Line #6 Series/TheMindyProject


1	[[quoteright:333:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Screen_Shot_2013-01-04_at_9_31_00_PM_4578.png]]
2
3	->''"Maybe I won't get married, you know? Maybe I'll do one of those ''Film/EatPrayLove'' things. Ugh, no, I don't want to pray. Forget it, I'll just die alone."''
4	-->-- '''Mindy Lahiri'''
5
6	Created by, and starring, Creator/MindyKaling, 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 white men, and its absurdly high cast turnover rate.
7
8	Dr. [[TheDanza Mindy]] Lahiri is a successful OB/GYN living a comfortable single life in New York City. At her practice, she is surrounded by colleagues that both support her and drive her nuts. However, a lifetime of watching romantic comedies has convinced her that she needs to put more effort into finding her life partner. HilarityEnsues.
9
10	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 could potentially point to a greater trend of TV shows making a ChannelHop to online distribution.
11
12	The show aired its sixth and final season in 2017.
13
14	Now has a character sheet that needs a lot of love. NOT to be confused with ''Series/MorkAndMindy''
15
16	----
17	!!Tropes featured in ''The Mindy Project'' include:
18	* 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 the elevators start working again.
19	* AccidentalHandHold: Mindy and Danny accidentally grab hands during some turbulence on their return flight after a business trip. When the turbulence is over, Mindy lets go, but [[ShipTease Danny grabs her hand back]].
20	* AccidentalPervert: In "Girl Crush", the doctors launch a mobile clinic and drive it to Spanish Harlem to give out free breast exams. But after Mindy bails, the male doctors' awkward attempts to solicit volunteers has them tagged as perverts and are soon surrounded by an angry mob.
21	* AdamWesting: Kevin Smith cameos as himself, on an airplane where he messes up the bathroom. And then again, with Mindy none too pleased that he considers them both to have NWordPrivileges regarding fat jokes.
22	%%* AmbiguouslyBi: Morgan.
23	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: When Mindy lists the reasons why guys don't commit to her, she notes that she works too much, is kinda selfish... and has never voted.
24	* ArtifactTitle: While Mindy continues looking for love for the duration of the series, the idea of it being a "Project" is very quickly (and quietly) dropped.
25	* ArtisticLicenseReligion: "Mindy's Cool Christian Boyfriend" mashes together a bunch of very conservative and very progressive characteristics into the minister character who Mindy is dating. Ministers of both types do exist in real life, but it's rare for one to believe simultaneously that Hindus are going to hell but that it's alright to have premarital sex with one, for example. Arguably some of this is just RuleOfFunny because it provides fodder for amusing banter between the two.
26	* AscendedExtra: Beverly, who appeared in the second episode as a one-shot character, became a series regular after the mid-season ReTool.
27	* BadLiar: Danny. He couldn't come up with an excuse as to why he had porn on his laptop. Actually, he really can't come up with a good lie/excuse to save his life, regardless of the gravity of the situation.
28	--> '''Danny:''' (trying to find a reason for Mindy to come to his office) MINDY. You prescribed the wrong medication for a patient and now she's in a COMA!
29	* BelligerentSexualTension: Mindy and Danny have this to a T, although they seem to switch off between being the JerkWithAHeartOfGold and the {{Tsundere}}.
30	* BerserkButton: In the episode "Think Like a Peter", Mindy's one-night stand has this response when she and Peter come to his first-grade class and interrupt his lesson.
31	--> '''Lee:''' It is drawing time, you guys! You do not interrupt drawing time! Let's go. Interrupting drawing time, are you out of your minds?!
32	* BigBrotherInstinct: Morgan towards Mindy, several characters to Betsy.
33	* BigEater: Jeremy has become one of these between the seasons. Mindy talks about food a lot, too. "I empty my fridge before bed every night."
34	* 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. It's clear that when she was younger and even more socially awkward, this applied.
35	* BookEnds:
36	** Mindy and Tom. At the beginning of the series, Mindy is lamenting losing Tom to his marriage and she ends up getting rather drunk at his wedding reception. Near the end of the season, [[spoiler:Tom loses his wife offscreen, gets drunk at a frat party, and subsequently asks Mindy to come home with him. This time, Mindy's not as keen on the idea, which shows that she's already let go of her fantasy of him over the course of the season.]].
37	** Morgan is introduced and hired in the second episode of the season in a quick decision by Mindy for essentially solving a problem nobody knew how to deal with immediately. [[spoiler:In the second to last episode of the season, he is re-hired by Danny when he helps Danny mend his relationship with his ex-wife, after being fired by Danny in a snap decision for sending the letter that fixes the relationship in the first place]].
38	** The M.I.A. song "Bad Girls" plays in the first and last episodes of season one.
39	* TheBusCameBack: Both [[spoiler:Casey]] and [[spoiler:Cliff]] return for one episode after they were written out of the show.
40	* CallBack:
41	** 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.]]
42	** Danny getting nervous about airplane turbulence comes back in a ''big'' way in "The Desert" [[spoiler:(and his "move": the butt grab!)]]
43	* TheCastShowoff:
44	** 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.
45	** Chris Messina was a dancer as a kid (of note, he competed for Mr. Dance of the United States), and Danny shares his slick moves in multiple episodes, particularly "Christmas Party Sex Trap" and "We're Together Now, Haters!"
46	* CastingGag: [[Series/TheOfficeUS Certain Office workers ]] count for a fair amount of side characters (not counting Mindy) on the show:
47	** Ed Helms (Andy) played a one-time boyfriend of Mindy's.
48	** Kelen Coleman (Isabel [[note]]Dwight's girlfriend in season 6[[/note]]) plays one of Mindy's best friends.
49	** [[spoiler: Ellie Kemper (Erin) as Josh's ''real'' girlfriend]].
50	** Anna Camp (Penny [[note]]Pam's sister[[/note]]) plays one of Mindy's best friends.
51	** B.J. Novak (Ryan) plays a Latin professor.
52	* CerebusSyndrome: The fourth season is a bit more serious and features Mindy arguing with Danny over whether or not she should [[spoiler: be a stay-at-home mom .]]
53	* ChannelHop: From Fox to Hulu. Averted in Canada, where it will continue to air on City TV rather than an online streaming service.
54	* ChekhovsGun: 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]].
55	* ChristianityIsCatholic: Zig-zagged. Mindy falls for a minister who wears the typical black shirt and white collar, but is not Catholic and is therefore allowed to date. In-universe, Mindy demonstrates the "All churches are Pentecostal Black churches" version of this trope when she dresses like a character from a Creator/TylerPerry movie to attend one of his church's services. She promptly realizes how out of place her outfit is.
56	* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome:
57	** 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.
58	** Betsy got Chucked in between seasons 2 and 3.
59	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: '''Morgan'''.
60	* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: After Mindy gets pregnant, she (a gyno) can't figure out how to stem her morning sickness and still eats nutritionally unsubstantial foods while Danny (a gyno that views juice as a dessert) smokes. All these are lampshaded in "Danny Castellano Is My Nutritionist".
61	* TheConscience: Morgan acts as this when the doctors are thinking of making bad decisions. Notable moments include:
62	** Convincing Jeremy not to sleep with a bride-to-be in the episode "The Club"
63	** Stopping Mindy from engaging in a casual affair with Brendan. [[spoiler:She hooks up with him anyway.]]
64	* CoolestClubEver: Mindy and her co-workers visit one of these in the episode "In the Club".
65	* CringeComedy: Not as cringe-worthy as [[Series/TheOfficeUS Mindy's previous show]], but it has its moments. The episode "Danny Castellano Is My Gynecologist" is an excellent example.
66	** Once the series finds its footing, it's arguably ''more'' cringe-inducing, at least in terms of the frank sex talk and general [[TooMuchInformation TMI]] that runs rampant between co-workers, [[ImStandingRightHere often revealing embarrassing personal details about a character who is right there in the room]].
67	* DatingCatwoman: Mindy attempts a one-night stand with Brendan, a midwife from the rival practice upstairs. This goes about as well as you'd expect.
68	* DeadpanSnarker: Being a FOX comedy, the cast is full of them. Notable characters of snarkiness are Mindy, Danny, Jeremy, and Brendan Deslaurier.
69	* DemotedToExtra: Mindy's best friend Gwen was a series regular at the beginning of the show, but started appearing less and less before [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome disappearing entirely]]
70	* TheDitz:
71	** Despite being an educated medical professional and incredibly pop-culture savvy, Mindy makes her fair share of air-headed comments.
72	-->"I'm not dumb! I'm ignorant, yes..."
73	** Tamra is a cross between this and a SassyBlackWoman.
74	** Most everything Morgan says or does demonstrates a woeful lack of common sense.
75	* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: InUniverse. Mindy attempts to talk to a group of high schoolers about teen pregnancy. It doesn't go so well.
76	* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Christina has sex with Dr. Leotard when he's too drunk to stand or talk coherently. He's the one treated as a jerk for this, even though he was in no state to give consent.
77	* EducationMama: Mindy implies that her mother (whom she also refers to as being part of a DotingParent unit) pushed hard for her to succeed academically.
78	-->'''Mindy:''' When I was 11, I hated that boys would tease me because [[{{Bookworm}} I would read all the time]], and my parents wouldn't let me wear makeup. I was embarrassed, and I wanted to move to Lake Buena Vista and audition for [[Series/TheMickeyMouseClub The All-New Mickey Mouse Club]]. And my mom wasn’t like, ‘Sure Mindy, go ahead and do that!’ She hit me with an encyclopedia, and now I’m perfect.
79	* FakeGuestStar: Jodie in a strange twist of fate. His sister, who joins the series after him, is immediately made a main cast member, despite having a smaller influence on the overall plot of the story and his actor Garret Dillahunt is PromotedToOpeningTitles, he himself is never listed more than a recurring character, despite appearing in more episodes than most of the other main characters after his introduction.
80	* FallingInLoveMontage: In the pilot, Mindy has one of these with Tom... then this is abruptly cut short by a shot of her attending his wedding.
81	* FawltyTowersPlot: The A-plot of a typical episode goes something like this: Mindy inadvertently says or does something insensitive, offensive, and/or illegal. Then she realizes what went wrong and tries to backpedal. She invents some sort of a lie (or one is invented for her due to others misinterpreting her actions) and then has to maintain that lie for most of the episode. The web of lies grows bigger and bigger until Danny and/or her other co-workers are all caught up in it. Someone [[PullingTheThread pulls the thread]] and HilarityEnsues.
82	* {{Flanderization}}: The midwives become cartoony liberal strawmen in season 2. Though it may also just be an act to make themselves look better than Shulman and Associates.
83	* ForgedMessage: Morgan and Peter find Mindy's phone and uses it to send naughty text messages to her boyfriend.
84	* FreudianExcuse:
85	** Jeremy has several moments over the course of the first season that imply he did not have a happy childhood due to asshole older brothers and other condescending relatives.
86	--> '''Jeremy''': Morgan, what do you want brothers for? So they can lock you in a wardrobe where mummy can't hear you?
87	** Danny's father walked out on his family, leaving him to raise his younger siblings.
88	* FreudianSlip: Jeremy lapses into these at some points during the show, which usually leads to one or more characters asking if he's all right because [[OOCisSeriousBusiness these are the only times he's not the calm, collected, borderline obnoxiously confident British guy everyone knows him to be]].
89	* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Morgan thinks and acts like the Doctors are all his best friends, while they themselves are often apathetic to him, and more often than not are willing to take advantage of him for their own interests.
90	* GirlOfTheWeek: Inverted, since the show has a female lead. Mindy is seeing a new guy, or at least interested in one, in nearly every episode.
91	** Played straight-ish with Danny, who dates almost as many girls over the course of season one as the amount of guys that Mindy's dated.
92	* GRatedDrug: In "Santa Fe", Danny is talking to several patients at a rehab clinic. He is incredulous that some of them are there for far less "serious" addictions than alcohol or drug abuse.
93	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Annette Castellano and her friend Dot. The latter woman blames Danny's father for the fact she hasn't married because she was providing companionship and comfort to her single mom friend.
94	* HistoryRepeats: Danny's father abandoned Danny and Richie, and Danny basically raised Richie. In "Dinner With The Castellanos," he tries to dump his new daughter onto Danny because he can't handle raising her.
95	* HomePornMovie: Mindy made one with Tom, which ended up on a porn site.
96	* HumiliationConga: The main plot of several episodes involves a succession of increasingly embarrassing events happening to Mindy, though sometimes she's oblivious or indifferent to these events for most of the episode.
97	* IAmBigBoned: Morgan's answer to him being fat?
98	---> Hey, I'm fat-boned.
99	* ImportantHaircut: [[spoiler:Mindy]] gets one of these in the first season finale.
100	* InsistentTerminology: Plenty of this is thrown between the doctors and the midwives - Brendan Deslaurier insists on calling the doctors of Shulman & Associates 'drug dealers'. On the other hand, the Deslauriers have to call the women that come to their office 'clients' and not 'patients', because neither of the Deslauriers are certified doctors, a fact that Danny calls them out on on top of calling the midwives any creative variant of 'quacks'.
101	* JustFriends: Danny and Mindy. [[RelationshipUpgrade Until they're not]].
102	* JustJokingJustification: Josh kids Mindy from time to time about which of the many women in his contact list he'll go out with whenever Mindy is unavailable. [[spoiler:This becomes a bit of a cruel BrickJoke when she later discovers that he was cheating on his girlfriend with her - and cheating on them both with other women.]]
103	* InsultBackfire: A male character makes a snarky comment about Mindy's wide feet. She responds: "Thank you! I almost never fall over."
104	* IntergenerationalFriendship: Played with twice by Mindy.
105	** 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. The older Bev shows up to console Mindy and tell her stuff that she is the perfect size to roll around in bed with.
106	** Zigzagged in "Frat Party", Mindy's protege Katie is comfortable enough to invite her to [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a frat party]] to make her feel better after she breaks up with her boyfriend. When Mindy stops Katie from dancing on a stripper pole, Katie becomes angry with Mindy for lecturing her on her attempts to impress men. By the end of the episode, Katie forgives Mindy and tells her she's right, indicating they'll probably get along... if we ever see her again.
107	** In season 2's "An Officer and a Gynecologist", Mindy takes a shine to a young patient and allows her to crash in her apartment to get away from her overprotective dad, but it ends up with Morgan handcuffed to a bed and Mindy dating the girl's dad.
108	** Another Bev example is that she gives Mindy some edible underwear at her baby shower. She tells her that just because she's a Mom, doesn't mean she can't look sexy.
109	* LateArrivalSpoiler: Mindy and Danny get together. This is spoiled by the fact there's an episode called "Danny Castellano Is My Boyfriend," not to mention the fact that Mindy cuddling with Danny has been the series' image on Creator/{{Hulu}} for some time.
110	* LookingForLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: Some of Mindy's less than ideal boyfriends/hookups demonstrate her struggle with this trope.
111	* LousyLoversAreLosers: {{Invoked\|Trope}} in "The One That Got Away". Danny is regretting his decision to be a sperm donor, and to help him Mindy tells the interested couple a list of Danny's many flaws (most made up) to convince them to drop Danny. The one that bothers Danny the most is that he's "boring in bed" and he protests in indignation that "Missionaries are extremely adventurous!".
112	* LoveEpiphany: A platonic version. In "No More Mr. Noishe Guy," Mindy and Peter both realize they've inadvertently become best friends.
113	* LoveTheme: Despite what happened in the pilot, Tom and Mindy still have their own LoveTheme as they run into each other over the course of the first season. Each time is accompanied with the same swell of romantic instrumentals - until something Mindy or Tom does cuts off the track. This is dropped in the second season.
114	* LoveRevelationEpiphany: An episode deals with Danny "accepting" his feelings for Mindy after incorrectly inferring she was in love with him.
115	* MadonnaWhoreComplex: Practically the subject of "Confessions of a Cath-aholic" when Danny lies to his priest about Mindy: that she's a Good Catholic with the last name of [=MacPherson=] and that she's not pregnant.
116	* TheMatchmaker: Jeremy and Danny try to fix up an old man with the woman in his retirement home that he is fond of, in the hopes that the old man will do them the favor of lowering their rent. This [[GoneHorriblyWrong goes horribly wrong]] when it is discovered that she is already married, to an [[NeverMessWithGranny old timer]] who has a sword concealed in his cane.
117	** Mindy claims to be one of these, which seems to have some merit. She sets up Danny with Lucy, the best friend of her at-that-time boyfriend Jamie, who always took Jamie's attention away whenever she was around. The result is Jamie getting jealous of Danny and then [[LoveEpiphany realizing that he's actually in love with Lucy]].
118	* MistakenForGay: Happens with a hard-nosed hospital administrator who Mindy tries to kiss up to (pun intended) in order to get her clinic better hours at the hospital. Her gesture of showing this woman a night out on the town gets misinterpreted as a date, and of course Mindy tries to maintain the lie once she realizes... which then doesn't go over too well with the woman's wife.
119	* MistakenForProstitute: Inverted. Mindy picks a guy up at a bar, and doesn't realize until she gets home and coitus is about to ensue that he is a prostitute.
120	* MomentKiller: This trope gets mixed with BlackComedy when Mindy and her date are on a romantic carriage ride through Central Park, only for one of the horses to break a leg and need to be [[MercyKill put down]]. Right in front of Mindy and her date.
121	** Morgan, who has a tendency to say things that are not only completely out of place but are also Squick-inducing.
122	* MyEyesAreUpHere: Inverted in "Danny Castellano Is My Gynecologist". Danny is supposed to be giving Mindy a breast exam, but can't bear to look, causing Mindy to remark, "My boobs are down here."
123	* MySisterIsOffLimits: Peter forbids Danny from going out with his sister in "Girl Crush".
124	* NoSuchThingAsHR: Let's just say that if Human Resources existed in this show's universe, nearly every character would be up to his or her neck in a stack of sexual harassment suits.
125	* OneHourWorkWeek: It seems Mindy and the other doctors are free to leave the practice for non-work-related reasons anytime they feel like it. This gets {{lampshaded}} a couple of times during the second season: in one episode, Jeremy has to simultaneously deliver three babies because Mindy and Danny have gone to a music festival; and in another one, Mindy has had a bad breakup and says she's entitled to "heartbreak days" (meaning she doesn't have to come to work if she doesn't feel like it), only for Jeremy and Danny to remind her that there's no such thing.
126	* OpeningNarration: Played with. Most episodes begin with Mindy delivering one... to another character.
127	** Season 3's first episode begins with Danny giving one instead... until Mindy shuts him up.
128	* OutOfFocus: Tends to be a problem for any series regular who does not play Mindy or Danny. First, this was an issue with Mindy's original boss and her friends outside of work, so they were written out midway through the first season. By Season 2, this even becomes a problem for Jeremy, who originally had roughly the same amount of screen time as Danny. From late Season 1 onward, the typical episode's A-plot tends to focus on Mindy and/or Danny meddling in each other's personal lives while the B-plot tends to be consumed by Morgan and/or Peter's largely unrelated shenanigans.
129	* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Morgan is a nurse, and supposedly a good one too, but we almost never see him do anything nursing-related.
130	* PissTakeRap: Happens when Mindy reluctantly agrees to participate in a freestyle rap competition with her brother.
131	* PlayingCyrano: Morgan and Peter take Mindy's phone to text Cliff on Mindy's behalf, knowing that she can't sext to save her life.
132	* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: [[LovableAlphaBitch Mindy]] (who despises the thought of Morgan being able to afford caviar and calls Peter her "favorite Jew"), 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).
133	* PopUpTexting: This trope pops up (no pun intended) occasionally. The episode "You've Got Sext" uses it a lot, as it's about Morgan and Pete taking Mindy's cell and sending fake texts to Cliff.
134	* PsychoExGirlfriend: Initially subverted with [[spoiler:Heather]], who tries to make amends with Mindy, and only becomes this way after Mindy treats her like one.
135	* PunctuatedForEmphasis: In "Indian BBW", Peter sends Mindy an urgent text message. One. Word. At. A. Time.
136	* PutOnABus:
137	** Shauna.
138	** [[spoiler:Casey]].
139	** [[spoiler: Peter]]
140	* RaceFetish: In medical school, Mindy purposely looks for someone with an Asian fetish to lose her virginity to.
141	* RacistGrandma: Beverly.
142	* ReallyGetsAround: [[spoiler:Josh]].
143	* RelationshipUpgrade: Mindy and Danny get one first in "The Desert" that quickly gets downgraded. Then they get together for real in the season finale.
144	* RevolvingDoorCasting: The show has only had four actors that started in the first or second episode remain on the show: Mindy Kaling, Chris Messina (Danny), Ed Weeks (Jeremy) and Ike Barinholtz (Morgan). All the other supporting actors either left the show during/after the first season or were introduced in the second and third seasons.
145	* ScareDare: How the titular event "Danny Castellano Is My Gynecologist" comes to be. Mindy and Danny are both convinced that the other will back down from the painfully awkward situation first.
146	%%* SecondEpisodeIntroduction: Morgan.
147	* SelfDeprecation: The show practically runs on this, with most of the deprecation focused on Mindy. She approaches everything with a sense of humor, especially regarding her less-than-ideal body type and her dating history, but it's clear that sometimes her insecurities get the best of her.
148	-->'''Mindy''': (while talking about why Casey wouldn't want to commit to her) I kinda suck, and no guy has ever wanted to commit to me before, because I work too much... I'm kinda selfish... [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking I've never voted.]] And usually, the guy figures that out and then they leave.
149	* SexinessScore:
150	** In "[=Sk8er=] Man", Mindy gets pissed when Peter offers her a date with a friend that seems mediocre at best and finds out that is because he considers her a "five".
151	-->'''Mindy:''' Why would you think that I would like this person?\
152	'''Peter:''' You're a five, he's a five.\
153	'''Mindy:''' ''What?'' Everyone knows that I'm an eight, eight and a half! ''[walks away pissed]''\
154	'''Peter:''' ''[yelling after her]'' Two fives make a ten!
155	** In "How to Lose a Mom in Ten Days", Mindy thinks Danny is being a MommasBoy by getting mad she set up his mother Annette on a date with Dr. Ledreau. He proves her point when he says he just doesn't think Ledreau is worthy because his mom is a "perfect 10".
156	* SharedUniverse: The Cloud 9 store from ''Series/{{Superstore}}'' appears in one episode, placing this show in the same universe as ''Series/GoodGirls'', ''I Feel Bad'' and ''Series/{{Kenan}}''.
157	* ShoutOut:
158	** 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.
159	** Also in the same episode, Peter tries to cheer Mindy up by doing an impression of Sheldon from Series/TheBigBangTheory.
160	-->'''Peter''':robot voice I have never seen a woman.
161	** In ''Think Like a Peter'', Peter calls Mindy's one-night stand, who is a first-grade teacher, [[Series/WelcomeBackKotter "Kotter."]]
162	** In "[=Sk8er=] Man," Mindy gets her "big butt" caught halfway through a fence. Her final line in the scene is [[Franchise/WinnieThePooh "Oh bother."]]
163	* SmugSnake: The male "midwives" who practice holistic medicine in the same building as Mindy's clinic.
164	* StalkerWithACrush: Mindy comes off this way at an ex-boyfriend's wedding in the first episode.
165	* StatusQuoIsGod:
166	** 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]]. Danny has gotten back together with his ex-wife. 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.]]
167	** [[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.]] Subverted as they get together seriously at the season finale.
168	* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Jody for Danny. Both of them are relatively conservative men who are somewhat stereotypical (Danny is Italian and Jody is from the DeepSouth), [[spoiler: who also have a romantic interest in Mindy despite finding her deeply flawed.]]
169	* ThinksLikeARomanceNovel: Mindy has watched a ''lot'' of rom-coms, and therefore tends to look at her romantic relationships in that light.
170	* VillainousBreakdown: Brendan after losing the triathalon. Which oddly enough earns a bit of Danny's respect, as he'd spent the whole day trying to get Brendan to admit he cared about winning.
171	* WhamEpisode: "No More Mr. Noishe Guy." Danny buys a house for him and Mindy, Mindy is offered the opportunity to found a fertility clinic in San Francisco, Peter [[spoiler: leaves the practice and moves to Texas]], but the biggest wham is that [[spoiler: Mindy is pregnant]].
172	* WholePlotReference: The events of "Pretty Man" are basically a DistaffCounterpart story to ''Film/PrettyWoman'', at least in Mindy's mind.
173	* WildTeenParty: 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]].
174	* WillTheyOrWontThey: It's pretty obvious by the end of the first season that 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. [[spoiler: [[RelationshipUpgrade They get together]], 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.]]
175	* WomanScorned: Heather, the woman [[spoiler:Josh]] was already seeing when he started dating [[spoiler:Mindy]]. The timing of her discovery - [[spoiler:right in the middle of Mindy's Christmas party]] - couldn't possibly be any worse.
176	* WrittenInAbsence: Creator/ChrisMessina (Danny) missed several episodes of season 4 and in several more had only a cameo role. [[spoiler: In universe it's explained as Danny leaving the practice after he and Mindy broke up.]]
177	* YouAreFat: Danny's Mom, Annette, often remarks on Mindy's weight.

Context Series / TheMindyProject