Quote: bloopergast @ 11th August 2014, 9:40 PM BST

I tried it, but couldn't watch more than a few episodes. Mindy is supposed to be a smart and educated doctor, yet she spends a lot of time obsessing over her looks and dates. Sure, the show is supposed to let you see that she's not perfect and that she's got insecurities, but not by making her seem completely unprofessional and accepting of the office bullying. It's just not ok, not even on a TV show, to show colleagues repeateadly calling (normal-weight) Mindy fat in the work place!

Kudos for Mindy Kaling getting her own show. But, it's just not my cup of tea.

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Good point and that's something thst crossed my mind too, but I do have 2 doctor friends (one is a legit medical doctor the other has her doctorate in English) that I would consider a bit ditsy. Both are brilliant but both also obsess over their looks. tabloids and TLC shows.

18 intellegence
8 Wisdom

-Curt

Quote: Chappers @ 11th August 2014, 6:09 PM BST

Has Mork turned up yet?

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Why did I have to say that?

Can't believe they just bloody cancelled it.

ALL THE SWEAR WORDS.

Someone else better pick it up. It's by far my favourite American sitcom.

Bastards.

Not that I want to intrude on your personal grief here...

But I'd just like to ask if people had the impression that 'The Mindy Project' was 'chick-com'? (And yes, forgive me for that terminology.)

It just is something that appears to me, because you also mention 'New Girl', which struck me as much the same genre.

I think most will agree that there is such a thing as a 'chick-flick' in terms of movies.

I'm just wondering whether we've seen the creation of a new genre, so to speak, in which we have sitcoms targeted at much the same audience at which chick-flicks are aimed.

I know I'm in grave danger of being accused of being patronising here.

To me it just seems that this type of comedy is firmly directed toward a certain market segment - and the segment is young, aspirational and female.

Any comments?

Quote: Gussie Fink Nottle @ 8th May 2015, 11:48 PM BST

I know I'm in grave danger of being accused of being patronising here.

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You are a bit.

I'm sure there are some marketing suits who think they need to 'target' women with special strange new programmes that are pink and sparkly and female oriented to get them to watch. But in reality women actually just watch good TV. Like men do. Shock horror.

So, yeah. It's just a funny sitcom whose main character happens to be female.
It's written by her, so she's the main character.

Quote: zooo @ 9th May 2015, 12:13 AM BST

You are a bit.

I'm sure there are some marketing suits who think they need to 'target' women with special strange new programmes that are pink and sparkly and female oriented to get them to watch. But in reality women actually just watch good TV. Like men do. Shock horror.

So, yeah. It's just a funny sitcom whose main character happens to be female.
It's written by her, so she's the main character.

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Well, I'm hardly saying it's aimed at women because there's a woman in it.

But there are clearly films which - whether good or not - are clearly not meant for the bloke down the chippy. We all know of what I speak.
Sandra Bullock and Jennifer Anniston strangely spring to mind.

There is a certain feel to them. I see that feel replicated - to an extent - in series like 'New Girl' and 'The Mindy Project'.

'Two Broke Girls' for example I don't think has that feel.

That is not at all a comment on quality. So I'm hardly picking on your favourite things.
It is merely a question of whether we are seeing the emergence of a genre here.

Because we all know that material on TV is targeted. Especially at the young.
It isn't merely put out there to attract 'someone'.

And here I do feel we are seeing something that is not aimed at a family audience, or a blokish crowd, or just a general age group, but instead at a young women specifically.

Am I alone?

No, there are certainly demographics that people are trying to hit.

I think the urge to put everything in pigeonholes is unfortunate though. As that means it will be immediately disregarded by huge swathes of people.

Why do you *want* to categorise it as 'chick-com'? (I say you in the plural sense, not just you, Gussie.) Do you respect the books you think of as chick-lit? And the films you think of as Chick-flicks?

It's not a genre as such, it often tends to be used as a way for people to dismiss whole groups of things they think are beneath them. And if you do that, you're probably missing out on a hell of a lot of stuff you would enjoy.

Quote: zooo @ 9th May 2015, 12:43 AM BST

No, there are certainly demographics that people are trying to hit.

I think the urge to put everything in pigeonholes is unfortunate though. As that means it will be immediately disregarded by huge swathes of people.

Why do you *want* to categorise it as 'chick-com'? (I say you in the plural sense, not just you, Gussie.) Do you respect the books you think of as chick-lit? And the films you think of as Chick-flicks?

It's not a genre as such, it often tends to be used as a way for people to dismiss whole groups of things they think are beneath them. And if you do that, you're probably missing out on a hell of a lot of stuff you would enjoy.

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Well, I think there are different ways of 'pigeon holing' things.
Yes, it can be done to dismiss things. I understand your point.

But I think a great deal of understanding of spheres such as comedy, or music, etc stems from being able to categorise.

Comedy is not all the same thing.
'Mr Bean' is not the same thing as 'Miranda'. 'Newzoids' is not 'New Girl'.
There are categories. Within those categories there are good and bad examples.

I have just felt for some time that I was seeing a new creature emerging in things like 'New Girl' and 'Mindy Project' (and was it 'Ugly Betty'?)
It's not that great a leap of the imagination to think TV executives in the US will have considered that, if you can target young women in the cinema, then you can do so on TV. (Especially as they are deemed marketing gold these days.)
It is why I used the term 'chick-com' to make the parallel to cinema more obvious.

I've not seen anything but a trailer so far, but I suspect 'Jane the Virgin' is aiming at very much the same demographic territory.

It is why I think we can see a trend here which might suggest a new genre.