Best episode of the week – Go On, “Gooooaaaallll Doll!”
Okay, so Go On was maybe not the total best (as usual, it’s hard to compete with 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation), but this week’s Go On was, even in my Tuesday overload of sitcoms, a surprise delight. Once again, this show gets therapy and the healing process so, so right. Gimmicks like this week’s goal dolls may inspire short-term change that feels like progress, but real progress is a slow, grinding process. The Sonia and Yolanda subplot was not only hilarious (“Three sugar cubes. Like the number of men I’ve been with… Today.”) but effortlessly illustrative of that. Putting on a brave face and changing everything in your life by a certain deadline isn’t how healing works. It’s a labor of love.

Show I’m Over – The Mindy Project
I wanted to like The Mindy Project so badly, you guys. I tried and I tried and I tried. I made excuses for why I didn’t like it — it was just one bad episode! It suffered because it was the last in a two hour block of comedies and I was worn out! But I can’t make excuses any longer. The fact of the matter is The Mindy Project just isn’t very good. There’s no focus, the characters are ill-defined and it’s simply not that funny. There are a few standout moments that make you think maybe, just maybe the show is worth watching (Mindy’s brother last week was a particularly good addition), but the slog of stress-vomit jokes to get through to them is excruciating.

Cutest Couple – Tessa and Ryan, Suburgatory
Tessa is right — on paper, her budding relationship with dumb jock next door Ryan shouldn’t work. He’s, well, simple, and the complete opposite of the type of person you would think that urban, sophisticated Tessa would end up with. And yet, against all odds, I’m loving the development of their relationship. The scene where Ryan brings Tessa her homework (and how hilarious was it that Lisa thought bringing Tessa her homework was the ultimate romantic gesture?) was beyond sweet. And it made me admit to myself that yeah, I really do want those two crazy kids together.

I think what works about Tessa and Ryan is that Tessa’s relationship with Ryan is ultimately like her relationship with Chatswin. Maybe she shouldn’t like it or feel at home there. It’s not her beloved New York and it’s certainly got its downsides. But like Ryan, Chatswin is a place where people have the courage to care, even if it’s about something as dumb as Junior Secretary’s Day. People in Chatswin may be dumb, but they’re kind and warm and that, in the end, is what matters.

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Best Wedding – Liz and Criss, 30 Rock
If I had to choose a favorite TV wedding, I should probably say that my favorite is Monica and Chandler’s, or Jim and Pam’s, or Marshall and Lily’s. But as I’ve mentioned before, my stance on weddings is, to put it lightly, highly atypical. And my wedding, should I ever have one, is going to resemble Liz and Criss’ on this week’s 30 Rock far more than anyone in my life probably feels comfortable with.

Look, I’m with Liz (shocker) — the wedding-industrial complex is nuts and I have no desire to have a big party where I have to be nice to people I never wanted to invite and look the most like I a beautiful princess I have ever looked in my life. Weddings, in my opinion, should ideally reflect the couple and the kind of life they want to share with each other. And maybe some people want to share a perfect fairytale life, but that sounds like a lot of pressure to me. Give me a small, personally significant, completely ridiculous and goofy wedding any day, because life is never going to be a perfect fairytale. But if you’re lucky, it will be a fun, silly gathering of close friends who love you, and of course, a few who don’t but are just there for the ride. And let’s be real, who wants to be Cinderella when you can be Princess Leia? No one I want to hang out with, that’s who.

Show Finally Coming Into Its Own - The Mindy Project
I have in my drafts folder the beginnings of an article on how The Mindy Project was both my most anticipated show of the season and also my biggest disappointment, because I could see all the potential it had but it just seemed so scattered and unable to reach it. I kept watching, though, because I like to give shows I see potential in what I call “The Parks and Recreation cushion”, i.e.: six or so episodes to try and find their voice, and The Mindy Project seems to have done that. They seem to have realized that what works best is not trying to occupy every character, but to have a Mindy plot and a B plot, and give Mindy Kaling time to do what Mindy Kaling does best: opine on vaguely girly matters in a down-to-earth, slightly ridiculous way.  For example, on the phone to her BFF: “Gwen, you’re so smart. I wish we were lesbians so we could get married. I mean, I wouldn’t want to have sex or anything. Maybe a little kissing.” Raise your hands if that’s a conversation you and your BFF have had. I’m guessing pretty much every hand just went up.

Most Disappointing Episode - Suburgatory, “Friendship Fish”
I was really in the mood for Suburgatory this week. It was one of those weeks where I was gleefully anticipating Wednesday and watching old episodes on Hulu. But sadly, this week’s Suburgatory fell victim to one of the classic episode ruiners: product placement. Usuually product placement is a throwaway line about a character’s great new car, but this week Tessa’s entire storyline was about her new Windows tablet, and it was terrible. Even George and Dallas’ fun and frankly adorable storyline about George losing his city edge couldn’t make up for a storyline that was so bad it involved a talking fish. I think that should be a new rule of television writing, actually: if your storyline involves a talking fish giving life advice, it’s probably a good idea to do a re-write.

Best Episode of the Week - New Girl, “Eggs”
Here is how you know this episode of New Girl was great; as I sat write this section I reached a dread writer’s block, which I dealt with in the normal way – going to the bathroom, cleaning my gerbils’ cage, and finally sitting there drumming my laptop and saying in my best Nick Miller voice, “I got nothing,” while the Winston voice in my head went, “it’s like you don’t want to write!”

No, Winston voice, sometimes I do not.

Therein lies the genius of this week’s New Girl, it’s relatability. Everyone has written a paper the way Nick wrote Z is for Zombie (which, incidentally, I would give a lot of money to read). Everyone has been Winston, trying to be responsible and settled while their friends are still running around and not respecting their adjusted schedule. Everyone’s been Schmidt and realized too late that they have feelings for someone they never wanted to have. And everyone’s been Jess and Cece, both wanting the future to happen and being terrified of the ticking clock we all try so hard to ignore. And on top of that relatability we got layered in what New Girl is best at: Jess and Cece’s amazing friendship, Schmidt balancing ridiculous with accidentally deep (that sound you heard during the monologue in the gynecologist’s office was the sound of Max Greenfield nominating himself for an Emmy), and tying it all together, the feeling that Jess and her boys in apartment 4D are the strange and wonderful sort of found family that everyone wants to one day find.

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The term “critically acclaimed” must have been invented by a network executive desperate to boost the credentials of a flailing show loved by pundits and panned by audiences. It smacks of a desperation that “fan favorite” or “top rated” simply does not.

Now, I don’t know whether anyone has yet to apply that transparent label to any of this season’s crop, but I’m willing to bet that somewhere in the 2012 freshman class of sitcoms there’s a critical darling or two that will continue to tentatively cling to life as its abysmal ratings crater and critics bemoan the public’s lack of taste.

This season, as always, I took a deep dive into the flood of new sitcoms that the networks aired. Is there a critically acclaimed diamond in the rough out there? Here’s what I found.

The New Normal is a fresh take on an old story: couple wants to have a child and searches for a surrogate to carry the baby for them. Only this time the couple is gay, the surrogate comes in a package deal with an offbeat daughter and a homophobic mother, and someone decided to cast NeNe Leakes in a scripted role. Brilliant?

Some have complained that David and Bryan are written as stereotypical polar opposites who would never be able to sustain a relationship. My issue with the show is more pedestrian: it’s an arguably original conceit wholly lacking in original humor. The little girl draws on the expensive couch! Grandma makes radically offensive comments!

I hope that’s not the new normal.

Guys with Kids is a new take on the moms at home story: dads with their kids. You might be under the impression that if Anthony Anderson’s doing the show after three seasons spent on Law & Order it must be something special … well, you’d be wrong. And as a father, I can’t stress enough how offensive a portrayal the show makes.

From the creators of Will & Grace comes Partners, a brand new take on the gay/straight relationship. While I don’t think that the show wants to be a flag bearer for the social issue it attempts to put at the forefront, I will say this: as long as we highlight the uniqueness of this type of friendship it will never be considered mainstream.

What’s so unusual about the guys’ friendship? Just like on The New Normal, the main characters on Partners are painted in such a way so as to contrast them, but why do we assume that sexual preference defines who we are as people or dictates how we behave? The only thing it definitely informs is who we’re attracted to … why does the entertainment industry not seem to get that?

Ben & Kate lost me within a few minutes of Ben dragging random stuff into Kate’s house, while The Neighbors lost me at concept. A family moves into a street full of aliens who’ve named themselves after sports figures? Is that a real show, or a national punk? The couple of minutes of the series that I’ve caught at the beginning or end of other show tapings hasn’t given me any more positive of a vibe.

And then there’s The Mindy Project. I have not made an attempt at Mindy Kaling’s new series, and for one reason alone: Kelly is my least favorite part of The Office (as well as being half of my least favorite coupling on the show). So I doubt you’ll ever get me to check out a show she’s the epicenter of.

My wife, however, does not have the same commitment to her biases as I do, and she has tried Kaling’s new series. She’s a big enough fan that she’s season passed it … I’m glad that she’s enjoying it, but I just can’t do it.

Meanwhile, Animal Practice is gone — I’m a fan of Justin Kirk’s, Tyler Labine’s, and fancy monkeys, but the show fell flat for me — while a handful of shows have yet to premiere. But at this point I don’t know if I can definitively identify a show that critics will love and fans will loath … unless, do critics love The Neighbors?

Personally, I’ve only been able to get on board with Go On. As much carnage as Matthew Perry has wrought on his new projects — I was a huge fan of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip but Mr. Sunshine lost me — Go On has managed to throw together a solid ensemble cast that so far is succeeding at keeping the show fresh and fun. And while I think the grief group may be a little too big to sustain all the characters — and John Cho’s character just loses me — there’s some solid comedy there.

But I see that as a straight-up hit or miss. There’s nothing brilliant about the show, so either audiences enjoy it or they don’t; I don’t imagine critics lauding it with praise.

But maybe I can possibly imagine that happening with The Mindy Project, even without having ever seen it. Mindy Kaling is already a favorite, and I can see her landing in the same boat as a 30 Rock, a Community, or a Parks and Recreation (even without being on NBC), where those with the power of the pen see her genius and those with the power of the remote don’t in overwhelming numbers.

So will The Mindy Project be the next show that launches a crazy campaign? Will it be the next to land on a cable station after getting bumped from the networks?

Only time will tell … but it probably has a better shot than others to end up on that glorified list.

Me? I’ll try again next season. This one was pretty much a giant goose egg for new laughs.

How about you?

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The Mindy Project is hands-down my most highly-anticipated new show this fall. The pilot, if you haven’t seen it, was available early online, and it is everything I hoped it would be. In it, Mindy Kaling plays Mindy Lahiri, an unlucky-in-love OB/GYN. Yes, the premise is gag-inducing and the execution undoubtedly would be in anyone else’s hands. However, as Kaling fans know, you can put a tired premise in her capable hands and watch as she spins it into gold. Most people know Kaling as the annoying, shallow, slightly psychotic Kelly Kapoor on The Office. While she never had a large role, Kelly was always memorable. At first glance, the character seems wholly ridiculous: she treats celebrity lives as if they are her own, she’s terrible at her job, and she’s so vapid that she’s constantly in danger of sucking Scranton into a black hole devoid of any intellectualism or rational thought. But sometimes, I can totally relate to Kelly Kapoor. I’m not the only one, either. A lot of smart, well-adjusted women feel like they have a little Kelly in them. We would never actually buy a tapeworm from a creepy guy in our office, but we’ve certainly joked about it (and maybe secretly considered it for half a second).

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qEyPsHe8b8

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmLZBSET0us

We would also never creepily sing karaoke to a guy we’re hung up on who treats us like shit, but maybe, if we were singing karaoke (and we’d had a drink or two), we may be thinking this.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=6McYAWxGeeQ

Kelly Kapoor is our frivolous side, our crazy side. She’s the side of us that breeding and society have told us we need to push down so we can function like normal adults. We know that everything about her is wrong, but she’s still in us. Office jobs are boring. Sometimes a fashion show at lunch is enough excitement to get you through the day.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRjenLqGqm0

Sometimes Kelly is even with it enough to drop some serious knowledge. She’s dead on in her textual interpretation of the 5 dots Darryl included in his text.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONrNetxS1Fs

This is what makes me so excited for The Mindy Project. Kaling is basically making Kelly Kapoor into a functional human being with a real job. I’ve seen the pilot, and I can relate to Mindy Lahiri. I mean, she has a much better job than I do, but her basic personality and experiences feel very familiar,which An and Christina discuss in their preview. Like Mindy, I have to constantly remind myself that life isn’t a movie; that I can’t expect someone to come in and save the day, or for there to be a happy ending, or really any kind of tidy ending at all.

It’s difficult for women to be taken seriously in general, so oftentimes we present a serious side to the world and keep our inner-Kelly locked down. Mindy Kaling, and now by extension Mindy Lahiri, are showing us that not only can we embrace our inner-Kelly, but we can kick ass at our job and basically rock at life while we do it. After all, I’m neither a showrunner or an OB/GYN, so she must be doing something right.

The Mindy Project‘s pilot gave me a lot of hope, but it’ll be interesting to see how grounded Mindy stays as a character throughout the season, or if she slowly devolves into a less-realistic person to fit in with the “bigger is better” FOX mindset.

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