I Used to Binge 'The Office' Daily, But Now I've Got a New Netflix Binge-Watch & It's So Good

The Mindy Project debuted in fall 2012 on Fox at the same time The Office was airing its final season. The show stars Kaling, Chris Messina (Air), Ike Barinholtz (The Afterparty), Adam Pally (Happy Endings) and more.

The story follows Dr. Mindy Lahiri (Kaling) as she tries to find love (she’s a rom-com fanatic) while balancing her personal and professional lives in New York City. The tone of the show is similar to that of 30 Rock or The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt making it a light, fun and surprisingly calming watch.

For whatever reason, The Mindy Project wasn’t on my radar in real time while it was airing. But once it hit Netflix, I decided to give a random episode a shot. And then I watched another. And another. And now, I consume several episodes a day. It’s the perfect ‘wind-down’ show after a work day or the perfect ‘light viewing’ show before bed. (It also happens to be the perfect ‘rainy day’ show, ‘I just want to veg out’ show and ‘I’m too tired to pick a show’ show.) But why exactly am I obsessed with it?

I previously wrote about my love of The Office, saying, “I’ve learned that watching reruns of The Office is my form of self-care. Some people need a bubble bath and a little Kenny G. I need Oscar secretly having an affair with Angela’s husband and Michael setting off the sprinklers during his candle-filled proposal to Holly. Bottom line: The Office is therapeutic.” To me, The Mindy Project fills that same need.

The Mindy Project feels therapeutic in its easy-to-watch nature. Perhaps even more so than The Office. In Michael Scott’s world, he would often make cringe-worthy decisions that would make me squirm at home on my couch even though I had seen them play out a dozen times (I still start sweating when he tosses on a hat and transforms into “Date Mike”). However, The Mindy Project is far less cringey. Yes, Mindy makes all the wrong choices, but they don’t play out in that familiar, uncomfortable way as they do for Michael. Mindy possesses a sense of undying optimism that keeps me rooting for her, even when she’s clearly doing the wrong thing, whereas I was often rooting against Michael and couldn’t wait for him to get his comeuppance. Trust me, the former is much easier to watch.

The Mindy Project fixes many (though not all) of the problematic elements of The Office. Michael Scott said and did things that were wildly offensive—things that wouldn't fly in a television show today. For example, in the second episode of the series, titled "Diversity Day," Michael openly mocks Kelly Kapoor (Kaling) to her face using a stereotypical Indian accent. The "bit" ends in a well-deserved slap. It's moments like these (of which there are many) that make The Office more cringey on the second—and twelfth—viewing.

On the contrary, The Mindy Project, though far from P.C., features a female lead of color who makes plenty of mistakes. The main difference is that the show has a self-awareness that takes away the cringe-factor, leading to a less problematic watch. Is the show perfect? No, but I can certainly binge without the feeling of "this is really, really wrong" that accompanied Kaling's former show.

And while I might be relatively new to the Mindy Project train, I’m certainly not alone in loving it. The show has an 86% critics rating and an 83% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

For those of you who are already fans of the comedy, well done (and why didn’t you tell me to watch it sooner?!). But for those who have yet to dip their toe in, I highly recommend you do. Just make sure your evening is open because this show will keep you going all night long (that’s what she said).

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