with Universal Television, the studio behind the Mindy Kaling-starrer, to move the Fox comedy over to the streaming service for multiple seasons. The deal would reportedly include two new seasons, and possibly more.
The shift to Hulu would be a smart move, given the already-standing library of past “Mindy” seasons, including all 67 episodes, plus the series’ very loyal — but not very large — fanbase. The series premiered to an audience of about 4.6 million in September 2012 and dipped to just over 2 million viewers with its season-three premiere this past March.
As series’ fates will be decided by next week when broadcast upfront presentations kick off, most cancelled shows will wrap for good, but “The Mindy Project” recalls another fan-favorite comedy resurrected online: “Community,” which, after being axed by NBC, went to Yahoo Screen for its sixth season.
If the Hulu deal goes through – and I’m hoping it does – I will watch TMP on Hulu. The Season 3 cliffhanger was a wonderful game-changer and I loved the fact that the Mindy character has been “allowed” to evolve into a much more mature woman.
Spoilers: when Danny told Mindy he didn’t want to marry her – even though she was pregnant with his child – she cried and stood up for herself and what SHE wanted out of the relationship… and then she went back to Danny’s apartment and fell asleep. Meanwhile, Danny flew to India to meet her parents and presumably ask for their blessing to ask for Mindy’s hand in marriage. I want to know what happens next, damn it!
This was Mindy’s reaction to the cancellation – she’s on vacation in Montana:
Photos courtesy of WENN, Instagram.
So disappointed, agree there were moments it dragged, but it was really coming into it’s own and the Mindy/Messina chemistry was spot on…really hope Hulu or Netflix picks it up….I am just not ready to let go of Diamond Dan so soon …sigh…
Not at all. It’s a boring show, Chris Messina is wonderful, handsome man though. It’s not bad at New Girl which needs to take the first right off a cliff and be kill in an explosion.
I agree that it was coming into its own. Disappointed.
I love TMP! I found it to be charming and light hearted. I was hoping it would go on to Netflix, but I guess Hulu will have to do.
Didn’t enjoy this series as much as others in places, I’m sad it’s cancelled though. Its really cleverly written at times.
New Girl had a horrible season then picked it up a bit this one, Community has really shined since being on Yahoo so maybe there is hope.
Not disappointing. It was terrible show and Mindy Kaling is not as funny or cute as she thinks she is.
+1 So not funny. I didn’t laugh once while watching it.
Plus, I am convinced that her voice is played in an endless loop in hell.
Terrible show. It’s basically a Cathy comic come to life. It was/is not funny.
omg so right about her voice being cruel and unusual punishment
i find her and the show irritating
Agree about her voice being one of hells tortures. She has always grated on me, and I always imagined the most forced, repetitive Office writing being hers.
I think Mindy can be very funny and is cute. I came to the show super excited, finally a leading lady in a romcom that didnt look like the stereotype. I loved how they cast these skinny perky white girls in the role of bff, in the first season, because in any other universe, Mindy would be the bff. I looked forward to more groundbreaking casting. Instead I got an endless parade of white men as romantic interests. I got a show that slowly wrote out the female characters even as it added more guys. I got a show that didnt bother to give the only other person of colour any dimension. In the end It became show about Mindy and some white dudes in her office. She couldnt even pull off the romance between Morgan and Tamra properly, because we werent properly invested in Tamra. She wasnt given enough screen time to become 3 dimensional and not just some sassy nurse with an occassional line or two.
And worst of all she wouldnt take the criticism which pretty much boiled down to diversify cast and share screen time with female characters. So even though I had the greatest of hopes for this show, I am not disappointed that its gone.
I can’t say I disagree. I have always thought Mindy wanted to be perceived as the “cool girl” surrounded by a bunch of bros. By the third season, I was jumping off the Mindy fan train.
That’s a good assessment Chichi. I was hoping to see more of the girls too, but that didn’t happen. I continued to watch it b/c I LOVE Danny Castellano 🙂
Summed up perfectly, you clearly stayed with the show longer than I did. I was excited about it but then, blech.
@chichi
I agree with you. I was rooting for Mindy because I was enthusiastic about a woman of color having her own show, and playing the “lead” in a rom-com type story. Unfortunately, all Mindy did was reveal her own racism. Tamra is the worst kind of cliched black woman stereo-type: she’s ignorant, lazy, has a bad attitude, and a ghetto accent. It is incredibly unfair that TMP was promoted by asking the world to support a woman of color breaking out of the stereotype mold so many women of color are pigeon-holed into, when Mindy herself was stereo-typing other women of color in context of her show.
True.
Never watched her shows and I found her commercials so annoying, no matter what she was shilling, that I tune her out when she comes on TV: Those commercials guaranteed that I would not want to watch her show.
I love her!!! Smart, funny, naturally beautiful! So disappointed that the show got cancelled.
I hope it gets picked up by Hulu. I like the show and will continue to watch, though I think it’s often uneven and could use a little retooling.
+1
Yes, I love Mindy and I watch the show, but I don’t really love it. I enjoyed it a lot more before it was the Mindy and Danny show.
Please, Hulu, pretty please pick it up! I will be so sad if it just ends. But her wink is telling!
Damn, Montana is beautiful. Will have to plan a trip there.
Montana is beautiful! You and Mindy are always welcome…Justin Timberlake, the Kardashians and John Mayer, um, not so much!
oh no!!! I love TMP!! I didn’t watch until I got Hulu Plus a few month ago and then I binge-watched. Such a great show. Keeping my fingers crossed that Hulu picks it up.
p.s. for some reason I love the idea of Mindy being on vacation in Montana…
I love this show. It’s one of the few American comedies I actually laugh out loud at.
I love the show and I’m so disappointed. I’d definitely watch if Hulu picks it up. I’m hating Fox right now. I want to walk into the office of the person who made this decision, pick out their favorite object and fling it out the window.
I’ve had endless amounts of bad news this week (the worst being turned down for my dream job due to some weird/borderline sketchy politics involved) and I woke up this morning and saw it’d been canceled. I was so angry. I LOVED the show. Hulu better get this going.
I’m so sorry about your job, Erinn. Politics at work just stink. So often the best person doesn’t get the job. And Hulu better get it together because we are pissed!!!
I recently downloaded Season 1 to watch on some flights, and I fell in love with it.
Keep watching. It gets even better.
I loved this show, but I thought the pregnancy storyline was too fast. Maybe it was because they were anticipating a cancellation. If Hulu picks it up and it turns into a show about parenthood, I’m not sure I would watch.
Some shows with pregnancy storylines don’t bother me at all, but others, like that horrible season when Blair was pregnant in Gossip Girl, just do not do it for me.
Apparently, Fox doesn’t own the show, so that’s why they didn’t care to get it to syndication. I mean, the ratings were bad. Not sure what else could’ve been done.
And yet New Girl is still on? Ok yeah that makes sense. *rolls eyes*
EXACTLY!!! New Girl blows and the writing has been crap for the past two seasons. TMP was hitting a great stride.
I think Fox actually helps produce New Girl, which means that they have a financial stake in the show and will have a financial stake when it’s syndicated. When a show isn’t produced in-house it’s more expensive and there’s far less incentive for the network to nurture it. Take for example Almost Human, from Fox a couple of years ago. It was pretty decently rated but expensive, and not owned by Fox and so cancelled.
While we’re in the toolshed, could HBO please take an axe to GIRLS?
THIS!
New Girl is surprisingly still on in spite of their terrible run and I don’t know who makes 2 Broke Girls but they are finishing their 4th season (and they are not good – to put it mildly). I watch New Girl, 2 Broke Girls and Mindy but I know the difference – The Mindy Project is the best all the way, the writing, the jokes, the acting, the clothes.
I just don’t get why this heat of cancelling TMP. The rumors were that it won’t have a 3rd season either. But I guess everything is done this time around.
I really hate it – this is a smart, funny show. Except for Kimmy Schmidt this is the only smart comedy left.
@Pinky – after that scene with Allison Williams being humped I think they will give Girls unlimited contract. Apparently, Girls is true art.
I think New Girl, if it doesn’t hugely improve, will be cut next season. It’s ratings have dropped dramatically over the years, and creatively it’s been struggling for a while.
Unfortunately 2 Broke Girls seems to still have a big audience, and I’d imagine is fairly cheap to produce, so it’s probably hanging around a few more years. I only tried 2 episodes and hated it, and have never heard anything good about it since.
I didn’t like the show in the beginning, but watched later. It was cute, but also nothing outstanding. I never made any commitment to it, and lost track of it altogether. From my perspective, it was okay, sort of middling, but not spectacular, even though I like Mindy. The other characters just really didn’t hit any cords of where I felt connected enough or concerned about them. And sometimes, the plotline between Mindy and the BF just failed at suspension of disbelief, while also being hit or miss on funny/hilariousness. I imagine that this was how many others felt with no dedication to watching it consistently.
I’m amazed it’s lasted as long as it has. 3 seasons in and they still haven’t decided what they want the show to be. One week every character is an irredeemable jerk a la It’s Always Sunny, the next week they’re trying to pull at our heartstrings. Some episodes Mindy’s vapid but capable and smart, in others the only explanation for her stupidity is massive brain damage (when she genuinely thought she could just not pay taxes!?!).
I actually hate Mindy and Danny together. Danny’s done some truly awful stuff. That episode where he was cat fishing her was terrible, super controlling and creepy, yet rather than have Mindy ditch the douchebag, it leads to a big romantic moment? Seriously? Then we get another season of him treating Mindy like crap, and another stupid romantic moment that’s supposed to make up for that. In a better show this dynamic could be darkly funny, here it’s just weird, like the writers don’t have a clue what they want the tone of the show to be.
I like Mindy and there were a few times that the show clicked, but for the most part it never felt like the show really came together.
You hit it so perfectly succinct.
@kiddo: That’s unusual for me! And I really wanted to like the show, but it just didn’t work. There needs to be a little bit of magic in really great comedy and it didn’t happen with the Mindy Project. Everything about the show was forced. Sometimes it still managed to be funny, but it’s a show that defined itself by who Mindy was dating and that can’t support 22 episodes a year.
I like Mindy a lot but I could never get to like her show. I just don’t get her humor, I guess.
Really disappointing. I mean its good, that it wont be totally gone, but for non US-ers like myself I will either have to illegally watch it on some other streaming site or wait until its on DVD.
Yeah, I’ll be streaming it somewhere. It sucks, but I’m happy it’s getting a second life. I wish netflix had picked it up.
Nooooo!! They can’t just end it like this! 🙁
I used to be a die hard TMP fan…but this last season has been horrible. I’m not going to miss it.
Me too, I stopped watching and I loved the first two seasons. Mindy just became an irredeemable monster and Danny was no better, the pregnancy storyline seemed forced to make them likeable. The great side characters left or were reduced to practically nothing and overall I just couldn’t believe a supposedly smart doctor could be so stupid – especially about gynaecology which was her job!
I won’t be surprised if Hulu picks this up. I hate to defend Fox here, but this show has struggled for ratings and the fact that it had three seasons and multiple chances to retool and find it’s voice tells me that Fox was as patient as they could be with it. Mindy is talented and if this is the end of that show, I look forward to see what she does next.
Mindy is not the only person of color that isn’t a size 2 that ‘dared’ to do something in the industry. Frankly, I find her super annoying. The “aww shucks I’m not attractive” routine while trying to force us to believe she is attractive is tired.
Agree.
This is just my perception, but she seems to be very self obsessed about her looks and clothes and I believe she pulls a Kardashian and filters and photoshops her Instagram pictures to hell and back. I’ve seen her in person twice, and she is pretty- but looks very different than the pictures she puts out there (again, like a Kardashian).
Yawn. I don’t care about Mindy or the show. Not funny or entertaining, to me. She’s got an inflated ego & her tv commercial running now is obnoxious.
I love love love The Mindy Project. It is so well written and I just love her as a curvy, non-white lead in the series. I think the chemistry with Chris Messina is wonderful — I love the matter-of-factness of their relationship and how they acknowledge their differences and keep moving the story forward. Please Hulu, keep The Mindy Project alive! That’s where I watch it anyway.
Devastated Canadian here… Despite the shows growing pains, I loved the cast and their chemistry. PArticularly Diamond Dan… I love Mindy! I wish Netflix would pick it up over Hulu on account of not being able to get the service here in Canada.
I love the show and would pay for Hulu+ just to watch it. Can’t believe it was cancelled!
Would
I liked the show when she was unattached. I knew the end was near when the character became pregnant. It’s a shame because she is so funny and talented. Loved the diversity too.
Would be heavenly if she teamed up with Tina fey. Somebody please make this happen.
I think the series has gotten better compared to it’s lead in which started out strong and has gotten worse. Is it possible New Girl has more male viewers that don’t stick around for TMP? TMP has smart fast humor but I do think you need to be endeared to the characters to really love it.
I will watch it on Hulu but I wish it was staying on Fox.
This news broke my heart.
I’m so disappointed! I loved the Mindy Project! It was really funny, one of the only comedies that I find funny. 🙁 I love Mindy. 🙁
Three seasons for a show that never got decent ratings is a pretty good run. It never clicked for me but I generally find her a bit of a try hard and I run out of patience for that pretty quickly.
She likes to use the women of color argument, but I think this a case where it helped her; shows with ratings like this one don’t last three seasons unless you’ve got something else going for you.
this is disappointing. my favourite show on network tv. sucks even more because we don’t have hulu in Canada. hopefully it will go to Netflix right away like season 3 did in Canada.
Boo. I’ve enjoyed this show lately.
This show show is super funny, but it’s the Danny show, we know all about HIS family, HIS history, his probs…. Everything about Mindy is seen through the lens of her boyfriends, and do they have to make her completely vapid and dumb? The saving grace is the show is wickedly funny and I do love all the actors on it, I hope she can finally stop being second banana and make a show about her and not who she’s sleeping with …. Especially when they are all the same
There are only so many seasons one can watch about Mindy and her bffs. The show needs more women. After the first season it has just become about Mindy. She is playing a “ditzy blonde” which does not suit her character of a successful doctor. Also other women just don’t have enough screen time. Mindy is very funny and has some good dialogues, her banter with Danny was funny, but there is only so much of her one can take. The show would have done better with balance. Other women need more screen time and character development. I can take Mindy’s ditziness in small doses only, but the seasons have gone in the opposite direction. Other characters are just there revolving around Mindy and now Danny. She needs to make it less about herself and give other women good lines and characterization. It is “The Mindy Project”, but shows with good character development of more characters run longer and see more success – Friends, Sirens, etc.
Geez, I have only taken the time to comment once before in 5 years, otherwise I just read the comments… But I am SO disappointed. The Mindy Project is the ONLY thing I watch besides Homeland, Ray Donovan, and HGTV. It’s my favorite show!!!*sigh*.
awwww Kaiser, I feel your pain. I didn’t watch the show (I dont’ like comedies), but I get what you are saying about seeing someone on screen that you can relate to. I have always thought she was hilarious in interviews. I hope this doesn’t mean it will be another 10 years before we see an Indian American lead like Asian Americans and Margret Cho.
I think (hope) this will be a situation of a star moving on to better things after a network show. I like Mindy but agree the show was uneven. (The guy Chris Messina was unbearable to me and I quit it once they got together.) I’d like to see her move on to do more!
Love this show! Loveeee morgan 🙂
I’m so sad:( this is my favorite show,hopefully hulu will pick it up.