History Series / TheMindyProject

* AbsurdlyLongStairway: In the season two finale, Mindy has to climb the stairway to the observatory on the Empire State Building because the elevators are broken. As soon as she starts climbing [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot the elevators start working again]].

-->--'''Mindy Lahiri'''

* OpeningMonologue: Played with. Most episodes begin with Mindy delivering one... to another character.

Created by, and starring [[TheDanza Mindy Kaling]], one of the writers of the American version of [[Series/TheOfficeUS The Office]], this rom-com series began airing in 2012 on Fox. This series is notable for having the first South-Asian lead on American television, still getting in trouble for alleged racism in having her date [[BlackGalOnWhiteGuyDrama white men]], and its absurdly high cast turnover rate.

* ChekovsGun: The fact that Danny is a great dancer is not fully explained until season 3 when it is revealed [[spoiler:he used to be a stripper]].

* RevolvingDoorCasting: The show has only had four actors that started in the first or second episode remain on the show: Mindy Kaling, Chris Messina, Ed Weeks and Ike Barinholtz. All the other supporting actors either left the show during/after the first season or were introduced in the second and third seasons.

* SpoiledSweet: Mindy generally means well, but sometimes fails to grasp the notion that you can't always solve a problem by throwing money at it.
--> '''Mindy''': I can do anything, as long as it's just paying for stuff.

In 2015, the show was canceled by Fox and subsequently picked up by Creator/{{Hulu}} for the fourth season. This was somewhat notable not necessarily for the fact outright, but because there were (as it turned out accurate) rumors of such [[http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/05/12/fox-2014-15-predictions-wrap-the-mindy-project-the-following-canceled-bones-renewed/400010/ well before Fox even officially announced the cancellation]] which 0ould potentially point to a greater trend of TV shows making a ChannelHop to online distribution.

In 2015, the show was canceled by Fox and subsequently picked up by Creator/{{Hulu}} for the fourth season. This was somewhat notable not necessarily for the fact outright, but because there were (as it turned out accurate) rumors of such [[http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/05/12/fox-2014-15-predictions-wrap-the-mindy-project-the-following-canceled-bones-renewed/400010/ well before Fox even officially announced the cancellation]] which c0ould potentially point to a greater trend of TV shows making a ChannelHop to online distribution.

In 2015, the show was canceled by Fox and subsequently picked up by Creator/{{Hulu}} for the fourth season.

** In "Mindy's Birthday", Mindy abandons her own friends and is approached by a separate group of teenage girls that are celebrating their own party. Mindy gets along with them at first, until she points out that the girls' attitudes indicate their friendship is shallow. They then insult her and call her a weird loner lady before being chased out of the restaurant.

* [[PoliticallyIncorrectHero Politically Incorrect Heroes]]: [[LovableAlphaBitch Mindy]], strict Catholic Danny, Frat Boy Peter, [[RacistGrandma Bev]], and several other characters on the show aren't very PC yet are treated very sympathetically (the show is self-aware of their faults though).

Created by, and starring [[TheDanza Mindy Kaling]], one of the writers of the American version of [[Series/TheOfficeUS The Office]], this rom-com series began airing in 2012 on Fox. This series is notable for having the first South-Asian lead on American television.

* BollywoodNerd: Zig-zagged in a rare female example. Mindy is a OB/GYN who was excellent in studies and makes pop-culture references. However, she also loves shopping and fashion, celebrity culture, and is a bit boy-crazy.

* CallBack: The letter that Danny wrote that Morgan sent results in [[spoiler:Danny's ex-wife appearing. Danny is not amused and ends up firing Morgan for it.]]

* TheCastShowoff: Mark Duplass/Brendan Deslaurier spends a couple of minutes showing off his ability to sing and play guitar as Mindy fumbles around in his shower.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: During the first season, Mindy's best friend Gwen was a regular character who appeared in the TitleMontage, but she disappears completely with no explanation between seasons one and two. The same thing happens to Maggie and Alex, two other friends of Mindy who were recurring characters. By the second season it seems Mindy has [[LimitedSocialCircle no friends outside her workplace]] anymore.

* DemotedToExtra: Mindy's best friend Gwen was a series regular at the beginning of the show, but now only appears in the occasional episode.
* TheDitz: Despite being an educated medical professional and incredibly pop-culture savvy, Mindy makes her fair share of air-headed comments.

* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: Mindy attempts to talk to a group of high schoolers about teen pregnancy. It doesn't go so well.
** It didn't go over well because she passed out condoms without the school's permission, and referred to a male as "crazy bang-able".

* JustFriends: Danny and Mindy.

* PutOnABus: Shauna.

* ShoutOut: In ''Indian BBW'' Mindy offers to read from [[Literature/BridgetJones Bridget Jones's Diary]], and Danny actually reads from it at the end of the episode, British accents and all.

* StatusQuoIsGod: Over the course of the first season finale and second season premiere, Mindy cuts her hair, leaves the practice, [[spoiler: moves to Haiti, gets engaged to Casey, and nearly gets married]]. By the end of the premiere she's back at the practice and [[spoiler: Casey is back in Haiti, although they're still engaged.]]
** By the third episode of the second season, [[spoiler:Mindy and Casey have split up and Mindy is back to agonizing about her love-life. Meanwhile, Danny has broken up with his wife again.]]
** [[spoiler: Mindy and Danny finally get together at the end of "The Desert", but Danny breaks it off after three episodes due to a fear of losing Mindy as a friend.]]

* [[WildTeenParty Wild Frat Party]]: Mindy attends a frat party with her protege to feel better after she breaks up with her boyfriend. It's as predictably wild as Mindy thinks it should be, and is therefore normal enough in occurrence... until [[spoiler:two of Mindy's ex-boyfriends show up at the party and start to fight over her]].
* WillTheyOrWontThey: It's pretty obvious by the end of the first season that [[spoiler:there's something between Mindy and Danny, but if either of them are conscious of it, neither of them are really doing anything about it. It's also worth mentioning that at this point in the series, Mindy's committed to Casey and Danny's trying to make things work with his ex-wife.]]
** [[spoiler: TheyDo - but Danny breaks it off three episodes after it happens. The series reverts back to WillTheyOrWontThey, until Mindy and Danny get back together in the second season finale.]]

* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler:Josh]] on [[spoiler:Mindy]]. She discovers it on Christmas and worse, she's the other woman.
** [[FromBadToWorse It gets worse]]. We find out in "Santa Fe" that [[spoiler:he had TWO other women on the side.]]