New York/Puppy Catch Up Post part 1. Supernatural and Mindy

One of us went to New York City. Also, one of us got puppies. If you've never had puppies, you don't know what time-consuming maniacs they are. Trust us. They take a lot of work. But TV waits for no man (or dog), so a lot has happened on the Tube since we last talked to you guys.

Game of Thrones premiered, finally. Thank the good Lord. We love that show so much we named the puppies after a couple of incestuous Lannisters. The puppies are also male and female babies from the same litter. They are already trying to mount each other. They will be fixed ASAP. No one wants a Joffrey.

Supernatural season 8, episodes 10-19
We were shocked at how little we've mentioned Supernatural this year. We've been updating and commenting on the "Supernatural Episodes You Can Skip" post a lot, so it feels like we've been discussing it. But it deserves a post. Bravo to the new showrunner from taking it from abysmal to "just okay." That's more than we could have asked for.

The Mindy Project- Season 1, episode 10

Mindy's Brother- If our brother wanted us to let him quit college, we might just let him. College might be  a scam unless you pick the right major or have a specific career plan. Seriously, before you go to college, read that. And don't go to law school.

Already been scammed by greedy universities or just need general motivation to make yourself better? Read this in its entirely. And this. See, this isn't just a comedy recap, it's a life changer! Yeeeee! Okay, onto the episode.

The Mindy Project- Season 1, episodes 7-9

By Kristin Dos Santos (Mindy Kaling) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Teen Patient- This episode was kind of crazy and unrealistic. It wasn't the norm for this, or any, show to have a doctor stalk a teen patient to her school and compare love lives or whatever the heck happened here. Still, there were some good jokes, so the trip was worth it. We loved Mindy having trouble relating to the teens, slime, and other jokes about how quickly normal people get out of touch with what's going on in private high schools. We also loved that Mindy didn't try to be cool, owning that she was an adult and launching into hilarious lectures.

Sofia reads Jonathan Franzen for fun, huh? How pretentious. However, we'd rather read Freedom than a novelization of Iron Man. Gross. We hope Sofia comes back though and that she wasn't just a random character for this episode only. She's Mindy's teen neighbor. There's more to be mined there. This episode would have gotten an A but for the lame side plot about Betsy feeling unsexy because she isn't sexually harassed. Dumb.
Episode grade: B

Two to One- In this one, Mindy took off from the office to celebrate "best friends day," leaving Danny and the British guy to run things and keep the midwives from poaching all their clients. This is the episode that really proved that the side characters on this show just aren't working. The only time we enjoy The Mindy Project is when Mindy is around. She steals the show, as she should, since it's her show. But she needs some competent supporting characters.

Everyone thinks Danny is a good character, and we agree, so he and Mindy need to move to a new medical office after this one tanks spectacularly in, say, the season finale. This episode was a dud since it featured the office a lot while Mindy wasn't even in it. It got boring, fast, but we loved the resolution where Mindy proved herself to be a necessary leader to the boys. The midwives were funny, as was Mindy's new best friend.
Episode grade: C-

Josh and Mindy's Christmas Party- Josh is a cheater!!! We knew it had to be too good to be true. Also, we can't have Mindy settling down in the first season of her show. She needs to date many more rejects. Plus, Josh is a lawyer. Male lawyers almost always cheat (sorry, lawyers). We can't believe that dull little gnat who plays Erin on The Office even got that role, let alone this one. We know Mindy is friends with her, and we guess that's enough of a reason to stain the episode with one of our least-favorite working actresses. Ugh. At least this means we'll never have to see her on The Mindy Project again. We can't see Mindy hanging out with Josh's ex-girlfriend. There were funny lines in this episode, and some good moments between Mindy and the only other character we can tolerate (Danny).
Episode grade: B+

We still need this show to get better, but with that Christmas episode, it's bought itself a season one pass. We'll keep watching in the spring.

Last Night and Tuesday Night

Most of our Wednesday night shows were off the air due to the holiday today, so we packed two nights into one post.

Parenthood- One More Weekend With You
This was one of the most intense episodes of this show we've ever seen. Can't this show give our tear ducts a rest? Some people thought it was too over-the-top, but we loved it and think the show has earned it. First, Amber and Ryan's outing ended a lot better than we would have guessed. We're glad Ryan's buddies didn't call the police. We're glad he didn't freak out and treat Amber badly. Is it only a matter of time? Will he do it in his sleep like on Grey's? Or will he just get surly toward her (which is bad enough)? We're worried.

We're not as fed up with Max as we are with his Dad right now. It's time for Max to get a new social skills trainer. Not Minka Kelly, but someone else. Asperger's doesn't mean you have no feelings like compassion (in fact, many feelings and sensitivities are actually enhanced), it just means you have trouble expressing it and need someone to show you how. You at least need an example. It's not that you don't want to be considerate, it's that a) you don't always know when you need to be, and b) you don't know what to do in that situation. It's like a skill you need to learn, like math. But you can learn. If you get treatment that makes you feel bad about yourself or suggests you're cold/immoral, it can be awful, but if it's from someone who doesn't judge, it can be good.

Someone needs to say, "Now, when your mom is sick, you need to say, 'Let me know if you need anything. I hope you feel better. I love you.' And then do what she and your dad say, because she's in pain." You can't expect Max to figure it out and then watch your whole house fall apart when he's a "brat." As weird as it is that you have to teach things that come naturally to most, it's a fact. It's the way their brains are wired. They are naturally good at some things and have to learn others. We've never given credit to the young actor playing Max, but he's always been so excellent that we've actually suspected him of being on the autism spectrum, even though we could find no evidence in real life that he is.

We liked Sydney in this episode. Her meltdown was well-earned. She's not being a brat for no reason, like usual. We loved Kristina smoking the pot. These are the people who need pot. It was soooo depressing to see her on the bathroom floor like that, but it was realistic. Mark and Drew....ugh. Mark should never have made that promise. It's time for Ray Romano to come in and not make promises like that in an attempt to be liked and sweep Sarah off her feet. At least he was in this episode. We need a decision on this triangle already. It's not like it's The Vampire Diaries.
Episode grade: A

Happy Endings- More Like Stanksgiving
Is this not one of the funniest Thanksgiving episodes you've ever seen of any show, ever? Sure, the Native American Dave stuff needs to die, but even some moments in that plot drew laughs (like when he dropped all the clams at the police station; it's the throwaway jokes on this show that get us). Dave, you know both of us would have come with you to that writers' fest. Stephen King was there! Stephen effing King! (Speaking of famous authors, one of us had a crazy run-in with Ann Coulter the other day, and if you know who that is and want to know about it, just ask, haha.) The best thing about this episode was The Real World: Sacramento.

We found out that Jane tried to sleep with someone else, and Brad was just an accident. Sure, they stole that from Friends (Monica was really trying to have a one-night-stand with Joey on the night of Ross's wedding), but it was still funny. Everyone's hair! Max trying to come out on TV! HA. I'm Greg. Brad's weiner greeting. There were tons of good lines. There was even some forward-moving drama with Dave having clear doubts about moving in with Alex, and Penny still crushing on him. We're so impressed with this show lately. Everyone expected it to be cancelled, and we definitely didn't think it was going to turn out to be this good.
Episode grade: A

New Girl- Parents
We can't believe Happy Endings did a better Thanksgiving episode than this show. Jess trying to Parent Trap her folks was great (even though it was weird when she was watching them make out with that look on her face), but we're kind of annoyed that it worked. That doesn't work. Do the writers actually have divorced parents? Because then they would be familiar with the soul-breaking tension that goes on when parents who don't like each other are forced to share a room. It's awful for everyone. And it's immature. We don't think it's funny when comedies bring in main characters' parents most of the time. We always cringed when they did it on Friends, although Ross's dad was at least tolerable for laughs. The parents were well-cast on New Girl, but we still thought having family from the past dragged down the show. Winston is so underused on this show that he's now relegated to getting kissed for a homophobic joke. Hehe. We liked the One True Schmidt stuff, overall though.
Episode grade: B

The Mindy Project- Thanksgiving
We can't tell if this show is legitimately funny now, or if it's just so much better than it used to be. The openings on this show have been stellar for a while, and this week was no exception. Mindy trying to define the relationship while her kitchen was on fire was nothing short of genius. We were also impressed with everything this episode did with Danny. It was so sad and so funny. We felt so bad for Betsy when her parents handed her than strawberry milkshake instead of a beer. We have family like that. It's so uncomfortable when people refuse to let you grow up. We couldn't even laugh at that. We also felt bad for Mindy when Dennis showed up to the party with a skinny, sane version of Mindy, and her best friend set them up. We're glad to see the best friend get more screentime though.
Episode grade: B+

American Horror Story- The Origins of Monstrosity
Okay, does anyone else feel like this season is almost over? So much has happened. But, psych, this was only episode six of 13. What?!! We can't even fathom this. What are they going to do in seven more episodes? Are the aliens going to come down and live among us? Will Lana be Thredson's mommy for a long time? Is she going to end up going crazy and becoming the next bloody face? Will they have a bloody face baby that Thredson refers to as Brother-Son? Gross. We felt kind of bad for him. Kind of. Harry Potter didn't turn out crazy, Thredson. God, what's your excuse? Haha.

Teresa (Adam Levine's wife) is in deep water, but we don't even feel worried for her. The trouble with having a show this dark (and ending last season like it did) is that we have no hope for the characters, good to triumph over evil, or things not to just be majorly f*cked up. If there's no hope, you can't have intensity. Just resignation. That's how we feel. This show has worn us out. We're tired. What can AHS show us that it hasn't before? Do we really want to know the answer to that question? Should we even be watching a show with these disgusting images? Well, we're doing it anyway, but at least we questioned, right?

 Jenny is The Bad Seed, and yeah, that makes sense. The only thing this series is missing is an evil, murdering child, so now we've got one. Shelley is finally put out of her misery, although we wonder how many Hail Marys that Howard will have to say for that one. Arden is trying to make people into little more than cockroaches so that they can survive nuclear warfare. ISN'T THAT WORSE THAN DEATH? He wants to save the human race, but that, bro, is not the human race. We wonder what Arden has on Howard.
Episode grade: B

Julia makes a good choice on Parenthood, New Girl brings at least two big laughs, Happy Endings turns in a typical episode, and The Mindy Project improves a little

By David Shankbone (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

New Girl- Menzies
The two big laughs we mentioned were Nick in the Asian guy's serenity pool (the first time, when the Asian guy was holding him), and Jess having a meltdown over the dog in the cup. We didn't appreciate a few of the PMS jokes. It's not THAT overpowering for most women, some women just get irritated quicker, and it's not that irrational. Most of the time, women get upset over actual things, but any other time of the month, they would just ignore it and be able to let it go easier. Sometimes the PMS is the straw that breaks the camel's back and something has been building for a while. It's not like people should just go, "Oh, it doesn't matter/I don't have to watch that, because it's just PMS." The problems aren't imaginary; the reaction is just exaggerated.

Aaaaanyway...teaching creative writing is a lot different from teaching elementary school. You usually have to be able to write. Has Jess ever written a book? Had a short story published? Does Jess even like to read? We think she's woefully unqualified, but this is TV. Schmidt's new sex buddy should provide some awkward laughs. Moises Perdue? Who even thinks of a name like that? Cece is NOT a nice girl. Poor Robbie! Cece kissed Schmidt, and we're glad she backed away. Maybe she's nice than she thinks she is. There were a few good lines in this one.
Episode grade: B

The Mindy Project- Danny Castellano is My Gynecologist 
The best part of this episode was the opening where Josh was wearing Mindy's pants. "Leave your tie; I'm going to use that to hang myself." Ha! She flipped the whole "wearing your boyfriend's clothes" thing on its head by swapping it and having it be self-deprecating humor rather than sexist "oh, it's so funny that a guy would demean himself by wearing something feminine" funny. Man, we're feminists today. The second-funniest part was Mindy proving to Danny that she's not just a lamp. Gwen is still underused, but this episode was a step up from the previous weeks.
Episode grade: B

Happy Endings- Boys II Menorah
We love Max's weird jobs. It would be cool if we saw a new weird job every couple of weeks. Our favorite part was when Jane got tased the first time and said, "That only makes me stronger." We're starting to think there will never be a year of Penny. The show never gives her a break. She's always a loser and a butt of a joke. We'd like to see something nice happen to her, but other than that, this show is pretty good as it is.
Episode grade: B

Parenthood- Together
Ryan and Amber hit the hay. Did you guys see his body? Mazel tov, Amber. However, we don't see this going smoothly. There was foreshadowing all over the place letting us know that Ryan's problems are going to start showing themselves even more. We feel for the guy and all others in his situation. We loved Sarah's reaction after Amber cancelled breakfast. Beyond cool indeed. We like Amber and Ryan together, so we hope they make it. Kristina's storyline brought the misty eyes, especially in her last scene with Camille. So sweet. Is Monica Potter going to shave her head? We're going to hell for saying this, but we don't think she'll look good bald. You pretty much have to be Natalie Portman to pull that off though.

Julia starting Spanish Rosetta Stone made us cringe with sympathy. One of us is on level four of that very program (and that language). It's an easy and helpful program, but it's time consuming and it takes a while to get through it. We love the way Julia handled her new son this week. We agree that inviting Miguel over was a good choice. He needed a friend, and we're sure he'll still be able to adjust to his new home if he stays in touch with his old buddy. Having a friend might give his social skills a work out too so that he could make new friends. We liked that the episode was light on Crosby. He was only in the episode long enough to be an excellent brother. That guy really grew up.
Episode grade: B+

Three Halloween comedies (Mindy, New Girl, Happy Endings), and no Parenthood

The Mindy Project- Halloween
We're still waiting for this show to get good. We give dramas five episodes, but we try to give new comedies longer. That's because comedies take a while to find their best tone most of the time. Examples include Sex and the City, Parks and Recreation, and Awkward. You judge comedies most fairly around episodes 7-10. We like that this episode brought back Josh, but he wasn't that memorable, so it took us a while to place him. We'll remember him now. We can't believe he hasn't seen The Princess Bride. What a reject. Our favorite thing about this episode was the DMV plotline. It's hard to pull of a good molestation joke, but last night did it. This wasn't the worst episode so far. But the show needs to flesh out its supporting characters and tone in the next couple of weeks.
Episode grade: B-

New Girl- Halloween
Jess punching Nick as payback is an example of something that works perfectly on TV, but would never happen in real life. It would be awkward and slightly abusive. Funnily enough, people get punched jumping out at people in haunted houses all the time. Tons of people do karate, which aims to rewire you to react differently when scared or attacked. Namely, the punch. Most karate students drop out before black belt, but it doesn't take long for them to get the punching reaction. Ern's brother punched someone in a haunted house. It's a hazard. We loved Sam in this episode. We are so so so bummed that he didn't want to go out with Jess. Maybe he'll miss her! Maybe there's hope!

That redhead Nick crushed on is so pretty. We've seen her in a lot before. Thank God Winston and Shelby are over. She's not funny. It was good of the episode to give Winston a story and some decent screentime this week. Keep that up, show. We feel bad for Robbie, who is funny. Obviously, CeCe and Schmidt are going to hook up again, and then they will ruin their relationship immediately thereafter. But Robbie is a cool guy. We laughed at all the Abe Lincoln stuff. We do think about him a lot....Probably not every day though. Overall, this was a funny episode. Nick screaming at the clown in the haunted house made our lives. He's a good screamer.
Episode grade: B+

Happy Endings- Sabado Free-Gante
This show gets lower ratings than it deserves. Anything that can redeem Elisha Cuthbert for a former 24 fan (Ern) has to be amazeballs, right? Well, it is. Maybe the episode didn't get watched because of the lame commercial that only showed their pain-in-the-ass-lookin' Halloween costume. Most of the episode didn't feature Halloween or that physical gag, which would have gotten tiring if the show kept it up more than the three minutes it actually did. Jane at the car dealership was gold. Alex and Dave took the silver with their denial ("It's definitely haunted.") For us, Brad and Max got the bronze (worst storyline) trying to get free things on a Saturday. We find Penny a little too cartoonish compared to the rest of the gang, so the show might want to watch that. Other than that, this episode was funny and people should watch this show.
Episode grade: B

New Girl, The Mindy Project, Parenthood,

By Genevieve (Max Greenfield) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

New Girl- Neighbors
Jess and Schmidt try to befriend young hipsters this week, until they realize young hipsters aren't really worth knowing. They are just super hard to impress. Been there... Jess's Urkel impression is a lot better than her Frasier Crane, which, to be fair, got cut off before we could really evaluate it. We like the development where Nick is some sort of pranks king, and we expect to see more of his elaborate pranks later. Schmidt is a perfect target. We hope Winston's new job gives him something to do. We also hope it helps the show define the character a little better. Seriously, describe the guy's personality. You can't do it as well as you can describe Jess, Nick, and Schmidt, can you? Winston is the show's weak link that can absolutely be fixed with a few good storylines, episodes, and lines.

But what kind of man should he be? He's kind of the responsible straight man now. Should they make him super responsible and together? Sort of the den mother for these three? Could they make him the cool, charming guy who everyone likes? We're going to stop brainstorming now, because it's not like any good idea we come up with will be used, haha. This show often touches on the awkward position of being an adult who hasn't quite grown up yet...we saw this theme when Jess dated Russell. We liked when Nick said that he likes growing older because he's growing into his personality. Ern feels the same way.
Episode grade: B

The Mindy Project- In the Club
This show is going to have a full season. Hopefully it can take that news and use it to plot how all the episodes are going to go and give this show some direction. Because it does need a little direction. One thing we liked this week was the character Morgan being less cartoonish, yet still funny and weird. We worried about his character when he was introduced last week, but he's being used alright so far. Sure, everyone could be funnier. We also need the hospital crew to be a more defined group. People we haven't been paying much attention to got added to the crew this week. This is fine, but they need to be distinct and memorable. We liked the loser girl who vomited. You know who we're talking about. Betsy. She's played by a funny, competent actress.

Anyway, like we were saying, this show is going to work if we get an office-like ensemble going strong, like on New Girl and, well, The Office. Mindy's character is a one-trick pony. She's a romantic comedy heroine in a regular comedy body. While this gives Mindy ample opportunity to satirize and laugh at chick flick stereotypes and the ultra-girly among us, we need other jokes as well. Mindy's blonde best friend needs to find a place in the group and show if she's going to exist. We've got Mindy, Blonde, Danny, Betsy, Shauna (the girl in love with Danny), Morgan, and hot British guy. That's fine. This episode gave us more hope for the show. It was better than last week.
Episode grade: B

Parenthood- There's Something I Need to Tell You...
When Hank kissed Sarah, she did not pull away for a long time. The kissing scene really worked. His reaction afterward, kind of blaming her for the encounter and then insulting her, was icky though. He rectified it by saying, "You're funny, you're pretty, you're nice and I like talking to you. But I know you got somebody." But still. Sarah shows insecurity in her current relationship, making us think the Hank/Sarah ship might sale after all. We're so glad Victor hit that ball. The scene would have been so awkward if pushy Zeek had cost everyone the game. Ryan York now has a real purpose. A boy for Amber?!! We like it.

We always give Max crap for being a brat, but doing research on chemo and agreeing to play catch with Victor shows the heart beneath his social inabilities. Sydney's the real brat. Julia's situation was so realistic. As a lawyer, if you file something late, it could cost you big time. We loved Julia's honesty. We also love Kristina's. There is a temptation when you are sick not to tell your family. If you tell them, you look weak. You have to accept help and pity. It's actually stronger to tell and let people in.

Episode grade: B+

***EDIT*** A law school friend has told us that we weren't watching closely enough. We thought Julia didn't file a case, which can lead to heavy consequences. But she was late on an evidence-related request, which wouldn't exactly cost anyone millions of dollars/a judge would let it slide. The show needs one of The Good Wife's consultants.

Arrow and Nashville start tonight, mothalickas!

The Mindy Project- Hiring and Firing

By Kristin Dos Santos (Mindy Kaling) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0) or CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

What happened: Mindy meets an architect in a bookstore, and he takes her to get yogurt. A nurse, Beverly, needs to be fired, so the boss tells Mindy to hire someone new. Danny is afraid she will hire someone else just like her, so he joins in the interviews. When Jeremy can't bring himself to fire Beverly, Mindy does it, and Beverly punches her in the nose. The weirdest job applicant helps Mindy, so she hires him.

What we thought: Ewww, we're not loving the theme song. We love that she mocked architects always being the love interest in movies and TV shows. It's true that the media have a skewed view of what these people actually do and how much it really sucks. It's not a financially stable, creative job. We also loved the opening scene on the subway. Then things got rough. Will Ransom be a good new character for the show or a cartoonish, unfunny one? We didn't laugh much when we met him.

Maybe we were just tired, but we didn't think the middle of the episode was as funny as the pilot. We were a little bored. It seemed all over the place because it started with an architect and then spent most of its focus on replacing Beverly. Gwen was underused again. We actually liked the ending where Mindy pretended Danny was her abusive husband on the subway. That might not be the most politically correct joke, but it was funny and something a real co-worker might do to their teasing nemesis.

We love Mindy and believe this show can get better. One of us already loves it; one of us knows its star is a better writer than this.

Episode grade: B-

New Comedy - The Mindy Project, pilot review

NoHoDamon [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

This pilot is on hulu nearly a month early, so you can check it out. Going into this, we had high hopes. Not only were Mindy’s episode of The Office comedy gold, her book was funny, and she wrote and performed a hit stage play about Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. With two women playing those actors. We thought, “If she can make that work, she can do anything.” We were anxious to see what she would do with her own TV show. 

Mindy plays Mindy, an OB/GYN who is unlucky in love. Her boyfriend left to marry someone younger. At his wedding, Mindy gets drunk, gives an embarrassing toast, and then rides away on her bike. She crashes her bike into a pool, trying to take a shortcut. Er…we’ve all been there? This gets her arrested. Mindy is bailed out by her friend, Gwen, who reminds Mindy that her life is not a romantic comedy. Mindy then hangs out with her male coworkers, deals with potential patients, and goes on a date. Bill Hader and Ed Helms guest star.

The show has potential. Comedy pilots are usually weird and shows require time to get a good tone. This one plays like a romantic comedy, and we think that’s intentional. It reminds us of Bridget Jones' Diary. But there is something about the tone and show that doesn’t work. There’s something that feels forced and icky. Maybe it’s that it’s almost demeaning to Mindy, mildly anti-feminist, and possibly stressful for single women who don’t look perfect. It’s like she thinks of herself as a heartless piece of meat, and so does everyone else. The show needs to not be so mean to Mindy. It needs to love her so that we can. 

Also, it feels like a show that would have been great fifteen years ago. Is this still where women are and what they find funny? We know Mindy loves romantic comedies, but she needs to keep her character from becoming a cliche, clumsy, and successful woman like in all those movies. She needs to keep that dark streak she's got going, and only take what WORKS in rom-coms, not what annoys us and makes everyone hate women. Whatever weirdness we are sensing will hopefully get worked out in later weeks, because there were clever moments.

For a doctor, Mindy isn’t very pulled together, plus there are the chubby jokes. A few of the jokes worked, like the Downton Abbey and Elton John ones, as well as her date prayer. We dream of the personality of Jon Stewart and the penis face of Michael Fassbender as well. Good taste, Mindy. We also liked when she rushed to a patient because the person had insurance. On that note, the Mindy character was really selfish. That might wear on some nerves, but we thought it was funny. We also liked that it wasn’t politically correct and there was some cursing (bleeped out, of course).

Mindy’s impression of her fellow doctor was funny too. She’s obviously going to end up with Danny, right? We didn’t think it was fall on your face, smack your ass hilarious or anything, but we want to see a few more episodes before we make a decision. Mindy is good in the pilot. She has good comedic timing, she’s relatable and self-deprecating, and the character is a lot like the real-life Mindy.

Episode grade: B