Saturday, April 14, 2018

Two and a Half Men Without The Misogyny? - Champions, a new NBC comedy, Review

Champions NBC sitcom


Knowing that Kaling helped create Champions is what brought me to the show. I was excited that she had started working on a new project so soon after The Mindy Project ended. Champions is about a man who finds out he has a son that he now has to raise. It is about the adventures of the father, the nephew, and the son.

I titled this article, "Two and a Half Men Without The Misogyny?" because the premise is similar to Two and a Half Men. Champions also feature two adult men and one teenager. However, this show subverts the trope. When you think of the setting of Champions, a fitness GYM, you would think that it could be about a group of masculine men - a ripe setting for sexism and misogyny. However, it isn't. Though the main character, Vince, does have some tendencies towards being a womanizer and being insensitive, he knows, and the audience knows, that it isn't okay. Vince tries to be a better person and that's great! His brother, Andy, is a sweetheart. When his nephew moves in with him, he is the one taking a more caretaker role. He is a loving uncle, trying to understand the things that Michael, the son, enjoys.


The icing on the cake of this "subvert Two and a Half Men" idea is that the teenager is gay. I love that because it forces the two adult men to not take their masculinity seriously. Two and Half Men did feature a lot "seducing women without thinking of them as human beings." In Champions, the focus is on other things.

Michael, the song of Vince and Mindy Kaling's character, is half-Indian. I like how many brown guest stars this show bring on. Hasan Minhaj from the Daily Show appears and he is a breath of fresh air. In one episode, Michael wrestles with whether to join the "Indian," group at school. It's important to note that none of these portrays are stereotypical. We find out Hasan's character is a drug addict. We find out the Indian kids are actually cool kids who party and drink.

I'm excited to see more of what this show has to bring. I want the family bonds to deepen. I want Michael to explore what it means to be be half Indian and gay in future plot lines.

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The Mindy Project SERIES Finale Review

I have been a Mindy Project fan for a loooong time. I remember LOVING it in junior year of college (which, unfortunately, was some time ago). However, there was a long stretch of time where I suddenly stopped watching it (maybe Season 4 when it was first bought by Hulu). But recently, when I watched the pilot of The Champions - Mindy Kaling's newest project - it made me go back and finish the series I had loved so much.


One of the reasons I stopped watching was that I was confused why they took out Danny Castellano's character. It was probably because the actor had other commitments. To be honest, they painted Danny as a HORRIBLE person during the last few seasons. He pushed Mindy to quit her job. He tried to trick her into having another baby. He didn't seem to care about Mindy at ALL. In a way, the writers did do a good job in getting us to forget about Danny now that the actor didn't have enough time to be on the show. They turned him into a colossal jerk so we wouldn't be too sad about losing him.


I'm glad we got to see Mindy go back into the dating scene during the last few seasons. I feel like that has been the central theme of the show and it was cool to see them return to it. It's what they do best.

I liked Ben - Mindy's boyfriend in Season 5. He was nice and handsome. Also anyone notice BJ Novak's first name is Ben too?

One thing I liked about the series finale is that Mindy was mostly concerned about her finances NOT her love life. She was worried that she would have to sell her fertility practice. Previously, it was Jody who saved her practice. I didn't  like Jody. While watching the Mindy Project, I started HATING the enemies to lovers trope. The men Mindy always finds herself attracted to do act like jerks. I'm glad Mindy/Jody didn't happen because it's too similar to Mindy/Danny. It's too much for her to date ANOTHER sexist, traditional, mean guy.

But wasn't it weird how Jody wasn't in the series finale at all? Did they run out of money?

There were a lot of cool full circle moments in the finale. Danny danced again which was a call back to the sweet dance moves from back when he was a better person. Also, the series ended the same way it began!!! That was very exciting!!! Which was Mindy giving a speech at a wedding!!! She avoided falling into the pool this time! Indian Summer by Jai Wolf played just like in the pilot Bad Girls by M.I.A played in the background!! I really liked that. (as evidenced by the exclamation points).

The BEST thing about the finale is that Danny admitted he was wrong. To show that he supports her career, he put in money to save her practice. That was nice. I suppose he redeemed himself for being such a jerk in the past few seasons. Mindy and Danny kiss in a romantic comedy style. Danny starts arguing with her. "We have the rest of our lives to argue," says Mindy. But why would she want to argue with someone like Danny for the rest of her existence? The Mindy Project was always supposed to be a romantic comedy and the series finale delivered on the romantic comedy trope. Mindy runs to Danny. They kiss and make up. Happily Ever After. But I'm not so sure. It's clear they will still have a lot of problems...and maybe they will break up again. I hope not...but Danny does need to become a better person. What he did in the series finale was a start, but he's got a lot of work to do!

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