TV

Mindy Kaling Has Two NBC Comedies in the Works

‘The Mindy Project’ fans need not fret. Mindy Kaling is still bringing quality stories to our TV screens.
By  · Published on October 19th, 2017

‘The Mindy Project’ fans need not fret. Mindy Kaling is still bringing quality stories to our TV screens.

The Mindy Project will soon bow out after a 6-season run once the show ends for good in November, but creator, producer, and star Mindy Kaling is keeping busy. Variety reports that Kaling will produce not one, but two comedies for NBC with the creative team of The Mindy Project.

The Mindy Project co-executive producer, writer, and director Lang Fisher is developing one of the series, as-yet-untitled. If the plot summary is anything to go by, quite a fair bit of politics will come into play here. The show will revolve around a group of dedicated diplomats in a small embassy in the Caribbean whose work goes askew thanks to the arrival of their new ambassador: an incompetent, ignorant oil man.

The second project, Venice Beach Venture, was created by The Mindy Project‘s co-showrunner and executive producer, Matt Warburton. The show’s initial premise — a romantic comedy set in the Southern California tech scene — might sound more predictably light-hearted. However, Venice Beach Venture will follow the trials of a brilliant young woman in engineering who has to tackle a conceited boss in a prestigious, awful (and most probably sexist) venture capital firm.

These two projects already seem like ambitious goals for Kaling, but she’s proven herself more than capable. The Mindy Project thrived on Hulu after being canceled by Fox, and proved to be a triumph in the experimental model that television now takes across distribution platforms. And for better or worse, The Mindy Project had a strong sense of identity on television that portrayed Mindy Lahiri (Kaling) as a unique comedy protagonist. Various storylines in the show dealt with social issues such as women’s rights, and obviously was a huge step for diversity with an Indian-American leading lady.

As Natalie Mokry put it: “Mindy Lahiri is not a hero, but she is also not completely reprehensible, which allows us to always feel like we’re learning with her, through her eyes, rather than rooting for her.” Would Kaling’s newest projects incorporate some of the realistic balance The Mindy Project eventually made itself known for? It is highly probable.

Hearing of Kaling’s latest creative endeavors is always a huge treat because her post-Mindy Project activities have been exceptionally exciting. Apart from both NBC shows, 2018 will mark a big year for Kaling at the movies. She is due to star in Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle in Time in March next year, and the highly anticipated Ocean’s Trilogy spin-off, Ocean’s Eight, will be premiere right smack in the middle of summer movie season. Hollywood is lucky to have a presence as special, persistent and hardworking as Kaling’s.

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Sheryl Oh often finds herself fascinated (and let's be real, a little obsessed) with actors and their onscreen accomplishments, developing Film School Rejects' Filmographies column as a passion project. She's not very good at Twitter but find her at @sherhorowitz anyway. (She/Her)