Review: FOX's The Mindy Project Definitely Worth Investing In

Mindy Kaling is nothing if not immediately memorable. She's by no means conventionally attractive, or thin, but she's not trying to be -- nor is that a real source of her comedy. No, Kaling's funny because she's cultivated a hilarious character -- the romantic idealist with a penchant for obnoxiousness and a lack of remorse for that. Kaling spent years playing that sort of character on NBC's The Office, where her Kelly Kapoor was a shallow, self-centered drama queen with an obsessive crush on office temp Ryan (B.J. Novak). But now Kaling is expanding that general character into a more empathetic sitcom lead: physicial Mindy Lahiri, the central character of FOX's new sitcom The Mindy Project, which premieres tonight, September 25. 

Kaling's a bit of a prodigy. At just 24, with no prior experience, she snagged her dual role as a writer and actress on The Office, writing an impressive 22 episodes (and later directing 2). She'll remain with The Office in a reduced role for its current eighth and final season, but her focus is with her new series, which follows OBG/YN Mindy Lahiri as she navigates her tumultuous dating life, which is really nothing like the romantic comedies she attempts to model it upon. 

Those worried that Kaling couldn't carry a series on her own are proven wrong within the first half of The Mindy Project's first episode, when her character drunkenly steals a bike, calls someone who yells at her horrible driving a racist, and crashes it into a pool. Oh, and that's after she crashes her ex-boyfriend's wedding. (Her ex is played, by the way, in a cameo role by the great Bill Hader.) 

Mindy's work life is filled with typical hospital-comedy fare (overly sexy doctors of both the sarcastic and promiscuous variety) and mildly ethical dilemmas delivered with a comedic twist, such as when Mindy convinces a patient to lie to her so that she can give them medical care. It's not always the most original, but it's narrated by Kaling's great comedic timing, which makes even the biggest tropes of the medical sitcom genre seem new. 

It's always tough -- often impossible -- to accurately judge a sitcom by its pilot episode. Things can drastically change between the first and the second episode, roles recast, new characters added. But The Mindy Project's first episode is so promising. It's one of the only network comedies I've seen that have made me laugh -- out loud -- in years (I still chuckle thinking about a particular dig at Downton Abbey). If that's not a sign that Mindy Kaling is doing something right, I don't know what is. A-

The Mindy Project premieres tonight, September 25, on FOX.