CliqueClackThe Mindy Project and New Girl are the same show
Are Fox’s ‘New Girl’ and ‘The Mindy Project’ the same show? Of course not. But, watching the two back to back on Tuesday night, I was struck by their similarities more than their differences.
FOX’s The Mindy Project and New Girl are two of FOX’s stronger comedies. So, it makes sense to place them back to back. But this week I noticed eerie similarities between the two. Admittedly, beneath the surface they aren’t the same show; but on the surface they look pretty similar. Tuesday night I got total déjà vu watching them back to back. 15 minutes into the Mindy Project, I kept wondering why everything seemed so similar until I realized I watched it earlier on New Girl …
My top five reasons why Mindy Project and New Girl are the same show:
1. They Share the Same Plot
Both shows are about strong female characters re-defining their lives after their former boyfriends kick them to the curb. But, that’s pretty surface stuff. That didn’t bother me. But, this Tuesday both shows had similar premises. New Girl focused on Jess and Nick’s friends-without-benefits relationship while the Mindy Project surrounded the antagonistic Mr. Darcy/Elizabeth Bennet relationship between Mindy and Danny.
2. The Male Characters Are the Same
The male characters cut from the same template. New Girl features vain wannabe playa Schmidt, curmudgeonly Nick, and ambiguous yet awesome Winston. Likewise, The Mindy Project features vain, womanizer Jeremy alongside curmudgeonly Danny. This week, The Mindy Project introduced a male nurse character, who like Winston arrives after the other characters gelled.
Hell, two-thirds of the characters look like each other. Danny’s scruffy beard and dark hair perfectly reminds me of Nick’s scruffy beard and dark hair. Likewise, Schmidt’s wavy pretty boy hair definitely mirrors Jeremy’s wavy pretty boy hair.
3. They share the same love setup
Both shows have the same Mr. Darcy/Elizabeth Bennet I’m totally-not-into-you-even-though-we-think-alike-and-spend-too-much-time-together, setup. Both Danny and Nick pretend to dislike spending so much time with their female lead and complain about her uber-female quirks while not-so-secretly obsessing over her. Also, Jess and Nick are roommates while Danny and Mindy are office mates. So yea, both couples are friends by living/work association.
It’s pretty obvious that Nick and Jess will wind up together. Mindy and Danny also make the perfect couple. Part of me is tired of TV series where we have two single, attractive characters who are clearly right for each other, not hooking up. But, considering Jess still needs single time, Nick needs to organize his life, and Danny’s getting over his divorce; those are impediments to both relationships. Also, you don’t crap where you work/live. Both couples better be certain before going forward.
4. They’re Unfailingly Honest
Not only do they share the same characters and love interests, but they also have the same outlook. Not because they’re shows about women, but because they’re unfailingly truthful. Both shows point out life’s idiosyncrasies.
My biggest pet peeve surrounds women’s clothes on TV. If I wore half of what most “professional” female characters wear on TV, I’m certain my manager would send me home. I loved that Mindy’s best friend mocked Mindy’s denim corset top, horn-rimmed glasses and fitted blazer as porno wear. While in TV land, her outfit says “professional woman,” in the real world, it says, “I charge $150 per hour.”
My second pet peeve surrounds female relationships. I have a friend who dates jerk after jerk. But, she doesn’t know how to stop dating them and typically winds up in long-term relationship after long-term relationship with guys she partially considers dodgy. That’s basically’s Jess’s scenario. She’s a serial dater. Even when she sees issues with the guy of the hour, she pushes her doubts aside to focus on the positive … until she can’t focus on that anymore. I love that New Girl incorporated that fixation tendency of humankind with Jess’ latest piece of the week.
5. They have the same wardrobe
Somewhere network executives decided that female leads in comedy series could only wear brightly colored clothes. While Mindy’s style is more of a stylized professional with colors, a cross between what New Girl’s Cece and Jess wear, many of Mindy’s wardrobe choices wouldn’t look out-of-place in Jess’ closet and vice versa.
Final Verdict
While the Mindy Project and the New Girl aren’t carbon copies of each other, they share common core ingredients. Does that make Mindy Project a copy of New Girl? Hmmm … Remember when Jess met Paul’s new girlfriend, who looked, acted and sounded like her … except she was Asian? Well, Mindy Project isn’t Asian New Girl. Sure, they share similar character constructs, similar plots and a love of irreverence, but they’re both good TV and good TV is hard to find. So, even if they’re similar, I don’t care. I’d rather have two original shows that look like each other on the surface — but have sincerity and hilarity underneath — than one original show *cough* Friends *cough* with watered down copies peppered throughout.
One Comment on “The Mindy Project and New Girl are the same show”
I also noticed the similarity between the protagonists of New Girl and The Mindy Project – specifically that both were “quirky” girly girls. That’s fair, but I wish there were comedies that featured multi-dimensional female characters. What if Jess enjoyed making horror movies as well as baking cupcakes? What if Mindy dreamed of being Lara Croft instead of the heroine of a romantic comedy? Throw us a curveball, TV writers!