Comedy Lives: Mindy and 1600 Penn

Outside of The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, and the increasingly uneven How I Met Your Mother it is not easy to find a comedy worth watching. One might laugh at The New Normal and last year I enjoyed the new Tim Allen vehicle a bit but neither has really stuck.

It is hard to find a niche. As comedy becomes more niche oriented it is much more difficult to have a broad based hit. This past fall Fox started airing a show called The Mindy Project. Starring Mindy Kaling, previously on The Office the show garnered lots of critical praise but not a great deal of viewers.

This past fall my oldest son discovered The Office and has since watched all the seasons of the show on Netflix. Being in the room with him occassionally I have gained an appreciation for the show and its template for humor. By now we are all familiar with the premise of the characters occasionally talking to the camera, Modern Family copied it though that seems to be less and less of a factor on the show. For those mourning the loss of The Office at the end of the season Mindy is an excellent remedy.

Around the holiday Fox spent an evening broadcasting multiple episodes of the show and I found myself quite impressed. The show is like The Office but with perhaps a little more of the vagaries of a typical sitcom. Kaling who is considered one of the most talented comedy personalities around is excellent in the show, she has a strong cast, and the writing is top notch. One hopes that Fox will be patient with the show, it took quite sometime for The Office to gain an audience and this show deserves that time as well. It has been added to the list of shows that I tape so it must be doing something right.

1600 Penn has been placed on NBC's Thursday night lineup and the network has very high hopes. Having seen the pilot a couple of weeks ago in a sneak preview and the second episode last night I would rate the show as funny and sweet. This is not necessarily a combination that always works, especially with the shows that NBC has made a habit of playing in this time slot. Snark has been the word and this show is a combination of over the top silly and sweet endings. Said to be NBC's response to Modern Family one wonders if any show that has politics involved, certainly a sitcom will sell well in flyover country. If not then the demographics on the coasts must be very strong indeed and this show seems like it might struggle in that department.

With all that said for me the show is a winner. Bill Pullman plays a President with four children, and a second wife played by Jenna Elfman. Trophy Wife she may be to the American public but she is genuinely trying to develop a relationship with her new " kids." In the first episode the sad sack oldest son, after seven years in college, is expelled and returns home. Played as a more sweet, naive, Bluto from Animal House in the first two episodes he helps his father win a trade deal with South American countries and announces to the press that his sister is pregnant from a one night stand and does not even know who the father is.

Having a strong liking for Jenna Elfman, who will always be Dharma to me does not hurt the show for me. I think it will be tough to make this a wide ranging hit but if NBC is patient it might do well mixed in with other shows that appeal to the left wing audience if they do not find it too silly. It is a tough line to walk, but for me, while they try it is well worth watching.